Liquor License

The council, except Councilor Esslinger - he is one of the applicants, will decide tomorrow whether to grant a "Class B" license to one of six applicants or, as suggested as a possibility by Councilor Burk Tower, hold onto it as incentive for a future development project.

This will not be an easy decision. All six applicants propose projects that could, in their own way, provide something of value to the community. Three of the proposals offer downtown/central city options - one tavern and two restaurants, of which one would be on the riverfront - and two others are for projects located along Highway 41 - a full-service bar in a new hotel and new chain restaurant by the The Outlet Shoppes. Of course, we would not be in this position if the state, influenced heavily by the Tavern League, would yield control to local governments to determine how many "Class B" licenses to grant.

So, I would like to hear from you. Do you think the council should grant the "Class B" license, and if so, to whom, or should the council retain it for a future development project of greater economic impact? I welcome your input.

-Bryan

Council Organizational Meeting

The Organizational Meeting of the 'new' Oshkosh Common Council is 12:00 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall. Besides the seating of the new council, election of the Deputy Mayor and discussion of Council Rules, two additional items are up for discussion and action.

The first of the additional items is regarding the current "Council Member Statements" agenda item. As reported by The Northwestern, Acting City Attorney Lynn Lorenson has, on multiple occasions, advised us to be more specific with our agenda. I agree. The recommendations I will make during tomorrow's meeting are to:

• Change "Council Member Statements" to "Additional Staff and Council Member Statements and Discussion"
• Eliminate "Whatever Else is Pertinent and For the Good of the City"
• Add to the agenda "Additional Action Items"

I also am going to urge Mayor Tower to error on the side of caution (and open government) to not allow any action or discussion and statements that are not properly noticed.

The second additional agenda item is a proposal by Council Member Palmeri to create a Budget Committee, the specifics of which can be found here (page 2). This will be the second time Council Member Palmeri has introduced this proposal. You can read more about his proposal on his blog as well as what Miles Maguire had to say about it on his blog.

So, what are your thoughts? Should the "Council Member Statements" agenda item be altered? If so, how? Should we create a Budget Committee? I look forward to the discussion.

-Bryan