First up.

And of course I have piled all things up on my agenda.

Jason or Lashonda, I don't know.

Or both y'all go tag team.

I was volunteered, sir.

Okay.

Yes, afternoon.

This is uh for the creation of a field services manager job classification.

I will uh go ahead and answer uh a couple of questions.

This does not represent a new FTE.

Uh and this uh increase from another position is budgeted is within IT's budget.

This is not represent an increase, Mr.

Russell.

Uh so this uh what's driving the need for a vote?

Absolutely.

Uh three years ago we took over the uh the job of managing the city's fiber optic network from public works at the time we had a field service, we had a uh fiber optics supervisor and uh two technicians over the last three years that the role that that team plays has increased significantly.

They are now over all the uh security cameras that the city has as well as now the access control for the city's security in addition to the fiber optic uh networks and the city's uh physical networking and equipment.

Uh as that uh need has grown uh and as we have worked through things such as construction projects that we have in parks, there is a need to review plans and design plans, and so as over time that position and that group has gotten to be more important in its responsibilities.

We felt that creating a uh manager uh position versus what is currently now a supervisor position was one to the increase and and work that was that accompanied that and technical expertise and is it a change in pay classification for the it is a different classification than the supervisor, yes, sir.

How many people does it affect one?

Just one, yes.

Any other questions?

We have a motion.

I'll make a motion.

Second, all in favor?

That passes.

Thank you, Jason.

Mr.

Green, I think you have something similar.

Yes, sir.

I do counselor.

Good afternoon.

Hello.

I'll start by rolling my eyes at Lashonda because I was voluntary.

I got you.

I do want to say Lashonda and her team did the heavy lifting to get us to this point, so I greatly appreciate that.

This construction superintendent job classification.

You may recall from our department budget presentation uh for FY26.

These are two positions that we had in there for uh request of approval to add some mid-level management support to our uh streets and drainage division.

Uh so this position or classification will function as a prioritization of work, uh handling quality quality control, as well as looking into uh just over our overall workflow and uh safety compliance.

So budget-wise, this is a new classification, but it does not increase the budget of public works because we have made other adjustments in our operations uh for salary-wise, where we have eliminated some vacant positions to re-order and make room for these two positions.

Any questions?

It'll create two self two of these positions.

Correct.

Does it eliminate whatever they were?

They're not those two are now going to be a little bit more.

So what we have what we've eliminated are other work functions within public works that included a supervisor position, a heavy equipment classification, and several of our concrete finishers that gave us room to create these new management positions.

And are they gone all the time?

Yes, sir, they're gone all together.

And our salary budget benefits on the whole have gone down for public works.

Okay.

I don't have any other questions around that.

You have a motion.

I make a motion.

Second.

All in favor?

Thank you.

Salon.

Appreciate you.

Can I say something real quick?

Am I allowed to just say one thing?

Very quickly.

It'd be real quick.

It's uh for years I've talked to a fellow by the name of Selwyn.

I live on Audubon.

And I've had many, many, many requests over the years.

And it's the first time I have actually seen him.

And I want to say that he is phenomenal.

We know.

Recommend the pay raise.

That's enough.

All right, thank you, Sil.

Thank you.

All right, Mr.

Holmes.

Wow, it's gonna be hard to follow.

Do you want me to pay somebody in the audience?

He's a lawyer.

Nobody likes so while while we're here today, I'm gonna kind of back up a couple steps to explain what we're doing here.

Uh so typically council will pass our uh legislative agenda towards the end of the year before the legislative session.

This year we kind of have uh a combination of two factors driving the need for for this resolution.

One, our legislative uh agenda will be passed, I believe, on December the 16th.

Uh the legislature starts early this year, they start in early January.

We have two items that we are working to pass this year that are local bills.

Local bills work a little bit different than general bills, and they require they have certain publication requirements.

Uh you may recall, I'm trying to remember the bill a couple years ago that actually the newspaper messed up our publication requirement.

It kept us from being able to get that bill passed that year.

