At the request of a local business man, the Piedmont City Council will once again proceed with efforts to seek Sunday alcohol sales within the city.
Business owner, Brian Farley, urged the council to again take up the measure, which failed to gain the needed support in the State Legislature last year. He added that by not pursuing alcohol sales on Sundays, the city is losing out on potential tax revenue.
Farley questioned why other cities were allowed to pass similar resolutions, while Piedmont was not.
Mayor Bill Baker assured Farley that the holdup was only at the state level and was most likely due to the fact that it was an election year. The council then voted, 5-1, to draft a new resolution in hopes that the state legislature will grant their support for the Sunday sale of alcohol. Council Member Brenda Spears voted against the measure. Baker said the council will vote at the next meeting whether to submit the resolution to state lawmakers.
A short time later, discussions during the meeting took a very heated turn, most notably when Spears accused city employees of questioning council members decisions and again when discussing the Mayor’s request at a recent work session for cost cutting ideas from each member of the council. This lead to Baker calling for Spears’ resignation, to which she declined. You can listen to the exchange between Baker, Spears, and City Clerk Michelle Franklin below:
In other business, following a motion by Council Member Terry Kiser, the council unanimously decided to look into direct deposit for city employees in order to cut costs.
In another cost-cutting effort, the council voted, 5-3, to have city employees cut the grass at Highland Cemetery this year instead of contracting out the work. Mayor Baker said they will try this for a year to see which method actually saves the city the most money.
Bills for payment were approved in the amount of $379,513.89 in addition to a payroll amount of $114,088.21 for a total of $493,602.10, with Spears voting “No.”
The next regular Piedmont City Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17th, at 6 pm.