CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — In a move that even the Clayton County Police Chief Kevin Roberts admitted was odd, the chief appeared before the Clayton County Board of Commissioners to request they extend the county’s legal drinking and alcohol operation hours.
“Now, I know you’re looking at me going why is the chief of police bringing something related to the alcohol ordinance before the board?” Roberts said when he started his pitch to the county. The county police chief spoke to commissioners on Tuesday.
At the meeting, he asked them to vote to approve an update to the county’s alcohol operations ordinance and extend the legal time to serve and consume alcoholic beverages from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
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Roberts said after speaking with managers and owners of Clayton County restaurants, lounges and bars, he felt urged to come before the board in order to further the county’s economic environment, for both the government and its residents.
“Many of the owners and managers cited the fact that they were required to close at 2 a.m. whereas in our neighborhoods jurisdictions, they were there two hours or longer in an effort to make money,” Roberts said. “So in the interest of economic development, and the opportunity for our small business owners to make the profits that they want to make, while still being in compliance with our ordinance, I respectfully ask the board to consider the highlighted adjustments that we’re proposing. What is essentially, pushing that consumption hour to the 3 a.m. time. It’s that short and that easy.”
During the meeting, commissioners asked Roberts if he was also going to ask for an increased police budget to meet the needs that may be set up by an extended alcohol serving time. He said that the incentives they’d already approved had boosted recruitment, with a positive effect in the county and his police department.
Citing his experience speaking to the owners and managers of the county’s businesses, Roberts said it would be a benefit to the county and their business owners by allowing county residents to spend their money at home instead of going to neighboring counties.
Roberts said the reason he had requested an extension to 3 a.m. instead of 4:30 a.m. or even 5 a.m. was that the county “needed to take baby steps and monitor that change. If we can do this safely and push this an hour later, I think it benefits our small business owners while it also offers an opportunity for our citizens to be able to celebrate and entertain and spend money in Clayton County versus going next door to Henry, DeKalb, wherever they want to go because those places stay open ‘til 3 a.m. or later.”
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“Since October of 2022, our agency had to expend resources responding to at least five unauthorized, illegal restaurants and lounges that did not have licenses or continued to operate into the wee hours of the morning. When we responded to those incidents, we had to respond en masse,” Roberts explained. Later, he added that “the county is not reaping the financial benefits of them coming to an illegally operating business, we’re not getting taxes on illegal alcohol, the government is not getting proceeds, and the owners are not operating in a manner that is safe which places demand on public safety resources when we have to respond.”
When pushed by some commissioners on the actual impact on the ground, Roberts said that while some bars and restaurants did hire off-duty police officers or county deputies to help with security, the bars that were already out of compliance and operating illegally were the ones where there was the biggest use of resources and the larger danger to public safety.
“But the ones that are demanding greater resources, are the ones that commissioners may call me or text me about saying ‘Hey, I got a complaint from a citizen that club so-and-so stays open at 5 a.m. in the morning and they got 100 people coming down there every Friday and Saturday and they’re running off of generators,’” Roberts said. “I didn’t just make that up.”
Overall, commissioners seemed supportive of the idea, as long as law enforcement officers were available and able to respond. Roberts said he would have it on the agenda soon.
Now, come Tuesday, the commission will be discussing and voting upon an ordinance extending hours for operation in the county.
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