Mills council rejects Big D Oil liquor license application

The Mills City Council voted on and rejected an application from Big D Oil for a full liquor license after brief discussion of the city’s remaining permits. Staff told the council the application was for a "full liquor license," covering package sales and bar service, and said this would be the last unissued license available to the city under current population limits.

A council member argued the council has historically held its final license for riverfront development, saying, "this being the last one, we've always kind of wanted to hold that last one for the riverfront." The comment was made during discussion of whether to approve the Big D Oil application.

No members of the public came forward to speak for or against the application during the public hearing; the council declared the hearing closed before taking the vote. The motion to approve the license received a second but failed after the presiding officer recorded three "nay" voice responses and announced the motion failed.

Because the record does not identify which individual council members cast each recorded voice vote, the council's roll-call names were not available in the audio for attribution. The denial leaves the city's last unissued liquor license available for future consideration.

Next steps: The council returned to other agenda business after the vote; the record does not show any immediate appeal or alternative motion on the Big D Oil application.