The Development

Authority of Peachtree City reversed course Wednesday, voting to rescind

last week's decision to return management of the Fred Brown Jr. Amphitheater

and Peachtree City Tennis Center to the city by the end of the month and

buying time for alternatives to be considered.

In a hastily

arranged meeting called at the urging of Councilman Dan Tennant, the DAPC

voted 4-0 to delay the offer made Sept. 25 to the city council.

The resignation

of DAPC Executive Director Virgil Christian will stand, however.

DAPC Chairman

Tate Godfrey said there wasn't enough time for authority members to meet

with city staff on the transition before a Wednesday deadline for submitting

a formal letter of resignation. The postponement also allows time to hear

from a number of private groups that have expressed interest this week

in taking over the facilities as well.

Among the proposals

is one being put together by Tommy Turner, president of AIS Computers

in Fayetteville and a founding member of the Tennis Center.

"I'm not

on one side or the other," said Turner, a Fayetteville resident,

of the political turmoil that has surrounded the Tennis Center's management

structure, stirred up largely by Mayor Steve Brown.

"The

challenge is the Tennis Center has become a political football that keeps

bouncing back and forth from one side to the other," said Turner.

"No government official, no member of the tennis center approached

me to do this. And I'll be the first to say if somebody steps up with

a better idea, I'll be happy to hand it off to them."

Turner's goal

is to pull together 15 investors, each contributing $10,000 to shore up

the Tennis Center's finances. The partnership would not, however, accept

responsibility for the DAPC's debt, incurred mostly during last year's

expansion of the facility.

"I really

don't want any part of the debt," Turner said. "My preference

is that the debt stay with the Development Authority or the city. I don't

want any of that baggage."

Such legal

questions remain to be worked out, all sides agree, and the role of the

DAPC in the relationship could play into the feasibility of Turner's proposal.

Turner declined

to name any of the potential partners, but did indicate the majority,

unlike himself, are Peachtree City residents with Tennis Center interests

who want to see the venue back on firm financial footing.

Charges of

cost overruns and other mismanagement allegations against Christian, the

former DAPC executive director, led to his resignation last week.

"This

is not a profit-making venture," said Turner. "If these investors

are looking for a profit, this is not the place. It's an effort to maintain

the world class facilities that exist there now. I don't want to see them

go by the wayside."

Brown, who

just learned of the investment group Thursday morning, said he's opposed

to Turner's offer as long as the DAPC maintains a role.

"What

do they need the development authority for?" asked Brown. "I

don't support it at all through the development authority."

Brown said

among the rumored investors in Turner's idea is former Peachtree City

Mayor Bob Lenox. "He's the reason we're in this mess to start with,"

he said.

The original

agreement for the DAPC to manage the amphitheater and develop the Tennis

Center was made during Lenox's administration.

The DAPC's

termination offer was to have been made official this week with a letter

from the authority to the city outlining details, but a required meeting

with the city's top managers didn't take place until Wednesday.

"The

only way for us to take action in regard to possibly rescinding our vote

last Thursday was to meet today in special session," said DAPC Chairman

Tate Godfrey, reading from a prepared statement prior to Wednesday's vote.

The lack of

24-hour notice of the meeting was within the law, due to the urgency of

the matter, officials indicated.

Tennant, the

Post 2 councilman who is running for reelection in November, dismissed

charges by Brown that his hands-on effort to delay the DAPC's final decision

is merely an attempt to win favor with voters, especially the 650 members

of the Tennis Center.

"What

I don't want to see is a knee-jerk reaction that is going t o

create more problems than we have now," said Tennant. "There

simply is not enough time for the staff to come up with an orderly transition

to take place."

As evidence,

he referred to an e-mail sent to him from former DAPC Vice Chairman Scott

Bradshaw, whose Sept. 23 resignation and details of alleged improprieties

on the part of Christian set off the series of events last week.

In the correspondence,

Bradshaw outlined his belief that it would take 90 to 120 days to make

an orderly transition of management duties, Tennant said.

Further, said

Tennant, the delay offers more proposals to be made, including the one

from Turner.

"In no

way am I insistent on the Development Authority being the only alternative

to managing these venues," said Tennant.

"It was

an emotional time, a great amount of turmoil created, courtesy of Steve

Brown's unquenching thirst to tear this authority apart," said Tennant

of last week's sudden decision to cancel the management contract. "They

simply grew sick and tired of it."

Just four of

the five sitting members of the authority were at the Wednesday meeting,

barely a quorum. Those voting for the delay were Chairman Godfrey, Belinda

Sward, Bill Bexley and Bob Brooks. Scott Formel was out of the country

on business. Bradshaw's resignation left two vacant seats on the seven-member

board, with the other made vacant with the July death of Brian Palmitessa.