MARIETTA - Mayor Bill Dunaway said negotiations are ongoing as to whether the city will participate in the funding of the county's new parking deck to be located off Marietta Square.

"It's not a dead deal. It's still wiggling," Dunaway told council members Wednesday.

Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairman Sam Olens earlier told the Journal he was proposing the county move forward without the city. In light of those comments, Councilwoman Holly Walquist asked for an update on the negotiations.

Yet during the public meeting, with a Journal video camera recording, Dunaway told Walquist he didn't want to give her an update, saying he would talk with her after the meeting.

The county is building a parking deck next to City Hall on the site of the former Fulton Federal Savings & Loan. The deck, expected to be open in February 2011, is being built in conjunction with the construction of a new seven-story Cobb Superior Court building on Haynes Street, directly behind the existing Superior Court building. The new courthouse is expected to open in March 2011.

Olens said the county has had at least four meetings with Dunaway, Councilman Philip Goldstein, City Attorney Doug Haynie and City Manager Bill Bruton to try to reach a consensus. He said the county would send council members its final offer in a letter this morning.

The parking lot is expected to cost the county $10 million to build, and would be paid for with 25-year bonds, Golstein said. City officials are still negotiating how much the city would contribute to that.

The plan is for the city to get 102 of the 525 parking spaces in the deck, which the city would use for public parking and keep through a 50-year lease before they reverted back to the county.

County officials have said the county will offer an additional 128 spaces for public parking, for a total of 230 public spaces out of the 525 total. Therefore, the city, for example, could get almost 50 percent of the revenues generated from public parking - since it would own 102 of the 230 public parking spaces.

However, Goldstein is concerned the county could increase the number of public spaces it offers, thus taking a greater percentage of revenues generated by public parking. For example, if the county decides to increase the number of public spaces to 300, the city would only get about 33 percent of the revenues generated from public parking.

"It would dilute the city's percentage," Goldstein said.

But Olens says Goldstein's explanation assumes the county would not need the other spaces for its employees and/or there was demand for more public parking over the 230 designated public spaces.

"As the reason the city would join with us is inadequate parking around the Square, why would it produce less revenue for the city? Absent an agreement being exactly what Philip drafts, he doesn't trust us. Where would we put the employee parking other than the two decks? We have agreed to numerous changes at the request of the city with no such compromise by the city," Olens said Thursday.

The second parking deck Olens is referring to is the county's existing 840-space deck, with 200 spaces reserved for the public, at Waddell and Cherokee streets.

Dunaway doesn't believe there is a conflict of interest with Goldstein negotiating on behalf of the city - even though he owns a number of downtown parking spaces.

"Philip is a very good negotiator for the city," Dunaway said, adding, "I see no conflict. We're trying to straighten out parking for the Square."

Dunaway said his goal is to help the merchants on the Square and "if it benefits Philip, fine."

Olens does not share Dunaway's view.

"I certainly appreciate the perceived conflict," Olens said. "I certainly understand the argument that he should not be engaged in those discussions because he owns other parking lots and owns a lot of land around the Square. So I understand the appearance argument."

While he wouldn't give a legal opinion because he hasn't seen the city's Code of Ethics, Olens said, "I agree that it would certainly be best for other council members in that regard."

During Wednesday's meeting, no council member raised a concern about a conflict with Goldstein negotiating.

In fact, Dunaway said because the negotiations are "extremely detailed and extremely complicated" Goldstein's legal background is useful.

As for Councilman Van Pearlberg's legal background serving as a senior assistant district attorney, Dunaway said, in apparent jest, "If you can prosecute (county negotiator) Virgil Moon, come on."

On a related topic, the council also discussed Downtown Marietta Development Authority Chairman Tom Browning's proposal of deeding the historic Kennesaw House on Marietta Square to the city.

In return, Browning wants the city to give its roughly 300 on-street parking spaces around the Square to the DMDA for the next 30 years. The DMDA would charge a fee for those parking spaces during selective hours. There is currently no charge to park in the spaces. The money generated would be used to build a several-story $4 million to $5 million parking deck off Mill Street by the old Pullman railcar and Krystal restaurant, Browning said.

Dunaway opposes Browning's idea.

"I cannot see the City Council giving up control of downtown parking to any other entity, I don't care what they are or who they are," Dunaway said, calling it "the most preposterous idea I've seen come down the road."

If there is to be paid parking downtown, Dunaway said the city needs to be in charge of it to collect the revenue.

Goldstein agrees that the city should be in charge of its downtown parking. But he did propose deeding the DMDA a few slivers of property the city owns in the Mill Street/Powder Springs Street area that would make it easier for the DMDA to build a deck where Browning wants to build one. The city would also pay the DMDA the $1,000 or so a month in net revenue the DMDA receives from the Marietta Museum of History leasing the top two floors of its Kennesaw House. Under Goldstein's plan, the DMDA would grant the city a two-year, triple net lease for all of Kennesaw House, allowing the museum to expand to the first floor as it has requested.

No one objected to Goldstein discussing the proposal with the DMDA.