Mayor Steve Brown said he will

make a proposal soon to the City Council to address an estimated $1.5

million in unsecured debt incurred by the Development Authority of Peachtree

City, which is penniless.

Meeting in executive session

last week, the council allegedly discussed options for getting the DAPC

through the crisis, even though city officials contend that they have

no legal responsibility in the matter.

Citing legalities, officials

at City Hall refuse to comment. But Brown restated his position on the

debt issue.

"Essentially, the authority

is an autonomous government body under the state constitution," Brown

emphasized earlier this week. "We are not responsible for their debt."

But Robert Brooks, one of three

remaining members of the original seven-member DAPC board, informed the

mayor and council in a letter dated Jan. 7 that by discontinuing the authority's

"monthly stipend" of hotel-motel tax dollars, it left them with

no income and no way to pay creditors.

"I have been contacted

take legal action against the authority and the city. This will force

the authority to liquidate its assets."

Publicly they wouldn't

comment on Brooks' threat, but privately city officials seemed unconcerned

that local banks would consider pursuing the matter in the courts, especially

since bank officers are believed to have knowingly signed off on lines

of credit to the DAPC for years.

Brown responded in a letter

to Brooks dated Jan. 16 and written on city letterhead that, as a city

councilman during the time the DAPC was charged with operating the amphitheater

and tennis center, Brooks shared in the responsibility for incurring the

debt.

"Personally, I would prefer

that you bow out and leave the resolution of this matter to objective

parties," Brown wrote. "Some very capable individuals have made

application for a seat on the authority."

What assets belong to the DAPC

is questionable.

Earlier this month, the DAPC

had to borrow $15,000 from the city just to conduct its annual audit.

The DAPC's assets, which Brooks said have value of more than $1.6

million, include some physical property that clearly belongs to the city

already, Brown contends.

Essentially, anything that

the DAPC bought, built or improved at the amphitheater or tennis center

using funds generated from hotel-motel tax collections already belongs

to the city, while physical assets built from DAPC-generated profits are

transferable. But the DAPC rarely, if ever, turned a profit in 10 years

of running the facilities.

"We're looking at

it from the legal perspective," said Brown. "What is our best

strategy, and what do we want to do? I think eventually we'll want

to purchase some of these items, but it needs to be clear that the authority

doesn't own them, the banks own them."

What the city is trying to

avoid, said Brown, is buying back stuff it has already paid for.

Meanwhile, recommendations

to fill the four empty seats on the DAPC board should come before the

council sometime in Feburary.�Interviews were conducted earlier this month

of 10 Peachtree Citians who applied.

City spokeswoman Betsy Tyler

said a cross-section of residents, several with business or industry ties,

filed for consideration to the DAPC, which intends to focus on its original

mission - industrial development - as soon as the debt issue

is resolved.

Brooks, Scott Formel and Bill

Boxley are�the three remaining members.