March 4, 2015

Final approval of ordinance tabled for at least a year
by Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

Last month, and without much fanfare, Bethany’s village council came to the consensus that they would not vote one way or another on the legalization of video gambling in Bethany for at least another year.
The decision was executed by legislatively “tabling” the vote or, in other words, taking no action on the issue and placing it on the council’s agenda at a later date. The decision, though not opposed by some members of the council, would effectively block video gaming machines from showing up in Bethany for the foreseeable future despite the passage of an ordinance last year aimed at doing the opposite.
It was in January of 2014 that the board approved by a 3-2 vote a motion amending the section of the liquor ordinance that then prohibited gambling and gaming terminals to instead, in the future, allow them.
The legislative move was possible because all ordinances must receive legal review of their wording, and a final approval of that wording, before going into effect, which the amendment to the liquor ordinance has yet to receive. If the amendment were to fail at this point, it would simply go back to the village’s legal council for rewording—a process that board members clarified would be superfluous to their final decision.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.