City reviews liquor licenses, related laws

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

The Nevada City Council will hold a special meeting on July 26 to discuss the city's liquor laws and consider updating the current ordinances, which date to the 1940s as well as changing the way the number of package liquor licenses available is determined.

Because of the potential change in city ordinances, the council postponed consideration of renewal of annual city liquor licenses and increasing the number of package licenses available until July 26. Both measures were on the July 19 agenda.

Earlier this spring, the city found out that the state did not have the money to enforce the state's liquor laws and in June the city council decided to look into ways for the city to provide enforcement.

"This is a problem facing many communities and they are updating their ordinances to let them provide some measure of enforcement," Bill McCaffree, city attorney, told the council Tuesday night.

McCaffree told the council that he had looked at the ordinances in several towns with more modern ordinances than Nevada has. Jefferson City has one that is modern and mirrors the provisions of the state statutes, McCaffree said.

"It provides for regulation of violations when the state is unable to do so," he said.

The ordinance provides for the establishment of a liquor control board that would be able to handle violations through an administrative agency and avoid criminal prosecution. This would be similar to the procedure used for code enforcement, he told the council.

"Most of the problems are caused by minors trying to get liquor by trick and the punishment goes to the owner or the employee," he said.

This method will encourage enforcement and avoids criminal penalties, which can be automatic revocation of a license, he said.

"This gives the city a method of control," McCaffree said.

"We also need to look at changing the number of package liquor licenses from being based on the city's population to the city's trade area," Craig Hubler, city manager, told the council.

"The city boundary and the trade area are not the same," he said.

The city code currently bases the number of package liquor licenses on the population of the city, which limits the number of licenses to seven, all of which are in use. By changing the population to that of the county, instead of the city, the number of available licenses would be increased to 10.

Hubler said that Woods and Tim's Convenience are interested in getting licenses.

Hubler said that they could take the Jefferson City ordinance and modify it to fit our needs without making too many changes.

"We need to do this before the licenses are renewed," he said.

"We need to have it finished by this Friday so it can be put on the city's Web site for everyone to see before the special meeting on Tuesday," Hubler said.

"I believe this will meet the approval of the current licenses. It really has a lot of merits," McCaffree said.

In other business the council:

* Approved the purchase of three cab and truck chassis units from the low bidder Custom Body LLC, Kansas City which will mount the dump beds the city has on its‚ current trucks on the new chassis and take the city‚s old trucks in trade. The city will be purchasing a 1998 International model 8100, 33,000 GVW with 125,000 miles on it for $19,000 for the water department and two 1997 Ford L8000, 35,000 GVW with 216,000 and 221,000 miles for $16,750 each. The two Ford trucks are for the street department.

* Accepted the bid from Midwest Asphalt Products Co., Joplin for about 28,000 gallons of SS-1h liquid asphalt with vinsol at $1.04 per gallon delivered plus $70 per hour unload charge after 1.5 hours. The asphalt is for the city's summer street slurry program.

* Accepted low bids from Gary Ashby and Robert Bryan for hay mowing on city property. Bryan will pay the city $107 for the right to cut and bale tract No. 1 at Marmaduke Park. The city will pay Ashby $302.22 to mow the former city landfill area and $10 to mow at the wastewater treatment plant.

* Approved the appointment of Gina Cripps to a three-year term on the Nevada Parks Board. Cripps term will expire in July 2008.

* Approved the appointment of Gayle Tuomi to a three-year term on the library board. Tuomi's term will expire in July 2008.

* Approved the appointment of Mark Loomer to a four-year term on the airport board. Loomer will be filling a new seat on the board for a non-resident. Loomer's term will expire in July 2009.

* Held a public hearing on a conflict of interest between Adams & Associates and the city of Nevada. According to a letter from Bill McCaffree, city attorney, there is no conflict of interest since, Ron Branham, is not a partner in the firm and Carol Branham, park and recreation director, does not have anything to do with the city's contract with Adams & Associates to design and build the new terminal building at the municipal airport.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving an agreement to hire Adams & Associates to design and construct the new terminal building at the municipal airport.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving a contract with Vernon County for the collection of three-year delinquent taxes.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance declaring a lot owned by the city in the Nevada Industrial Park as surplus property so it can be sold with sealed bids. The Missouri Welding Institute would like to purchase about 1.5 acres of the property for an expansion.

* Gave final approval to a special ordinance approving a contract with Vernon County to use their purchasing procedures to use a $22,000 grant the city received from Region M Solid Waste District to make improvements at the Nevada-Vernon County Recycling Center.

* Passed on second reading a general ordinance to modify the definition of a normal workweek for commissioned officers at the Nevada Police Department.

* Held a public hearing and passed on first reading a special ordinance changing the zoning at 611 and 613 E. Cherry Street from M-1, light industrial, to C-1 local business to allow apartments in the building. Residential use is prohibited in property zoned for any type industry.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving a contract with Missouri Southern State University for crime laboratory services for a cost of $6,830. The cost assessment is based on the average percentage of laboratory time devoted to evidence of cases presented by the Nevada Police Department. For example, one case sent to the lab referenced a search warrant at a drug house with 26 articles of evidence to be analyzed.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving a contract with Joplin Industrial Electrical for installation of switchgear and two generators at the city's water treatment plant for a total cost of $166,302. One generator, costing $96,456, will power the city's reverse osmosis system, the second generator, costing $69,846 will operate the high service pump that pumps water from the plant to the city's water towers. The high service pump failed recently and needs to be replaced. These two generators will allow the water treatment to continue to operate when there is a power outage. The city is also planning to install a generator to run at least one of the city's deep wells.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance accepting the dedication of the streets in the Erwin Stonegate Addition from Bill G. and Janet F. Erwin.

* Adopted resolution No. 1128 approving an estimated $1,820 in travel expenses for Craig Hubler to attend the annual International City Manager's Association Conference in Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 24-29.