The leading candidate to be

Peachtree City's next city manager will come into the job with a distinct

advantage, having lived in the community for 11 years.

And his commute won't be so

bad, either.

If all goes as planned, Bernard

J. McMullen will have a five-minute drive to work at City Hall. Currently,

he drives 45 minutes one way each morning to his job in downtown Atlanta

as director of the General Services Department of Fulton County.

In a 4-0 vote Thursday night,

with Mayor Steve Brown absent on business, the City Council agreed to

begin negotiation of salary and terms with McMullen. That was a surprise

move, since state law requires that the top three candidates for an executive

position be identified 14 days before a decision can be announced.

But in this case, the other

candidates withdrew their names from consideration when it became clear

to them that McMullen was the favorite, said City Attorney Ted Meeker.

Of those, one chose not to have his or her personal information released,

which is also within the law. The third candidate was Donald William Norton,

who has been manager of Troup County since 1994.

McMullen had been the sole

leading candidate for several weeks, and seems ideally suited for the

job. "I don't know all the details in terms of the operations of

the city, but I feel I have a good flavor and understanding of the city,

an understanding of what makes Peachtree City what it is," he said.

As director of General Services

in Fulton, McMullen oversees a department responsible for the upkeep and

operation of nearly 600 county buildings and more than 2,000 vehicles.

He supervises a staff of 365 people with a direct annual operating budget

of $30 million, about the same as Peachree City. His department is responsible

for managing in excess of $100 million more each year in capital improvement

programs for various Fulton County departments.

"I've got the same basic

tools, the personnel management skills, the budget management skills"

as those that the city manager job requires, he said.

McMullen recounted that when

he came to Atlanta and begin looking for a place to live, "I drove

down Highway 74 the first time and before I got to Peachtree City, I said,

'This is the place.'

"That first impression

we give visitors, that's one of the things I want to make sure we keep

that way," he said, "so people will continue to want to come

here and live here."

McMullen will come to work

for the city at a challenging time. As "buildout" of the city's

master plan approaches, the slowdown in new home construction has meant

a drop in revenue from impact fees and growth in the tax digest. City

politics has also taken on a more contentious tone of late.

"One of the things we've

got to do is plan for buildout," he said. "In other words, what's

the impact of when we reach buildout? What we do now to change will prepare

us for the future."

McMullen, who retired from

the Air Force in 1992, is a 1970 graduate of Penn State University with

a degree in mechanical engineering, with additional degrees in management.

He and his wife have two adult children, a son who lives in Peachtree

City and a daughter in Alpharetta.

Brown, who was touring San

Francisco with a group of metro business and government leaders last week,

had said earlier that the council might name its first choice for the

job at Thursday's meeting. An official vote on the appointment will likely

be made May 15.

He will replace longtime city

manager Jim Basinger, who retired last September.