But that publication requirement requires that the local bills be published at least four times on four consecutive weeks before they can be considered by the legislature.

That we've also heard from leadership in Montgomery that the um the speaker intends to get all the local bills up early, get them taken care of and moved off so they can move, go ahead and start with what I expect to be a uh brisk and speedy session this year.

And so, in order to have our local bills advertised with enough time to have them taken up when the speaker intends to have the local bills gone through, we wanted to go ahead and get this resolution before you.

It is doubled up and is on tonight's agenda.

Um, so we can turn around and start to start uh hitting our our legal notice requirements.

Okay.

Any questions on that?

Brief some what they are.

Uh the two items are the item to remove the uh executive director of public safety from the fire and the police bills that mandate overtime.

And so if uh that that position would would not, if they were came from a firefighter or came from a police officer would not require overtime from from either of those.

And the other is a bill to allow full-time mayors in Tuscaloosa County to participate in the RSA.

Any questions about either one of these?

I think we've discussed them a good bit.

We have a motion.

I'll make a motion.

Second?

Okay.

All in favor?

Aye.

All right, thank you, Scott.

Yes, Ms.

Kreitz.

Good afternoon.

How are you today?

Everybody's here.

Yes, I'm glad everyone is here for this discussion.

Yeah, drum roll.

Truly.

Um, council, if I may, I'd like to divide our sidewalk cafe discussion into two parts.

Uh, the first part would be the text amendments, sans fees, and then a fee conversation.

Because as I mentioned in the email I sent out, if we are not able to potentially come to an agreement on fees today, um, I'd like to get the the text going just so that we can eventually get to a place where that moratorium does get lifted and we can continue to move on and allow some businesses to get the permits that they need to do business.

So let's get into a quick discussion about the recommended changes to the text.

You've got a red line version in front of you, as well as the menu of fee options.

Set that blue and green menu of fee options off to the side for a quick second for me.

And let's run through uh those proposed code changes quickly.

Uh, from the last time that I was here two weeks ago, um, nothing has changed uh except for one minor thing.

I'll get to that in a second.

Um, of course, right now there's that unclear relationship between right-of-way use uh permits and sidewalk cafe permits.

Uh we just want to make it clear that the granting of a right-of-way use permit does not grant permission for the commercial use of that sidewalk cafe.

You have to get a sidewalk cafe permit, and that no new sidewalk cafe permits would be issued to anything classified as a bar club, bar restaurant, or private event space.

And as I mentioned last time, there's only one establishment that has been classified as a bar club.

They already have a sidewalk cafe permit, so they would be eligible to renew that one.

It doesn't impact anybody else that is operating today.

So what can you do if you get a right-of-way use permit?

If you have a right-of-way use permit, well, it depends on what that right-of-way use permit is.

Um, you think about on University Boulevard next door at CBNS Bank.

Uh they just have that right-of-way use permit to have built that balcony out into it.

And a lot of times that's what we see.

Or I think about so is that generally to permit the extension of a structure or signage.

Yes, sir.

We see it to conduct business.

Correct.

We see it for signage for structures, um, the conduction of business is what this permit is for.

Uh for area and barriers, right now, of course, we require six feet of unobstructed pedestrian pathway.

That is unchanged.

Uh, we allow the area in front of the business and wrapping around the side if it's a corner lot, and that barriers are required to separate that cafe area from the sidewalk area.

That is maintained for the most part, but what we are adding in is that the barriers must be in straight lines, no more of this zigzagging and bouncing back and forth.

And the one minor addition to this is allowing for an entryway not to exceed 40 inches.

And so we wanted to just make it clear you could have a break along that front pathway so someone could get into it.

It doesn't have to be a continuous chain in that area.

Um, but it does have to run parallel to that front building wall.

Sanitation, of course, maintaining our current language, but adding that quarterly pressure washing is required for the site.

The business owner is supposed to maintain that area and to keep it clean, free of broken glass, etc.

Question about that, Ashley.

Uh is there what if they don't?

What if they refuse to do that?

If they if they were to refuse to do that, Lord help them.

