Pleasantville council invokes temporary suspension of Hometown Liquor’s mercantile license after police search

Pleasantville — The City Council voted on June 15 to invoke a temporary suspension of Mercantile License No. 158 for Hometown Liquor after the city presented a police affidavit and testimony describing a May 28 search warrant and seized items.

City solicitor Tracy Cosby told the council the hearing’s narrow purpose was to decide whether the business had “availed [itself] to the ordinance” and therefore whether the council should sustain the suspension pending further proceedings. Cosby said the police affidavit and related documents had been provided to council and that the standard for the municipal proceeding is a preponderance of the evidence, not the criminal standard. “This is not a court of criminal jurisdiction,” Cosby said. “This is not a criminal venue.”

Defense attorney Samuel Reed Jr., representing Hometown Liquors, argued repeatedly that the hearing was premature and raised due-process concerns about deciding license status based on probable-cause statements and investigatory materials not freely subject to cross-examination. “This proceeding is premature,” Reed told the council, saying the ordinance’s effect of suspension based on an arrest should not be applied without fuller review or criminal disposition.

The city called Deputy Clerk Denise Scott to authenticate records and the license application. Scott testified that Hometown Liquor held a mercantile license for 2025–2026 with an expiration date shown as 05/31/2026 and that the clerk’s office generates sequential mercantile numbers and issues hearing notices when the police refer a matter.

Pleasantville Police Detective/Sergeant (testifying as the officer of record) described executing a search warrant on 05/28/2026 in an ongoing narcotics investigation. He read from the affidavit and inventory that, according to the document, investigators recovered more than 100 individual packets of suspected THC edibles, approximately nine ounces of suspected marijuana packaged in individual containers, and reported the seizure or freezing of roughly $31,000 in business accounts and cash on site. The officer testified that the lab testing for controlled substances is handled through a state lab and that criminal investigation materials are part of the investigative file.

Reed cross-examined to highlight limits on defense access to lab reports and undercover purchase details; the officer declined to answer some questions on the record citing the ongoing criminal investigation. Reed said the council lacked the evidence necessary to uphold a long-term revocation and asked that the council return the license pending criminal process, while the city urged the council to apply the ordinance as written and cited the public-safety rationale for acting now.

After hearing closing arguments and deliberating, the council approved Resolution 121 to invoke the mercantile license suspension for Hometown Liquor. The motion carried by roll call (recorded votes appear on the public record).

What the council cited City counsel relied principally on the municipal mercantile-license ordinance language that authorizes immediate suspension of a license where activity at licensed premises results in an arrest for an indictable offense and on the search-warrant affidavit and related exhibits the city introduced into the record. The city emphasized the council’s role is different from criminal court and that the municipal standard for this proceeding is a preponderance of the evidence.

Defense position Reed asked the council to delay or vacate suspension on due-process grounds and because several investigative materials (lab results, undercover purchase details) were not fully available for cross-examination in this forum. He argued that the licensee could be criminally disqualified later but that the municipal action now would deprive the licensee of business before criminal procedures play out.

Next steps Following the vote, the suspension stands pending any administrative follow-ups or future applications to reinstate the license. The municipal record shows that the council may hear petitions to reinstate or take further action under the ordinance in the future.

Quotes used in this article are drawn verbatim from the hearing transcript and are attributed to the speakers who made them.