By Morgan Bryce
Associate Editor
The Opelika City Council breezed through its regular meeting Tuesday night at City Hall.
Highlights of the 16-minute meeting included the passing of a resolution by the council to renew its contract with East Alabama Medical Center for emergency medical services, a total FY2018 appropriation of $261,036. City Attorney Guy Gunter explained that the city will put an additional $58,440 toward the program’s capital fund.
The council also tabled a nomination of Keep Opelika Beautiful Director Tipi Miller to fill a vacancy on the school board and a resolution backing state legislation enabling the city to permit the sale of alcohol before noon on Sundays.
Both Opelika and Auburn’s city councils were set to vote on the resolution Tuesday night, which would allow the cities to set their Sunday alcohol sales to mirror those on the other weekdays.
Auburn’s city council voted 6-3 to approve the measure during its meeting last Tuesday night and set Sunday alcohol sales to begin at 10 a.m.
However, time disparities between the city’s two resolutions led to general confusion amongst council members, prompting City Council President Eddie Smith to speak in behalf of tabling the matter.
“We have not had complete information about that … today was the first time we had collectively heard about the 10 o’clock start time because our resolution mirrored their resolution which said that we would start sales at the same as the other days of the week. The other days of the week in Opelika are from 6 (a.m.) – 2 (a.m.),” Smith said. “We’ll try and get all the information nailed down and back out. May or may not change our feelings, but we’ll at least get the information correct.”
In other business, the council:
– approved a request from O’Wingz Cafe requesting a retail liquor and on-premise beer license
– approved expense reports for various departments within the city
approved weed-abatement assessments for properties located at 1314 West St.,
1621 Fourth Ave.,
1623 Fourth Ave. and 1625 Fourth Ave
– appointed election officials for the city’s special election Feb. 13.