Peachtree City's

months-long updating of its city charter is finally complete.

The City Council

unanimously approved the charter revisions, which will be forwarded to

Fayette's state legislative delegation for adoption at the next legislative

session in January, said City Attorney Rick Lindsey.

The charter

revisions hadn't changed since the last time council discussed the matter,

Lindsey noted. Council also adopted a set of ordinances related to the

charter changes.

The charter

is a document that sets the framework for how the city operates. The charter

revision process began late last year at the request of councilwoman Carol

Fritz, who felt parts of the document were outdated.

"I think

we have beaten this to death," said Councilman Steve Rapson.

The main change

in the charter shifts the majority of the responsibility of the city's

day-to-day operations from the mayor to the city manager. The mayor, however,

will retain "general supervision and jurisdiction over the affairs"

of Peachtree City.

The mayor's

power to veto has been taken away, although for technical purposes since

that provision was likely written before the mayor was required to have

a vote on all council matters.

The charter

revisions also clarify the role of the city clerk, one of the more contentious

subjects council has discussed during the process. The clerk will now

report to the city manager, but can only be terminated or removed from

the position by council. Council is also given the option of appointing

the city manager as city clerk.

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.

The charter

revisions also address the possibility that more than one vacancy could

occur on council. In such a case, the remaining members of council would

be allowed to meet to appoint persons to those vacancies and, if the vacated

term is longer than 12 months, set the date for a special election to

permanently fill those vacancies.

The mayor or

mayor pro tem would chose the process council will use to make its selection

and must notify each council member of that process in writing at least

10 days prior to that meeting, the revised charter states.

One portion

of the 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 would allow council members to gather routine information which

city officers and employees could easily and quickly assemble, however.