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 member, pressed Bell on enforcement: "What makes you think that that's something that you'll be able to do if it wasn't something you were able to police yourself on when you were underage?" Bell replied that he had matured and that his bar work included checking IDs.

Committee members requested that Bell return with his establishment's agent present. The committee's chair held the application over and asked Bell to return for the August meeting with his agent to provide additional background and documentation.

Separately, the committee moved and approved unanimously a set of license renewals and new licenses. By motion of Alderson Helenslaven, seconded by Alderson Mannion, the committee approved the license for Metropolitan Antiques and Gifts as a secondhand-article dealer and granted Peter's Pub LLC a Class B beer and liquor combination license and a jukebox license. The committee recorded the action as passing unanimously.

Mia's Kitchen and Pizzeria applied for a sidewalk-café permit but submitted an insurance certificate that did not name the city as an additional insured as required by ordinance. Committee staff advised the applicant must provide an endorsement naming the City of Waukesha as additional insured on the liability policy. The committee approved the sidewalk-café permit for Mia's Kitchen and Pizzeria with the explicit condition that the updated insurance endorsement listing the City of Waukesha as an additional insured be provided before the license is granted; the conditional approval also passed unanimously.

Clerical staff and the committee noted some application processing delays: the sidewalk-café application had partial materials submitted in May and required reapplication once missing forms were identified.

The committee scheduled follow-up: Bell was asked to return with his agent for the August meeting (the next Ordinance & Licensing meeting date mentioned was Aug. 11), and staff will confirm Mia's updated insurance before issuing the sidewalk-café license. No fines, suspensions, or further enforcement actions were decided at the meeting.

Votes at a glance: The committee approved licenses for Metropolitan Antiques and Gifts (secondhand-article dealer) and Peter's Pub LLC (Class B beer & liquor combo, jukebox) by unanimous vote. The committee approved Mia's Kitchen and Pizzeria's sidewalk-café permit by unanimous vote conditioned on updating the liability certificate to list the City of Waukesha as an additional insured. The bartender-license application for Carter Bell was held over for another meeting with the applicant's agent present.

The committee adjourned after routine communications from staff.