Country Crossing liquor licenses up for approval

The Houston County Commission is moving forward with proposals to grant liquor licenses to Country Crossing businesses.

The county commission, at its administrative meeting on Thursday, agreed to consider liquor license applications for Country Crossing restaurants, the bingo hall and the amphitheater.

The licenses will be put to a vote of the commission on Monday. Country Crossing is expected to open on Dec. 1.

The commission also discussed filling some vacant positions on Thursday. The county is currently under a hiring freeze and is only filling mission-critical positions. To hire anyone, even to fill a currently funded position that’s come open, county department heads must directly ask the commission for approval.

On Thursday, the commission was asked to approve filling a full-time vacancy in the county tag office by promoting a current part-time employee, filling two vacant sheriff’s deputy positions and two vacant dispatcher positions and filling an empty reappraisal clerk’s position.

Sheriff Andy Hughes said the deputy positions are critical because of the sheriff’s office’s workload.

“We’ve got investigators carrying 80 active cases each,” he said. “...When the ball starts rolling, you’ve got to roll with it. We need to get these people hired and in place.”

Commissioner Bobby Snellgrove urged caution on some of the positions, saying the county should wait until January when it has a better picture of the coming year’s revenues.

Commission Chairman Mark Culver said some positions are critical to the function of county agencies and needed filling right away.

“We’ve got to have people on the back of the garbage truck and we’ve got to have people to answer the phone when residents make a 911 call,” he said. “Some of these positions we have to fill.”

The positions will be considered at Monday’s commission meeting.