The Safety and Licensing Committee met 01/08/2025. As an information item, they discussed recent alcohol license demerit point violations.
Mr. Frogs received 80 demerit points for Underage Person(s) on Premises and an additional 80 demerit points for Dispensing Alcohol To Minor for a total of 160.
Broken Tree Pizza received 80 demerit points for Dispensing Alcohol to Minor and 40 for No Licensed Operator on Premises for a total of 120.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Wisconsin State law is a little odd in that the demerit points for dispensing alcohol to minors can only become actionable if an establishment has more than one violation in a 12-month period. So, normally, a business with 160 demerit points would be facing a temporary suspension of their license, but because 80 of those demerits are for a one-time instance of dispensing alcohol to a minor, Mr. Frog’s effectively only has 80 actionable demerit points on their record unless they receive another dispensing alcohol to a minor violation within 12 months of the first violation. As a result, Mr. Frog’s is not facing a temporary suspension at this time.
Both of the businesses have been issued summons to appear before the committee and explain what they are doing to address the issues; however, there is no penalty if they do not appear.
The alcohol license of Mr. Frogs has a bit of a history at the Safety and Licensing Committee. In July of 2024 and alcohol license application for Mr. Frogs was withdrawn by the applicant, Julia Nino Gomez, after the committee initially voted to deny the application due to her connection with drug dealers and drug dealing. (https://allthingsappleton.com/2024/07/12/safety-and-licensing-committee-votes-to-accept-withdrawal-of-alcohol-license-application-for-mr-frogs/) A new application was then submitted, this time with a different individual, Vanessa Alvarado, listed as the applicant. This application was approved without any discussion at the 08/14/2024 committee meeting (https://allthingsappleton.com/2024/08/13/safety-and-licensing-committee-meeting-08-14-2024-will-vote-on-non-renewal-request-for-corner-pub-alcohol-license-initial-alcohol-license-application-for-mr-frogs/)
The scope of the agenda item did not allow much discussion beyond the license violations specifically, but Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) did ask if the Police Department had had any other interactions with Mr. Frogs that had not resulted in demerit points. Police Chief Polly Olson responded, “I would be able to safely say that the activities that are happening at Mr. Frogs are consistent with some of the other establishments in the downtown that we’ve had issues with in the past.”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1237592&GUID=44C848DE-932E-4BC3-9443-E3F5FAEB985C
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