Um I don't want to make you mad.

No, it's not uh no.

Are the code enforcement team between Chris Megs and his team, Eric's team, and my team looking out and seeing where we are having continued issues, it would make them eligible to potentially um have their sidewalk cafe permit revoked.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

Uh, from a furnishings perspective, of course, in 2022, we established uh more uniform furnishing types.

We just wanted to add in language that the furnishings shall be uniform in design, not a mix within the sidewalk cafe itself.

Not a mix of plastic furniture and metal furniture, stick with one scheme, go with that.

Alcoholic beverages, of course, continue to be allowed in sidewalk cafe areas.

Um we are just adding that glass bottles, i.e., beer bottles, uh, are prohibited.

You can still have a wine bottle in that area, but beer bottles will not be allowed to be carried out onto that patio space.

Uh and then with queuing, we want to make it clear that a sidewalk cafe shall not be used for a queuing permit if that area is being used for queuing.

And then on that same note, uh, we propose starting the queuing permit at 9 p.m.

rather than currently 11 p.m., allowing folks to get people into their businesses much quicker as opposed to uh staying out before that.

Any questions about the text changes so we can shift into the fee schedule potentially?

Yes, I think this is probably a question for both.

Um, and I know I know the answer to it, but I don't have we talked to the business owners downtown, which I know we probably have.

And my second question would be kind of what's there where they stand on are they okay with these?

Well, you got a corner of them full out here.

Um, yeah, thankfully, Brandon Trible and Wayne Yarbrough came uh and met with me a couple different times on this process, as well as um I talked with Brandon Owens and a number of downtown merchants and also on the strip.

Um, on the whole, the feedback that I have gotten is that the text changes are not what is causing the the corner today.

Uh the discussion about fees, I believe, is is a little bit of the concern potentially that they have, but the text changes don't really impact our existing businesses today.

Can I ask you a practical question?

Yes, sir.

Why 6 a.m.?

I mean, we bars close at either three o'clock on Saturday mornings or and two o'clock the remainder of the week.

Um I can't remember why we wrote 6 a.m.

when we first did the queuing permit ordinance.

I wish I could.

Mr.

Holmes.

Yeah, I'm right there with you.

Why don't we change it to something we can't remember?

We I like that.

Um we could change it to we had similar language about you know the closing times as established by we could do that.

Well, is is this something we need to vote on today in committee?

From the text perspective, I would love to see it just so Mr.

Holmes's group can put it into ordinance form and and we could proceed with that in December, and then we could discuss the fee portion.

Could we insert could the council insert the language of closing times?

Absolutely.

Is any legal issues with doing that?

That's at least practical.

It doesn't.

Does that seem would that be file made?

Does it make it a need for unanimous at council?

So this hasn't even made it to y'all.

You would be what you would be sending out of committee would be um you would say the amendments to section 2128 sidewalk cafes and section.

Sorry, I'm bad at flipping pages today, apparently.

Section 2129 sidewalk queuing permits, except for the fees.

Like you're just passing out the fees and you can make changes on the floor here today.

So, really, if we if we pay, if we recommend this, you that gives you an opportunity to write something up.

Yes, sir.

Mr.

Busby, maybe go and go into your question.

All of these changes that she's addressing today will be ordinances that the amend the code so they will all require either to be introduced and carried over or passed by unanimous consent the first time.

Okay.

Any more comments?

If when we're when we're going back through this, if if we come across the a good logical reason as to why we chose 6 a.m., we'll we'll inform council when it comes back.

Sure.

I was gonna suggest that.

You could call the mayor about 3 30 in the morning.

I hear he likes that.

I bet to 4 30, I'll be uh okay.

Any other comments on this particular part of it?

Well, do we have a motion to proceed with these text changes?

I'll make them all right.

All in favor?

Okay.

Thank you, Ashley.

Now let's get to the fun part.

Let's get to the fun part.

So let's talk about fees, council.

Um, right now before we having evoked my admiration by using the word bifurcation, I will see you one.

