It was an opportunity to get their house in order, and that's what the Horse Creek Merchants Association did on Tuesday evening at Bobby's Bar-B-Q.

"We had a packed house Tuesday night," said Mel Minitor, of Horse Creek  Merchants Association. "Councilman New was the only member of Town Council to attend the meeting.

"This wasn't a question and answer forum, but we did answer the questions of those business owners who attended the meeting."

The Town Council passed a business license ordinance last December, which  has received strong opposition from many businesses within the community.

"We're going to present the business license ordinance petitions at the June 27 meeting," Minitor said.

"We're in very good shape petition wise. We'll be presenting the business license ordinances petitions and not the de-annexation petitions. We'll have to see if they decide to form the ad hoc committee.  Let's see if they're willing to let the citizens decide."

The meeting served as another opportunity to bring the issue to attention of the local constituency.

"I was pleased to see that they weren't going to submit the de-annexation petition," said Wayne New, Burnettown's town councilman. "There weren't many surprises."

The petitions will be presented before council on June 27.

If there are enough names, a referendum will be placed on the November ballot, forcing a vote, which may overturn the Town Council's decision to enact the business license ordinance, set to go into effect on July 1.

"In October we'll conduct a 'meet the candidates' meeting," Minitor said.  The town needs to be good stewards of the tax money."