Long-simmering frustrations

about the direction of the city and the performance of Mayor Steve Brown

reached a boiling point for two members of the Peachtree City Council

last week, who stated their lack of confidence in his abilities to lead

and suggested his actions are damaging the reputation of the city.

At the same time, the other

two councilmen voiced support for Brown, and especially his criticism

of the county Chamber of Commerce for scheduling a meeting of invited

elected officials that by design circumvents the state's open meetings

law.

On one side are councilmen

Dan Tennant and Annie McMenamin, who say they welcome the opportunity

to get together with elected officers from other municipalities and will

attend the meeting, set for Friday morning at the old courthouse in Fayetteville,

now the home of the Chamber.

On the other side are councilmen

Murray Weed and Steve Rapson, who rejected the invitation to attend the

Government Liaison Committee meetings and side with Brown in charging

that the Chamber has intentionally designed the guest list to avoid having

to open it to the public or media.

All four are passionate about

their positions, particularly in regards to Brown and his frequent charges

of malfeasance in local government.

"Steve Brown is destroying

the very fabric of this city," said McMenamin, a 13-year veteran

of the council who retires in December. "He's hurting the city in

so many ways. He's hurting business, development, industry."

Added Tennant, "Steve

Brown is not a leader. Leaders build consensus, Steve divides."

Rapson had a different opinion:

"If you go back over the course of the last year that Steve Brown

has been in office and look at the votes that were tied, 90 percent of

them were related to the Development Authority."

Said Weed, an attorney known

for going by the book at council meetings, "I can not participate

in any event knowing that its purpose is to circumvent the Sunshine Law,

and I support Mayor Brown's stand on the issue."

The disagreement has stirred

a flurry of letter writing. Both Rapson and Brown's responses were forwarded

to The Citizen and printed last week, alongside the invitation penned

This week, Tennant wrote a

rebuttal and acceptance. It appears today on Page 5A.

Chamber officials were mostly

silent about their intentions, but Chairman Jim Pace expressed regret

for the language of the invitation last week. It was not known who else

planned to attend.

Both Tennant, who is up for

relection this fall, and Brown admit their relationship is strained. Tennant

contributed to Brown's campaign in 2001, but both men now say they seldom

see eye to eye. When Brown went out of town last week and missed a council

meeting, Tennant as mayor pro tem amended the agenda to add discussion

regarding the Development Authority's finances, an issue Brown has been

pursuing for months.

"I wanted to let everybody

know that this wasn't sitting dormant," Tennant said, referring to

efforts to eliminate the authority's debt.

Brown replied on Tuesday, "I

was really disappointed that Dan would bring up the Tennis Center overage

when he knew that I was not there. But that's Dan. He's kind of moving

out on his own agenda."

Agendas are alleged in both

camps.

"The Chamber made an effort

to get us all together and then Steve Brown goes and makes a mess of it,"

said Tennant. "I supported him in the election, but as soon as he

took office his agenda changed. His personal agenda now is to save the

city."

Brown said, "Dan is heading

in another direction. He has changed his platform 180 degrees, and it

is sad to me. I go to meetings and speaking engagements and I constantly

have people ask me, 'What's going on with Dan Tennant? And I don't know."

McMenamin offered a similar,

though opposite, assessment: "When your legislative body in Atlanta

meets with local people, the first thing they ask is, 'What's happened

to Peachtree City?' This community used to be the very envy, the pride

and joy for the rest of the state. We are no longer."

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