So it from a time sensitivity standpoint, is the ability to get the text changes in promptly that or the fees time sensitive too?

As I understand from accounting and finance, the fees are also time sensitive so that they can make changes to the fee schedule ahead of renewal season, which starts in January.

You all collect on calendar basis?

Yes.

Yeah.

Uh I can get with Trent and the revenue division to confirm.

Um I don't know if this is going to be set up the same way as the others will.

Probably so.

Okay, so what is that timeline for us if we're making any changes to fees make?

As I understand from Ms.

Standridge, um the hope is that we get something out of a committee today.

So if we are unable to get something out of committee today, I am on sh I am unsure what is next.

Can I ask?

Yes, please.

Oh, Mary Battle is here.

Thank you.

Yes.

Um, okay, so um calendar I meant.

Sorry, business license is fire at the end of the year.

And we start printing renewals the first week of December because there's 20,000 of them.

Okay.

We by law we have to know about by December 31st.

So, in order for the fee to be changed, then it has to be approved pretty much today.

Is the fees for usage of the sidewalk?

That impacts the business.

That's only the the renewal of the sidewalk cafe.

The renewal of the sidewalk cafe um category and the assessment of how many square feet you're paying.

Correct.

That's totally okay.

Is this doubled up on the agenda today?

No, ma'am.

No, no, no, no, it's not even ready.

Okay, that's okay.

Does let me ask you this.

Does are you talking about in terms of calculation of the business license?

Yes, so right now it's a dollar four per square footage.

If we wanted to increase that rate, then we would need to decide that now.

Because when we print the renewals, it will say a dollar oh four.

For for I think hopefully a little bit of clarification.

This is one of so if you have Joe's hamburger shop, you're gonna have your restaurant business license.

If you have Joe's hamburger shop with a sidewalk cafe, that's going to be a set a second business license, and you may have retail beer or retail this.

All of those are going to get renewed around the same time in January.

So for our friends in revenue, look at look at each of these different types as a business license, though they may not be what we think of as a business license when we typically.

Is this sidewall cafe a license or a permit?

The license.

And since it's a license, it has to fall on a January one December.

It only has to fall on a January one basis because that's what we have in code.

I don't know of any reason why we couldn't change that, but I'll I'm already stepping on revenue speech enough.

Could the council, not me, um, could the council amend this at a later date?

In other words, will we issue because I I'll just be blunt.

I don't see this moving out as quickly as accounting and finance wants it to move.

Um, and I understand that.

But if the council at some point in the next few weeks determined a rate structure, could that difference could that difference be made up in the calendar year?

Or I guess they could just make it effective fiscal year 2020.

27.

27 or calendar year 20 calendar year 27.

I think there's there may be two options, and I'm gonna oversimplify it.

And it would be just that if the council chose to make an amendment to the fee schedule, and um you know we missed the mail out deadline for lack of a better term, then it would become effective for calendar 27, or we could potentially hold those 25 individuals.

Right.

There's 25-ish that have a current sidewalk cafe license.

We could maybe print those.

Let's say a decision is made December 9th or December 16th.

I think those are the right calendar days.

Um, we could hold those, print them, shift them, we'd still make our deadline potentially.

I could add a third more complicated lawyer option.

Can I can I look at it?

Can I ask one more thing before you add that they're complicated?

Um could the council pass the text amendment, which I think is really good in the changes made.

And then take a little bit more time on a fee schedule to be implemented if they so choose next calendar year.

One billion percent.

That may be an option, Mr.

Fail for the council it may be, and that we may, unless we can come to some agreement pretty soon, I think so.

But uh we'll we'll just you know, I uh Ashley and I have discussed this several times.

Can I ask you a question?

Please or the biggest problem you've got though is we don't know what that fee's gonna be, and if everybody decides we're gonna arbitrarily do whatever, we don't have any feedback from any business people or anything else unless we decide as presented, this is what we're gonna do with.

I don't think we should do that.

Not without getting feedback from business owners because they're already making their plans for the first of the year or whatever.

I mean, that doesn't make sense to me.

