Judi-ann Rutherford will walk

away quietly from her job as office manager of the Frederick Brown Jr.

Amphitheater today.

She'll be sworn in Monday

to replace Annie McMenamin at Post 1 on the Peachtree City Council.

Among the very first items

of business for the council Monday is consideration of changes to the

articles of incorporation and bylaws for the Peachtree City Tourism Association,

the group opposed by McMenamin and former Post 2 Councilman Dan Tennant,

who will be replaced Monday by Stuart Kourajian.

Rutherford said she will abstain

from discussing or voting on any Tourism Association business Monday,

though she sees no violation of ethics rules.

"I will choose to recuse

myself," Rutherford said Monday. "Whatever happens, happens."

That attitude has served Rutherford

well to this point. Declaring her run for City Council in September, the

Maine native insisted throughout the campaign that her job at the amphitheater

was not in conflict with serving on the council.

That position remained correct,

legally anyway, until McMenamin and Tennant forced a halt to a proposal

for the Tourism Association to take over the amphitheater and tennis center

operations from the city on Dec. 1.

The 11th-hour alternative of

the city taking on the venue employees temporarily forced Rutherford to

choose between her job or the council seat, since the city charter forbids

elected officials from being employed by the city in any fashion.

The volunteer tourism board

of directors is chaired by Councilman Steve Rapson and co-chaired by Councilman

Murray Weed, and includes City Manager Bernard McMullen and Finance Director

Paul Salvatore.

Plans are still in the works

for the nonprofit Tourism Association to assume responsibility for the

venues and employees in mid-January, but Rutherford is uncommitted about

whether or not she intends to try and get her job back.

"It would not be wise

to make assumptions at this point," said Rutherford. "I have

never assumed I would be offered my old job back."

She has sent out resumes and

is promoting herself on the job search engine Monster.Com, she said. If

her old position is still available come mid-January and she remains unemployed,

she will consider any alternatives.

"Would I apply right now,

if they said it's open and you are no longer a city employee?"

she asked hypothetically. "Yeah, but there's no guarantee I

would get it, and there's no telling what will come along between

now and then."

Rutherford's stint at

the amphitheater started shortly after moving to Peachtree City seven

years ago, volunteering for concerts and events. Her hard work caught

the eye of Donna Romeo, who took over as manager of the amphitheater about

two years ago. Romeo hired Rutherford "permanent part-time"

as office manager, Rutherford said.

At the time the prospect of

benefits and health insurance for her and her husband was an incentive,

but that isn't an issue as she seeks a new job, Rutherford said.

"I am no longer in the

position to have to work for the benefits," she said. "I came