Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Alcohol Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Germantown advances alcohol ordinance amendments to third reading after attorney outlines changes
Summary
The board advanced a package of amendments aligning beer and alcohol rules with state law, removing a newspaper-publication requirement, clarifying background-check scope for publicly traded companies, adding lease disclosure, and adjusting Sunday sale hours; the board adopted a staff-suggested amendment and moved the item to third reading.
Attorney Goodman summarized proposed changes to Chapters 3 (alcoholic beverages), explaining the amendments primarily clarify language and align city code with state law.
He said the beer ordinance would drop a requirement that applicants pay for newspaper publication, replacing it with publication on municipal bulletin boards and the city website; the code would also require beer and alcohol applicants to provide copies of leases and, in some cases, identify a local manager with supervisory authority within 100 miles. Goodman described a narrowed scope for background checks on publicly traded companies to avoid an "unbelievably onerous" ownership investigation.
Goodman also recommended removing an ordinance provision requiring applicants to be U.S. citizens for at least one year, citing a 2016 attorney-general opinion that such a requirement would violate state and federal constitutions. An alderman moved to amend section 381, paragraph 4, to strike the current language and replace it with the word "reserved" at the city attorney's suggestion; the amendment was accepted without objection and the ordinance was advanced to third reading.
No members of the public came forward during the public hearing portion on this item.
