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AC could revisit its bar guidelines As Sealy council members spend coming days mulling over an ordinance that would allow bars inside the city limits to sell alcohol until 2 a.m., Austin County Judge Carolyn Bilski acknowledged it might be time for the county to review its own policy. While the judge says the issue at hand is one Sealy council members must directly address, it does shed light on perhaps a larger problem. Currently, the county’s Precincts 1 and 3 are considered “wet”, meaning bars in those locations can sell alcohol until 2 a.m. However, bars in “dry” Precincts 2 and 4 are only allowed to do so until midnight Monday through Friday and until 1 a.m. on Saturday. “It comes down to some judgments made in the 1980s, when the commissioners court decided bars in Precincts 1 and 3 could extend their hours and it’s been that way since,” Bilski explained. There have been suggestions by some, including Sealy Mayor Nick Tirey, that discussions over extending the hours that a bar can serve alcohol in Sealy would not be needed if Austin County officials voted to not sell alcohol until 2 a.m. in all four of its precincts. City officials right now are discussing the possibility of extending its city limits north on Highway 36. That area includes two bars - Ropers Club and El Tropical, both of which are currently in the county’s jurisdiction and allowed to sell alcohol until 2 a.m. Some city leaders are concerned the bars could be put out of business if annexed into the city limits and are required to cut back on their service hours. Precinct 3 began letting bars sell alcohol until 2 a.m. after approving the first application for extended hours in 1987. Precinct 1 underwent the same change in 1998. Bilski said a similar application was filed years ago for Precinct 4, but review of the paperwork showed the proposed bar did not meet other code requirements. No application for extended alcohol sale hours has been filed for any businesses in Precinct 2, the judge said. After pointing out cities like Richmond and Rosenberg have rescinded previous votes to extend alcohol-sale related hours, Bilski said she’s not against putting a review of the county’s policy on the agenda. Still, she did not name a specific time commissioners might take up the topic. Bilski noted no Austin County citizen has formally approached the court to review its policy, although there were rumors some concerned citizens would visit the court. “The world has changed a lot since those policies in the county were passed. There might be a lot of value to the county reviewing our rules. We don’t have a college town in the county and we don’t really have any need for that,” Bilski said. The judge questioned if extending the hours a bar can sell alcohol would put a larger burden on already over-worked city and county law enforcement officers. She also stressed she doesn’t agree with supporters’ claim that extending the hours could help attract new businesses and visitors. Rusty Griffin, one of several Sealy residents opposed to the city passing the new ordinance, hopes for an unanimous vote by the city’s council against extending hours to 2 a.m. “If the council votes as a whole against the issue, I feel that would give me the teeth I need to then go to the county and push for the county to change its policy,” said Griffin, a Sealy resident and pastor of Christian City Fellowship, which is located outside the city’s limits. Bilski said Griffin and any other concerned citizens could raise those questions during commissioner court’s public forum, held at each meeting. |
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