Live Oak: Alcohol ordinance passes 3-2

Published 12:59 pm Friday, May 17, 2013

The Live Oak City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday night on the first reading of Ordinance 1337 to amend existing law in order to allow alcoholic beverages, including liquor, to be purchased or consumed on Sunday. Council members Jacob Grantham and Keith Mixon voted against. If approved on the final reading, the measure would allow conforming, properly licensed businesses to sell alcoholic beverages seven days a week from 7 a.m. until midnight.

Email newsletter signup

The actual first reading of Ordinance 1337 was in April during their regular monthly meeting. Tuesday night’s reading was supposed to be the last reading. However, since the first reading, modifications were made to the ordinance that was not approved during the reading, ultimately causing the council to have the first hearing again to adopt the changes.

Live Oak Development Manager George Curtis, who drafted the ordinance, noted several changes in the text of the ordinance.

Since Internet cafe type establishments are now prohibited by state law, text regarding Internet cafes was removed from the ordinance.

Secondly, Curtis clarified the language as to what a bar owner can do during the time that alcohol sales are prohibited.

The section now reads, “Any establishment governed by hours and days of operation or alcohol sales, service and consumption may be occupied by owners or employees thereof, on or during other days or times, for the sole purposes of clean-up, restocking, or other required maintenance to the premises, so long as no business operations, or alcohol sales, service or consumption are conducted outside of permitted hours and days.”

This is the second time the council has been through the process of establishing hours in which alcoholic beverages can be purchased.

On Jan. 8, the council voted 3-2 during its first reading to amend the ordinance that regulates the hours of sales and consumption of alcohol to allow sales on Sundays, but hours will remain from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. Council members Grantham and Bennie Thomas voted against. The amendment overall passed 4-1.

In February at their regular monthly meeting, the council passed the ordinance 4-1 on its final reading that would have extended the hours of alcohol sales to 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. the following day, Sunday through Saturday, including hard liquor.  
The ordinance was then handed to Mayor Sonny Nobles for approval to become law. On March 6, Nobles presented a letter to the council and the Democrat that stated his reasons for vetoing the proposed city alcohol ordinance.

Now that this second such attempt at establishing new alcohol times has passed, it must go through a final reading in June. Nobles told the Democrat Wednesday by email that he has not decided yet if he will veto this one.

“I have it under advisement. Have a month to decide. I still have serious reservations concerning the sale of hard liquor on Sunday in the city,” Nobles wrote.

Live Oak Police Chief Buddy Williams also expressed his concerns for extending the hours beyond 12 a.m.

“When we start trying to give additional hours, that’s when the trouble begins,” Williams said. “Just in one location in the city, when the hours were until 2 a.m., in a six year time, the Live Oak Police Department responded there 964 times. In the present time since where we have been closing the bars at midnight, it’s been less than 30 times. Guys, there’s a difference when you go from 12 to 2. The calls for service get out of hand. And when you’re dealing with two, maybe three officers, it’s tough.”

In a compromise, Chairman Adam Prins recently readdressed the matter and after further discussion, the council voted to revert back to a 12 a.m. cut-off time, but allow sales on Sunday. The proposal was then put into the form of an ordinance and passed its first reading in April. The modified ordinance was presented Tuesday night and passed as a first reading with a 3-2 vote.

The second and final reading will be in June at their regular monthly meeting.