MARIETTA - The city has one last chance to gain 102 parking spaces in the new $10 million parking deck the county is building off Marietta Square.

County Chairman Sam Olens had a final offer to participate hand-delivered to each council member and Mayor Bill Dunaway on Friday.

Subject to "very minor revisions," Olens said if the council did not agree to the proposed agreement in the next few weeks, the county would build the deck without the city. The deal breakers between the city and county, which are fairly technical, include how revenue would be collected from public parking ticket sales and how maintenance and operations would be paid for.

The county is offering the city 102 of the 525 parking spaces to be used during a 50-year lease. The cost in building the deck, which would be a maximum of $10 million, would be shared by the city and county in a 25/75 percent split.

Councilman Philip Goldstein and Dunaway have been negotiating with the county on behalf of the city, but those negotiations came to a halt in September when Olens said he was recommending the county move on without the city. Reports that negotiations had broken down was news to Council members Holly Walquist and Grif Chalfant, who learned about it in the MDJ rather than from Dunaway and Goldstein.

"I want to continue negotiations with the county on the parking deck so that we both benefit from the transaction," Walquist said.

Chalfant said he didn't realize Goldstein was negotiating on behalf of the council to begin with. The council should have been involved on the front end long before negotiations became strained, he said.

"I don't know why we haven't been involved in any of this going on. I'd like to see something worked out," Chalfant said.

Chalfant also said it is improper for Goldstein to be involved in the negotiations since his family is one of the largest downtown property owners, owning a number of parking spaces.

"He's got a direct conflict of interest in this whole project. He should not be involved in negotiating or voting on this. When it's about parking around the Square and it's the owner of 75 percent of the Square, that is a direct conflict," Chalfant said.

Olens believes the city would be better served if other council members negotiate, also. But Olens said earlier this week Dunaway has mentioned in the negotiations that "he didn't candidly think that he could get the four votes."

The county is building the 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.

Dunaway said Friday evening while he had received the proposal from Olens, he hadn't yet read it.

Said Chalfant: "The council as a whole needs to discuss this. We should have been looking at this a long time ago."