Council OKs bar permits
Assessments for Rolling Hills also receive approvalBy BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer
A permit system that would enable underaged people to be in bars and nightclubs after 10 p.m. won final approval from the Fort Dodge City Council Monday.
It will be in place for a three-month trial period.
Council members Matt Bemrich, Richard Inman, Cindy Litwiller and Don Wilson voted yes. Councilmen Dave Flattery, Curt Olson and Dan Payne voted no.
Bar owners could purchase the entertainment permits from the city government. After obtaining one, the bar owners could allow underage people in their establishments after 10 p.m. if certain restrictions are met. Those restrictions include bans on happy hours, shots and pitchers of beer. The IDs of all customers would have to be checked at the door. Customers age 21 and older would have to wear wristbands on each arm so that the bar's staff could quickly see who can legally drink.
Entertainment permits would cost $75 for one day or $1,000 for the first year. Permits in subsequent years would cost $750.
Council members also voted unanimously to levy special assessments on property owners in the Rolling Hills neighborhood to pay for a new 66-inch diameter storm sewer there.
After much debate, council members decided early last year to charge 45 percent of the roughly $600,000 cost to the property owners there in the form of special assessments.
City Engineer Chad Schaeffer said homeowners in the neighborhood will pay between $1,000 and $1,200 in assessments. He said those assessments can be paid within 30 days, or they can be added to the property taxes to be paid off over as much as 12 years. A 4 percent interest rate will be charged if the assessments are paid off over a number of years, he said.
Also, on Monday city officials received a welcome surprise in the form of $68,000 from the federal government.
Mayor Terry Lutz said the money is a reward for the city's efficient handling of a $2 million federal grant that helped pay for the water mains that were extended to the North Central Agricultural Industrial Park west of the city.
''It's kind of a grant for a doing a good job of administering a grant,'' Lutz said.
He said the money will be spent on rebuilding medians along Fifth Avenue South.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
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HUEVOSRANCHEROS
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01-13-09 9:12 PM
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¡Enough with the technical talk already fortdodgenative and tell us how you REALLY feel about Matt Bemrich!
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Anderson
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01-13-09 1:37 PM
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And so the whole country's going to the dogs, Random; let's do get aboard. Entertainment options, indeed! Young people have more and better things to do than hang out in bars with live bands, etc., such as studying, working and saving for their futures. Yes, and being sent off to war a bit dry of throat as so many of us were. The money the 1920's & 30's generation has left and have yet to leave the parents of these kids will hardly see the parents through their old age since 95% of them haven't a dime in savings. When their kids do wake up in the adult world, they will find their jobs taken by immigrants or those more diligent - like Chinese, Indians and others abroad - who are not just eager but better prepared to do what's required to get ahead as adults. Youth is a very temporary condition that should be used wisely.
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Random
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01-13-09 9:47 AM
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Matt, Richard, Cindy, and Don should be applauded for doing the right thing on this issue and standing up to an overly controlling police department. After all, police should be law enforcers, not lawmakers. We should be providing more - not fewer - entertainment options for young adults. The new entertainment permit ordinance will allow for nighclubs to have young adults 18-21 in attendance for live bands, dance floors with DJs, etc. This is normal in many cities across the country, especially in larger cities and college towns. The other council members who did not vote for this provision have apparently forgotten their own younger days. If you can vote for President and die for your country, then you should at least be allowed to enter a nightclub after 10 p.m.
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duhawk
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01-13-09 7:31 AM
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Because kaleid, if you were the Mayor then you would get to decide how we WASTE the money, but you are not so you don't.
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kaleidoscope
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01-13-09 12:48 AM
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Why isn't the $68K being spent on water issues?
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