I do know that her team has been engaging with yes, I think.

They've been they've been discussing this with them quite a bit.

But what if we wanted to raise it?

Or are we gonna be voting for the with the recommendation or what we're talking about here?

That may not be the number we're talking about.

It may not be.

I would recommend in some form or fashion option four with some sort of flat fee.

I know it's it's different for non-alcohol and alcohol.

What I really like about it is that we won't have to touch it for several years, it won't come up again until 31 unless somebody decided to do that.

And I know we have it hasn't been too very long ago that we discussed this already.

And I would like to see it set and done and move on with that.

Can we have her present the yes?

That's what I wanted her to do, yes, very much so.

So let me walk you through these options very quickly, and then I will I will toss it back to y'all as the council for a discussion.

Mr.

Fail, you alluded to the the very right hand side of your column, which is prior to 2022, and what you'll see are those flat rates.

Um and you've also got a version if you prefer it to be in front of you, uh, the blue and green copy with the table in front of you.

So prior to 22, we had flat fees.

Uh if you had no alcohol, it was $100 a year.

If you had alcohol, it was $250 a year.

So we changed it to what you currently see today, which is a dollar per square foot, which has been adjusted with the uh CPI.

So we are up to a dollar four per square foot, which is what we charge today.

Based on the conversations that were had a couple of weeks ago, um, we went and I I created options, and that is all it is.

It is just options.

So option one, of course, takes a look at a per square foot.

Uh you go to a dollar fifty for no alcohol, and you go to two dollars and fifty cents per square foot if you have alcohol.

We would adjust that based on the yearly CPI.

Uh option two is the Asheville model.

Uh it's also a per square foot model adjust for the CPI and is seven dollars per square foot.

Option three would be a per square foot per month.

It's a monthly model, uh, like you see Oxford, Mississippi has.

We kept that at the dollar four per square foot, but that would be a monthly charge instead of a yearly charge.

Option four, of course, Mr.

Fail alluded to that as well.

That is that flat fee increase of 50 cents a year for no alcohol.

A dollar per year if you do have alcohol through 2031, there would be no yearly CPI increase on that.

Option five is a modified new Orleans uh model.

You can see $50 per table or $10 per chair if your tables are more than four.

If you have no alcohol, uh if you do have alcohol, $75 per table, $20 a chair uh if you have a bigger table.

And then option six uh is option one with a cap.

If you have alcohol, that yearly cap would be two thousand dollars.

If you do not have alcohol, it would be five hundred dollars.

So those are the options, those can all be modified.

Those are just me throwing some spaghetti at the wall to see what might stick.

Um I know we've had opportunities, a couple of you have discussed with the downtown merchants and the the business owners as well that I have, and so I can answer questions.

Go ahead.

So I'll um thank you for the recap of the options.

I think I think we're we're a lot closer to getting somewhere.

I would hope we would take the passage of the text portion that we did and send it out.

Okay.

And let's let's continue the discussion.

We've got here on the fees.

We've got business owners, we've got residences.

Let's let's use this time to get some of that out on the table.

But let's let's please not try to choke this down our throats now.

We can get this done in a week or two, I'm pretty sure.

It's gonna take some, like I said, we don't need to be negotiating between three or seven people at the table.

I hope.

Yeah, I I agree with counselor buzz, but I'd like to take, I mean, it was okay with the rest of the council.

I'd like to take my time and have some more conversations with the downtown merchants and city staff to see what what's the best option.

I I know with the techs, there is gonna be some expense on some of the business owners that uh, you know, and I'd hate to hit them with that expense and then hit them with a fee increase all at the same time.

Um so I'd like to take a little bit more time if it's okay with you, Ms.

That's fine with me.

I just want us to remember that we're giving them even if the prices in number four, we're giving them a real deal.

I mean, if you're paying 20 or 30 dollars a square foot and we're giving you to you for a dollar or two dollars, you're getting a real deal.

You know, you really are just a minute.

I'll get we I I think also, you know, and you know, some of this is in my district as well.

Sure.

