June 23, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The newly constituted beer board made up of five county commissioners is expected to meet for the first time Monday night, June 24 to consider action on an application for a beer permit. The meeting will be held following the 6:30 p.m. monthly county commission session in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multipurpose Center or county complex.
County Mayor Matt Adcock announced Thursday night during a county commission committee of the whole meeting that he has appointed, subject to approval of the commission, Larry Green, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Tony (Cully) Culwell, and Jeff Barnes to the new beer board. Green will serve as chairman, Rhody as vice chairman, and Pafford will be the secretary.
The board’s first meeting will be to consider a application by Jeffrey Lynn Cawthorn for an on-premises permit at 2100 Edgar Evins Park Road, Silver Point under the name Edgar Evins Lakeside Kitchen.
Last month, the commission adopted a resolution, upon the recommendation of the government services committee, establishing a new DeKalb County Beer Board to be made up of five county commissioners. The board will have the authority to approve or deny applications for beer permits based on criteria established in policies set by the county commission, such as distance requirements, etc. Beer board members are to be paid per meeting the same as present-day or current compensation for county commission committee meetings.
Several months ago, the commission abolished the seven-member citizen beer board at the suggestion of County Mayor Adcock and made the entire 14-member county commission the beer board.
Since then, the county mayor and commission decided that a five-member beer board would function better.
According to the resolution as adopted last month, County Mayor Adcock will appoint five county commissioners including a chairman, vice chairman, and secretary to serve on the beer board in September each year with confirmation by the county commission. The terms are for one year. The members will be up for reappointment each September.
The resolution calls for the county mayor to provide distant measurements to the board by request of the beer board chairman. The county clerk shall perform the clerical duties of overseeing the process of applications, accepting payment, and forwarding that information to the chairman of the beer board. The county clerk shall also oversee the background check process if the beer board policies require it and then forward results of the background check to the beer board chairman.
The chairman of the beer board will be responsible for setting the meeting date, time, and place.
The county commission will be responsible for developing and maintaining a beer board policy that will provide requirements of the beer board that have not been addressed in the resolution.
“The beer board will be operated under the state laws of Tennessee and beer board policies that would be set in place by the government services committee,” said County Mayor Adcock Thursday night.
“I went ahead and made a beer board policy for you (county commission) to look over so they (beer board) have some criteria to work with on Monday but this is basically the exact same requirements that we already have right now. It pretty much has the same language as the resolution we passed but it goes a little more in detail saying that the county commission and beer board will forbid the sale, storage, or manufacture of beer or like beverages within 800 feet or some lesser distance of schools, churches, and other places of public gathering and 300 feet from a place of residence if the owner is in opposition to the issuance of the permit. The owner of the residence would be asked to sign a statement prepared by the beer board chairman or county mayor that he is not opposed to the issuance of the permit in question. The application fee for a beer permit required by the state is $250. The county will require a background check of the applicant who must not have been convicted of a felony or crime that the beer board believes to be of moral turpitude within the last 10 years,” said County Mayor Adcock.