Blair council approves liquor, server licenses

After some discussion, the Blair city council unanimously approved retail liquor licenses to area establishments and server licenses to those selling alcohol.

The retail licenses were approved without comment initially as fermented malt beverage and intoxicating liquor licenses were approved for Bullpen Sports Bar, Farmers Escape, Blair Haus, Wildcat Saloon and The Barnyard Tavern. It was later in the meeting, however, that it was noticed that some concerns about The Barnyard Tavern’s license were raised by Police Chief Kent Johnson.

City attorney Mark Radcliffe said that Johnson noted that Barnyard owner David Donnelly had “repeatedly refused” to allow any officers into the tavern to conduct tavern compliance checks. Radcliffe said that, by doing so, the tavern would be violating state statutes, which is grounds to revoke the license.

Radcliffe said his recommendation was not to revoke the license, but to make the council aware of what might happen if compliance checks are refused in the future.

“What’s gonna happen is we’re probably gonna be back here because the police chief is gonna say ‘I tried again and they won’t let him do it again’ and then your option is to do nothing or your option is to actually start proceedings to revoke the liquor license,” Radcliffe said. “I really don’t want to see us going down this path of having revocation proceedings on someone’s liquor license.”

Donnelly was present at the meeting and said that he was not refusing legal checks, but that a specific officer was instead checking to see if patrons were intoxicated. Radcliffe acknowledged that officers are limited on what they can check while in taverns. 

“What I noticed with (officer Randy Jensen) compared to other police officers is he started questioning my customers and it heavily appeared that he was checking to see if they were drunk,” Donnelly said. “I didn’t feel that was what followed the law.”

Donnelly said he questioned Jensen when he came into the tavern, asking if he was checking tax stamps on the bottles, which he said is mostly what officers are limited to doing while in taverns. “I have never stopped him from doing that, ever,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly said the police presence was scaring his customers away.

“I see my customers go right out the other door when he does that stuff and also, in general, I don’t want them to get a DWI,” Donnelly said. “He can pull them over for whatever he wants, but you can’t check ahead of time, in my mind, just to see they’re drunk so you can find them later when they’re driving away.”

Radcliffe cautioned Donnelly that he should be cautious when refusing officers to be in his tavern. He also said he would send the police department information about what they legally can and can’t do when they enter taverns. 

Donnelly said he has allowed city officers Connor Kokott and Kim Potts to enter his tavern “every time.” 

There were a couple of questions regarding server licenses. Johnson flagged two applicants, Vernoica Delgado and Kelley Hanson.

Delgado’s license was previously approved by the council, but the background check was done by Jensen while he was serving as the interim chief. Johnson re-did the check and flagged a disorderly conduct ticket in 2019. According to the police report, Radcliffe said, alcohol was involved with the citation and she argued with officers. 

Radcliffe said, however, that if the council were to deny the license, it would have to be related to her ability to tend bar. Council members expressed they had no concern with Delgado as she works at a local bank and the license wasn’t for bartending, but for retail sales at Dollar General. 

The question about Hanson was regarding a operating while intoxicated offense on May 8, in which a ticket was issued. Johnson noted, however that Hanson was cooperative with police and, therefore, didn’t have a concern with a license being issued.

In other matters, the council approved a permit to allow Gilbert Street to be closed from Highway 95 to the entrance of Riverside Memorial Park for the July 3 fireworks. 

The council also approved the hiring of six new employees for the city pool.

A replacement bond for Smart Sand Blair, LLC was also approved. The bond replaces an agreement the city had with Hi-Crush, which was purchased by Smart Sand.