Sand Mountain Reporter

Boaz City Council members OK’d a resolution to seek the Alabama Attorney General’s opinion regarding a potential wet-dry referendum.

Mayor Tim Walker assumed all registered voters in the city limits could participate in an election if the referendum ever showed up on a ballot. But city attorney Danny Smith recommended the council request the opinion just to be sure since county lines are involved. The Boaz city limits lie in Marshall County, which is dry, and Etowah County, which is wet.

Walker said he knows petitions are circulating to place a referendum on the ballot, so Boaz can vote on whether or not to allow alcohol sales in the Marshall County portion of the city.

Smith posed two interesting questions for the council to ask the AG:

• If a referendum is on the ballot, will Boaz residents in the Etowah County portion of the city be allowed to vote?

• If Boaz votes against allowing alcohol sales, will that mean the Etowah County portion must go dry as well?

“We think they can all vote,” Walker said. “We just want a solid opinion.”

The council also introduced an ordinance regulating the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the city limits of Boaz.

Walker said this measure is unrelated to the wet-dry petition drive. He said the new ordinance is a response to the recent annexation of Mountainboro in Etowah County, which has businesses that sell alcohol.

“Until we annexed Mountainboro, we never had any need to govern alcohol,” Walker said. “Now that we’ve annexed Mountainboro, we have to make sure we have a good solid ordinance to govern alcohol sales.”

In other business at Monday’s meeting:

• The council agreed to enter an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation regarding a Safe Routes to Schools project. Walker said the joint project between the city and schools “ensures we have good sidewalks and crosswalks for areas around the schools.”

• The council approved the hiring of two paid on-call firefighters: Josh Moon and Andy Brown.

• A proposed agenda earlier Monday listed the application of a $25,000 grant via the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Walker said the grant is for technology improvements in the police department. However, the mayor removed the item from the agenda at the request of the chief of police.

“We’ll apply for it, just not tonight,” Walker said.

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