Recent Alabama legislation makes it possible for smaller cities to vote on whether or not to sell alcohol.

Geneva city leaders are looking into the wet/dry referendum process, should a group want to bring it to a city-wide vote.

Last November, Geneva County residents voted to block the sell of alcohol by only 91 votes.

But, this past legislative session law makers gave cities with over a thousand residents the option to decide for themselves.

The process begins with a petition.

“A number equal to 30% of the people who voted in the last election must petition the city government to hold a referendum on wet/dry,” says Mayor Wynnton Melton.

For the City of Geneva, a group would need around 340 signatures from people who live in the city limits and are registered to vote.

Once a petition is filed and verified, the city would need to place a referendum on a ballot during the next primary, general, county-wide or municipal election.

“We have to get voting machines and we have to get everything taken care of so I’m hoping that if there is a group out there that is going to submit a petition, that they do it quickly so that we have enough time to see that the election is properly held,” says Melton.

Even though the municipal wet/dry issue would have to be voted on the same day as a regular election. It would have to be held at a separate place in Geneva. So, people would have to go vote for say the governor's race then get in their car, go to a separate site to vote for the wet/dry issue.

“We just don't have the room here at city hall where we have our normal municipal elections to have a governor's election and a separate municipal election for alcohol,” says Melton.

The next eligible election date is the gubernatorial primary in June.

In the event the city goes wet, the mayor predicts it would bring in between $50,000 and $100,000 local tax dollars a year.