Um, and I do think it it brings another value uh to the district and to the city as well.

Um I think sometimes we can't just look at the deal.

We've got to look at what it what it brings to the table and what value it adds to our community as well.

Um so again, I I'd like to just hear more and take more time to really really just to see how it may impact some businesses downtown because all of them aren't created all sidewalk cafes aren't created equal, and it may have a different impact on some.

And I hate to lose any business in the city, period, um over an extra five, ten thousand dollars a year that I think this may create.

So I think uh for instance, I just jumped down here to glory bound.

They would in seven years be paying 2730.

Heat pizza would be up pretty high from where they are now to 4,000.

Uh so we're not we're not really you know I don't want to misunderstand we're not talking about 10,000.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So but I agree, I don't I I'm just fine with discussing it, but I really think personally that we need to make we need to raise these prices somewhat somewhere somehow.

So do we need to table this?

Well, why don't we know I would not I'm just asking the question.

We're gonna let I would only because the time I would just like one of you, whoever your representative is to come up here.

But my question was I guess to Brandy.

Uh do we need to table this?

I think it would be fine if we tabled it.

Um I do think we should make a note that the next time we meet won't be until the 16th, which is the last meeting of the 16th.

Okay.

Well, I will I will let's committee can meet on the so do we need to go ahead and move to make a motion to move the tape.

Let's do it.

Let's table it if that's what y'all want to do.

I think y'all have already powered the code.

No, no, we pass the text.

Okay, this is what we're doing.

But and then we'll let this gentleman speak.

But I thought we'd go ahead and do that.

Yeah.

We do have a motion to table it.

I make a motion to table it up.

I mean, how long do we want to?

When the committee doesn't meet on the night.

He doesn't have another regular schedule meeting until the 16th.

Well, if you wanted to have a special called meeting at maybe four or something on the 16th, we could do that as well.

Sure.

That'll be fine with me.

How about that, John?

Yeah, that'll be great.

That'll be great.

I just hope in the meantime, but anyway, uh we got a motion.

So the m the motion would be to have a special call at four o'clock on the night.

Is that what you want to do, Mr.

Everton?

That's fine with me if we think we can come to something then.

Is there an I can't do that?

I don't know.

Okay, okay.

I make a I I make a motion to table to uh a special call meeting on December the all need to be involved in that special.

All right, we we have a motion a second.

Yeah.

What about just how I don't know?

What could we do it on the 16th, Brandon?

Yes, that's a rate of the case.

All right, I'm fine.

We change the 16th.

Is that okay?

We've got a motion and a second.

Is there gonna be a debate between all of us about what options has out of the committee?

We we'll need to we'll need to work on that after we table it.

We're we're running out of time.

I make a motion to table to December 16th.

Okay.

You second that.

All right, all in favor?

All right, that passes.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Come up.

Briefly, though, because we got another.

I'm white yards.

Yeah, let's let's listen.

Downtown market speaker.

So I've talked with several council people and Ashley.

Let me give you the business people's side of that.

If you go back and look at the document Ashley gave you, and you look and compare fees right now at a dollar.

We're higher than Birmingham.

We're higher than Auburn.

We're higher in Oklahoma.

We're higher than Knoxville, Tennessee.

We're higher in fact more, Arkansas.

Uh we're higher than Greenville, South Carolina.

I don't know if some of y'all have been to Greenville, South Carolina.

They got a really dynamic downtown.

And so from our standpoint, we're already paying more than a lot of bigger cities than we are.

What we feel like, I get get the city wants to make money, but we're making money for the city out of that.

We pay an extra seven percent on liquor sales.

So to have a vibrant city in a vibrant sidewalk, that's helping the city.

You're making money off of this uh patio.

So what we would like to do is see us go something along the lines of Athens, Georgia, which is a college town.

They have a vibrant downtown, they're paying a dollar fifty a foot.

That's a 50% increase on us.

Uh, and then do a CPI.

That would be our premise.

But that number four, that's crazy.

That's uh, you know, uh four or five hundred, that's a four hundred percent increase in just a few years and five years, we've gone from a dollar to four dollars.

