City wants bars open until 1 a.m.
The city of Philadelphia will ask the state of Mississippi for permission to extend the sale of alcoholic beverages in bars to 1 a.m.
Marty Burkes, owner of Marty’s Blues Café, went before aldermen at their Tuesday, June15 meeting and noted that currently the sale of alcoholic beverages ends at midnight.
“I grew up in this town,” Burkes said. “I want us to have a nightlife, but I want it to be respectable. We have things coming into town and hopefully Philadelphia is going to have some things to do at night. This would be a big help.”
Alcohol sales are regulated by the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) division of the Mississippi Department of Revenue.
Burkes said other Mississippi cities such as Jackson and Starkville have later hours.
Alderman Joe Tullos made a motion to petition the state Revenue Department for the extension. The motion passed on a 5-0 vote.
Should the state approve the petition, the city would have to make changes in its ordinances as well.
“It would help him and that’s why he’s up here,” Tullos said. “You can’t deny we are a resort area. Some people like to go out and see another venue.”
“One o’clock would be reasonable to me,” Burkes said. “Especially in the summertime; you don’t know how much it would help.”
The board later went into executive session to discuss an industrial matter. When they came out, it was announced that Viking Metal had purchased the former Wells Lamont building it now occupies from the city for $130,000.
In other matters, aldermen voted to:
• Approve an order to pay Allen and Hoshall $1,500 for engineering services on the Viking Metal project. This is being paid through a DIP grant and will be refundable at a later date;
• Approve two road bores for C Spire along Saxon Airport Road and Valley View Drive;
• Approve a road bore for AT&T along Main Street;
• Approve naming city clerk Nikki Walton as applicant agent for FEMA documents;
• Approve the hiring of Ronnie William Anderson as a sergeant with the Philadelphia police department at the pay rate of $16.09 per hour;
• Approve contracting with retired sanitation director Thurman Chunn for part-time work;
• Approve orders to pay Waggoner Engineering $8,160 for work on the Booker T. Washington gym renovation. This comes out of the bond series A fund. The board also voted to pay Waggoner $364 for work on the new Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) at the Philadelphia Airport;
• Approve orders paying Joe McGee Construction $115,762 and $79,880 for work on the St. Francis Drive bridge project; and,
• Approve an order paying Crowder Engineering $13,119 and $10,379 for work on the St. Francis Drive bridge project.