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Clarkston City Manager Keith Barker, left, explains the issue of coin-operated Clarkston City Council members Mario Williams, left, and Dean Moore, right, listen to
amusement machines (COAMs) to board members, including Beverly Burks, right. the issue of COAMs in the city. Photos by R. Scott Belzer
Clarkston council amends game machine ordinance
by R. Scott Belzer
sbelzer@dekalbchamp.com
The city of Clarkston tightened
its grip on stores with coin-operated
amusement machines (COAMs) on
March 1 during a regularly sched
uled council meeting.
Clarkston’s city council unani
mously voted in favor of amending
Chapter 11, Article 4 of Clarkston’s
city ordinances, clarifying profit
limitations, legal ramifications and
due process for businesses hosting
COAMs.
A bona fide COAM is defined as
“any type of machine or device that
will automatically provide music or
some other type of entertainment
when a coin, token or some other
object, such as a credit card, is de
posited,” by the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS). This includes arcade
video games, pinball machines,
jukeboxes, pool tables and slot ma
chines.
Clarkston officials state approxi
mately 60 COAM machines exist in
10 businesses throughout the city.
State law prohibits any busi
ness housing COAMs from earning
more than 50 percent of its total
profits solely from the machines to
avoid the issue of “gaming rooms,”
or businesses acting as miniature
casinos.
“Gaming rooms is the term that
folks in the COAM business use
when referring to businesses that
primarily exist only for the purpose
of collecting revenue from COAMs,”
said Keith Barker, city manager of
Clarkston. “This is a term used by
many master license holders, the
folks that own machines. In conver
sations with them, they are not in
favor and oppose gaming rooms.”
The proposed amendment,
written by Barker and city attorney
Stephen Quinn, states how the
potential for gambling on COAMs
is “deleterious” to the city and, as
such, requires strict regulation.
An expose published by Cre
ative Loafing in July 2015 high
lighted Clarkston’s struggle in
dealing with gaming rooms, as one
business took a $250 COAM fine
to the Georgia Supreme Court. The
city’s current ordinances are copied
directly from state law, but Clarkston
is having a hard time enforcing
them.
The city hopes the amend
ment approved March 1 will quell
any doubts on COAM laws as well
as the consequences for breaking
them. Barker said the current ordi
nance was “not real explicit” on the
50 percent limit or the due process
following a violation.
“We’re currently in the process
of reviewing license applications for
COAMs,” Barker said. “We’ve found
instances where they fail to report
monthly gross revenues, which are
required by state and city law; some
of them are exceeding the 50 per
cent limit. This amendment to our
ordinance closes a loophole in our
city ordinance.”
In addition, the amendment out
lines a track in which violators can
face fines up to $1,000, six months
imprisonment, and revocation of
COAM and alcohol licenses.
During the council’s work ses
sion, Mario Williams proposed
Clarkston set its own percentage
lower than 50 percent in an effort to
discourage COAM use. Quinn said
the city must be in accordance with
state law and Clarkston did not have
the option of being more restrictive.
Quinn said the problem in deal
ing with COAMs is not restrictive
rules, but enforcement. While city
police have the option of enforc
ing state law, a city ordinance only
gives Clarkston officials the authori
ty to cancel or suspend a business’s
license.
“The rules are in place at a state
level,” Quinn said. “But what we’re
not having is agents of the state
coming here and enforcing them.
We’re bringing it to the local level.”
Barker said the state, with “lim
ited resources” was focusing on the
“bigger picture” at the state level.
The city manager said Clarkston
is doing more than most cities in
ensuring businesses are knowl
edgeable about current and future
COAM law.
“We probably do more in terms
of frequent, face-to-face, hands
on education with our businesses
than any city in the state,” Barker
said. “Our business owners know
absolutely what the regulations
are. Sometimes they say we visit
them too much. I want to be very
clear, the city in no way targeting
businesses that have COAMs, we
are merely trying to ensure the ma
chines are utilized in the method at
which they are legally authorized.”
Mayor Ted Terry said the issue
goes beyond Clarkston’s borders.
“This is not just a Clarkston is
sue,” said Terry. “This is statewide.”
LEADERS Continue
the civic associations, the
CIDs if they exist—all the
entities in that area.
“The reason we do that
is we want to find out what
the concerns are in your
area and address them spe
cifically,” Boston said. “We
do that by being a part of
the community. We can’t as
sess all the problems by sit
ting down at the courthouse
in Decatur because we can’t
see what is happening in
your neighborhoods.”
DeKalb County Police
Chief James Conroy an
nounced that his department
has “a clearance rate that’s
above the national average
for every crime and category
that’s tracked by the FBI.”
“One big reason for
that is our relationship with
From Page 8A
the community,” he said.
“Community-oriented polic
ing is our philosophy here
in DeKalb County. The rela
tionship between the police
department and the commu
nity is vitally important.”
Conroy said, “Around
the country, where there’s
friction between the police
department and the com
munity,...the clearance rates
are horrendous. If you look
at Chicago, if you look at
New Orleans, their clear
ance rates for homicides are
30 percent and less.
“Our clearance rate is
over 80 percent, so we have
a tremendous clearance
rate for homicides,” Conroy
said.
“Our detectives pride
themselves on clearing cas
es and making sure they are
cleared appropriately so that
they can be prosecuted by
the district attorney and the
solicitor,” Conroy said. “I can
arrest people all day long,
but if they are not getting
prosecuted, we’re not doing
our job properly.”
County planning direc
tor Andrew Baker said that
while the trend once was for
people to move out to ar
eas such as Alpharetta, the
trend is now for people to
move back to inside or near
the perimeter.
“I like to tell anybody
that’s in DeKalb: stick
around, because with all
that traffic and congestion,
people are trying to move
back into the metro [and]
inside the perimeter,” Baker
said. “I expect that all your
[property] values are going
to continue to improve.”
DeKalb County CEO
candidate Michael Thur
mond told the group that if
the county takes positives
“and leverage them against
a population that’s poor
and unemployed and un
derserved, leverage them
against challenges we have
with our infrastructure, le
verage them against any
challenge we may have,
and we can fix it.
“I don’t come to this job
with any lack of optimism
or enthusiasm,” Thurmond
said. “I’m extremely prag
matic, but I can tell you
something: we’re getting
ready to move in a new
direction. This government
will be about learning from
the past but shaping a new
future for the county.”
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