Judi-ann Rutherford can keep

her job with the Fred Brown Jr. Amphitheater and still serve on the City

Council if elected in a Nov. 25 runoff, Peachtree City Attorney Ted Meeker

decided Wednesday.

The legal opinion was made

public Wednesday night during the first business meeting of the Peachtree

City Tourism Association, Inc., a new non-profit agency proposed by City

Manager Bernard McMullen that will take over operation of the amphitheater

and Peachtree City Tennis Center on Dec. 1.

"Tell everyone I'm

good to go," Post 1 candidate Rutherford declared after hearing the

news Wednesday night. "As I said all along, my conflict is very clear:

I am not a city employee."

Meeker agreed. In the legal

opinion requested by McMullen, Meeker wrote, "My understanding is

that employees of the Development Authority of Peachtree City will not

become city employees, but will rather become employees of the Peachtree

City Tourism Association, a non-profit entity."

That distinction was important,

Meeker noted, because there was no question about Rutherford's ability

to run for City Council prior to Sept. 25, when the Development Authority

announced it was returning management of the amphitheater and tennis center

to City Hall.

It got slightly more complicated

two weeks ago when McMullen proposed creation of the Tourism Association

and proposed seating himself, two city councilmen, the city finance director

and recreation commission chairman as its first board of directors.

Meeker came to his conclusion

after reviewing the Georgia Constitution, the Official Code of Georgia

and the city charter.

"The law historically

favors the rights of an average citizen to run for public office, in spite

of the potential for conflict," said Meeker. If conflict does arise,

it should be dealt with, he said, but the potential for conflict shouldn't

be cause not to seek public office.

Rutherford has maintained all

along that as long as a independent, non-profit agency removed from city

government were managing the amphitheater, she would have no conflict.

She will not be able to serve on the tourism board, nor vote on matters

related to appointments to the tourism board. She'll also abstain

from decisions regarding distribution of the city's hotel-motel tax,

which helps fund the operation of the venues.

"There is no legal reason

why Ms. Rutherford cannot run for and hold the office of council member

while at the same time being employed by the non-profit association,"

Meeker concluded.

Rutherford came within 20 votes

of winning a majority in the Nov. 4 election for Post 1. She and the second-place

vote-getter, Lee H. Poolman, will face off again in a runoff on Tuesday,

Nov. 25.

Poolman has urged Rutherford

to drop out of the race in the days since then, arguing it would save

the taxpayers the expense of a runoff.

Poolman did not attend Wednesday's

tourism association meeting and could not be reached for comment on Thursday.