The ethics

complaint filed by former Peachtree City mayor Bob Lenox against councilman

Steve Rapson will be considered by the city's ethics board Thursday, July

11 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Lenox has complained

about Rapson voting on several issues relating to the city's Development

Authority since Rapson's wife is suing the authority alleging that she

was unfairly paid based on her gender.

If the five-member

ethics board determines the city's ethics code was violated, it can decide

either to admonish Rapson, administer him a formal reprimand or censure

him publicly. If the last choice is selected, the board can recommend

to council that he be removed from office, according to the city's ethics

code.

Any decision

of the ethics board can be appealed to the City Council by Rapson if he

so chooses. After council rules on the matter, Rapson also has the option

of having the decision reviewed by the Fayette Superior Court if he wishes.

The City Council

chooses 10 candidates to serve as the "pool" for the ethics

board and when an issue arises such as this one, five persons from that

pool are selected randomly to hear the ethics complaint in a formal hearing.

Earlier this year, each council member chose two city residents to serve

on the board.

The hearing

will be open to the public, but due to the format of the hearing there

won't likely be a place for the ethics board to accept public comment.

While on other

occasions Rapson has abstained from voting on Development Authority issues,

he recently voted on two motions that resulted in council hiring a special

attorney to investigate the propriety of contracts between the city and

authority that were signed by Lenox last year. The special attorney was

necessary since City Attorney Rick Lindsey was involved in the contract

negotiation process.

Rapson and

councilman Dan Tennant allege that the contract Lenox signed was significantly

different from the one they approved at the council meeting. But Lenox

claims the changes Rapson and Tennant have complained about were in the

contract that council authorized him to sign at the first council meeting

in June of last year.

Lenox's original

ethics complaint against Rapson took on a nasty tone as he alleged that

Rapson could financially gain by putting the Development Authority in

a bad position. Rapson has said he felt compelled to vote to hire the

special attorney because he authored the motion last June before his wife's

lawsuit was filed to authorize Lenox to sign the contract with the Development

Authority.

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