ACC calls for ‘brunch bill’ vote in November
♦ Rome city commissioners are slated to decide next month if they’ll put earlier hours for Sunday alcohol sales on the general election ballot.
Rome’s Alcohol Control Commission wants to see a vote in November on allowing restaurants to serve drinks as early as 11 a.m. on Sundays.
State law sets the starting hour at 12:30 p.m. but the Georgia General Assembly passed the so-called “brunch bill” this year to let local communities decide for themselves. That’s the direction ACC members took at their June meeting this week.
“Personally, I like the idea of putting it before the voters,”
ACC Chair
Monica Sheppard said.
No residents attended the meeting to weigh in and Sheppard initially thought to defer a decision to July. However, City Clerk Joe Smith noted that it would delay City Commission action to August or September.
That might be too late to get the question on the general election ballot, when the expense would be minimal, he said.
“I say knock it out now,” ACC member Colin Doss said. “It might be like (the) Sunday sales (vote) and fail the first time, but put the idea out there.”
The ACC is a panel of five appointed residents empowered to grant pouring and package sales permits and make recommendations on other matters to the elected board.
City commissioners would have to agree to place the question on the ballot, then adopt an ordinance changing the Sunday pouring hours. The ordinance would only go into effect if voters approve it.
Smith said the amendment could be presented for a first reading at the board’s July 9 meeting and scheduled for a vote at the July 23 session.
ACC members unanimously backed the process.
“This is only the first step,” member Steve Van Meter said. “We’re just recommending the City Commission put it before voters to decide.”
Elected officials briefly discussed the question at their Monday caucus session and informally indicated they would support the ACC’s recommendation. City Commissioner Wendy Davis said she favored the change.
“Ask anyone who works in a restaurant on a Brunch Sunday about the number of people who come in at 11:30 a.m. that they have to make mad,” Davis said.
Mayor Jamie Doss and the others didn’t take a stand on the issue.
“It’s not what the ACC wants or what the City Commission wants,” Doss said. “It’s what the voters want.”
Smith noted that the first Sunday alcohol sales referendum, which failed, was held during a small municipal election.
The second, favorable, vote came during a larger general election that drew more voters to the polls.
Since the measure would only apply to restaurants within the city limits, only city residents would be eligible to vote on the proposed change. The 12:30 p.m. start time for beer and wine package sales at stores would not be affected.