Proving how

"unique" the business model is for the Peachtree City Tennis

Center, its pro shop is not operated by the city or even the Development

Authority, which oversees the center's operations.

The pro shop

otherwise known as The Trader's Post is operated by Virgil Christian,

the former director of the tennis center who was recently promoted to

executive director of the Development Authority. The arrangement, which

in essence provides Christian with free rent for the pro shop space at

the center, was originally suggested by the consultant who conducted the

national search for the fledgling tennis center's director, said Development

Authority Chairman Tate Godfrey.

"We were

told it was an industry standard," Godfrey said, pointing out that

in three of the five years Christian has operated the pro shop it has

lost money. In those five years, the shop has a net profit of $18,940,

though Christian used it one year to give Christmas bonuses to tennis

center employees to the tune of "several thousand dollars,"

Godfrey said.

"Not only

is this not a windfall, but it's a pittance," Godfrey told The Citizen

Friday.

In an e-mail

from Mayor Steve Brown to Dan Tennant that was read at Thursday's City

Council meeting by councilwoman Annie McMenamin, Brown accused Christian

"of pocketing the profits" from the pro shop.

In actuality,

Christian is the proprietor of the pro shop, and he took the risk of purchasing

merchandise to sell at the shop with a personal loan, Godfrey said.

"To say

that he is doing anything but a great job and exactly what he have expected

of him to do is wrong," Godfrey said.

Godfrey argued

that providing the services in the pro shop such as stringing rackets

has benefitted the tennis center. The arrangement was detailed in the

employment agreement signed by Christian and the authority when he first

came to work here in 1994, Godfrey said.

The agreement

calls for the arrangement to be renegotiated once the new building is

built for the tennis center. The building, which includes space for a

pro shop, is part of the $2.5 million expansion the center is currently

undergoing.

Christian will

pay rent for the space at the new facility, Godfrey said. The authority

chairman also said Christian was selling shares to other key tennis center

employees so they could become involved in the operations of the pro shop

if they choose to.

The tennis

center itself, which is open to the public, is mainly funded with revenues

from memberships and court fees which are assessed to non-members who

play there. The center also receives funds from the hotel-motel tax as

a supplement to help it break even.