Public Information Meeting Set For Proposed Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance
Thursday, August 15th, 2024
The City of Dalton will hold a public information meeting to discuss proposed changes to the City's alcoholic beverage ordinance. The meeting will be held in the City Council Chamber at City Hall on Monday, August 26th at 1:00 pm. The meeting will consist of a presentation outlining the proposed changes to the current alcohol code and a time for public comments and questions at the end.
The proposed ordinance was presented for a first reading at the Dalton Mayor and Council's meeting on August 5th. It cannot become law until it is presented for a second reading at a future meeting, at which time it can be voted on by the Council. The new ordinance will not be on the agenda for the Mayor and Council's next meeting on Monday, August 19th. City leaders wanted to first hold a public information session on the changes and allow business owners to present questions and concerns before a vote. The meeting was scheduled for 1:00 pm on Monday the 26th in hopes to avoid conflict with lunch and dinner rushes for business owners to allow as many people as possible to attend.
Dalton's current ordinance is out of compliance with state law, which requires cities of Dalton's size to stop alcohol sales at 2:00 AM. The new ordinance corrects that problem. The ordinance also has makes other changes for businesses with alcoholic beverage licenses, including requiring those businesses to have camera systems at points of public entry and also to use ID scanners to screen for underage customers. The ordinance would also require business owners and all employees who handle alcohol to complete an alcohol server training course. The change to the serving times would take effect immediately upon the ordinance being approved by the council. The other provisions would not take effect until January 2025 to allow businesses time to come into compliance.
"This (ordinance) has gone through many edits, but one of the things that we’re focusing on is safety," Mayor Annalee Sams said after the first reading of the ordinance. City leaders and staff have been working to revise the alcohol ordinance since a public work session in March. "We also have to make changes to our ordinance to comply with state law. I think it’s helpful if the community understands that some of these (changes) are not up for debate (because they are required by state law)."
The current version of Ordinance 24-27 amending the alcoholic beverage code can be read by clicking here. A summary of the changes first proposed in March can be viewed by clicking here, and the changes outlined August 5th can be viewed by clicking here.
You can watch the entire first reading discussion of Ordinance 24-27 on the City's YouTube channel by clicking here.
