FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The City Council withdrew a proposed ordinance Monday that might have displaced Mayor Tim Kant as the administrative head of city government.

“The next item on the agenda has been pulled,” said Council President Debbie Quinn, referring to the item describing the ordinance “authorizing the hiring of a city manager pursuant to Ala. Code Section 11-43-20,” according to the Monday council agenda.

The language of the proposed ordinance tracked the language of that statute, stating “the city manager shall be the administrative head of the municipal government.”

The ordinance also followed state law and provided that the city manager would be responsible to the governing body, in Fairhope’s case, the council.

Another state statute under which Fairhope operates now provides that the mayor is the chief executive officer of the municipality.

An attorney with the Alabama League of Municipalities could not immediately answer a question Monday regarding the possible conflict in those statutes, or what the consequences would have been had the council passed the proposed ordinance.

“I think the intention was that he (the proposed city manager position) would answer to the mayor,” City Attorney Marion “Tut” Wynne said Monday afternoon.

“We had some legal confusion. We wanted a city administrator,” Councilman Lonnie Mixon said during the council meeting. “We are working closely with the mayor and met with him today.”

Kant was not present at the Jan. 26 council meeting.

“We are working closely with the mayor,” Quinn also said. “At the moment he is very favorable to do this.”

Quinn said that position was being considered because the city had grown to have a budget of $52 million and more than 300 employees.

Councilman Mike Ford said he needed to know a lot more about the proposal, and that he was concerned about it, particularly after the council had just finished discussing the city’s money problems and in light of the city’s current hiring freeze.

“Five cities have a city manager created by act of the Legislature,” said ALM executive director Perry Roquemore Jr. Tuesday. “Local laws created city manager positions in Anniston, Phenix City, Talladega, Tuskeegee and Dothan.”

Those cities also have mayors, he said, but each local law defines the duties of the manager and mayor for that particular city. In some cities, the mayor presides over the council, he said.

Auburn also has a city manager, but the position there was created by a different statute, Roquemore said.

Alabama provides a number of options for how municipalities can organize themselves, and one statute provides that the creation of a city manger requires a petition process and vote by local citizens.

“Cities can also hire a city administrator or administrative assistant to the mayor,” Roquemore said, adding that the job of mayor in some cities has gotten so large that they have turned to that option.

City managers answer to the governing body and city administrators or administrative assistants typically answer to the mayor, depending on how the local ordinance is written, he said.

Quinn and Kant could not be reached for comment Tuesday about any plans for creating a city administrator position.

In other business, the council:

• Appointed the Chief of Police Search Committee, which will have its first meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, at the James P. Nix Center. The committee members appointed were: Robert B. Callahan Jr., Pam Caudill, Valerie Chaney, Kant, Vann Saltz, Councilman Dan Stankoski and Rick Wilson. Rhonda White with the city’s human resources department will serve in an advisory capacity, according to city officials.

Stankoski chaired the committee that appointed interim chief Terry Sanders, who took the oath of office Monday. That position is to last for a period of three months, according to the resolution passed by the council during a special meeting on Jan. 22. The former chief, Mike Comalander, remains with the department at the rank of captain.

Comalander was appointed to the chief’s position in 2006, to replace Chris Browning, who took the head job as chief investigator with the Alabama Attorney General’s office.

On Monday, AG Troy King accepted Browning’s resignation, according to media accounts.

Browning reportedly resigned following his arrest in Elmore County by a state trooper Saturday for drunken driving, according to the news reports Tuesday.

• Put a limit on discretionary spending by the mayor of $1,000 for non-budgeted items.

• Passed a resolution stating that the city will inform the National League of Cities of its intent to participate in the NLC Prescription Discount Card Program and will work with the NLC and CVS Casemark to implement the program to the benefit of the residents.

“This is mostly for people who are underinsured or without insurance,” said Quinn, who is on the board of the NLC. “I know there are a lot of people this will help. Madison is the only other city in Alabama (that) is doing this.”