City drops alcohol discussion
Council decides to drop alcohol-use ordinance talk
After public responds, city decides to abandon talk of alcohol exemption.
By Eric Clark
News Editor
At a special city council meeting held Tuesday night, mayor Delores Dalke said the council has decided to abandon discussion about plans to pass an ordinance that would exempt certain city property from state restriction dealing with the consumption of alcohol on public property.
Dalke said the council was abandoning discussion about the topic "indefinately."
Several people attended the meeting, many to argue against the proposed idea. According to Dalke, the agenda items were struck from the agenda prior to the meeting after public outcry against the proposal.
City Administrator Steve Garrett was questioned by a concerned citizen about how items are brought to the council's attention for public discussion and how individuals can obtain information about the meetings.
"We try to get the board packets out to council members on Friday," Garrett said. "Sometimes we don't know what the items will always be."
"Anybody, who wants a copy of the agenda will be provided one if they ask for one," Dalke added.
Garrett said he felt like he was "hearing distrust" among the citizens in attendance.
"I would hope there would be a little bit of trust between council and the public," Garrett said. "If your concern is that someone is going to pull a fast one, it's not going to happen. I've worked with dozens of city councils in my life. And I've had good councils here."
Council member Leonard Coryea said a lot of the dissention amongst citizens has been generated by what he called "sensationalism" in the local media.
"We've got to do our thinking out here in front of the media," Coryea said.
"We adhere to the state law (concerning public meetings)," Garrett added. "We have to discuss things, and sometimes there are some unpopular things we have to discuss.
In other business the city:
n renewed an application for cereal malt beverage license to JTJ Incorportated, the owners of Vogt's IGA.
n approved a request to allow the Hillsboro Methodist Church to use Memorial Park for their Christmas drive-through nativity scene Dec. 6 and 7.
n heard from Garrett about his intention to meet with an official from APAC to begin discussing items left to be repaired on the city's "punch list" for the downtown street renovation.
Garrett said the city is also doing work on the airport runway; repairing shoulders.
The city administrator also told the council that he would be attending a meeting in Lehigh to discuss Hillsboro's proposal to offer fire department services to the town.
