The city council of Macomb considers liquor licenses for two different entities in the city.
“This is a new event that we are trying out. It is a fundraising event for new carpet for the Arts Center, which is desperately needed. So this is going to be our kickoff public event and it is MAC Bingo bash. We're going to have a variety of bingo games and snacks and things like that. And we would like to be able to have a cash bar as well, which, as explained in the application, the cash bar is in a separate room from the the event.”
The council uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the city’s YouTube channel.
At their March 20th council meeting, city officials from Macomb were presented with requests for two different liquor licenses. They held public hearings on both of the proposals, although no residents felt the need to speak in opposition or support of the requested licenses for either business. The first was a small business owned by Zalak Patel, who was requesting a Class P plus SS plus OPC liquor license for his business Nilkanth Liquor Inc. Patel explained that this business was a rebranding of his existing West Pierce Liquor store, which was part of their broader expansion plans. They are also putting an addition on the store to add some gaming consoles in the future, which is why he was also applying for the On Premises Consumption permit. The council passed the first reading of this license and will see Patel again in the future when they apply for the gaming license.
The council discussed paying $99,500 to Klinger & Associates for the proposed 2023 Roadway Improvements.
The second liquor license in question was just a Special Event License, meaning a one time allowance. Nan Crossman, the executive director of the Macomb Arts Center, was the representative for the organization who was requesting an events liquor license for their annual Bingo Bash. This event, which they will host on April 15th this year, is a big bingo event with prizes, raffles, snacks, and a cash bar. They will use the funding from this event for various programs and improvements to their organization. Residents can register online before the deadline of April 13th. It is $20 per person or reserve a table of eight for $200. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. with Bingo starting right at 7 p.m.
The council also discussed the Wastewater Treatment Department of Public Works to solicit bids for Burgess Lift Station.
The MAC is asking for the license from 6:30 until 9 p.m. to run alongside the event. The council was recommended to waive the second reading, which requires liquor licenses to appear on the agenda at two different city council meetings. Because the organization is hosting the event in less than a month and the state is often slow to give the paperwork for licenses, the council wanted to give them as much time as possible. They were also comfortable doing this because they have worked with the MAC and given them similar licenses in the past and have never had any issues with them as they have been great stewards of their special events licenses. The council did waive the second reading.
The board will meet again at 5:15 p.m. on April 17 at the City Hall on 232 East Jackson Street.
"I understood what Alderman Moon had stated about it's become kind of second nature for us to go ahead and have a and waive a second reading,” Coucilmember Jacob Vigezzi said during the meeting. “But on that note, we do have a couple petitioners who have been very good stewards of their license. I say that we should be understandable about if they've been doing this for five or six or seven or ten years that, you know, we can go ahead and waive the second reading. That is not the case with every single person comes in for a license. But this particular organization has always been a very, very good steward of their license.”
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