Rockford approves liquor license, discusses other
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By Christa Jennings
Senior Staff Writer
In continuing last week’s initial coverage of the Rockford Town Council meeting held February 20, the council unanimously approved a liquor license and discussed another business license.
Ricardo Sanchez with El Vaqueros 2 addressed the council with his liquor license request. Mayor Scott White recused himself and turned the meeting over to Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Anne Castleberry, stating that he “has an interest” and leases the building to the restaurant.
Taking the floor for the meeting, Castleberry then explained that Sanchez had “requested and has actually applied for a liquor license through the State of Alabama Beverage Control Board.” She added that the specific license was a restaurant retail liquor license, which essentially is a restaurant serving alcohol.
She added that the application fee had already been paid to the state and county, so it was now a matter of the council approving the retail liquor license.
In addressing the matter, town attorney Tom Young stated, “With all fairness to the other people that have appeared before our council before, I think that we would be tasked with asking a few questions of this gentleman.”
Young proceeded to ask about the estimation of food sales versus liquor sales, asking about the anticipation of the amount of alcohol that the restaurant will be serving and under what circumstances.
Referencing the restaurant’s Sylacauga location as an example, Sanchez said that it is “way below 50%,” noting that the Sylacauga location typically has alcohol sales of about 25-35%.
Sanchez added that the Sylacauga restaurant has been open about six or seven years and that the alcohol sales are always maintained in that level. He explained that the numbers sometimes increase on holidays
, but that only about one out of every 10 people want an alcoholic drink at the restaurant.
Young asked to confirm about Sanchez knowing the sales history because of the Sylacauga restaurant and further asked to confirm that the portion of alcohol sold compared to food sales would be approximately 25%, which Sanchez confirmed it would be.
Young also asked about outdoor seating, and Sanchez said that would depend on the town and its rules and regulations. However, he said the restaurant cannot serve alcohol outside and that alcohol would strictly be served inside the restaurant. In further discussion, he also said the restaurant would be serving beer, wine and margaritas.
Castleberry asked if there were any violations at the Sylacauga location, and Sanchez said they’ve had one violation, which he said was about two years ago.
He explained that they cannot have two of the same liquor bottles open at the same time. He said the waiter did not realize they had one open already and opened another one, so when the inspector came the restaurant received a violation for that.
Young asked about any policies and procedures the restaurant has developed and that it will be bringing to the Rockford location regarding serving alcohol.
Sanchez said that it is state law that minors, or those 18 years old and under, cannot serve alcohol. However, he said they do not allow minors to go behind the bar or take drink orders, stating that the adults do that themselves.
With no other questions, following discussion Councilmember Robert Smith made a motion to approve the liquor license, and Councilmember Shirley Ogle seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved, with Councilmember Cordarius Lee absent from the meeting.
In other business, Glen Fuller, former co-manager of Crossroads, addressed the council asking for an update on the entertainment license and where they stood on that matter.
As reported in the October 6 edition, Fuller came before the council at its September meeting seeking an entertainment license for the business, with it having been previously stated that the restaurant would need an entertainment license to have entertainment such as live events and bands. At the September meeting, Young said that there was not a license like that on the town’s books.
In discussion at that time, Castleberry stated that as the town grows and times change things will come up that are new to the town and need to be worked on, stating that “an entertainment license is clearly one of them.” She added that she thought the town should identify what “an entertainment license would and would not include” and then move forward.
After discussion at that September meeting, the council unanimously approved tabling the request for an entertainment license for the town to write up something regarding establishing an entertainment license.
At its October meeting, Fuller came before the council asking for an update regarding the entertainment license. At that time, attorney Young stated that the town was “still working on it” and that there were other provisions to consider, such as public safety.
When Fuller asked about how much longer they thought it might take, Young said if the town decided to hold a town hall meeting for public input then it would depend on when that could be arranged, but did not provide a time frame for when the entertainment license would be written up per the council’s discussion at the previous meeting.
The matter had not come up again at any Town Council meetings or when Young provided updates about what he was working on, meaning that it had not come up again since October.
At the February meeting, regarding Fuller’s request for an update, Young stated, “We are working on something. However, we kind of ceased working on anything when the demand for that license – we’ve got nobody, technically, that is applying for one that’s got a building here that would suffice. Not wanting to cost the city $275 an hour for me to work on it, we have kind of put on hold any definitions that we may have with that license.”
Young went on to mention White “exploring with other people” about whether the town “even wanted to issue a lounge license,” with Young referring to it as a lounge license rather than an entertainment license.
Young said that they looked into security and safety issues and things that need to be addressed, adding that there are “a lot of moving parts with a lounge license.”
“We ceased working on it when the demand for, or request for it kind of went away, and in order for us to determine whether the Town of Rockford actually wants to issue one,” Young said.
Fuller stated that he did not know the demand went away.
“We didn’t renew our license because we couldn’t have TV or anything,” Fuller said. “We would like to open our business back up.”
“With all due respect, I wasn’t aware that anybody was around that actually wanted one anymore, and if you’ve got a place to have one and all that sort of thing, then we need to know that, and we can start exploring whether we want to issue one or not,” Young stated.
In discussion, Fuller indicated that it would be across the road in the same location, adding that he did not know the issue had “walked away.”
“I don’t think it’s walked away,” Young said. “We had started exploring it, and looking at other entertainment licenses, it may very well walk away if the town determines it doesn’t want to issue one.”
White asked about the building and if Fuller was still leasing it, and Fuller stated that they have the option to lease the same business.
After discussion, Fuller said that he would get back on the agenda for the next meeting to see where the matter stands at that time.
In other business, Jarred Kirby with Alabama One Credit Union addressed the council and presented information regarding the credit union’s acquisition of First Bank and information on municipal accounts and other matters.
In his presentation, Kirby explained that as a credit union they are not FDIC insured and that Alabama One is insured by the National Credit Union Administration instead. He said that it offers the same coverage, but there was discussion about whether the town can use a credit union as its financial institution.
After discussion, the council approved tabling the matter until its next meeting for Young to look into.
The next regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Rockford Town Council will be held at 6 p.m. March 19.
