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Keizer adopts administrative liquor-license review and new application fees
Summary
Keizer City Council adopted an ordinance to move certain liquor-license reviews to an administrative approval process and a companion resolution to establish related application fees; council and staff said the change should reduce processing time and applicant costs.
The Keizer City Council on Monday adopted an ordinance amending Keizer Code Chapter 4, Article 2, to allow an administrative review process for some liquor-license actions and approved a companion resolution establishing fees for liquor-license applications.
Council President Starr moved adoption of Ordinance 2025 and later moved adoption of Resolution R2025 to set the fees; both measures passed unanimously with two members absent.
City Recorder/Deputy Miss Bissett told council staff conducted a comprehensive review of the liquor license code and presented options to council on April 21. Council had directed staff to send option 1, an administrative approval process, to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) for review. Bissett reported the OLCC reviewed and agreed to the proposed code language.
The staff report said the administrative approach will reduce staff time and applicant costs. Under the previous public hearing process, staff estimated processing new and change-of-ownership applications cost the city about $1,500 per application while state statute limits the charge to $675; staff said the administrative process and the fee resolution will align the codified fees with statute and reduce average processing time, which staff said averaged 36.5 days last year under the public hearing model.
No members of the public signed up to testify during the public hearing. After brief council discussion, the council voted to adopt the ordinance and the fee resolution by voice vote. The minutes record the votes as “motion passes unanimously with 2 absent” (Cross and Parsons).
Miss Bissett told council that because the city’s ordinances are codified, it is more appropriate to adopt fees by resolution rather than ordinance going forward; the resolution before council established the application fee schedule.
Councilors said the administrative process should save staff time and reduce costs to applicants. Staff will return with final code language and administrative procedures as required by the ordinance.
