The Blue Ridge City Council agreed unanimously to “suspend the (alcohol) ordinance in relation to only the music, amplified music, for the weekend” of Blues & BBQ during a regular meeting Tuesday, August 17.
Although there was initially no agenda item for the move, Mayor Donna Whitener requested the topic be added once it came time to approve or amend the agenda.
Council members Rhonda Haight and Nathan Fitts opposed the decision to add the item, and with Councilman Harold Herndon absent, Whitener broke a tie vote that included council members, Mike Panter and Robbie Cornelius.
In addition, the agenda showed three individuals signed up to speak on the topic, which Whitener said was her reason for requesting the item be added.
On the contrary, one individual who was signed up to speak did not show up and the other did not even wish to talk about that matter.
Hope Killingsworth, a downtown business owner, asked the council “to do the right thing to help our businesses” by allowing amplified music outdoors.
In response, Fitts said, “Well, the right thing is to enforce the ordinances of this city. That’s what we were taken the oath of office to do, and shame on this administration for letting it go for this many years. It should’ve been addressed years ago and handled, so we’re not dealing with it now. Doing the right thing, in my opinion, is going through this process because we have to enforce the ordinances.”
When it came time to vote, Haight made a motion to suspend the rules of the alcohol ordinance pertaining to amplified music for the weekend of Blues & BBQ, which is September 16, 17, 18, and 19 with a music cut off of 9 p.m.
In addition to the workshop that had been scheduled for yesterday, August 24, Haight moved to have a special called meeting to vote on the ordinance the following Tuesday, August 31.