The Scottsbluff City Council voted to recommend a negative finding to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission on a Class C liquor license application for El Barrio Cantina and to name Troy Little as liquor license manager.

The recommendation follows a public hearing during which Little described the restaurant's planned hours, staffing and security measures and acknowledged amending his state application to include prior charges he said he failed to list originally. Little told the council he planned to open for family-and-friends events April 7 and said he would employ about 10 people and run training and ID checks for alcohol service.

City staff reported that the investigatory board had given El Barrio a negative recommendation after discovering convictions and other matters not disclosed on the original application. City Clerk/attorney staff listed a background that included a minor-in-possession charge, a disorderly conduct matter from 2007, an unlawful park entry in 2018, and, in July 2020, a harassment protection order violation that was pled down to disturbing the peace. A September 2022 incident involving a DUI and related counts was reported as pled down to careless driving and other reduced charges. Chrissa (city staff) told council none of those findings were automatic disqualifiers, but the investigatory board recommended against the application largely because Little had not disclosed the matters on the original form.

During the hearing, Monument Prevention Executive Director Lynette Richards urged the council to send a negative recommendation on character and falsification of the application. Richards said her organization monitors local liquor licenses for sales-to-minors and intoxication and that the omissions raised concerns about whether Little should hold a liquor license.

Council members cited nondisclosure and the investigatory board recommendation as their primary reasons for supporting the negative recommendation. A motion to “follow the recommendation of the Liquor License Investigatory Board of a negative recommendation for the liquor license” was made, seconded and put to a vote; the council recorded a majority vote in favor of sending the negative recommendation to the state. The council noted that an amended application was filed with the state after the investigatory board hearing and that the state patrol had been consulted.

The council also clarified that a license owner need not be the designated manager and that any person associated with the license must be “fit, willing and able” to hold liquor responsibilities.

Because the council’s action was a recommendation to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, the final decision will be made by the state commission.

El Barrio Cantina, at 1802 E. 20th Place, remains under review by the state liquor authority pending that decision.