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MARIETTA - In a vote believed to have substantially diluted Councilman Philip Goldstein's alleged influence over the 10-member Historic Board of Review, the Marietta City Council on Monday voted 4-3 to drastically restructure the membership of that board.

The council voted to fill the Historic Board of Review with the same seven members of the Historic Preservation Commission, plus four members selected by the Downtown Marietta Development Authority. Of those four members chosen by the DMDA, two have to be downtown property owners and two have to be business owners. The decision now makes the board consist of 11 members instead of 10.

Councilman Jim King made the motion. Council members Annette Lewis, Anthony Coleman and Goldstein voted against it.

"I feel like I got part of my property rights snatched out from under me," said attorney Tom Browning of Marietta, chairman of both the Downtown Marietta Development Authority and Historic Board of Review, after the meeting.

Before the vote, Browning pled with the council to delay action and include both his boards in the decision making process.

"We feel like there's been a party but we didn't get invited, but it's going to involve our house," Browning said, citing hundreds of downtown business and property owners who elect his members.

The flap began when Dunaway made a surprise announcement at the May 1 meeting of the Marietta Kiwanis Club about his intention of booting members of the Historic Board of Review because he claimed they were under the sway of Goldstein. Dunaway cited examples of how the board continued to grant Goldstein licenses for a planned 12-story building by the Square as well as a demolition permit for the Strand Theatre. Goldstein, who has served on the City Council since 1980, is one the largest property owners on the Marietta Square.

Up until now, the Historic Board of Review was under the umbrella of the eight-member DMDA. Both boards have mostly the same members. Downtown property and business owners elect the eight members of the DMDA. Once elected, they automatically serve on the Historic Board of Review. The City Council can boot Historic Board of Review members, because the council created that board. The council cannot boot DMDA members because that body was created by the General Assembly.

Dunaway told the Kiwanis he wanted to replace the 10 members on the Historic Board of Review with the seven members who serve on the Historic Preservation Commission, another board created by the City Council.

During last Wednesday's committee of the whole meeting, however, Councilman Grif Chalfant proposed a compromise, by placing five council appointed members on the Historic Board of Review and five from the DMDA.

In a lengthy denunciation of the way Mayor Dunaway developed his plan in secret, and bypassed the committee system, Goldstein Monday accused Dunaway of violating council protocols.

"This is a way that bad things are created. This is a way that you exclude people from the process and that's the specific intent here. We have a committee process and that's been bypassed. Hurray for the ones who did it," Goldstein said.

Golstein said the vote speaks volumes of his colleagues for allowing the mayor to get his way.

"This is not the way to have a trusting relationship. This is not the way to have a good relationship and this does not engender trust. What you've told me is this is a process, it's all fair game, it's fair game to exclude others from that process, and it does not matter what the hell they think, and if you think that's right, I don't understand you," Goldstein said.

Dunaway responded by saying were it not for Goldstein's 28 year record on the City Council, he would not have to have done anything in secret.

It took some time for the City Council to get to the final vote.

As King made his motion, Coleman countered with a substitute, which would have appointed five members to the Historic Board of Review by the City Council and five members by the Downtown Marietta Development Authority.

Coleman's motion was defeated in a 3-4 vote, with only Coleman, Goldstein and Lewis voting for it.

In response, Goldstein then made a motion to delay the vote until the end of July, after the council could talk about the changes in committee.

That motion was approved in a 4-3 vote, with King, Chalfant and Councilwoman Holly Walquist voting against it.

Dunaway killed Goldstein's motion to delay with his veto power as mayor.

"Here we have witnessed Mr. Goldstein's magic: if you can't defeat, delay," Dunaway said.

The council then voted 4-3 for King's original motion.

Coleman wondered after the meeting why King sided with Dunaway.

"Is Jim becoming the Mayor's puppet or what?" Coleman asked.

In other business:

The council voted 5-2, with Goldstein and Lewis opposing, to spend $583,200 for such basic maintenance upgrades as aging tennis court fencing, parking lot paving and new signs at Burruss, Laurel, Lewis, Merritt and Wildwood parks.

The council also voted 5-2, with only Walquist and Chalfant in favor, killing a request by Walquist to spend $300,000 on improvements to Hickory Hills Park, a 12-acre park near Chestnut Hill Road just off Powder Springs Street, which the city acquired in a trade deal with Marietta City Schools.

"It's a delay tactic," Walquist said after the meeting.

A year ago, Dunaway pledged to renovate Hickory Hills Park within 12 months. However, Dunaway has been blocked from making those improvements by Goldstein and Councilwoman Annette Lewis.

City Manager Bill Bruton told the council earlier this year that the city has immediate access to $2.1 million for park improvements, but his comment was shot down by Goldstein and Lewis, who said that money may be needed for other city expenditures.

Asked if Bruton has earmarked any money for Hickory Hills improvements for his proposed fiscal year 2009 budget, Bruton said he has not.

"That was an item the council wanted to discuss themselves," Bruton said, on why he did not advise any expenditures to that park.

jgillooly@mdjonline.com

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