Busy Council Meeting: Bar License Suspension, Borrowing Update, Fire Consolidation and More

It was another busy City Council meeting on Tuesday.

Among the bigger items we discussed and acted upon:

• Frozen Rope License. The council voted 6-1 to suspend the liquor license of the Frozen Rope bar, 1815 10th Ave., for 14 days following a hearing held last week before the Legislation & Permits Committee. I was the no vote (Ald. Mike Karbowski was absent). I voted this way because I don’t think the punishment was harsh enough. I think 30 days was more appropriate given the long list of problems involving the Frozen Rope since November, culminating with a shooting outside the bar on March 26. The bar now has a new “agent” — the council also approved that on Tuesday — and I am hopeful he will turn things around there by making good on his promises to bring in new clientele. But, to me, promises of, and even early signs of, change aren’t enough to wash away the issues raised by neighbors about the tavern, including complaints about fights, vehicle and property damage, noise and littering that led to neighbors clearly stating they are scared of what will happen next. The Frozen Rope needs to be punished for those transgressions, and 14 days is not enough.
• City Borrowing. The council also formally approved the issuance and sale of a $9.22 million taxable general obligation promissory note for capital improvements, water utility, wastewater and stormwater utility projects. I’ve written about this before. The “new news” here is the outstanding interest rate we’re receiving for the borrowing, thanks to our strong Aa2 bond rating. The average interest rate over the 10-year loan will be 2.82 percent — about as cheap as money gets these days. That’s a credit to our city’s sound financial foundation.
• Fire Consolidation. There was also a brief update from the mayor and city administrator on the potential for consolidating the South Milwaukee, Cudahy and St. Francis Fire Departments. I just heard about this 10 days ago. And, at this point, there has only been an informal conversation among the mayors of all three communities — at the initial request of Cudahy Mayor Tony Day. Next will likely be a meeting of the mayors, administrative staff, fire department leaders and others to lay the groundwork for future discussions. So things are at the infant stages in this debate. I promise to keep you posted throughout — and to hold true to my beliefs about consolidation, as I laid out in this post last month. Meanwhile, our search for a new fire chief is likely to be further put on hold pending the outcome of these talks, and the council voted Tuesday to allow the fire captain on duty each day to be paid at the level of the outgoing chief for eight hours of their 24-hour shifts.

The council also approved increasing the number of Class A liquor licenses (those given to grocery and liquor stores and other similar retailers) which may be issued in the city to 12. That number had stood at 10, and all 10 have been issued. Increasing that number is an economic development issue in my mind, as it gives us the flexibility to say “yes” to a new retailer who may want to sell liquor (Walmart, perhaps). It also is a reasonable cap.

And, finally, we recognized the Health Department’s Mariana Liebsch and Martin Zabkowicz for their work in identifying a case of salmonella contamination that led to a national turkey recall. I’ll post more on this in coming days.

Of course, I’d like your thoughts on any of these subjects. Post your comments below!