STARKVILLE – Restaurant owners and residents could soon see alcohol sales begin an hour earlier on Sunday mornings.
Mayor Lynn Spruill called for two public hearings to amend the city’s alcohol ordinance during the board of aldermen’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday at City Hall. The proposed change would allow Sunday alcohol sales to begin at 10 a.m., instead of the current 11 a.m. start time.
Spruill said she consulted local restaurant owners before bringing the proposal to the board and received positive feedback.
“Before I brought this forward, I spoke with our restaurateurs … and the answer was yes,” Spruill said. “A lot of them open at 10, but they don’t have an opportunity to serve the full complement of what they have available, so this does allow for serving Sunday brunch with alcohol to be an option for mimosas or whatever people are drinking at Sunday brunch.”
Ward 2 Alderwoman and Budget Chair Sandra Sistrunk also spoke in favor of the change and moved to approve holding two public hearings on the amendment.
“I think that what this allows the restaurant to do is to begin serving all their menu items at once,” she said. “I think it’s very confusing to give somebody a menu and say, ‘Sorry, you can’t have that just yet, wait until 11.’ And so it’s really just cleaning that up.”
The vote passed 5-2, with Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, who represents Ward 6, voting against the proposal without any discussion during the meeting.
Vaughn said his opposition was rooted in concerns about churchgoers on Sunday mornings.
“I just don’t see no sense in starting at 10, when most people are still in church and not out of church,” he told The Dispatch following the meeting. “I just disagree with it. Just respect the people that are going to get out of church.”
Perkins shared similar concerns and said the amendment could potentially set a precedent for even earlier sales.
“I have a substantial amount of constituents in my ward who are churchgoers, and they are of the opinion that Sunday is the Sabbath day and … they are of the opinion that an additional hour (of alcohol sales) will be an additional infringement on their Sabbath day,” Perkins told The Dispatch. “And of course, I understand that there are some worshipers and persons in the city who may not have an objection, but we have to give deference to those who have those strong beliefs about religion and spirituality and Christianity.”
The first public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 3 during the board’s regular monthly meeting in City Hall.
SMART update
Board members also heard an update on the Starkville-MSU Rapid Area Transit system, which Mississippi State University Executive Director of Transportation Jeremiah Dumas said continues to see strong growth.
SMART recorded more than 455,000 rides in 2025, an increase of 32,087 riders from 2024, Dumas said.
Paratransit ridership, which serves riders with disabilities or medical needs, also increased slightly, with 6,478 rides in 2025 compared to 6,446 in 2024. Of those riders, about 19.5% required a wheelchair lift, representing a 113% increase in lift usage from the previous year.
SMART also provided more than 4,000 trips to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Dumas said the Mississippi Department of Transportation has asked SMART to take a leadership role in the Regional Transit Group, which assists riders across 16 counties access public transportation.
SMART’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2027 totals approximately $7.5 million. Of that, about $2.7 million comes from local cost sharing, including $2.4 million from MSU, $224,670 from contracts and advertising and $100,000 from the city of Starkville.
The system is primarily funded through a Federal Transit Administration grant, along with contributions from MSU, the city and other revenue sources. This year, MDOT required all transit agencies to reduce their budgets by 10%, Dumas said.
“Thankfully, we’ve been able to do that with no operational impacts,” Dumas said. “… But it is kind of interesting out there when you start looking at the transportation of people and some of the discussions that are being had, both at the state level and federal level.”
Looking ahead, Dumas said SMART plans to modernize its fleet with larger buses and optimize routes as construction projects move through Starkville in 2027.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
