SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It drew a lot of discussion Monday night, but in the end, a motion to allow Sunday alcohol sales in the city of South Hutchinson never made it to a vote.
The issue of Sunday alcohol sales was back before the South Hutchinson City Council Monday after Councilman Brian Garretson expressed a desire to change the current ordinance. The issue that came up was whether the city had the power to change the ordinance, and, as former City Councilman Luke Herren put it, what it would look like to overturn a vote of the public.
“I don’t have an issue with the topic itself, I’ve got an issue with the fact that we took this in steps that we were instructed by council to a public vote so it would solve the problem,” Herren said. “It went to a public vote and the citizens of South Hutch said no.”
The vote by the public in 2019 was on the petition to reverse the city’s ordinance that was acted upon, not to make the change on Sunday sales outright. That brought up the question as to whether the public could simply bring in a petition for another vote. The city attorney, Mark Tremaine, said the public could always do that.
“If the council considers this ordinance tonight to permit Sunday sales it’s going to be subject to petition,” Tremaine said. “It’s the same thing that happened last time.”
Tremaine stressed that he did not think the public could simply petition for Sunday sales, just for any change in an ordinance acted upon by the council in that 60-day time frame.
City manager Joe Turner agreed, stating that any action by the council to allow Sunday sales was not overriding the 2019 vote because the outcome was to overturn action of the council, not specifically trying to establish Sunday sales. The 2019 vote to overturn the city council's ordinance was defeated by just 40 votes. In the end, it was a moot point as Garretson’s motion to allow Sunday sales died for lack of a second.
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