News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville City Council voted 4-1 Thursday night to restrict alcohol at public events only to the Leslie Town Center parking lot or the Putnam County Fairgrounds.
The council removed the portion of the new ordinance that would have allowed alcohol on selected streets, for events or festivals. Council also added an exclusion to the ordinance for Tennessee Tech and Tech Foundation property.
Mayor Laurin Wheaton said she believed the council owed it to a citizen committee who worked on the plan to vote it up or down.
“I would like to see us have further discussion about some other possible areas that we can do,” Wheaton said. “I would like to. I don’t think we have that answer right now. I think what we have on the table is what we got. Is it the best ordinance? I don’t know. I think it is better than what we had previously. I think it’s a good starting point.”
Council Member Eric Walker proposed adding the Dogwood Park Amphitheater to the allowable areas for these charity-sponsored events. But Attorney Danny Rader said the original problem that led to the ordinance in the first place remains.
“Groups wanted the exclusive use of the park or some section of the park,” Rader said. “In parks and sidewalks, you cannot permit that.”
That would mean you could not block areas for ticketed events serving alcohol. Rader said the city could decide to make the Amphitheater a separate facility, but there had previously not been much appetite among Leisure Services officials for that idea.
The new ordinance outlines requirements for a non-profit to host events where alcohol is served. The ordinance includes limits on the numbers of drinks, types of beverages that can be served, security, insurance, and other factors.
City Manager James Mills said previous public events in Cookeville where alcohol was served did not properly comply with the city’s ordinances. Proposed changes including city staff deciding which groups could hold events with alcohol and which could not.
“We wanted to remove that dysfunctionality, and that’s what we did,” Council Member Chad Gilbert said. “We didn’t strike out to start Prohibition and take stuff away. We took away a dysfunctional ordinance that they could not administer.”
“Our recipe has been to allow these things,” Walker said. “We’re taking it away from our recipe. We’re pulling it out of our recipe. That’s what we did in December, and that’s what we’re doing now. It’s not an argument of whether we’re going to put a little extra spice in the recipe. It’s part of Cookeville’s history in the last decade. I think that needs to be acknowledged, that we’re changing it. We’re definitely changing our recipe for progress. We have good progress in Cookeville.”
Public comment before Thursday’s vote focused on why alcohol consumption needed to be allowed on public property and the threat to Cookeville’s family-friendly atmosphere.
Council Member Luke Eldridge proposed removing the city’s rights to host events where alcohol could be consumed. Council members said they were willing to discuss that change, but not without further time to consider it.
Second reading of the ordinance comes in two weeks.
In other business, council approved a temporary access agreement with Cracker Barrel to build the new Gateway Monument sign at South Jefferson Avenue. The six-month easement will assist in avoiding traffic delays while building the new sign.
Council also approved a new agreement with Kimley-Horn for final design and bid specifications for the Cane Creek expansion. The company will also complete grant paperwork. Total cost of the agreement approved Thursday, some $101,000. A state grant will pay half of the construction.
