Jackson council renews 82 liquor licenses and directs police to stop advance notice of compliance checks

The Jackson Town Council on Feb. 18 approved renewal applications for all 82 liquor licenses issued in town and voted to direct the police chief to conduct tobacco and alcohol compliance checks without providing advance notice to license holders.

Lindsey Leneman, internal services, told the council that all 82 licensees applied for renewal and that “staff doesn't have any major concerns or issues about any of the applicants” for the coming liquor-license year, which runs April 1 to March 31. Leneman said the Wyoming Liquor Division had completed a review and that staff would work with applicants to clear any minor corrections before certification.

The motion to approve the renewal chart was made by Councilman Schechter and seconded by Councilman Regan; the council voted unanimously to approve the renewals. Council members then debated whether the police department should continue a practice of alerting licensees by email that compliance checks would occur. Chief Michelle Weber explained the department previously notified license holders when inspections were planned and told council the town also offers TIPS server training and conducts additional checks through a Wyoming Public Health grant. “We are the only municipality that I'm, I'm aware of that does such things,” Weber said of the advance notification.

Councilwoman Beeman moved — and Councilman Schechter seconded — a separate motion directing the police chief or a designee to “conduct tobacco and liquor checks as they deem appropriate without providing notice of contemplated liquor and or tobacco enforcement,” and to direct staff to liaise with license holders about regulations and ongoing enforcement. That motion passed unanimously.

Council members discussed the municipal code consequences for failing compliance checks. Staff described enforcement steps in the town code: a 10-consecutive-day suspension after three compliance-check failures within a 12-month rolling period and up to a 30-consecutive-day suspension (or initiation of revocation proceedings) after five failures within 24 months. Staff also noted required remedial training (TIPS) after failures.

Council also signaled future review of license types and potential reclassification of long-standing retail licenses where other license categories (for example, resort or bar-and-grill) may now be available under changes in state law.

Votes at the meeting were unanimous on both the renewals motion and the direction to change the compliance-notification practice. The public hearing on the renewals closed before the votes; no members of the public offered comments at the hearing.