Acworth‘s City Council and Board of Aldermen approved two Alcohol Privilege Licenses and announced city plans for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday Thursday evening.
Michael Schroeder and Tamareka Cook both applied for Alcohol Privilege Licenses for consumption on the premises of their restaurants to open in coming months. They both also applied to be able to sell alcohol on Sundays.
Additionally, Schroeder applied for retail sales of alcohol on Sundays, meant to be consumed off-site.
At the meeting, Schroeder said that his restaurant, 1885 Grill, is set to open for Monday, Sept. 14.
Cook said that she plans on opening her restaurant, Woo Restaurant Bar and Grill, Saturday, Aug. 1.
In Acworth, those attempting to sell alcohol must submit to a background check from the Acworth Police Department and pay a $200 beverage application fee.
After none of the board members or anyone in the larger than usual crowd expressed concern, the board moved to approve Schroeder’s and Cook’s requests.
During board member comments, Tim Richardson announced that for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, APD will be patrolling the city’s parks Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Richardson reminded everyone to follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks.
During his time, board member Brett North said that 131 jobs had been either retained or created for the month of June. He said that was up 10 jobs from the previous month, which was a “very good sign.”
Board member Butch Price talked about the economic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the city’s businesses.
He said that in June of last year, Acworth collected $35,509 in hotel and motel taxes. In June 2020, the city collected $13,654 in hotel and motel taxes.
Price continued, saying that seven Acworth businesses did not reopen in May when the city began reopening certain businesses.
Allegood thanked Schroeder and Cook for investing in Acworth towards the end of the meeting.
“We understand what it is when businesses take the risk to open in our city, and we don’t take that lightly,” Allegood said. “We want to thank you for your investment, we want to thank you … for making that investment in our community and we’re going to do everything we can to help you be successful in our city.”
Allegood also thanked President of LOUD Security Systems and Cobb Chamber of Commerce Chairman John Loud, who was at Thursday’s meeting.
In March 2020, Loud and other Cobb Chamber members started a COVID-19 Economic Recovery Taskforce to help small businesses deal with the money they received from the coronavirus aid bill.
Since then, Loud said he has been able to help small businesses in the community.
After the meeting, Assistant to the City Manager Alex Almodóvar said that annual Fourth of July events such as fireworks and live music have been canceled this year because of the pandemic.
To add to Richardson’s earlier comments about APD, Almodóvar said the reason police are monitoring Lake Acworth and their four beach areas are to ensure safety and that people are social distancing.
“That’s why we canceled the fireworks,” he said. “To kind of encourage people being safe and encourage social distancing.”
On Wednesday, July 1, Cobb and Douglas Public Health issued a public health alert because of a “substantial rise” in the daily positive confirmed rate of COVID-19 in the counties. The alert said the new cases tend to be younger people instead of seniors.
Almodóvar said that residents should continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and that city officials are aware of the public health alert and are internally monitoring the situation.
Arielle Robinson is a student at Kennesaw State University. She also freelances for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and is the former president of KSU’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists as well as a former CNN intern. She enjoys music, reading, and live shows.