Assistant City Manager Colin

Halterman, who headed Peachtree City's Public Services division for

nearly 18 years, has taken a voluntary leave of absence from City Hall,

it was confirmed Monday.

But City Manager Bernard McMullen

was emphatic that Halterman's sabbatical is completely unrelated

to the criminal probe into alleged wrongdoing within the Public Works

Department, stating only that Halterman was taking advantage of the federal

Family Medical Leave act to attend to private, personal matters.

McMullen said that by law,

he could not elaborate further on Halterman's reasons for requesting

the leave, but said it came well before the investigation into alleged

corruption and theft among Public Works employees even came to light.

"We've checked with

our Human Resource representatives and we can't disclose the details

of that leave due to confidentiality," said McMullen.

The city manager added that

he fully expects Halterman to return to work eventually.

Police Chief James Murray,

describing the depth and intensity of the internal investigation, said

detectives went to Halterman's home to question him privately and

came away convinced that he had no knowledge of the misconduct.

Said McMullen, "The police

did interview him and the assessment I was told was that he was cleared

of any involvement."

Halterman was public works

director until fall of 2002, when he was elevated to the interim city

manager position after the retirement of longtime city manager Jim Basinger.

When Bernard McMullen was hired

as city manager in May, Halterman's knowledge of the inner-workings

at City Hall and lengthy tenure were rewarded with the permanent assistant

manager's job, despite a loud outcry from citizens dismayed at the

creation of another six-figure salary just as the city was facing a budget

crisis.

On Friday, Murray said evidence

suggests the "culture of corruption" that led employees to casually

steal city equipment, tools, gasoline and other supplies might have been

going on for nearly 10 years, during the time Halterman was ultimately

in charge of the division.

Murray said the investigation

was ongoing, but would not speculate as to the potential for more arrests.

McMullen, while acknowledging

the city suddenly has six empty positions it must fill, also used the

opportunity to praise the hundreds of city employees who remain honest,

particularly those who volunteered information to police.

"We have a professional,

accredited police force that identified the problem and the people involved,"

McMullen said. "We also have a dedicated city staff, roughly 240

employees who were not involved in the activities associated with this

case. In my eight months here, I've seen their efforts to provide

excellent services to Peachtree City. Our residents need to know that

those efforts will continue, and with some changes, will improve."

McMullen also said the shakeup,

while unpleasant, will force the city to reexamine its policies, procedures,

staffing needs and the like "to prevent this type of event in the

future and to reinforce the city's commitment to honesty and integrity."

Mayor Steve Brown, speaking

at Friday's news conference at police headquarters, said the latest

turn of events was just more evidence that city government needed cleaning

up.

"Two years ago, I entered

elected office as a grass-roots mayor pledging to create a level playing

field in Peachtree City and to usher in accountability. I made no secret

of the fact that the city had some challenges ahead and that I was going

to take each one of them head-on," Brown told reporters.

Later, Brown added, "I

was shocked at the level of impropriety and the utter lack of principled

management in that department. [Bernie McMullen] has been ordered by the

City Council to install whatever measures are necessary to insure complete

accountability for the future."

McMullen said interim solutions

were being sought to maintain the city's vehicle fleet, and reassured

residents that street and path repair projects would stay on schedule.

Randy Gaddo, head of Leisure

Services, was named interim public services director, and Kedron Field

House manager Jim Miller is interim public works superintendent.

An inventory of public works

equipment has already been completed from top to bottom, McMullen said,

and the temporary managers are investigating security options for the

public works compound, including key cards and security cameras, McMullen

said.

"They and the rest of

the city's management team are also reviewing the policies and procedures

to identify deficiencies that could have allowed this situation to arise,"

he said.

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