Upset with

the performance of current City Attorney Rick Lindsey, Peachtree City

Mayor Steve Brown wants to hire a new person for the job.

Brown would

not reveal whether the idea has the support of other council members,

calling it "volatile speculation." But as far as he's concerned,

"I think it might be better if we looked for an external source."

Brown is upset

about a recent legal opinion from Lindsey that concluded the mayor did

not have to face the ethics board over a minor issue in which the mayor

turned himself in. Brown, however, wants to face the music partly to "promote"

ethics in city government.

Brown cited

himself for allowing a city employee to take his daughter to golf practice

because he could not do so due to a conflict in his mayoral schedule for

a meeting on local sales tax issues. Brown has also offered to reimburse

the city with a payment for the employee's time in performing that task.

Brown said

he feels a formal ethics board hearing would promote ethics in the city

and as mayor he feels the need to be held accountable. He also added that

in the current political climate, "I've got people gunning for me

and waiting for me to do something they can slam me on.

"I don't

want people to come forward and say only certain people have to come before

the ethics board and some don't," Brown said. "... I am very

much in favor of an open process and making sure everybody gets heard."

Lindsey indicated

to Brown that a formal ethics board hearing is not necessary unless someone

files a written ethics complaint against him.

"I don't

have any confidence in that opinion," Brown said.

Brown also

questioned several of Lindsey's recent actions in highlighting his reasons

for considering a change in the city attorney position.

"He is

involved in a contractual dispute," Brown said, referring to the

brouhaha over hotel-motel tax contracts that Lindsey negotiated on behalf

of the city last year. Several council members have claimed that the contracts

were changed significantly from the version council approved having Mayor

Bob Lenox sign last year. Lenox contends the changes were provided to

council members before they voted on the issue.

Lindsey failed

to show up to the resulting ethics hearing on a complaint against councilman

Steve Rapson, Brown said. Lindsey was also not present when council voted

to have an independent counsel review the contract dispute, Brown said.

The mayor also

alleged that Lindsey's legal opinion forbidding Rapson from voting on

Development Authority matters because of his wife's lawsuit against the

authority should not have applied in that situation. Kristi Rapson has

sued the authority claiming she was unfairly paid compared to the compensation

provided to former tennis center director Virgil Christian, who is now

the executive director of the authority.

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