The Safety and Licensing Committee met 06/26/2024. One of the items it took up was the non-renewal of the Class B Fermented Malt Beverage And Class B Liquor License for the Corner Pub on Mason Street.
A water pipe in the rental unit above the business broke, causing significant damage to the bar. The Health Department conducted an inspection of the building on 05/30/2023. Per the memo submitted to the committee, “The inspection report noted several significant areas of concern and several city departments that would need to approve of the repairs and conditions of the bar before it would be able to reopen.”
The owner was informed on 07/28/2023 that repairs would need to be made that the bar reopened by 05/30/2024 in order for her to maintain her alcohol license. As of the time of the committee meeting, it was just over a month since that deadline, but staff had not been able to verify that the establishment was safe to open, and business had not resumed. As a result, they were requesting that her alcohol licenses not be renewed based upon abandonment.
Kim, the owner of the business, attended the meeting and told the committee that all of the repairs had been made and the business was ready to reopen; however, a reinspection had not been conducted yet. She said that she had spent thousands of dollars on repairs and was worried that that money would essentially have been thrown away if she now lost her license. She also indicated that she had cancer.
Because the Common Council was not going to meet again until 07/17/2024, the committee voted to hold the item until the next Safety and Licensing Committee on 07/10/2024 and give the owner an opportunity to get the business inspected by the various departments that needed to approve the repairs and show evidence that the business was now ready and able to reopen.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
When the city takes the step of not renewing an alcohol license, it is a semi-legal process in which the license holder is allowed to present evidence in support of why their license should not be revoked or non-renewed and in which one of the city attorney’s provides evidence in support of why the license should be revoked or non-renewed.
Kim, the license holder, had very little evidence to present. She said that she had been working on everything the inspectors said needed to be done and she thought all the work was completed. She said she had been trying to contact the inspectors and had paperwork showing that they were going to conduct a reinspection that day; however, no inspector had come that day.
The one piece of evidence she had was the Inspection Report she had received from the city. That report included a “Reinspection Date” of 06/26/2024. Unfortunately, it turned out that she was mistaken about what that meant. She had thought that that was the date the inspection had been scheduled for; however, it was actually a date 30 days from the initial inspection that was automatically generated to indicate the deadline for a reinspection, and she still needed to proactively contact the city and schedule that reinspection.
On top of still needing to get the business inspected and cleared by city staff to reopen, it sounded like some of the work that had been done had possibly been done without a permit. Kim said that she had told the electrician she was working with that he needed to get a permit, but the city had no record of permit ever having been pulled. So, not only did she need to get the business reinspected but she also needed to be able to show that the work had been done with a permit in order to be able to have a chance to keep her license and reopen the business.
She was worried about losing her license. She said that the bar had operated for 20 years and had never received any demerits or fines. “We just spent thousands to redo everything that the inspectors wanted done, and I don’t want to just have that money thrown away.” She said one of the reasons they had not been open was because she had cancer, and it had been easier for her to work at a different bar that was closer to her house.
In some respects, she was fortunate in the timing of when this license non-renewal had come before the committee. Normally, the Common Council would meet the next week, and because of the legal nature of the proceedings the committee did not have as much leeway to hold it. However, the next Council meeting was cancelled because of the July 4 holiday. So there was going to be one more Safety and Licensing Committee meeting on 07/10/2024 prior to the Common Council meeting on 07/17/2024. This gave the committee the opportunity to hold off on making a decision until the next committee meeting.
The committee members did stress to Kim that she needed to bring evidence that the work had been completed and the business was able to legally reopen. Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14), the chair of the committee, also tried to make it clear that even bringing this evidence would not automatically result in her being able to keep her license. “I think that’s important to note that we are essentially giving you two weeks to present us with some information but that does not in any, any way say that if, you know, if what you bring is going to automatically grant your license. Just want you to know that we’re still going to take it up on all the facts, all the memos, all the attachments that were provided, including your information and it’ll be a review of all of that and a vote and a recommendation.”
The committee voted 3-0 to hold the item until the 07/10/2024 meeting.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1204756&GUID=19135309-8977-4A3B-8147-CEBF107CF90A
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