Claiming that it "handcuffs"

the current City Council, Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown wants an investigation

into the contracts approved by last year's council that dedicate hotel-motel

tax funds to the city's development and airport authorities.

The agreements, signed by former

Mayor Bob Lenox last July, provide hotel-motel tax funds to cover the

authorities' operating expenses and debt for the airport, tennis center

and amphitheater.

Council will meet tonight at

7 p.m. in a special called meeting to discuss hiring a special attorney

to investigate the matter.

At last Thursday's regular

council meeting, Brown claimed Lenox signed the agreement though there

was a significant change made after council voted to give him that authority.

But Lenox said Monday that

each council member was e-mailed a copy of that change by City Manager

Jim Basinger the day before the council meeting. That was confirmed by

City Attorney Rick Lindsey, who said none of the council members asked

him about the change before voting unanimously to authorize the mayor

to sign the agreements at its June 7 meeting.

The change, which was requested

with the city before the city can reduce the hotel-motel funds it gives

to the authorities. The previous language in the contract allowed the

city to reduce the funds "at its sole discretion."

"There were no major revisions

or changes after the fact," Lenox told The Citizen Monday.

"Nothing evil happened.

... It was done in front of them," Lindsey said Monday. He added

that there were no significant changes to the documents from between the

time council voted to have Lenox sign it and the day he signed them: July

31.

Such changes are common since

the information provided to council is due so early that circumstances

can change by the time the meeting is held, Lindsey noted.

"This happens all the

time because we do things early to put them on the books," Lindsey

said.

Councilmen Steve Rapson and

Dan Tennant, who voted in favor of the contracts last year, also voted

with Brown and new councilman Murray Weed to hire the special attorney.

Ironically, Rapson made the motion at the June 7 meeting to have Lenox

sign the contracts ... and Tennant seconded it.

Councilwoman Annie McMenamin

abstained from voting to hire a special attorney for the matter, claiming

this was the first she had heard of the issue. She also argued that no

action should have taken place since the item wasn't on the agenda.

McMenamin was left out of the

pre-meeting discussion between council members partly because her daughter

is an attorney in the same firm that employs Lindsey.

"Point blank, I didn't

want her to sabotage my research efforts," Brown said in an interview

Friday morning.

Lindsey negotiated the contracts

on behalf of the city. Since he participated in those negotiations, the

matter should be investigated by outside counsel, Brown said.

Brown said he would be happy

if the authorities agreed to change the language about funding changes