Oconee County Industrial Development Authority Calls For Liquor-By-The-Drink Referendum

The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority decided to weigh in on the liquor-by-the-drink issue on Monday afternoon, voting unanimously to ask the Board of Commissioners to put the issue on the November 4 ballot.

BOC Chairman Melvin Davis, a member of the IDA, said the commissioners will take up the issue at their meeting next Tuesday night and then vote on whether to put it on the ballot at the meeting on Aug. 5.

The IDA spent 33 minutes talking about the appropriateness of interjecting itself into the debate and about the language of a resolution.

In the end, it decided that it wanted to make the case that a “healthy, growing restaurant community” is important to economic development in the county. The unstated assumption was that liquor-by-the-drink is crucial for the health of the restaurant community.

For more on the story, go to Oconee County Observations.