In case you needed extra incentive not to break a law in Carmi which would require your vehicle to be towed, city leaders steepened the financial penalty for doing so Tuesday night. There were only four agenda items, but a few required some discussion leading to a 50 minute gathering on Cinco de Mayo. Tow fees are going up from $100 and $200 depending on the level of offense to $250 and $350. The previous rates were set in 2011. Councilman Doug Hays explains more about the fee.
Police initiated tow, like a felony tow…a DUI or something else. This was designed then to help offset the extra cost the city incurs when that happens. It never fails when you get a DUI, it’s a half hour before the officer gets off and then they’re working 3 hours of overtime. So this puts the cost of the perpetrator and not the general taxpayer to fund the extra cost that the police department incurs. And then Chief Carter can use these funds to fund the DUI equipment and things used in police enforcement. So it spreads the cost to the reason the costs were incurred in the first place.
Council also established policies and procedures for Budget Billing, a set of rules that didn’t exist until council passed it. You can find the wording in that passed ordinance below
The final item that included substantial discussion Tuesday night surrounded an ordinance repealing and replacing all previously passed liquor ordinances. Council ended up tabling it so they could talk more to constituents in their ward before voting. The consideration was prompted by a local business owner interested in operating a small convenience store on the north side of town and inquiring about a liquor license. The changes include adding an additional license. Another change was an alteration to fees raising them from $1,000 to $1,250. It also raises the special event license to $150. And finally, adding Sunday sales into the ordinance.
Mayor Stendeback says adding Sunday sales is more about revenue than encouraging drinking.
For the Sunday sales is that most communities around us are doing that and I feel like we’re losing revenue because of that. I’m picking on Crossville because they’re only 7 miles away. I’ve talked to several people who’ve said that if you wonder if people are going out of town on Sundays, just drive up there to Maier’s and you’ll see there’s a lot of Carmi people there.
Ryan Botsch is the business owner interested in taking advantage of that new license.
We own a building already that needs some restoration and the first step that we want to go through is to make sure that we do obtain the appropriate licenses that we need to operate. We’re wanting to open on the north side of town sort of like a dollar store/convenience store and we want to offer items that people on the north side are having to walk all the way out to Wal-Mart or Dollar General to buy now. Simple things like soap and toilet paper, paper towels and that. There’s nowhere now on the north side of town where you can buy that type of stuff. We’re looking at really hitting that hard and offering some value services to people on that side of town to help them out. And with that does come the gaming. We will have to offer gaming to maintain competitive with the other local businesses in the area.
Councilman Greg Knight expressed his reservations about taking a vote before he had a chance to talk with those in his ward who had voted for him.
At no time [while campaigning] did anyone mention how they’d like to have Sunday sales. Contrary to that, I had several people express their concern when asked what problems existed that access to alcohol and drugs was way too easy in Carmi making it a problem in their eyes. Having said that, I would personally like to be able to talk to my constituents a little more about their thoughts on Sunday sales because I didn’t ask how they felt about Sunday sales. It came at me.
Hays and Bradshaw furthered the discussion on legislating morality and religious views. Ultimately, the council tabled the matter to further consider before bringing it back up at the next council meeting scheduled for May 19th.
Council also renewed the employee safety incentive program Tuesday evening.