Waukesha committee holds bartender applicant, approves several licenses and conditions Mia's sidewalk café permit

The Waukesha Ordinance and Licensing Committee on July 28 held over a bartender-license application after members questioned an applicant's past underage-drinking citations and an OWI conviction, and approved several business licenses while conditioning a sidewalk-café permit on updated insurance.

Carter Bell, an applicant for a city bartender license, told the committee that his OWI occurred about five years ago when he was 20 and that he had two additional underage-drinking citations. "Just young, dumb," Bell said, describing the OWI as a mistake and saying he has since worked as a bouncer and bar back in La Crosse and completed training shifts for his prospective Waukesha employer. The committee raised concerns about Bell's two underage-drinking tickets and how that history would affect his ability to enforce underage-alcohol rules as a bartender.

Alicia, a committee…