Virgil Christian, executive

director of the Development Authority of Peachtree City, believes Peachtree

City Mayor Steve Brown is out to have him fired.

"I'm next on the list,"

Christian said last week at a meeting of the Development Authority. Christian

said he feels he is being targeted because of his compensation, which

last year was over $100,000.

Mayor Brown denied the accusation,

saying he doesn't care how much Christian is paid as long as the Development

Authority eliminates its dependence on hotel-motel tax revenues to operate

the city's Tennis Center and amphitheater.

"They're taking a financial

issue and turning it into an emotional issue," Brown said, noting

Christian is the highest paid government employee in the county. "That's

not a big issue for me. The big issue for me is self-sufficiency. I have

given them assurances this is not a Virgil Christian thing."

But authority member Robert

Brooks, a former city councilman, said Mayor Brown has told him "point-blank

... he doesn't think Virgil does a good job" and that the Tennis

Center could be run much better than it is.

Christian's employment contract

calls for a base pay of $30,000 with incentives based on the success of

the Tennis Center. Discussions are underway to make cuts in the compensation

package to help get the authority's budget down "because that's what

leaders do," Christian said.

Authority chairman Tate Godfrey

said taking Christian away from the Tennis Center would likely result

in the loss of its sponsors.

"They're there because

they trust Virgil Christian," Godfrey said.

Christian is still working

under the same contract that he signed when he agreed to be the Tennis

Center's first director back in 1994. Now, as executive director of the

Development Authority, he is focusing more on economic development issues

while maintaining oversight of the Tennis Center and amphitheater operations.

The recent addition of Clayton

State College and State University's higher education center is the authority's

biggest accomplishment in a long time, Christian said. The center, which

currently offers continuing education courses, may begin offering college

credit courses as soon as February, he said.

In as little as three years,

the university might break ground on its own building in Peachtree City,

Christian added.

"We have some leaders

in town who are upset about the university center in Peachtree City,"

Christian said. "They want it to go away ... because the Development

Authority did it."

The various state and national

tournaments hosted by the Tennis Center bring a hefty chunk of tourism

to Peachtree City, Christian added. A total of 3,000 hotel rooms are booked

for those tournaments next year; multiply that by the $100-per-night room

charge, and you've got an economic impact of $300,000, he said.

The amphitheater also had its

best year with the summer concert series experiencing sellouts, Christian

added.

Christian said he wouldn't

mind changing the business model of the facilities if there was a better

one. But no one in leadership has done so, he said.

"It's all about 'I want

to change this,'" Christian said, referring to Brown's hotel-motel

tax reduction campaign. "'Because I covet the hotel-motel tax.'"

Some city officials want the

authority to conduct "cold calling" campaigns to lure businesses

away from other areas in the state, Christian said.

"We're not going to do

cold calling," he said. "That's how you get kicked out of the

game."

Efforts to attract businesses

to Peachtree City should be focused on smaller businesses and helping

existing industries along with enhancing educational opportunities, Christian

said. There are no more large tracts of land left in the city to attract

large corporations, he said.

Moreover, all the recent political

turmoil between city council members and the authority have turned off

business prospects who initially considered Peachtree City, Christian

said.

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