The Brookhaven City Council got right to work at its first meeting, approving several resolutions Monday night including the appointment of Bill Riley as acting city attorney and Lyn Rosser as acting city clerk.

Held in Oglethorpe University’s Lupton Hall auditorium, the meeting was preceded by the swearing in ceremony where Mayor J. Max Davis, Councilwoman Rebecca Chase Williams, Councilman Jim Eyre and Councilman Joe Gebbia took the oath of office. Councilman Bates Mattison was absent, but took his oath of office Dec. 7.

Among approving the charter for the city, contained within House Bill 636, council also approved the designation of The Champion Newspaper as the interim legal organ. This appointment can change once council has had time to study other publications. Riley added The Champion was chosen on the interim because council needed to have a choice immediately.

Council also approved the resolution for the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency to be the insurance provider for the city, along with the resolution to borrow via a short term loan of not more than $10 million. This will help cover expenses for the operation of the coming year. It will allow the city to solicit bids for lenders. Riley said this resolution gives council the flexibility to go in the market and see what is available. Municipalities such as Milton, Chattahoochee Hill, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs have all done similar borrowing.

While the council approved the requests for proposals for the temporary office space lease agreement and the permanent space to house the municipal court, they did table a vote on the request for proposal to hire an executive search firm that would identify candidates for city manager.

During the meeting, Todd Lantier, who was on the Governor’s Commission on the city of Brookhaven and co-chair of the executive search committee, said they reviewed several facets of a reputable search firm that included guarantee, price, turnaround time, location and confidence. In the committee’s research, Lantier said Slavin Management Consultants was found to be the best choice, as they excelled in each category, including the price of about $24,000.

However, council decided to table the vote until they had time to review the other top candidates for the search firm.

The next meeting of the city council will be Wednesday, 7 p.m. at St. Martin’s Episcopal School.