The Safety and Licensing Committee had a brief 12 minute meeting prior to the Common Council meeting on 07/07/2021. For me personally, the most interesting item was the update on the Core’s Lounge noise complaints.
[***Spoiler Alert*** it sounded to me like any case against the bar evaporated. The technical term “rekt” might even apply. But first…]
The main purpose of the meeting was to approve some licenses so that the full Council could then vote on them. They did have to end up holding two of those items–items 21-0917 and 21-0916 which were temporary premise amendment applications for the Wooden Nickel and Jim’s Place on College Avenue. They were requesting to use their joint parking lot as an outdoor bar and concert location during Mile of Music. The parking lot included Charles the Florist and one of the applications referenced that business and included it in their plans, but there was no application from Charles the Florist. Rather than approve the two applications while the third was missing, the committee opted to hold those items until the next Safety and Licensing Committee meeting.
The rest of the applications were approve with no issue.
The committee then received a brief update from Appleton Police Chief Todd Thomas on the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant that the APD received. He said that it was a federal grant they receive every year and which they split 50/50 with Outagamie County. The federal government is very restrictive on what they can use it for. It needs to be used for equipment but can’t be used for military items or ammunition. He said they usually use it to equip their vehicles and mentioned when they got new SUVs they used it to pay for equipment in the back for those including boxes to store items in the trunks.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) asked if the use of the funds would be approved internally or if they would have to come before the Council.
Chief Thomas said it was all approved internally but there would be a record provided of what they purchase with the funds.
They then moved onto the Noise Allegations regarding Core’s Lounge. The report was 143 pages long, and Chief Thomas thanked the APD employees who compiled it.
He mentioned that two sergeants have been working on this issue for a couple years. Given the length of the report he didn’t review it but instead immediately opened things up for questions.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) also thanked the staff for putting together a nice report. She said that in the report it was mentioned that, at some point, APD stopped using the radio to assign officers there in case someone was listening over a scanner. She wanted to know at what point that happened.
Chief Thomas answered that his recollection was that it was after the first citation was given near the end of 2019, so sometime in the early part of 2020. He said it had probably been well over a year and that a majority of the calls were probably not dispatched over the radio. He noted that for a lot of the calls, the officers were already sitting in the neighborhood when the complaints came in. He added that he was reminded by some other city staff that three of the calls complaining about loud music actually came in when the business was closed.
None of the other committee members had any questions.
[Oof. I know Perry Mason wasn’t in the Council Chambers, but it felt like he should have been. Also, Proverbs 18:17 seems somewhat applicable to this situation.]
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=875697&GUID=44004181-B83B-48B0-A990-A010ED6C0144&Options=info|&Search=
One thought on “Safety And Licensing Committee Conducts Quick Meeting – Votes To Hold License Application That Has Issues, Receives Update On Core’s Lounge Noise Complaints”