A pair of ordinances related to the consumption of alcohol in McDonough were approved by the City Council at its January 4 regular meeting. One was mostly a formality while the other was the result of several months of discussion and a previous failed attempt to pass.

  The council voted to approve an ordinance extending the hours of Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages for consumption on premises, a move made possible by passage of the so-called “brunch bill” by the Georgia General Assembly many months earlier. The amended section of the ordinance designates 11 a.m. until midnight as the approved Sunday hours and states that “tables shall be cleared of all drinks containing alcoholic beverages no later than 30 minutes following the licensee’s closing time.”

  Also approved was the creation of an entertainment district  in which patrons can consume open containers of alcoholic beverages on city right-of-way. The measure was considered in November and failed to pass, after which mayor pro tem Craig Elrod said he was encouraged to give it another try.

  Elrod, who spearheaded the initial effort, called it an economic tool for small business owners to give them a level playing field, with many other cities having already created similar districts, including nearby Stockbridge. The resolution specifies a one-year probationary period beginning February 1. The council will have to reconsider the district by that date next year or can rescind the ordinance by a majority vote at any time before that.

  In other business, city clerk Janis Price asked the council to give special consideration to the length of the qualifying period for the November municipal elections. It will likely be approved at the council’s next meeting (the scheduled January 19 meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19 issues with some City Hall employees).

  Price asked the council specifically to consider whether the qualifying period, which by law is August 16-20, will be a full five days. The legal minimum period is three days. Price noted in the past her office has occasionally received difficult last-minute inquiries from potential candidates who “do not understand the process,” as she put it.

  The council heard two zoning issues at its January 4 meeting. A request for an administrative variance pertaining to front and rear setbacks at 501 Greg’s Place was denied because an existing variance is already in place and officials felt that a further variance was not something the city had the authority to grant. The vote was unanimous. A case involving a potential rezoning from highway commercial to residential townhome district, which was voted down by the city’s planning commission, was discussed briefly but action was delayed. The site in question is 6.49 acres at Hwy. 42 and McDonough Parkway.

  Fifteen McDonough citizens were appointed to various boards for 2021. Terri Ellington, Terri O’Quinn, Calvin McClendon, Scott Reeves and Yolanda Williams were named to the Planning Commission. Reid Burch, Samuel Humphrey, Brenda Goodman, Charles Piersaul, Troy Hitt and Kaye Shipley were appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Darien Cates, Jordan Van Matre, Lisa Walston and Sylvia Holmes were named to the Historic Preservation Commission. A handful of seats on those boards remain to be filled, according to city staff.

  Nearly one thousand fire safety devices were approved for purchase to be distributed to residents throughout the city, with a focus on the Blacksville community. The council approved a $44,300 expenditure for the acquisition of 750 smoke/carbon monoxide combo detectors along with 120 bed shaker alarms, according to a city staff report. The purchase will be paid for from the city’s fire prevention and safety grant funds.

  The council voted to assume responsibility for the street lights in the Arnold Estates subdivision, with 18 lights at an estimated cost of $340 per month, since that development has reached 100 percent buildout.

  The council approved a $91,000 contract for work at the Richard Craig Park booster pump station. According to a city staff report, a small booster pump will be installed at the elevated storage tank which will improve water quality and increase available water storage capacity. The cost of the work will be paid from the water treatment plant’s budget. The council also approved at $12,000 per year the renewal of a software program related to video streaming of meetings, and a $19,425 expenditure for technological costs within the city’s water meter reading system.

  Elrod will be McDonough’s mayor pro tem again in 2021 for the second straight year. Mayor Billy Copeland stated at the meeting that when he returned to the mayor’s office in 2006, the council decided that the mayor pro tem would serve a two-year term. That has been the practice ever since, and Copeland encouraged the council to continue that practice. Elrod was nominated and no one else was. The vote passed 6-0 with one abstention.