Johnson officials may explore countywide alcohol rules

Elected officials from across Johnson County may explore whether countywide guidelines could be established for regulating alcohol sales.

They will wait to have that discussion, however, until after the Nov. 2 election, in which Iowa City voters will decide whether to repeal the city's 21-only law.

The topic was very briefly touched on during a Wednesday meeting of area city, county and school elected officials. The officials meet periodically to update each other on issues in their jurisdictions. The next meeting is  scheduled for February.

Some of the people present said they were interested in there being some community-wide regulations related to alcohol sales. Sally Stutsman, chairwoman of the county's Board of Supervisors, said while a lot of attention has been on Iowa City because of its 21-only law, it is an issue that affects surrounding communities, too.

“It's just not Iowa City's problem,” she said.

One idea was a countywide law requiring employees in establishments with liquor licenses to have certain levels of training. The county even believes it would have the power to pass a countywide 21-only law, although no one spoke in favor of doing so.

Individual cities could repeal a countywide law with a majority vote by their city councils, Supervisor Terrence Neuzil said.