VIDALIA — The days of fundraising roadblocks in Vidalia may be numbered.

The Vidalia Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday night to have their attorney draft an ordinance that would ban fundraising roadblocks, with two exceptions — Feed the Hungry and the American Legion.

The motion to draft the ordinance was made by Alderman Jon Betts, and seconded by Alderman Ricky Knapp, who said he received a number of complaints after three fundraising roadblocks were recently held on Carter Street in a five-day span.

“If you want to know what people think about it, you ought to hang out in the businesses on Carter Street,” Knapp said.

“I had one guy call and say he wanted to find a new way to drive through Vidalia. As a business owner, that is the last thing you want to hear.”

Betts’ original motion was to ban all roadblocks, but Mayor Hyram Copeland said if such a law was passed, he would like for it to include an exception for Feed the Hungry, which he said raises the majority of its funds through its annual roadblocks.

Alderman Vernon Stevens said he would also like to see an exception made for the American Legion, stating that he would not vote for an ordinance that did not make the exception.

“I am not going to vote for it if you are going to take that from the veterans,” he said.

Copeland said the recent roadblocks were for local ball teams that were trying to raise money to participate in their leagues’ World Series tournaments.

“I didn’t like it that (the roadblocks were) that close together, but it is awful hard to tell someone no when they are trying to send our children to go play,” Copeland said.

“I guess from now on we will have to do something to reach a little deeper into our pockets to help our ball teams out.”

The aldermen decided to delay pre-filing the ordinance until their October meeting because it would then not go into effect before Nov. 2, when a roadblock is scheduled to benefit Ellis Malone, the daughter of Matt and Heather Malone, who was born earlier this year with Apert syndrome.

The aldermen also voted to advertise that the city would be considering leasing the old boat ramp on the Vidalia riverfront to Upriver Boat Supply.

The company would build a deadman anchor at the former boat ramp and would restock riverboats with groceries and crews, City Attorney Jack McLemore said.

If everything works out, Vidalia would be the only location between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge where riverboats could restock and change crews, City Manager Ken Walker said.

The company would be located in an existing building in the area, McLemore said.

In other news:

-The aldermen voted to have an ordinance drafted that would change the speed limit on the east end of Murray Drive from Carter Street to Concordia Extension from 25 to 35 miles per hour.

-The aldermen voted to condemn a property on Oak Street.