We have $624 K in unused SPLOST money just laying around for our government to use any way they want to?? The people who voted for this money voted for specific expenditures. Try getting the next SPLOST passed...........lol
The Augusta Commission again showed leniency in its enforcement of a blue law Tuesday, granting The Original Tavern a probationary Sunday alcohol sales license despite food sales being below the state minimum.
Under Georgia law, a business must have at least 50 percent of its sales from food to be considered a restaurant and serve alcohol seven days a week, but the city has allowed latitude since setting a precedent with the Limelite Cafe in January.
License and Inspection Director Rob Sherman told commissioners The Original Tavern, formerly Wheeler Tavern, is undoubtedly a bar. Under its previous ownership it lost its Sunday license for having only 9 percent food sales, and its new owner reported a figure of 16 percent.
Shawn Laws, who bought the business and reopened it in November, told the commission he's working to raise food revenues, which were about 28 percent in February.
He said he has spent $20,000 fixing up the kitchen and hired staff with experience at Bonefish Grill and the Pinnacle Club. He said he has worked in management at Buffalo's, Ruby Tuesday and Hooters restaurants.
"My passion is food," Mr. Laws said. "It's gonna' take me a little time to get to 50-50, but I just want the same opportunity."
The commission voted 7-2-1 to grant the license, with Commissioners Alvin Mason and Jimmy Smith opposed and J.R. Hatney abstaining.
Mr. Laws faces an audit in six months and will lose his Sunday privileges if half his sales aren't from food.
In January, Limelite Cafe on Agerton Lane asked that its license be returned on a probationary basis after an audit found only 23 percent food sales. The committee split 2-2 on the request, but before the issue went to the full commission seven commissioners signed a letter authorizing a license in time for Super Bowl Sunday.
The commission has since given the chance to Finish Line Cafe on Wrightsboro Road, which had only 35 percent food sales.
Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.
OTHER ACTIONS TUESDAY
- The commission voted to pay Cranston Engineering Group $624,470 to certify the Savannah River levee so the Federal Emergency Management Agency will factor it into flood maps, saving property owners in the vicinity from paying flood insurance. City Administrator Fred Russell said the fee will come out of unused special-purpose sales tax funds.
- The commission voted to advance the Clean Augusta Downtown Initiative $291,600, which it can draw from the city in installments with a 2 percent administrative fee. CADI began working in early 2008, and with taxes through downtown's Business Improvement District not due until November, there has been a gap in work and pay ever since.
- The commission met in closed session for 39 minutes. City Attorney Chiquita Johnson said commissioners needed to discuss three issues of potential litigation, administrative proceedings and real estate.
ALSO DISCUSSED
- Commissioner Jerry Brigham said he thought his resolution asking the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame to exhibit its statues of famous golfers during Masters Week was on the consent agenda and did not realize until the meeting was over it had been left off. He said the omission resulted from miscommunication with the city attorney and that it would be put on the agenda for the next commission meeting.
- Commissioner Joe Bowles, part of the First Saturday Foundation that has been working to clean up the Augusta Canal, showed photos of the canal and said it needs to be thoroughly cleaned by the city while it's drained.
- Commissioners will go to Athens, Ga., this weekend for a two-day planning retreat held by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The projected cost is $5,000. Mayor Deke Copenhaver said this will be the commissioners' first out-of-town retreat since he took office, and they need a change of scenery to work on consolidation charter issues.
Comments
We have $624 K in unused SPLOST money just laying around for our government to use any way they want to?? The people who voted for this money voted for specific expenditures. Try getting the next SPLOST passed...........lol
Hey commissioners,a bunch of idiots on the local government,now I see why Ronald Strength deputies kept killing black males during traffic stop and does not face prosecution. Now, you can let the black club owners keep their license.
Why have the laws if they don't really matter? Especially in this circumstance. Why would it matter to any one other than the bar owner if he is allowed alcohol sales on Sunday? Are these businesses too big to allow to fail? I smell free food & drinks.
Abstain- not having the courage to take a stand on one side or the other.
How about we just get rid of this ridiculous blue law?
BBB, I'm with you. If it's okay to do for six months, then why is the law in place at all? We go through this all the time in the military. We have standards in place, yet we allow waivers for those that cannot meet certain standards. Why make it a standard or a law if its waivable?
To ONLY THE TRUTH: You are absolutely correct. Our city officials have tens of millions of unspent tax dollars lying in bank accounts all over town; earning virtually nothing. It is a giant slush fund used to enrich cronies such as the engineering firm chosen for this worthless "certification" of the levee. I urge all Augustans to go to the polls this June and vote NO on the SPLOST. We must turn off the flow of money into the city coffers until they begin to show some measure of fiscal responsibility.
We should have fought the expenditures for the levee. Since it doesn't prevent flooding anymore why would it have an effect on drawing the flood plain maps by FEMA? This could have been the opportunity to get rid of the levee once and for all. In any case it is a wasted $624, 470.
Exactly how do you control how much food vs drinks people buy in your business? Get rid of the stupid law.
I have never understood the ban on sunday alcohol sales....jesus loved wine so much, when he ran out it called for a miracle.
Get the stupid law off the books and let the grocery store sell a bottle of wine on Sunday.
It's a stupid law and even more stupid to openly violate it. It's one thing if the business was doing 45-49% food sale but how in the **** do you justify granting a license to a business that only does 9%. I wonder how much those votes cost. Obviously money well sent. 9% is like selling 2 chicken baskets with fries and a sweet tea. The commission is so freaking clueless.
Another bill to remove the ridiculous law was proposed this year (third year in a row), but got shot down in the GA legislature, despite polls that show that 2/3 of Georgians want to repeal the blue law. In the big picture it's not that important right now, but look for this as an issue in the 2010 elections.
Time for th State to step in and stop this "leniency" as the Commission is NOT authorized to violate State law.
Tech, you should think about your question a little bit. Surely you can figure that out. However, I agree, IMO, the law should be changed.
Exactly right, TechLover. (9:15a)
WHAT A BUNCH OF BULL! I own a bar and I can't even go in the building on sunday for repairs! They have told me they would throw me in jail unless I was out in 15 min, all I was waiting for was the air con man to come in and fix the system.
Now we know where Fred (What, me worry?) Russell "found" the unused SPLOST money for the levee testing. It was promised to the voters to clean up the Augusta Canal during the draining. Since Fred has not sent any crews out there to clean it up, he just figured he can spend it anyway he chooses.
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