MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon City Council approved the creation of a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) that will enable organizations to petition to hold an event allowing visitors to drink beer and wine in sections of downtown.
On a 5-2 vote, with Councilmembers Janice Seavolt and Tammy Woods opposed, the downtown DORA was approved during the Sept. 27 meeting. Organizations can apply through the Main Street Mount Vernon DORA committee to hold an event in a specified area of downtown.
After the application is screened, it will be sent to the city and its police and fire departments for approval of the event. DORA applications must be made at least 60 days in advance.
Councilmember Mike Hillier said Law Director Robert Broeren confirmed the city could repeal the ordinance if DORA events cause problems for the city. An amendment to the ordinance requires reviews of the initiative after one year and five years.
Downtown visitors will be able to buy beer and wine in DORA cups from participating licensed businesses and take them into other downtown businesses that display stickers saying they are allowed.
Councilmember Julia Warga said she supported DORA because it is intended only for special, infrequent events.
“The intent is not a DORA event that would take place every day or even every weekend,” she said, adding that the ordinance provides more oversight than currently exists for any downtown special event.
Two additional factors caused Warga to support the measure. First, it will allow restaurant owners to expand their seating outdoors if extra space is needed. Second, each cup sold will include a donation to local alcohol abuse prevention efforts.
However, both Seavolt and Woods cited a lack of support from citizens for causing them to vote against DORA.
“I'm afraid the majority that I've been getting has been saying no, this isn't for Mount Vernon," Seavolt said. "And they don't want it."
Woods also said city residents told her they didn’t want DORA for downtown Mount Vernon.
“I think open containers on the street are a bad idea on any occasion,” she said. “But I have heard 100% from constituents who have contacted me that they are against this,” she said.
Temporary increase ordinance to fix employee shortage
Council approved an ordinance that gives Safety-Services Director Rick Dzik temporary authority to increase how many employees work in a department in the event of a planned retirement or separation from service.
Dzik said this was necessary in cases such as when a sergeant leaves the Police Department. An ordinance limits how many sergeants, lieutenants and patrol officers the department can have. When a sergeant leaves, the patrol ranks would still be full, so the city couldn't hire a patrol officer until another officer is promoted to sergeant.
“It's my opinion that it forces us to address the lesser of two problems,” Dzik said. “First, we're addressing getting officer into his correct rank, when I believe we should be addressing having enough bodies in the department.”
