By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
A proposal to allow beer and wine to be served at the Rowan Museum was pulled off the table Monday night.
The Rowan County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hear a presentation from Commissioner Raymond Coltrain asking that the county-owned Museum be exempt from the ban on alcohol at county-owned facilities.
Coltrain asked that the issue be taken off the agenda at the request of the Rowan Museum Board of Directors.
Coltrain went on to read a statement saying it is his obligation to bring issues to the board for discussion. Coltrain said he didn’t talk with commissioners individually to see how they felt about the issue before bringing it to the board.
“We all have the responsibility to bring topics to our board for discussion. We cannot evaluate the merits of having an item on the agenda before it is discussed because we do not have all the information …” Coltrain said.
Late last week, Chairman Carl Ford said the item might be withdrawn due to lack of support.
The Museum rents the facility for weddings and other social events to raise money. Since the ban on alcohol, bookings have dropped more than 50 percent and income has dropped by more than $15,000.
– Another proposal by Coltrain also failed to gain support of the board.
Coltrain pushed for the board to change its policy of approving grant applications. Instead he recommended department directors and the county manager be given greater latitude to apply for grants.
Commissioner Chad Mitchell cited previous experiences where the Health Department received a grant to perform abortions without the board’s knowledge.
Mitchell said there are a lot of grants that have policy implications, and commissioners don’t need to be blindsided two or three years down the road by a grant.
Chairman Carl Ford said after talking with some former commissioners, he saw the potential pitfalls of opening up the grant process.
Other commissioners, including Vice Chairman Jon Barber and Commissioner Tina Hall, supported keeping the current procedure.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254.