News

City OKs ABC store merger, awaits Laurel Park action

By Bill Moss, Published: March 14, 2024

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday night endorsed a merger of the Hendersonville and Laurel Park ABC boards under an agreement that would keep put the four liquor stores in the two towns under one governing board.

If the merger is adopted by the Laurel Park Town Council as well, the new Blue Ridge Alcoholic Beverage Control Board would be made up of five members — three members appointed by the city and two by Laurel Park — and would organize in July.

The proposed merger came at the behest of Chuck McGrady, a Hendersonville ABC Board member who specialized in ABC reform during his five terms in the state House.

“There will be savings, there will be economies of scale for both,” he said. “They’ve got different accounting and audits. That’ll be one. The big thing that is at play here is Hendersonville gets alcohol delivered from the state warehouse once a week. Laurel Park gets alcohol delivered once every two weeks.”

The state ABC Commission, McGrady added, would like to see the merger of more one-store ABC boards in the same county.

“As public policy, this is not the way you’d run an efficient system, having all these single stores across the state,” each with its own governing board and administrative costs. “This is easy because the various ABC units distribute their profit in different ways. In this case, Laurel Park and Hendersonville actually distribute their profits in exactly the same way” — to the cities of Hendersonville and Laurel Park, the public library, the schools and alcohol rehab programs.

Laurel Park Mayor Carey O’Cain said the town board has not taken up the draft agreement yet.

“It’s in the hands of our attorney,” he said. “There’s not much I can say right now.”

One point of contention could be whether the agreement protects the Laurel Park store’s wholesale delivery to a big customer, the Hendersonville Country Club. Laurel Park officials proposed an addition to the agreement that would do just that.

“At the completion of the merger, all commercial accounts currently being serviced by the City or Town shall remain with their respective division,” the proposed amendment says.

“If Laurel Park adopts the same agreement (as Hendersonville) it will go to the ABC Commission but I will tell you that the ABC commission has already signed off on this,” he said.

Fletcher, which has its own ABC board, is not included in the agreement.

“Fletcher distributes its profits very differently,” McGrady said. “So you could not make that deal without negatively affecting revenues into the town of Fletcher.”

Under the terms of the merger, the city would appoint the first chair of the Blue Ridge board for a two-year term. Subsequent appointments of the chair would be for one year, with the appointment alternating between the Town Council and the City Council. The chair would receive $500 per meeting and other members would get $150. An organizational meeting of the Blue Ridge ABC Board and the Blue Ridge ABC System would take place the first week of July.

The agreement makes the current general manager of the Hendersonville system the general manager of the merged system. The current general manager of the Laurel Park System would become assistant general manager of the new system, receiving a 15 percent pay increase.
All stores operated by the Blue Ridge ABC System would be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., meaning the Laurel Park would stay open an hour later than its current hours of 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Hendersonville stores currently are open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.