City council taking legal action against the Johnny Brusco's on Moores Mill

Auburn, Ala. (EETV) - Councilwoman Beth Witten gave the council a pizza her mind during Tuesday’s meeting, as a resolution concerning a local pizzeria was introduced.

Other improvements to traffic and parking were also met with approval in City Council despite the initial concern.

Johnny Brusco’s on Moore’s Mill Road was met with much disdain from the council Tuesday evening.

The restaurant, which has been vacant for almost a month now, is officially closed to further business.

The approval of Tuesday’s resolution seeks the repayment of four years of back taxes in addition to the revocation of the owner’s business license.

“That person not only owes us taxes, but they owe the ABC beverage commission; they owe the state, and we’ve tried for a long time to get them to pay us,” said City Manager James Buston.

By passing this resolution, the owner of the former restaurant will no longer be able to own or operate this business.

The closing of this Johnny Bruco’s, however, does not have any reflection on the East University location.

Councilwoman Witten spoke among the council to clarify that the negativity surrounding the now vacant location has no correlation to the East University operation.

“Kevin Bobo [owner of the East University Johnny Brusco’s] and his family have worked very hard to run a good and solid family-friendly business, so I didn’t want this tax collection resolution to reflect badly upon them, as opposed to the person who hasn’t done what they should,” said Councilwoman Witten.

The owner of the Moore’s Mill location was not in attendance at the meeting.

Other improvements to the city of Auburn were also discussed Tuesday evening, as a resolution to improve traffic was approved.

A traffic study of the city was ordered for the purpose of understanding patterns that could benefit the future flow of traffic.

Many council members were initially taken aback at the price tag of almost half of a million dollars, but were at ease upon understanding the implications this study can have on the city.

The traffic study is expected to take one to two years and will seek to resolve the traffic backups that currently plague the streets of Auburn.

In addition to Auburn’s traffic problems, the council addressed the progress being made for public parking.

In September of this year, a new parking deck was approved by the council to be built along South College Street, in the current location of the Baptist Student Center.

Tuesday’s resolution authorized the amount of money to be spent on this facility among other parking improvements, totaling to ten million dollars.

The “Wright Street Parking Deck” is projected for completion next year.