Safety And Licensing Committee Votes To Hold Bartender License Application For Future Meeting To Give Applicant Opportunity To Provide Documentation That She Has Successfully Completed Probation

The Safety and Licensing Committee met 10/25/2023. The action item that took up the most amount of time was the recommendation from the Police Department to deny an operator/bartender license application. Katie works at a convenience store that sells alcohol. In order to be able to work there alone without a supervisor and ring up alcohol purchases, she needs to have a alcohol operators license. The Police Department recommended denial of the application due to a series of arrests and convictions between 2015 and 2019 that included possession of various illegal substances.

Katie arrived to the meeting late, and the committee initially voted to deny her license application, but then reconsidered the item after she arrived before voting to hold the item for a future meeting to give Katie time to provide necessary paperwork demonstrating her rehabilitation.

I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.

Assistant City Attorney Zak Buruin explained to the committee that, according to Wisconsin State Statute 111.335(4)(d) a license applicant could establish evidence of rehabilitation and fitness by providing documentation “showing completion of probation, extended supervision, or parole; or other evidence that at least one year has elapsed since release from any local, state, or federal correctional institution without subsequent conviction of a crime along with evidence showing compliance with all terms and conditions of probation, extended supervision, or parole.”

Once Katie arrived at the meeting, she told the committee that she had completed her probation in August of 2022. She did not have documentation with her regarding that fact, but she could go to the probation office the next day and get it.

Additionally, she did have documentation showing that she was undergoing regular addiction treatment and counselling.

She said that sobriety has been her priority for the last 4 years. She had a full-time job as well as a second job, had her own apartment, had been working on reestablishing her relationships with family members, and had been trying to change her life.

The manager at the convenience store she worked at also attended the meeting and spoke briefly on her behalf. He said she was a good asset to his store who came to work, was always picking up shifts, and never showed up high or intoxicated.

Technically, the committee would have been within its authority to approve her license application based only on the documentation and testimony provided; however, that documentation did not care the statutory weight that a certificate showing her completion of probation would have. As a result, the committee decided to hold the item for a future meeting so that Katie could acquire and provide official documentation of her successful completion of probation.

There was some uncertainty as to when the next Safety and Licensing Committee meeting will take place because the committee has traditionally not met in November due to it being Budget Adoption season and Thanksgiving; however, the possibility was raised that they could hold a brief special session ahead of a Council meeting at some point in November.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1126481&GUID=D65BDCD3-F946-4DB6-9DE7-E2B7CC76429E