Oliver addresses legal sales issues with group

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Russellville Civitan Club, guest speaker Mayor Troy Oliver spoke to members about the recent wet/dry referendum and how he and the city council are preparing to put alcohol ordinances in place.

Oliver said that he and the city council have met with representatives from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on two separate occasions. These representatives have worked with other cities in the state that have alcohol ordinances in place.

“We are looking at the ordinances of four other cities in the hopes that we can see what is working for them and what we might could do differently here in Russellville,” Oliver said. “We’re looking at ordinances from Athens, Florence, Moulton and Haleyville.”

Oliver said that he understands that many Russellville citizens are concerned about the types of restrictions that will be placed on the sale of alcohol, and he said that the council would try to address all those issues.

“I know many people are concerned about alcohol being sold near churches and near the schools, and these are all issues we will be looking at when putting an ordinance in place.”

Issues such as alcohol not being served on Sundays and not allowing draft beer are already decided because, according to Oliver, these things cannot happen without having another referendum specifically for that issue.

“The council has already gotten some good ideas from these other cities’ ordinances,” Oliver said. “For instance, Moulton regulates the signage in places that sell alcohol and if alcohol is purchased, it must be covered in something like a paper sack before it can be carried out. Haleyville also restricted lounges to the industrial park. There are many things that can be done.”

When questioned by one of the members about the projected revenue, Oliver said that he couldn’t be certain at this time.

“We know that in the first full month of selling alcohol, Moulton had $10,000 in revenue from the two stores that sold it,” Oliver said. “But I really can’t even speculate as to what Russellville’s revenue will be.”

Copies of the four ordinances have been given to each of the city council members and Oliver said a work session would be called soon to discuss what to include in the ordinance.

“We will do the best job we can to come up with a real tight ordinance with good control,” Oliver said. 

Oliver doesn’t expect any license to be issued until after the first of the year, even though he said a couple of local businesses have already inquired into licenses with the ABC Board.

“We are trying to work as fast as we can but we want to take our time and make sure we do this right,” Oliver said. “We are committed to getting a good ordinance in place.”