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Liquor Control Board

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Liquor Control Board Meeting - January 18, 2017 Minutes

Present: Commissioner Gehrig, Police Chief Dave Todd, City Auditor Steve Sprague, Chris Ohman, Environmental Health .

Absent: Commissioner Piepkorn, Director Environmental Health Grant Larson

Others Present: Rick Carik, Rick’s; Randy & Lance Thorson, JL Beers; Nancy Morris, Johnson Law Office, Aaron Templin, Front Street Tap Room; Lisa Meyers, Wurst; Dean Bachmeier, Buffalo Wild Wings, Breezee & Ethan Hennings, Wild Terra; concerned citizens and other members of the industry.

Meeting was called to order at 1:30 P.M.

1. Commissioner Gehrig called the meeting to order and asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes of December 21, 2016. There were no additions or corrections to the minutes of December 21, 2016. Moved by Chief Todd, seconded by Ohman to approve the minutes of the December 21, 2016 meeting of the Liquor Control Board; all voted in favor, motion passed unanimously.

2. A. The first application to be considered today is for the issuance of a Class FA-RZ alcoholic beverage license to Wurst Pub LLC d/b/a Wurst Bier Hall to be located at 630 1st Avenue North. The owners are requesting the Class M designation to allow the sale of growlers, however, current ordinances do not allow the Class M to be issued to FA-RZ licenses.

Commissioner Gehrig commented that we voted to discontinue the FA-RZ licenses and the ordinance changes are working their way through the system.

Moved by Chief Todd, seconded by Ohman to approve the issuance of a Class FA-RZ alcoholic beverage license to Wurst Pub LLC d/b/a Wurst Bier Hall to be located at 630 1st Avenue North. All voted in favor, motion carried.

3. Sprague indicated he received a request from JL Beers to add the Class M designation to the FA-RZ license. Sprague said it appears to be an oversight not having listed the FA-RZ as a class of license for the Class M.

Moved by Sprague, seconded by Chief Todd to amend the Class M to include the FA-RZ classification. All voted in favor, motion passed.

4. Sprague reviewed proposed changes to the Class W that would simplify the license and essentially make it a wine version of the Class C. Provisions that require food sales and allow beer sales would be eliminated. The current ordinance has language relating to parking, the fees, transferability and ownership that would no longer be needed. One decision to make is the number of licenses that should be made available. Current language has the number available tied to population, we currently would have 2 available until population reaches 120,000 then an additional one would be available. The Class C licenses were set at 10, there are 4 issued, some of those issued would be interested in the Class W. After some discussion it was decided to set the number of Class W licenses at 10 to keep it the same as the Class C

Moved by Sprague, seconded by Chief Todd to amend the Class W license to authorize the licensee to sell “on-sale” wine and sparkling wine and to set the number available at 10. All voted in favor, motion passed.

The next item of business was to discuss the fee schedule, Sprague explained the class GH has an initial fee of $1,800 with an annual fee of $700, this class allows the sale of beer and wine only at a table or booth and only if food sales exceed alcohol sales. The Class I has an initial fee of $10,000 with an annual fee of $1,000 requires food sales of 65% and allows a bar, currently the Class C has an initial fee of $3,000 with annual fee of $500 allows beer only no food requirement and can have a bar, the Class W currently has an initial fee of $25,000 with an annual fee of $1,000. Sprague is proposing setting the Class C beer license initial fee at $7,500 and the Class W wine license at $7,500 with the annual fee of $750 for each license. After some discussion

Moved by Sprague, seconded by Chief Todd to adopt the proposed fee schedule for the Class C and the Class W licenses. All voted in favor, motion passed.

The final item of business today was a discussion regarding adding the Class W license class to the Class M designation. It was decided it was best to keep the Class W license as similar to the Class C as possible.

Moved by Sprague, seconded by Ohman to add the Class W license to the Class M designation. All voted in favor, motion passed.

There being no further business to come before the Liquor Control Board, the meeting was adjourned at 1:55 p.m. The next regular meeting will be held Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Commission Room.