Government

Lawsuit threatened, BoE discards opening prayer

Those attending the January meeting of the Fayette County Board of Education might have noticed a change in the proceeding at the beginning of the meeting. The usual invocation presented by a local minister was replaced with a “moment of silence.”

That change will continue due to threatened litigation by a Washington, D.C. organization after a complaint over prayer at school board meetings was filed last year. Read More»

PTC stormwater bills set to increase by 137%

Hike the same for homeowners, businesses, schools and churches Read More»

PTC tax survey near completion

Invitations to be mailed late this week

A citizen survey on property taxes, and the Peachtree City services funded by those taxes, was in a “testing” mode this past weekend.

To make sure the questions are easily understood, the Peachtree City Needs Assessment Committee will have about a dozen or more people take the survey. Because the committee has been waist-high in government budget lingo for the past several months, there was concern Read More»

WASA bonds to save $3M for ratepayers

Authority: credit rating proves we are in good financial shape

The Peachtree City Council gave its blessing Wednesday to use the city’s backing on a bond refinancing that will save the city’s Water and Sewer Authority $3 million over the life of the 14-year payback.

Taking advantage of lower interest rates will save about $220,000 a year on average, officials said. Beyond that figure, WASA will also be able to reclaim $1.15 million it had to put aside in 2002 as an “insurance policy” in a debt reserve fund. Read More»

Voting Tues. for empty House D-71 seat

Tuesday is the last chance for Peachtree City and east Coweta residents to vote in the special election to fill the vacant District 71 seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Although Coweta resident Robert Stokely won election last year, he withdrew from the position in December after being offered a full-time job in Coweta Magistrate Court. That has left the district, which encompasses much of east Coweta County and two small areas in northwest Peachtree City, without a representative as the general assembly cranked up several weeks ago. Read More»

‘Data wipe’ probe now at a standstill

Fayette County officials have been unable to recover the information that was “wiped” from the computer hard drives used by former county staff attorney Scott Bennett.

That essentially has stalled a probe by the county marshal’s department, which conducts in-house investigations for county government.

Chief Marshal Ed Collins noted that he will keep the investigation open for now, but since Bennett had permission from then-county manager Jack Krakeel to wipe the data off the two hard drives, there is no criminal case to be made for either theft or misuse of government property. Read More»

5-0 against district voting in commissioners’ poll

The use of at-large voting to elect Fayette County commissioners remains the preference of the new county commission, according to interviews conducted by The Citizen this week.

However, the commissioners have recognized that some citizens, particularly African-Americans, have felt unrepresented in the past and thus the new commission is “reaching out” to them in an effort to be more inclusive. That effort has meant Read More»

Postponed: BoE plan for College & Career Academy

The Fayette College and Career Academy movement will be postponed for a year at the request of the Fayette County Board of Education as the board handles the massive effort of Read More»

Fayette BoE schedules 2 public hearings on school closures

Fayette County's interim school superintendent, Dan Colwell. Photo/Ben Nelms.

The potential closing of up to four Fayette County public schools and the need to get input from parents will be the topic of two public hearings scheduled during February.

The Fayette County Board of Education on Jan. 28 agreed to hold the public hearings on Feb. 14 and Feb. 25. Both meetings will be held at 7 p.m. at the 900-seat Sams Auditorium in Fayetteville. Read More»

School Board updates system’s layoff policy

In anticipation of using it, the Fayette County Board of Education this week revised its layoff policy.

The board adopted a revised Reduction in Force (RIF) policy at the Jan. 28 meeting.

Interim Superintendent Dan Colwell prior to the discussion on the policy said the policy was revised to bring it in line with state law.

The school board is currently considering the potential for eliminating more than 220 jobs for the 2013-2014 school year in order to adopt a balanced budget in June. All totaled, those cuts will require that approximately $15 million be trimmed from the budget. Read More»