St. Albans council debates POTA vs. multi-vendor alcohol licenses ahead of Oct. 25 pub crawl

St. Albans City Council members spent much of their Oct. 6 meeting debating whether fairs and festivals should use a POTA (public on-trade alcohol) model, allow multi-vendor beer trucks, or require council approval for activation of POTA.

Council McClusman (council member) opened the discussion, saying he had previously given the pub-crawl committee permission to pursue a multi-vendor license but that he wanted the council to consider trying a POTA-only approach at one non–Mountaineer Main Street festival. "All I want to do is try 1," McClusman said, arguing the city should test whether POTA outside Mountaineer Main Street would work.

Vice Mayor Jared Page (council member) told the council he supports POTA and said he had researched the ordinance and city charter. "Who was the one that got up here and explained POTA has been POTA day 1? Me. That I support POTA. I've worked on it for many years in the legislature," Page said. He argued the council, not a single official, is the proper decision-maker because the charter gives corporate powers to the council absent a delegation.

Other council members and several committee members and business owners who spoke during the discussion expressed concerns about safety, overcrowding and fire marshal limits when indoor businesses remain open during large events. One council member reported that four of six downtown businesses had raised concerns about POTA at some larger festivals, telling the council they worried about more customers drinking inside establishments during large events than occur at Mountaineer Main Street.

City counsel (referred to in the meeting as Deljues/Delguez) and multiple council members repeatedly advised that the existing ordinance says "the city is authorized to establish days and hours when POTA may be utilized," and that the council as the governing body can determine whether POTA is turned on or off for particular events unless the council delegates that authority by ordinance.

After extended back-and-forth—including debate about whether e-mails to subsets of council members violated open meeting rules—the council voted to send the topic back to counsel to draft language amending the ordinance so that larger fairs and festivals would require council approval while smaller events (for example, concerts at Joe Dobbs Square) could be authorized by the mayor's office and relevant inspectors. A motion to send the discussion and draft language to counsel passed on a voice vote with "aye" and "nay" responses; the presiding officer announced "Motion carries."

Why it matters: Council members and business owners said they want clear rules set before the next large event (the pub crawl/Crawl O Wean on Oct. 25) to avoid last-minute confusion and potential legal or safety gaps. The vote does not itself change the ordinance; it directs staff and counsel to draft a specific ordinance amendment for future council action.

Moving forward: Counsel will prepare draft ordinance language for council consideration. The council indicated it expects that language to clarify which events require full council approval, which can be approved administratively, and whether the mayor can be designated to sign multivendor licenses with an appeal process to council.

Quotes in context: Council McClusman said, "If we try 1 time and it doesn't work, I'll be the first one to say I was wrong." Vice Mayor Jared Page: "I support POTA. I've worked on it for many years in the legislature."

The council did not adopt an ordinance change at the Oct. 6 meeting; the item was referred to counsel for drafting, with council direction to return a proposed amendment for a future business meeting.