CLEVELAND – Both sides of the issue stated their case during a public hearing by the Cleveland City Council regarding the possible package sales of distilled spirits in the city.
Three people addressed the council during the time allotted, two of those, Charlie Pope, a Cleveland resident, and Ed Ward, a former business owner in the city spoke in favor of offering the service. Ward touted the revenue that the city of Helen is receiving from such sales. Ward said, “it is time that the city of Cleveland gets that money here.”
White County Commissioner and city resident Terry Goodger spoke in opposition of the sales, as for the revenue generated he told the council “if we need a package liquor store to be the next step in the economic growth of Cleveland, you know we need to stop right where we are because we have too much going for us in Cleveland to fall into a trap like this.”
Cleveland Mayor Josh Turner said they were happy to give the citizens an opportunity to speak on this issue. Turner noted that the council will hold another public hearing on July 25th, the public can also email comments to cityofclevelandga.org, “we feel like it was important to provide that opportunity to the public and did so for the first time tonight,” commented Turner.
If the council decides to move forward with this issue they have until August 10th to take action to ensure that the issue is placed on the November 8th general election ballot.
