Arcade to place Sunday alcohol sales on March ballot

“This is just my opinion as a citizen, not particularly as the mayor,” Haynie said. “I think that’s democracy at work to allow the people to decide the larger issues like this. And so, I would like to see it on the ballot. I know we certainly can’t afford it, but it’s something I think we need to do.”

Arcade could have placed the question on a November ballot, but that would require lots of pre-ballot work and very little time to do it. A special election must be approved by the U.S. Justice Department, and that process takes up to 60 days.

Arcade opted for the March referendum to allow more prep time.

“We get more time to let the people know that this is what the issues are and then they vote how they want to vote,” Haynie said.

Several nearby cities, including Pendergrass, have already included this issue on their November ballots.

Should Sunday alcohol sales in Arcade pass in March, the city would have to revise its ordinances.

In other news, the council heard that the city was $2,000 under budget during July and $26,000 in the black for the entire year.

The council also heard from police chief Randy Williams, who said his department patrolled 3,072 miles in July, making eight felony arrests, nine misdemeanor arrests and two DUI arrests. Arcade police answered 26 calls and completed 26 incident reports and one accident report. The department also raised $5,100 for the Special Olympics, good for 20th in the state.

In a minor zoning issue related to the future site of a Dollar General store, the council voted to rezone .122 acres from agricultural to neighborhood commercial so that it may be added to the parcel of land designated for the business. The Arcade Planning Commission approved the rezone of the .122 acres four days earlier.