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Ephraim Sets Final Meeting for Alcohol Licenses

At its May 31 meeting, the Ephraim Village Board set three items related to alcohol licensing for public hearing. The public hearing will take place on June 14 along with the regularly scheduled board meeting. The board hopes to approve the new and modified ordinances on that date. If no major changes come from the public hearing, the village will begin accepting license applications the next day.

“It is our hope that at that time, you will have the ordinance in your hands and you will read it,” said Mike McCutcheon, village board president. “You say, ‘I don’t like this,’ and the board agrees, we would make the changes that night and we would vote on it.”

One change to develop since the last discussion of Chapter 15 of the village code, the ordinance relating to alcohol consumption in the village, is prohibiting alcohol consumption in Ephraim’s parks. At the May 19 meeting, the board was split two and two on whether alcohol should be allowed in public parks. The newest board member, Cindy Nelson, felt she did not know enough about the regulation to make a decision.

“It is the feeling of many and, I think, the board that we would not like the consumption of alcohol in our parks,” said McCutcheon.

Jim Kalny, the village attorney, sat in on the meeting via telephone and explained that banning alcohol in municipal parks could work, but that restriction could not extend to county and state parks.

Fred Bridenhagen, owner of Beach People and Water Street Gallery in Ephraim, believed the banning in public parks might tie the hands of the village on special occasions.

“If you take out village parks, it seems to me that you’re going to have to go through a process again where you recognize that’s going to handicap your vending there,” said Bridenhagen, thinking of vendor sales during an event such as Fyr Bal.

But Bridenhagen and others will wait to voice their opinions on the ordinance until June 14 during the public hearing.

If the ordinance passes on that date, the village will then begin accepting licenses the next day. After a 14-day waiting period, the board will convene to review and grant the licenses.

Brent Bristol, Ephraim village administrator, said the board will likely grant the licenses for the 2016-2017 season, which begins on July 1.

“I hope you will have those applications the next day so that we can do the background checks and make sure everything is OK,” said McCutcheon to the business owners in attendance. “So you could have your licenses in place for the Fourth of July weekend.”

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