Although not of major importance to the city of Appleton as a whole, one of the things I was interested in seeing was whether Michael would show up to the 04/07/2021 Common Council and appeal the Safety and Licensing Committee’s denial of his alcohol operator’s license.
Apparently, he did show up and sign up to speak, but when the public hearing time arrived he was not in the room. Mayor Woodford asked a staff member to look for him, but he was evidently not found because he never showed up to plead his case.
The item was, however, separated out from the bulk of the items on the agenda so that the Council could vote on it individually.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) stated that she was in attendance at the Safety and Licensing meeting and heard Michael speak. She had a question for the city attorney. The language in the letter from the Police Department that recommended denial says that “an applicant is allowed an opportunity to show evidence of rehabilitation and fitness to engage in the licensed activities unless the conviction(s) are for exempt offenses”. She wondered if that meant there should be an automatic denial for applicants with exempt offenses.
Attorney Behrens said he didn’t believe it was an automatic denial. His understanding was that this was not the first time Michael had applied for an operator’s license. His past application had been considered, so on that basis he didn’t believe that denial was automatic; however he reminded the Council that they have the recommendation from the Police Department in front of them and all the considerations that the police placed when reviewing that application.
Alderperson Fenton asked Police Chief Thomas if there was any finding that Michael’s application was inaccurate and that there were any offenses after the 1998 offense. She also wondered if he completed his sentence and any parole satisfactorily.
Chief Thomas said that from what he saw on the report it appears Michael did fill out the application with the listed offenses that they are aware of. Michael also acknowledged those offenses when he spoke at the Safety and Licensing Committee meeting. [The Wisconsin Circuit Court website doesn’t show any other offenses until the 01/27/2021 offense of operating without a license.]
He asked Alderperson Fenton to repeat her second question. She answered that she wanted to know whether he successfully completed his sentence and any parole and had essentially served all his time for any convictions.
Chief Thomas said he didn’t believe they have that information at this time. It was not listed on the application.
Alderperson Kyle Lobner (District 13) asked the Council to uphold the recommendation to deny the operator’s license. The argument against this license was 2 fold. The first was his felony conviction from the 90s. The committee talked about that at some length. Michael served his time for that, has been released for that, and has been clean since then with the exception of earlier this year when he was arrested for operating an establishment without a license. While Alderperson Lobner would be willing to consider the possibility that the applicant had been rehabilitated and the offense from the 90s was no longer relevant, the fact that earlier this year he was caught for operating the establishment without a license was very problematic. That was an indication that Michael was willing to neglect the rules for selling alcohol when they were inconvenient in this case. He knew he needed a license, did not get one, then got caught without it, and now was applying for it. That was a big red flag to Alderperson Lobner who thought Appleton needs its operators to be more responsible than that and more rigid with the rules regarding alcohol. That was why he voted against the license and encouraged his colleagues to do so also.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) who is on the Safety and Licensing Committee and heard Michael speak at the committee meeting said that, in her opinion, it sounded like he is trying very hard to get his life on track. She agreed with Alderperson Lobner that it’s a red flag that he had not applied for the license, but she also felt that he had taken the position at the gas station very quickly and that the business didn’t do their job to make sure he had a license either. If the city had the option to give him an operators license to only work at a gas station, she would have considered moving forward with that, but because they can’t do that and if we gave him an operator’s license it would mean he could go work in any establishment including bars and restaurants that serve alcohol she was going to vote in favor of the denial.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) acknowledged that the gentleman did complete his time in prison, but he was uncomfortable that when he asked Michael at the committee meeting if he had gone through any programs while in prison he had answered “no”. When Alderperson Siebers asked him why, he said it was his constitutional right not to participate in those programs, but Alderperson Sieber’s held the opinion those programs are necessary for individuals who commit the type of offenses that Michael did. He questioned Michael’s rehabilitation and, therefore, voted against giving him the license.
Alderperson Michael Smith (District 10) agreed with both Alderperson Siebers and Van Zeeland. When he served on the Safety and Licensing Committee they had individuals with felony convictions who still received operators licenses because of the positive steps that they took to move forward. He also said that he had talked to a number of State Representatives about having separate operators licenses–one for taverns and one a gas station–because, currently, their hands are tied given that these licenses can be used at either types of establishments. He suggested that this might be a good issue to write to our state representatives about and see if other communities would sign on also. Having options to limit the type of establishment an operator could work at would help them do a better job with licensing.
The Council voted 14-0 to deny Michael an alcohol operator’s license.
Be the first to reply