Beginning next

year, Peachtree City will have a separate city attorney and municipal

court solicitor.

The City Council

has selected the firm of Saunders, Haugen, Sears and Meeker, P.C. to serve

as city attorney. Warren A. Sellers, P.C. was chosen to serve as city

solicitor. Saunders, Haugen, Sears and Meeker, P.C. currently serves as

the town attorney for Tyrone while Sellers also currently serves as the

city solicitor for Fayetteville.

The arrangement

will allow current city attorney and solicitor Rick Lindsey to complete

a transition period and get the new attorneys up to speed before his departure.

Lindsey chose to resign earlier this year and resisted a request from

councilman Steve Rapson to reconsider staying on board.

Lindsey said

he has enjoyed serving the city, but he felt it was time for him to move

on.

Saunders, Haugen,

Sears and Meeker, P.C. will charge the city $110 per hour for city attorney

services with no retainer. Using the hours recorded by Lindsey for the

2002 fiscal year, city staff project a savings of $28,412 for the services.

Sellers has

agreed to a flat rate of $48,000 for the entire year with an additional

$100-per-hour fee for working on appeals cases that arise from municipal

court. Based on the solicitor costs paid by the city for 2002, this would

save an estimated $42,572, according to city staff.

Lindsey said

Sellers may raise his flat fee next year since Peachtree City Police Chief

James Murray requires the solicitor's presence whenever a defense attorney

wants to speak with a police officer.

"It's

a lot of hours looking at (video) tapes, talking with defense attorneys,

talking with officers," Lindsey said.

Although many

applications were received from lawyers wishing to serve in both roles

as an in-house attorney, city staff determined that would cost over $300,000

to accomplish, said Finance Director Paul Salvatore.

Neither appointment

was filled unanimously since councilwoman Annie McMenamin abstained on

both votes, complaining that the entire council should have reviewed each

application and selected the top two or three candidates. Councilman Murray

Weed, himself a municipal attorney for Hapeville, performed that service

at the request of Mayor Steve Brown.

McMenamin said

Brown "overstepped" his authority in asking Weed to perform

that function. But Brown argued that the documents were available for

review at City Hall and McMenamin could have requested to see them.

Weed insisted

that the top selections for each position were well-qualified. He added

as a disclaimer that Ted Meeker, an attorney with Saunders, Haugen, Sears

and Meeker, P.C., contributed to his campaign, but Lindsey determined

Weed could still vote on the issue and not violate the city's ethics ordinance.