Qualifying

begins Monday morning for city council elections in Tyrone, Fayetteville

and Peachtree City, but nobody is expecting a stampede of residents anxious

to enter the political arena.

Before last

week, Peachtree City Post 2 Councilman Dan Tennant remained the only announced

candidate in the two seats up for grabs this November in the county's

largest municipality.

Lee H. Poolman,

a three-year resident of The Enclave who works in the Fulton County finance

department as a systems manager, announced Aug. 25 that he will run in

Peachtree City as well, though it was unclear whether he would contest

Tennant at Post 2, or run for the Post 1 seat held by Annie McMenamin,

who is retiring from city politics after 13 years in office.

City councilmen

run at-large, or citywide, but are assigned to individual seats or "posts"

on the council platform.

Things are

only slightly less suspenseful in Fayetteville, where Mayor Ken Steele

has said he will run again. Council Posts 1 and 2 are also up for renewal,

with Post 2 Councilman Glenn Brewer already declaring his intentions to

seek another term. Mayor Pro Tem Larry Dell, who holds the Post 1 spot,

was still unsure last week.

According to

Tyrone Mayor Sheryl Lee, neither of the incumbents up for reelection in

the west Fayette town has expressed their intentions either way, though

she said she stays out of the election arena unless she's running herself.

Lisa H. Richardson

holds the Post 3 seat, and Raymond J. Bogenschutz is the incumbent at

Post 4. There are no other announced candidates so far.

Brooks and

Woolsey will also hold elections for councils this Nov. 4 if there are

contested races in those towns, but a spokeswoman at the county elections

office said that can't be known until qualifying comes to an end on Friday,

Sept. 12.

The lack of

candidates in Peachtree City surprises some, but the city's tough financial

straits and simmering council feuds have turned off many potential leaders,

many observe.

McMenamin earlier

this year said she would seek out and encourage candidates who were considering

running to fill her Post 1 seat, first won in 1990 when the city's population

was barely 20,000.

She said last

month that she knew of no one who was seriously thinking about jumping

head-first into Peachtree City's tumultuous political waters.

Over the past

year, McMenamin, along with Tennant, has found herself in frequent and

oftentimes heated disagreement with Mayor Steve Brown, who was elected

in 2001.

A political

action group formed in the spring to promote candidates for city council

has come up mostly empty as well in the search for politicos.

DIRECT PAC

will focus on issues related to the city as well as those running for

office, an officer said.

Tennant, seeking

to reclaim his Post 2 seat for another four-year term, was the first candidate

to declare for reelection, doing so back in April. He doesn't regret the

decision.

"I don't

take this lightly," he said. "I know I will have one or two

or three people to run against me and I don't like playing catchup."

Tennant said

his campaign has already raised "several thousand dollars."

He said the

small field is surprising, but not unexpected.

"I thought

there would be one or more candidates in the Fourth of July parade vying

for my seat, but on the other hand there may be a larger pool of candidates

who plan to run for the open seat rather than mine," Tennant suggested.

"I know

I'm going to have competition," he said. "And we want it to

be a clean and honest campaign that deals with the issues Peachtree City

voters are concerned about.

Qualifying

runs from 8:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 8, to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept 12, except

for the city of Fayetteville, where it closes at end of business Wednesday,

Sept. 10.