The town of Brantley looked to take a step toward allowing limited alcohol sales on Sunday during a recent council meeting, but city councilman Lorey Bogen asked to rescind his vote during Monday’s meeting.

The council voted to move ahead with Sunday alcohol sales (with a restriction of sales to only after 1 p.m.) at a Sept. 3 meeting, according to the town’s minutes.

The motion passed 3-1, with Bogen, Darryl Elliott and Steve Walker voting yes, Kris Odom voting no, and Judy Woolley abstaining.

At Monday’s meeting, Bogen asked about how he could go about changing his vote on the matter.

“I want to rescind my vote on that,” Bogen said.

If Bogen is able to rescind his vote and change it to “no,” the vote would stand tied at two “yes” votes, two “no” votes, and one abstention.  The mayor would then break the tie.

“We’ll have to find out for sure if you can rescind your vote after having voted,” said Mayor Bernie Sullivan. “I don’t know if you can, but we’ll find out.”

City Clerk Phillip Moseley said Tuesday afternoon that he had contacted the Alabama League of Municipalities about the matter but had not received a reply.

Allowing alcohol to be sold on Sunday is not unheard of — according to the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, 12 counties and nine cities across the state have some sort of Sunday alcohol sales.

No matter the outcome, the change would still be a long way from taking effect.

Under Alabama law, any such changes at a local level must first be approved by the state legislature as an amendment to the constitution and then put before the voters of the town.

Town attorney Bill Rayborn said he had not been able to contact Sen. Bryan Taylor, but that he had been in talks with Rep. Charles Newton.

“They don’t go back into session until February, and he’s trying to figure out for us how to get this done,” Rayborn said. “That’s really as far as I’ve gotten with this.”

In other business, Sullivan said reports from the South Central Alabama Development Commission are that the proposed bypass around Luverne is “moving forward faster than originally planned.”

He recommended that the town begin preparing for the possibility of new businesses wanting to locate in Brantley, and also look at expanding the city limits at some point.

“I would rather do it in the next year or so, rather than wait until after the bypass is built,” Sullivan said.

“It’s better to look down the road and see where growth will be when it gets here,” said Elliott.

The council also approved changing the Recreation Board Director position to a six-month job from the months of February through July due to a decrease in the number of games being played on city fields.

The swearing in of new council members will be held on Nov. 5 at 5 p.m., followed by a short council meeting.

Trick or Treat for the town of Brantley will be held on Oct. 30 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and the Front Porch Christmas Parade is set for Dec. 8 at 11 a.m.