Voters to choose whether to sell beer and wine, liquor
The Town of Decatur will hold a special election Tuesday, July 6, to decide if they will allow the sale of alcohol within its city limits.
More than 200 people signed two separate petitions requesting the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to call for an election on two issues. The first is to allow the sale of beer and wine. The second is to allow the sale of liquor.
Decatur resident Ada McGrevey presented the petitions to the board during its last meeting April 6.
“ I am honored to present to you guys, on behalf of over 200 certified registered citizens of Decatur, a petition to add the sale of alcohol, beer and wine to the ballot so that we can vote on this issue,” McGrevey said. “And I appreciate your time, your service, your commitment to the city and your consideration.”
According to state law, the county seat has the option to hold a vote on the sale of beer, wine and hard liquor regardless of the city’s population. Currently, the City of Newton allows the sale of beer and light wine, but due to its population, it cannot hold a vote on hard liquor. No other community in the county can vote to sell alcohol due to its population size unless the entire county votes to go wet.
Mayor David Marshall said he was impressed with the number of signers.
“Actually there’s more signatures on that (petition) than voted in the 2017 election for myself,” Marshall said. “So that was kind of impressive.”
Alderman Max Anderson, who is also a candidate for mayor in the June 8 election, questioned the timing of the election. Originally, Marshall was hoping to have the vote for the June 8 municipal election, which only has one race for Mayor with Anderson and David Addy. Marshall thought it would save the town money to have the election then and it could help increase interest in the June 8 election.
Board attorney Jason Mangum said there was no specific timing for such an election written into the state statute, which he called “one of the most convoluted statutes ever written.” He said the board was required to accept the petition and set an election date.
Alderman Mark Buntyn was concerned about the timing of how fast the petition came together.
“But this timeframe is freaky fast,” Buntyn said. “I mean, it’s like, you got to do it now. You know, I don’t think this board has ever done anything that fast.”
McGrevey said she started talking with residents to see if there was interest to have a vote on the issue, and the petition just came together very quickly.
“I started this because I looked at our merchants who are competing with the competition just right down the road,” McGrevey said. “And we don’t get the traffic that I feel we ought to be getting.”
Anderson questioned Mangum about who was supposed to educate the public about the vote and what the voters will be deciding.
“I’m just like Mark,” Anderson said. “I said this has been coordinated in such a quick fashion. And there’s not enough answers out here for me to make a positive vote on it right now. I may realize that if we got signatures, we’re going to have to have it, but we don’t have to have it until I’ve got a grasp on what we’re going to be voting on. It’s totally confusion to us. Can you imagine some way to educate folks in the next, before the election?”
Alderman Phil Sutphin said the election is simply asking two questions.
“You’re voting on whether you can go into Dollar General and buy a beer or not,” Sutphin said. “You’re voting on someone coming in and setting up a liquor store and selling hard liquor or not.”
Sutphin added that both votes could pass, or one vote passes and the other fails. Or both votes could fail.
After lengthy discussion, Buntyn moved that they hold the election on July 6, one month after the general election so that voters could have an extra month to think about the issue.
The vote passed with four votes. Anderson abstained from voting.
The voter registration deadline for the special election will be 30 days prior to the election, which will likely be June 7. The absentee ballot deadline will be likely be around July 2.
