Anne Delaney

adelaney@pnj.com

The sale of alcohol is now allowed on Sunday in the city of Milton.

The city council passed the ordinance during a city council meeting Tuesday in front of approximately 50 people at city hall.

The law took effect upon passage of the ordinance after a 4-3 vote in the council chambers. In November, voters passed the non-binding referendum by a vote of 65 percent to 35 percent.

"I think the council has an obligation to reflect what the public stated in the election," Milton Mayor Wesley Meiss said.

Council members Peggi Smith, Alan Lowery, Jeff Snow and Casey Powell voted in favor of allowing alcohol sales, which will be permitted in the city from 7 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. seven days a week.

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“This is one of the strongest moves economically the city of Milton has made in its history,” said Milton resident and restauranteur Glen Hill. “We’ve now opened the opportunity to business to come into our city who’ve rejected the city because they were prohibited to sell alcohol on Sunday.”

Council members Sharon Holley, Pat Lunsford and Mary Ellen Johnson voted against the change. Several people addressed the council either looking for a last-minute prohibition or a compromise on reducing the number of hours in which alcohol is sold in the city on Sunday.

Councilwoman Ashley Lay was absent from the meeting.

In December, Lowery proposed radical changes to the city’s previous law that prohibited alcohol sales in the city on Sunday. Lowery originally proposed Sunday sales from 7 a.m. to midnight to match the other six days of the week but then stretched the hours of his motion to 7 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. seven days a week.

The draft went through two readings and was supported by the city council both times before becoming law.

Meiss allowed five people on each side of the issue five minutes to address the city council before the vote was taken. Five citizens came forward to address the council prior to the vote, and four of those lobbied the council against Sunday sales completely or asking for the council to consider modifying the hours of sale.

Hill was the lone supporter of the law among that small group.

"Ten years ago, I couldn’t have imagined we’d be where we are tonight,” Hill said. “There’s been a lot of transition in the council and among a lot of residents who stood up and spoke via the ballots.”

Milton resident Dusty Roberts, pastor at the city’s First Assembly of God Church, stepped forward as an opponent for allowing Sunday sales.

“The city has a duty to uphold the morality if its citizens,” Roberts said to the council, adding he was proud to live in a community where sales of alcohol were prohibited on Sunday.

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Fellow Milton resident Al Brewton again made a plea to the council to find a compromise for curtailed hours of Sunday sales starting at 1 p.m. Brewton addressed the council asking for compromise at previous meetings.

Council members Holley, Lunsford and Johnson, also, spoke out on the issue. The trio all voted against the ordinance on a previous reading. Holley and Johnson changed their votes last month and went with the majority in favor of Sunday sales, leaving Lunsford as the lone opponent throughout the process.

"We lost the battle," said Lunsford after the meeting, while adding she'd be open to compromising on hours of Sunday sales - after the hours when citizens are in church. "At least we could’ve allowed time for worship. I don’t want it at any time, but at least we could allow people to worship without selling it."

Holley expressed she was "torn" by the issue. One of her grandfathers was a pastor, and her father was killed in an automobile accident where alcohol was involved when she was 10.

Johnson said she was surprised at the lack of representation from local churches at the meeting, and through the process. Johnson again lent her voice to the faction in favor of a compromise on the time of sales on Sunday.

“I do think, and this is me personally speaking, we do have close to 70 percent who said ‘yes,’ to the sale of alcohol,” Johnson said. “We do know there are devastating effects of alcohol and pastors have a greater responsibility and this would add to those issues."

Meiss said he was disappointed that of the five who addressed the city council on Tuesday, none were residents of the city proper. Meiss also said the effect of the law change will be significant to the city's efforts to attract businesses that will benefit from alcohol sales on Sunday.

"It's going to be huge," the mayor said. "The city of Milton needs more restaurants. "The leakage into Pace is phenomenal."