After months

of development and tweaking, Peachtree City may soon have its new charter

and related ordinances.

City Council

is expected to vote on the matter at its meeting Thursday night. The first

reading of the charter was passed in June, although council withheld adopting

it so the related ordinances could be developed by City Attorney Rick

Lindsey.

The new charter

includes 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, would retain "general supervision and

jurisdiction over the affairs" of Peachtree City.

The mayor's

power to veto has been taken away, mostly a technical change 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 be terminated or removed from the

position only 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 tempore 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.

The charter

review process began back in December at the request of Councilwoman Carol

Fritz, who said at the time that much of the document was outdated and

should be studied by council.

In addition

to rewriting portions of the charter to match with state law that has

changed over the years, City Attorney Rick Lindsey said he also intended

to simplify parts of the charter so citizens could better understand council's

intentions.

The charter

will also include references to the recreational path system, particularly

in portions discussing the city rights of way.