ZEBULON - After an extended period of heated discussion between members of the Pike County Board of Commissioners and a number of public comments for and against the ordinance, commissioners held a second reading and voted 3-2 Wednesday morning in favor of allowing the issuance of licenses to pour beer and wine in the county.

The ordinance goes into effect Nov. 1. Commissioners also voted to not allow the sale or pouring of beer or wine on Christmas.

Williamson restaurant owner Ron Alexander told commissioners that the pouring of beer and wine is essential for a profitable business.

“It’s really hard to attract people to a quality restaurant without being able to sell beer or wine,” Alexander said.

But Pike resident Jimmy Bass vehemently spoke against it.

“I would like for Pike County to have a higher standard than every other county in Georgia,” Bass said before telling the commissioners he knew they didn’t put it before the residents for a vote because they knew it would be voted down.

During the meeting, commissioners also voted 5-0 to hire the National Fire Services Office (NSFO) to conduct an Insurance Service Office (ISO) reduction study at a cost of $26,000.

Ken Riley, captain of Fire Station No. 6, told commissioners that, in his opinion, it will be money well spent.

“It’s a lot of work and requires expertise we don’t have,” Riley said when asked if the county’s volunteer fire personnel could conduct the study themselves. “We can’t pull this off in-house.”

Board of Commissioners Chairman Steve Fry and Citizens Advisory Task Force Chairman Don Collins told commissioners that once ISO ratings are lowered, homeowners in some areas of the county will see savings of $600 to $800 on their insurance premiums.

Commissioners also, to the open dismay of those in attendance, spent a large portion of the meeting approving the minutes of their June 24 meeting. The item of contention was CATF’s report citing that the county overspent the $1.6 million designated in its SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) for fire stations and equipment.

Fry told commissioners that the $48,000 allotted for construction of each fire station was never a realistic figure.

County Manager Steve Marro said the cost will exceed original projections, but state law requires that only $1.6 million can come from the SPLOST. Any excess will be paid from other county funds.