City Manager David Fierke had recommended renewing the license for the 4th Street Depot, 300 S. Fourth St., with the condition that after six months the number of complaints and police calls would be reviewed. Under his proposal, if there was not a significant reduction in those calls and complaints, he would recommend that the council go to court and ask a judge to declare the bar a public safety nuisance.

After hearing multiple people speak in favor of the 4th Street Depot, the council voted 5-1, with one member abstaining, to grant the license renewal with no conditions.

Councilmembers Kim Alstott, Jen Crimmins, Scott Davis, Todd McCubbin and Terry Moehnke voted yes. Councilwoman Megan Secor voted no. Councilman Cameron Nelson abstained because the owners of the establishment, Rick and Helen Thompson, are his uncle and aunt.

Moehnke said he believed that if the license was renewed with the six-month review included, opponents of the bar would become very vocal and file a lot of complaints.

He added that Fierke’s plan called for a significant reduction in the number of complaints, but included no definition of what would constitute a “significant reduction.”

Moehnke said he believes Rick Thompson has “done a good job recently” addressing concerns about 4th Street Depot.

“Let’s approve it and move on,” he said of the liquor license renewal.

Before the council voted, Helen Thompson told the elected officials that her business was being singled out.

“I think we’ve been given a really bad rap here,” she said. “We get blamed for everything that happens. I feel like we’re being targeted.”

She said that in response to complaints, they have been closing the bar earlier and turning down the music.

Rick Thompson told the council that 4th Street Depot has “the best patrons in town.”

“I surround myself with good people,” he said.

He said he and his wife have invested $50,000 to $60,000 in the building.

Thompson suggested that most of the complaints about 4th Street Depot come from one neighbor, whom he said “made a bad choice” by buying a home near a bar.

“That’s their choice,” he said.

He did not name the neighbor.

Four other people spoke in support of 4th Street Depot.

In a report to the council, Fierke wrote that between March 5, 2025, to March 4 of this year, there were 107 police calls to the bar.

“Over the past several years, and particularly within the last 12 months, the establishment has generated a significantly higher number of police calls for service compared to similar establishments in Fort Dodge,” he wrote.

The police calls, he wrote, included reports of fights, disturbances, intoxicated individuals and shots fired.

Moehnke asked Police Chief Dennis Quinn how many of those calls resulted in arrests. Quinn replied that he did not have that information at hand.