The makeup of the Peachtree

City Tourism Association's Board of Directors, the center of a spat

in November that canceled a City Council meeting, may look dramatically

different as early as September.

Monday night, the City Council

approved a lease agreement with the PCTA to operate the Frederick Brown

Jr. Amphitheater and Peachtree City Tennis Center starting Jan. 19, as

well as a combined Tourism Association budget that includes completely

independent spending plans for each venues.

But a number of changes to

the PCTA's "Articles of Incorporation" took up most of

the discussion, specifically those sections about who should serve on

the tourism board and for how long.

Meeting last week, the tourism

board elected to change the makeup of the appointed group at the end of

2004, to include two citizens, one council member, the chairman of the

city's Recreation Commission and the city manager or his "designee."

Currently, the board includes two councilmen and the city's finance

director, Paul Salvatore.

From the audience, former Falcon

Field Manager Jim Savage pointed out that the bylaws didn't mention

length of term. Mayor Steve Brown offered that two-year terms, staggered

with no consecutive terms allowed would suffice, expressing fears that

lengthy service would somehow encourage members to profit.

Councilman Steve Rapson, chairman

of the PCTA Board, proposed three-year terms, also staggered.

New Councilman Stuart Kourajian

asked why a member of the council had to be on the board at all.

"I think you may be shooting

yourself in the foot," said Murray Weed, the other councilman on

the tourism board, arguing for longer terms and keeping a City Council

representative on the board indefinitely.

"We felt like the venues

may have suffered in the past from a lack of attention and support from

the council," said Weed, who stressed financial accountability.

In the end, the four councilmen

(with Judi-ann Rutherford abstaining) agreed to reconsider the makeup

of the board of directors, as well as the financial stability of the organization,

near the start of the city's fiscal year on Oct. 1, and act accordingly.

The council also signed off

on the $2.47 million Tourism Association budget, which includes a $636,015

tennis center budget and $1.379 million amphitheater budget.

As spelled out in the PCTA's

bylaws, each facility will maintain separate accounts with no crossing

over of funds. Such mixing of revenues was common under the management

of the Development Authority of Peachtree City.

Additionally, neither will

receive a penny of the city's hotel-motel tax revenue this year,

operating solely on funds self-generated, and both are projected to end

the fiscal year next fall with money in the bank.

The amphitheater ended last

season showing a pro�t of more than $110,000. But the tennis center, which

opened in 1995, has never broken even, although it is projected to this

year under the PCTA's management.

Separately, the tourism association

is setting aside $509,175 in a "general fund" that will pay

for administrative costs and, ultimately they hope, tourism-related events.

Of that, $409,175 is the revenue

generated from the city's hotel-motel tax, which is going into an

account held by the city's recreation commission until the non-profit

status of the PCTA is settled.

Salvatore said a consultant

working on behalf of the PCTA's tax-exempt application gave a positive

report recently, but there's still no guarantee the IRS will allow

the PCTA to manage the guest tax.

Even if those funds aren't

made available, it won't affect the operations of either of the venues,

Salvatore pointed out, because they no longer rely on the tax revenue.

It would, however, force the

PCTA to reconsider its goal of taking on the expense of hosting special

events, various maintenance tasks and other expenses now covered in the

city's general fund � such as the July 4th Parade, Great Georgia

Air Show and cart path maintenance.