During its regular meeting Monday, the Bay Minette City Council voted to submit the misdemeanor-sentencing program to the Alabama attorney general’s office for review.

According to Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery, the submission is to check on the proposed program’s compliance with both the Alabama and U.S. constitutions.

As previously reported, Operation ROC is a proposed alternative-sentencing program for those receiving a year-long misdemeanor sentence after conviction in Bay Minette Municipal Court. The program, which was created by a cooperative of North Baldwin County church leaders, would offer the convicted person the option to attend the church of his or her choice regularly instead of paying a fine or receiving jail time.

With its creators on hand, Bay Minette Police Chief Michael Rowland presented the program to the city council last month. Not long afterward, the program gained national attention when the Freedom from Religion Foundation sent letters to city judges in opposition to it.

“This proposal is an egregious violation of the First Amendment,” states the letter written by Foundation Attorney Patrick Elliott. “It is a bedrock principle of constitutional law that the state cannot coerce citizens to participate in religious practices.”

Subsequently, the city council is seeking guidance on the issue from the state. But the vote to do so was not unanimous. Council members Mike Phillips and John Biggs voted against the action.

“I just need more information,” Biggs said after the meeting.

“I think it’s a good program,” Phillips said after the meeting, explaining that he couldn’t yet support the program until it was examined further.

But the council’s action was to send the proposed program for examination at the state level. According to Tillery, doing so is part of procedure and was not influenced by the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

“We sent it through legal, and they suggested we send it to the attorney general’s office,” she said after the meeting.

Until an opinion is rendered, which Tillery estimated to be as much as six months, she said the city’s sand on the issue is to “reserve further comment.”