Months of work

to update Peachtree City's charter will likely end Thursday night as the

City Council prepares to adopt the final document.

City Attorney

Rick Lindsey has presented drafts of several new ordinances for council

to adopt which coincide with changes and additions to the charter.

Those ordinances

include a provision that allows the mayor to find a person in "contempt

of council" and force that person to leave the council meeting. In

those cases, the ejected person would be allowed to speak to council about

the matter at the next regularly scheduled council meeting, according

to the ordinance.

If the ejected

individual attempts to interfere with council business, that person can

be banished from City Hall, according to the ordinance.

This particular

ordinance is recommended by Lindsey although council has not discussed

it yet. Lindsey thinks council needs a way to address such a situation

if it ever threatened to interrupt a council meeting, said City Public

Information Officer Betsy Tyler.

The process

for filling one or more vacant council seats is also spelled out by an

ordinance proposed by Lindsey. The process includes announcing the seats,

accepting applications and interviewing applicants at a public meeting.

If necessary,

the number of applicants will be reduced to four finalists for interviews.

After that, council members will record written votes for their final

choice.

Another charter-related

ordinance would allow council members or the mayor to be penalized if

they fail to attend two or more meetings in a calendar year without reason.

In such cases, council could take a series of actions which could result

in censure of that council member or mayor.

The charter

revisions include provisions that somewhat weaken the mayor's power, particularly

in giving the daily operation and administration of the city to the city

manager. The mayor, however, retains "general supervision and jurisdiction

over the affairs of Peachtree City," the charter revision states.

The mayor's

power to veto has been taken away, though mainly for technical purposes

since the mayor is required to have a vote on all council matters.

The revised

charter also eliminates the need to appoint officers such as the city

clerk, city attorney and city auditor on an annual basis. Instead, such

persons will serve at the pleasure of the mayor and council and can be

removed at any time.

Another portion

of the new charter is designed to prevent council members from interfering

with the work of city employees with unreasonable requests. Council members

are forbidden from directly ordering city officers or employees; instead,

such requests must be handled through the city manager.

The revised

charter allows council members to gather routine information which city

officers and employees could easily and quickly assemble, however.