DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The Dahlonega City Council began discussing what an ordinance for the distilled spirits package store would need to encompass to be out on the books.

City Clerk Mary Csukas gave the council information on the possible name change for the Downtown Development Authority and Main Street Program. Finance Director Allison Martin presented the council with the information on the amendment of the personnel management system policies.

On July 20, 2021, the council voted to put a referendum for a distilled spirits package store on the Nov. ballot. For more information about that meeting visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2021/07/20/council-approves-resolution-to-place-package-sales-on-ballot/. 80% of the voters of Dahlonega approved the referendum during the election so now it falls to the council and the city attorney to draft an ordinance for the stores to become reality.

The council began discussing what the ordinance would look like at the work session. The items they discussed were standard of minimum requirements for the issuing of license, building size and inventory with square footage limitations, zoning districts that would allow the business, proximity to vulnerable institutions and other package stores, hours of operation, application fees, and the possibility of using a bidding option for license selection.

There are other items in the memorandum that would go into an ordinance that is set down by the state. To view the full memorandum visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-7750f1aee4bc4148a1ec3a45685b63ec.pdf.

The council had a long discussion about the issues involved with the memorandum and gave City Attorney Doug Parks a place to start for drafting the ordinance. However, this will be a long process and there was agreement that there should be two readings of the draft before it is voted on by the council.

“Thank you all for bearing with us through this kind of difficult and detailed discussion, I appreciate everyone’s candor their input I think it’s helpful and hopefully they are a little bit closer to where they need to be,” commented Mayor JoAnne Taylor.

Csukas provided the council with an update on the possible name change for the DDA and Main Street Program to just Downtown Dahlonega. The change comes in order to make identifying the two functions simpler such as when the Community Development umbrella was set up.

“Only concern I have is as DDA one of our questions over the last several years is that they just seem to focus on downtown. Now DDA is supposed to be responsible for Morrison Moore Parkway and other areas in the city and this bothers me that this is now obviously downtown Dahlonega and I want to make sure that the understanding of the responsibility relative to the Main street/DDA now called Downtown Dahlonega,” stated Councilmember Ron Larson.

Lastly, Martin brought to the council the changes that have been made to the personnel management system policies. There are numerous changes throughout the document which can be viewed using the above link.

A notable change is the allowance for work boots has been raised from $100 to $150 for employees that are required to wear them. This document will be voted on at the Mar. 7 regular meeting at 6:00 p.m.