At the same time, the council

also approved a jail inmate agreement with the county under which Fayetteville

will initially pay $43.70 per day to have inmates housed at the county

jail. The same agreement was approved at that time by Peachtree City.

Although the agreement was approved, it "fails to recognize the Fayetteville

taxpayer's substantial contribution to the county's budget," Steele

said, adding that the geographic location of a law breaker's apprehension,

whether within a city or the unincorporated county, "has no rational

bearing on which taxpayers should be responsible for the cost of the resulting

incarceration. That cost should be borne equally by every citizen in Fayette

County because every citizen in Fayette County benefits equally."

A former Fayetteville city

employee's legal action against the city in a two-year-old sexual harassment

case ended at the federal level after a U.S. magistrate judge's order

in May and a U.S. District Court's summary judgment in September.

U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Christopher

Hagy issued an order granting summary judgment in favor of the city on

all counts of former Main Street director Sherri Anderson's complaint.

Anderson filed a formal complaint in January of 2000 against then city

manager Michael Bryant, alleging that Bryant had sexually harassed her

and created a hostile working environment. Accounting clerk Amanda Jones

filed a similar letter with the city at the same time.

Among the allegations are charges

that Bryant frequently invited Anderson and Jones to go out socially after

work hours and, in Anderson's case, retaliated by humiliating her and

attempting to get her to resign when she declined his invitations. The

women also accused Bryant of making sexually loaded comments.

Bryant was later suspended

and ultimately left his position after reaching a separation agreement

with the City Council. Anderson publicly expressed her displeasure with

the city's decision and offered to forego litigation against the city

for a $125,000 out-of-court settlement. The city declined her request

for a settlement. Anderson filed her claims in U.S. Magistrate Court Oct.

6, 2000, according to the city's statement.

Anderson's complaint contained

several counts relating to workplace harassment, and a mediation process

took place in the spring of 2000, as required by federal law before any

lawsuit could be filed. The city never paid Anderson any kind of settlement

relating to her case.

A few months after Hagy's decision,

U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp "issued an order granting summary

judgment in favor of the city on all counts of former city employee Sherri

Anderson's complaint. The order for Summary Judgment was pursuant to various

claims filed by Ms. Anderson on October 6, 2000."

Fayetteville built a new amphitheater

and hosted its inaugural event at the facility late in the summer.

The Villages Amphitheater is

located next to Fayette County High School and is part of a multiuse development

now under construction on that side of town.

Dennis Edwards and the Temptation

Review opened the facility with a show in August, and a 2003 concert schedule

has already been released to the public. That schedule will not be as

extensive as the summer concert series at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater

in Peachtree City, and the Villages Amphitheater will be used more for

community events, including theatrical productions and school functions

for Fayette County High School and several middle schools.

The City Council approved

plans in July to rework the intersection of Ga. Highway 85 and Pine Trail

Road, and that work was completed a couple of months ago.

Some residents of Pine Trail

Road, which runs between Office Depot and the Uptown Square shopping center,

where Ruby Tuesday and Barnes & Noble are located, expressed concerns

that the proposed changes could make Pine Trail Road the main entrance

into Uptown Square and the road would continue to be a cut-through to

Banks Road.

Access to Uptown Square from

Pine Trail Road was originally right-in, right-out only, but the city

changed that and made it a typical intersection.

With the previous design, two

signs warned approaching traffic about the configuration, with instructions

to enter Uptown Square directly from Ga. Highway 85, even if that means

making a U-turn at the stop light when coming from the north. But many

motorists ignored those signs and, when finding themselves on Pine Trail,

simply turn around in residents' driveways just beyond the shopping center,

city officials concluded.

Additional signage was considered

to take care of the problem, but city officials said that the state's

Department of Transportation would not allow that, since that agency also

thought the redesign of the intersection was the best way to go.

An undercover police operation

during the summer resulted in nine businesses being cited by the City

Council for selling alcohol to minors.

The Police Department set out

in early July to see that the city's alcohol license ordinance was being

followed by the 46 businesses in the city that operate under it. Officers

found that 29 of those establishments did not have employees properly

displaying their alcohol permits, and nine businesses sold alcohol to

an undercover operative under the age of 21.

Five of those nine Cobblestone

Amoco, Eckerd on North Glynn Street, Pizza Hut, Pit Stop on North Glynn

Street, and Kwickie/Flash Foods were cited during a similar operation

in 1999, although Eckerd, Pizza Hut and Cobblestone Amoco were under different

licensees at that time. The other establishments cited for this operation

were Applebee's, Publix, Ruby Tuesday and Texaco Food Mart on North Glynn

Street.

All nine were issued $1,000

fines by the City Council, with all but two receiving a warning. The Eckerd

location's license was suspended for 90 days, and Pizza Hut received a

15-day suspension, with a requirement that the restaurant show proof of

stronger measures to educate employees about serving alcohol to keep the

suspension from being extended to 30 days.

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