The Linden City Council approved two ordinances during the Aug. 6 meeting, one will allow Sunday alcohol sales and the other will increase court costs to be placed in the Corrections Fund.

The City of Linden will allow alcohol sales on Sunday from 10 a.m. to midnight. The ordinance will take effect Aug. 20.

Efforts to allow Sunday alcohol sales in Linden began in October 2018 after the city council passed an ordinance including the start and end times, though talks began several weeks prior to the ordinance’s approval.

It was sent to the state legislature for vote during 2019’s legislative session, however it did not make it to the floor. With the state’s recent approval to allow municipalities to pass such ordinances without state approval, the city council was able to move forward and approve the alcohol sales.

Traffic cases will increase by $10 to a total of $35.50 and non-traffic cases will increase by $64.50 to a total of $90.

For both ordinances, the city council unanimously approved to waive the second reading.

The council also approved the use of a grant writer at the benefit of the Linden Fire Department during the meeting. Dean Harbison of DH Grants, a fire chief since 1999 who specializes in Assistant to Firefighter Grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will perform grant writing services at a cost of $400 per grant which will be written into the grant amount. Should the grant be awarded, the city can be reimbursed for 95 percent of the fee following FEMA’s guidelines.

Linden Police Chief Robert Alston recommended the council approve utilizing Harbison’s services.

“We need it because we need to get some new [self-contained breathing apparatuses],” he said.

The LFD also requested that a damaged fire hydrant at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Abernathy Avenue be repaired and all other hydrants in the city be greased. Mayor Charles Moore said he would speak with department members the next day.

Also at the meeting, a resident requested approval of placing a mobile home on Highway 28 and was directed to get approval from all neighboring landowners within 300 feet, not including roads, as she lives in an R-1 zone, and the Demopolis Adult Softball League were given permission to practice at Scott Park.

The Linden City Council meeting every first and third Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at city hall. The public is invited to attend.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, August 14 issue of the Demopolis Times.)