Vandalia City Council approves 5 Liquor Licenses at Monday’s meeting

The Vandalia City Council approved a total of 5 Liquor Licenses at Monday’s meeting—included among those is a liquor license for Wal-Mart.

The Vandalia City Council took up the matter of increasing the number of Class D Liquor Licenses by two.  A Class D license is for package liquor and the applicants for those licenses were Wal-Mart and Discount Tobacco in downtown Vandalia that will be changing to Hilltop Convenience in the near future.  There was some confusion on why the council was not voting on each business separately.  But, City Attorney Ryan Connor told the City Council and those in attendance they weren’t voting on whether a specific business would get a liquor license, but the determination they were making is whether or not you want more people to be able to sell liquor. Connor pointed out liquor is a special classification.

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Alderman Bob Bowen said any resistance to Wal-Mart getting a liquor license really didn’t make that much sense.

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The City Council approved increasing the number of Class D Liquor Licenses by 2 by a vote of 7 to 1 with Alderman Mike Hobler casting the lone no vote.  That means both Wal-Mart and Discount Tobacco–which will transition to Hilltop Convenience–will both get liquor licenses.  The City Council then were to vote on the possibility of adding two Class B Liquor Licenses.  The Class B license would be for a convenience store that sells motor fuel and would just be for beer and wine.  Mayor Rick Gottman pointed out that the owner of the Jack Flash Convenience Store at Route 185 and Veteran’s Avenue was informed he is not eligible for a license because he is too close to a Day Care Center.  So, the motion was made to increase the number of Class B licenses by 1 for the Mach 1 Convenience Store on Veteran’s Avenue, next to Burger King.  Before the vote, an employee from Burger King asked if the approval of a liquor license would mean Burger King would not stay.  Alderman Kenny Lewey asked the representative of Mach 1 Convenience store that direct question but didn’t get a clear answer.

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The Class B license for Mach 1 was approved by a vote of 7 to 1 with Alderman Hobler again casting the No vote.

Meanwhile, we will have more on the other liquor licenses approved at last night’s coming up tomorrow.