Monday, November 25, 2024–8:18 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The Rome City Commission has placed an ordinance amendment onto first reading that, if approved, would allow downtown Rome to have a third party come to handle parking enforcement.
The ordinance, as is currently written, designates that parking enforcement is the duty of the police department or an employee of the City of Rome specially designated by the DDA. The amendment, which is slated for a final vote during the commission’s next meeting, adds the line, “or a contractor, specifically designated by the city commission.
In other action, the commission approved wrecker and towing fees.
“Towing companies in the city that want to participate in the on-call rotation schedule with our city police department are bound by a schedule set by the city, and there is also one set by the county,” said Rome City Clerk Joe Smith. The public safety committee addressed this briefly at their last meeting and what is before you tonight is a small amendment to the city fee schedule that will allow us to match the county schedule.”
The basic tow fee will be increasing from $100 to $125.
“The public safety committee also thought it was probably worthwhile to make a small change to the daily storage requirement,” Smith added. “Instead of the vehicle being there 24 hours before the fee starts, it will start immediately. So, there will be a one day minimum charge. The City of Rome has not changed these fees in a number of years. It’s a fairly old schedule, and maybe after the first of the year the city, the county, and the wrecker services may look at these again, and there may be more comprehensive changes.”
Commissioners also designated Super Bowl Sunday on February 9 as the one day in 2025 when establishments that would not normally be able to pour alcohol would be permitted to do so.
Under state law, establishments that sell alcohol on Sundays must meet a 50-50 food-to-drink ratio. However, cities can designate one Sunday a year to allow businesses that do not meet that requirement to serve.
