The race for

mayor of Peachtree City has certainly heated up with the week-long election

qualification period that began Monday morning.

Thursday, two candidates had officially qualified for the mayor's race:

Steve Brown, who announced his candidacy back in March, and surprise candidate

Dan Lakly, a former city councilman, county commissioner and state legislator.

At least two

other mayoral candidates are expected to qualify before 4:30 p.m. today:

Fred Wellman and Frank Murphy. Wellman has been publicly campaigning for

several months while Murphy put the public on notice at last week's City

Council meeting when Mayor Bob Lenox gave potential candidates the chance

to address the public.

Prior to Murphy's

announcement last week, it was believed that Brown and Wellman could be

the only mayoral candidates, particularly after current Councilman Dan

Tennant announced he would not seek the mayor's post.

Also by Tuesday

morning, five people had qualified for two seats on the City Council.

Both incumbents, Carol Fritz and Steve Rapson, have qualified for their

respective posts.

Former City

Clerk Nancy Faulkner has qualified to run against Rapson as his only challenger

so far. Municipal attorney Murray Weed and newcomer Alison Chambers have

qualified to run against Fritz.

All this information

was gathered Thursday at lunch time, but as City Public Information Officer

Betsy Tyler noted then, "There is still a full day and a half left."

In a press

release to The Citizen last week, Murphy said focusing on families and

smart growth is crucial to maintaining the lifestyle for Peachtree City

residents.

Murphy pointed

out that traffic at the intersection of Ga. Highways 54 and 74 is a concern,

but solutions need to be sought for the problems. He suggested having

major industries stagger their operating hours as a partial solution.

"Every

city has growing pains," Murphy said. "We need to be prepared

to handle these challenges with minimal interruption to our lifestyle."

Murphy formerly

served as the city's director of emergency medical services and as an

officer in the Peachtree City Fire Department.

Lakly has not

contacted The Citizen with any information about his upcoming campaign.

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