That's a huge increase for us.

And we're making money for the city as it is, and we're making people want to come down because of it.

And a lot of us put big investments in those sidewalk cafes to make them nicer.

So that's our our thoughts.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

That's what we'd like a dollar fifty.

Okay, so anybody got anything else to bring before this committee today.

If not, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

So all in favor, Mr.

Fair, I believe there's an Oh I'm sorry.

I apologize.

Mr.

Busby asked me to put something on here.

I'm just trying to get done.

And I can I can talk very quickly through starting.

We'll hold that.

I did not I did not pound the gap.

But go ahead.

I I'm sorry, I that got my attention.

But Mr.

Busby asked for this, and I think it's a good idea.

Go ahead.

So back in I think September, Mr.

Busby, you reached out to the mayor and myself and some other staff members asking for us to look at a state legislative solution to uh businesses masquerading as a restaurant but really acting as a bar.

Um we met internally with with all the the revenue folks and with with planning and looked at it.

And we we have one bit of good news, and we we think that framework and much of the zoning changes that have been done over the last year will help prevent this in the future.

However, as we all know with zoning, that is all prospective and doesn't doesn't do anything with where we currently are.

One idea that has that has been discussed, I think you've discussed it in the past, Mr.

Busby, is let's just set a let's set a let's set an amount because currently under ABC regulations, a restaurant is um, I think principally and habitually operates as a restaurant or some sort of other vague language that is difficult for the ABC to uh to enforce.

Uh looked back and did some research, and actually in I believe 2020 or 2021, uh the ABC proposed an amendment to their regulations, not not state code, but their internal regulations uh that would have set a restaurant by definition to be a business that had no more than 50 percent of their sales from alcohol.

And so I requested the uh the LSA to draft this up a bill to review, and you will see in front of you a bill that is extremely hot off the presses.

Uh, if you'll look at the date at the top, I got it uh uh sometime during projects uh today, and so this bill at as written currently uh would set that cap that no business could qualify for a restaurant liquor license if they have more than 50 percent of their total revenue in a calendar year uh from the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Uh in the the ABC's efforts to amend their regulations a few years ago stalled out with uh opposition from restaurant groups.

I know some of the items that have come up uh are uh you know, say you go to a nice Italian restaurant and you order a nice thirteen dollar plate of pasta, but you also order a 45 bottle of wine.

In that instance, your check is going to be uh heavy alcohol less food.

I don't know.

My guess is there's somewhere that makes sense where that starts to level off.

Everybody in there is not ordering an expensive bottle of wine, I assume, Christian.

You'd be happy if they did.

We're good in this law.

Um so I don't know where that is.

I do think getting something out there and getting that conversation started, uh I I think would be a good thing.

So this is I I've been waiting on getting this draft to to review it with you, Mr.

Busby.

I know this got put on the agenda, and I just got it today, so we'll do it here publicly, I guess.

Okay, well, I appreciate the update and I'll look forward to the conversation.

And and truly the hard part will be determining where that is because nobody's interested in some sort of draconian unreasonable definition of a restaurant.

But we all sitting here know we've got institutions that have gotten alcohol licenses as restaurants, don't sell any meaningful food.

It's a bar.

So we'll we'll figure out how to address that.

That's what we're trying to figure out, not restaurants.

Yes.

Excuse me.

Would we would we this would have to go be an act of the legislature?

This would be a statewide act of the legislature.

And as it's already in the internal ABC roof, why don't we even have to do it?

It's it's not that it was proposed in that amendment amendment failed.

Okay.

Um, but I did speak with the ABC.

I think the ABC would I don't want to say they'd be in favor of it but they had proposed this themselves and so I don't think there's a there would be a lot of heartburn for them if we were working on this through through the legislature.

And this is on uh the draft legislative agenda that I think has been been sent around by by the mayor a couple of times.

Okay.

Thank you.

I appreciate you including that.

Yes sir okay thank you.

Any now any other comments or things all right I guess we need to make another motion to adjourn