With all but

one City Council member in attendance at Wednesday night's meeting of

the Peachtree City Airport Authority, both sides exchanged ideas about

possibly changing the way the city funds the airport's operations.

Under an agreement

signed last year by then-mayor Bob Lenox, the Airport Authority receives

$120,000 in hotel-motel tax funds as a "supplement" to operate

the airport. That agreement includes an attachment spelling out that the

supplement will stay at that rate ending after the year 2011.

But current

Mayor Steve Brown says he wants to cut short that date from 10 years to

no longer than three so the current council is not encumbering future

city councils. The current contract is technically in affect for 50 years,

he explained.

There is actually

no ending date listed in the contract, a copy of which has been reviewed

Authority member

Jerry Cobb said they would rather the figure remain at 10 years because

they need a reliable income so they can qualify for loans to fund projects

to improve the airport. But Brown countered that the current agreement

actually allows the authority, "an autonomous body," to spend

tax dollars when that responsibility should lie with the council since

they are elected by the people.

The authority

members are appointed by the City Council.

Cathy Nelmes,

the authority's chairwoman, said she hoped the authority and council could

mutually agree to a new contract, but she was unsure if that could be

done right away since council has hired an independent attorney to determine

the validity of the contract.

Several authority

members said they would agree to a new contract that stipulated the $120,000

in supplemental support from the city's hotel-motel tax ended after 10

years.

The authority

also pointed out that if the length of the contract were shortened to

three years, that would not guarantee financial support of the projects

the airport needs to complete so it can become self-sustaining.

City Councilman

Steve Rapson said it is common in such contracts to have a clause where

either party can give, for example, 30 days notice to terminate or change

the agreement.

Currently,

the contract is worded so that any changes have to be mutually agreed

upon by the authority and the city. That is one of the reasons Brown,

Rapson and councilman Dan Tennant claim they feel the contract is invalid

because the original wording of the contract allowed the city to change

the funding through the contract "at its sole discretion."

Although there

are limits to what projects hotel-motel taxes may be used for, they can

be used for things other than the tennis center and airport, Brown said.

Nelmes previously

pointed out that authority attorney Doug Warner, who also sits on the

city's Development Authority, has agreed to have the airport authority

use a special counsel to confer with about the contract to make sure there

is no appearance of a conflict of interest.

Airport Authority

member Doug Fisher said he was "uncomfortable to have the funding

hanging out there" to possibly be changed in three years.

Councilwoman

Annie McMenamin, who also attended the meeting, said that the airport

authority was originally designed to take the politics out of operating

the airport. She added that nothing in the current contract prevents council

from hammering out a different contract with the authority.

Rapson and

Brown indicated they would rather the airport authority approach the council

for funding its future projects instead of the authority itself going

into debt to expand.

To address

possible concerns about the current council's support of the airport authority,

Brown remarked:

"When

the amphitheater needed restrooms, we made sure they got them. When the

tennis center needed new courts, we made sure we got those."

Brown also

said that he had planned for the city to purchase the approximately 20

acres adjacent to the airport which authority officials want to insure

Falcon Field can expand in the future. But before council took action,

the authority received a federal grant for the land purchase.

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