Liquor, Snowmobiles, and Money: Mount Carroll City Notes

By Mick Parsons For The Prairie Advocate News

MOUNT CARROLL – On a night when anybody with a lick of common sense would stay home, the mayor and aldermen of the Mount Carroll City Council gathered at City Hall to conduct business. Among the highlights: the city council signed a resolution in support of putting the West Carroll School District’s proposed one cent sales tax increase on the April ballot, along with the 2011 Tax Levy Ordinance. The council also recommended that the local ordinance limiting the number of liquor licenses be changed to allow nine instead of eight within Mount Carroll city limits and denied a request to extend the snow mobile route hours in the city from 11pm to 2am.

Troy Tucker of Rockford is planning on opening Bella’s, a fine dining establishment at 110 West Market Street. In order for this to occur, he petitioned the city to amend the current code limiting the number of liquor licenses in the city limits to eight. There are currently eight establishments within city limits operating with liquor licenses. The Mount Carroll Bowling Alley, Charlie’s II, Kallemezoo’s and Sievert’s Steak and Stuff are the bars and restaurants in town, and Shaw’s Food Pride, The Land of Oz, the Mobil station, and The Driftless Area Stillroom Wine Shop all sell packaged liquor.

To get a liquor license in Mount Carroll costs $850 a year - and that’s only if you’re selling beer and/or spirits. There are extra licensing fees if an establishment has pool tables and dart boards, wants to have live music, or has a juke box. On top of that, the state of Illinois Liquor Control Commission requires $500 a year for bars and $270 a year for retailers like The Driftless Area Stillroom, Shaw’s, Mobil, and The Land of Oz.

This first hurdle was was fairly smooth however, because it was generally agreed upon that it’s important to encourage a new business in downtown Mount Carroll.

One petition that was brought before the board that didn’t go as smoothly, however, was from the F.A.S.T Trax Snowmobile Club of Thomson. Although most of the snowmobile route actually avoids the city – it cuts primarily through private property – there is a point where Mount Carroll connects with the route. Currently, snowmobile riders can come through town until 11pm. The petition to extend the hours until 2 am, was, according to F.A.S.T. Trax representative Jim Warsema to coincide with the hours of “warming stations” downtown, especially on weekends when a lot of snowmobile riders are able to ride. He also said that while it may not make sense to those who aren’t snowmobile riders, many do end up riding at night, because that’s the only time they have. Without having places they can pull off the road and warm up late at night, riders often have no choice but to stop further up the route – which, in addition to causing them to risk breaking curfew, also means the potential for lost revenue for downtown businesses during a time of year when it’s a challenge to stay afloat.

Although the mayor supported changing the ordinance, some aldermen – Nina Cooper and Mike Risko, in particular - expressed concerns. Cooper raised an eyebrow at the mention of “warming stations” since these warming stations happen to be Charlie’s II and Kallemezoo’s. Last call on weekends in Mount Carroll is 2am, and while it was not stated directly, there seemed to be some concern, from Cooper as well as from Police Chief Cass, that snowmobile riders would liquor up and hum away into the night at the staggering 10 mile per hour speed limit that’s posted on the entire snowmobile track. The primary concern, echoed by Cooper and Risko was that the snowmobiles would be noisy and disturb what is otherwise a dead silence at a time when many in Mount Carroll – except those folks who close the bars at Charlie’s II and Kallemezoo’s – are sleeping. There were other concerns – the city’s liability for one; but since F.A.S.T Trax requires all it’s riders to carry at least liability insurance, this seemed a moot point.

Risko recommended a trial period; but the problem is that by the time the trial period would be over – say 30 days – the snow might be gone as well. The discussion ended with there being no change in the current ordinance; but chances are this will be revisited as soon as it’s determined how noisy a 10 mile an hour snowmobile actually is.

Filling the city’s coffers was on everyone’s mind that night, though, when the the 2011 Tax Levy Ordinance came before the board. The increase from last year, which is less than 2%, will total around $6000 more than last year’s tax levy.

And, as if the general atmosphere of the meeting wasn’t chilly enough with the tundra like conditions outside, the city council demonstrated no small amount of vision and democratic impulse when they signed a resolution in support of putting the one cent sales tax on the April Ballot. The resolution is carefully worded so that there’s no suggestion that the city actually supports the tax itself; rather, the resolution supports the idea that voters are the ones who should decide the fate of the sales tax instead of elected officials who have nothing to gain or lose by its passage or failure. The idea of the sales tax increase – which would go toward tax abatement and capital projects, not teacher salaries or benefits – has met with more than its share of resistance. At a recent Savanna City Council Meeting, for example, where Mayor Larry Stebbins was able to grandstand with the support of annoyed local business owners. The sales tax would spread the cost around rather than throwing it solely on the shoulders of property owners, whose taxes will go anyway if the referendum doesn’t pass because of $150,000 in bond interest that must be paid.

“In my opinion,” said Mayor Bates in favor of the resolution, “the people should vote on it. Let the people decide.”

In other highlights: the notes from the November 23rd city council meeting was amended as previously requested by Nina Cooper to include her suggestion that the city council revisit its policy regarding the hiring, contract negotiations, and firing of city employees. Anna Gray was also in the audience to show the city council a jelly jar full of yellow water that came from her tap.

Alderman Risko, who addressed some concerns about the city’s management of delinquent accounts said, after talking more with City Clerk Julie Cuckler about it, that “Julie’s doing a pretty decent job” working with residents to get their delinquent water bills paid. There was some talk about changing the city code regarding a landlord’s obligation on water bills. Currently, renters pay their own water. It was suggested that maybe landlords should be ultimately responsible for water bills; this would mean that the cost would be added to rent, but it would solve the problem of renters skipping out and not paying the bill. The mayor said that the idea needs to be looked into, but that a change like that should not be rushed into. Nothing is going to change any time soon; but the idea, which drew support from Alderman Bergren as well as a nod from Alderman Cooper, will likely come up again.