00001 1 2 CITY OF MILWAUKEE 3 COMMON COUNCIL 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 In the Matter of the Class "B" Tavern and Tavern Amusement (Cabaret/Nite Club) 6 renewal application for: 7 TERRY J. CULLEN Executor for "Estate of Thomas Michels" 8 "Tommys Club 76" 4730 Norty 76th Street 9 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10 11 12 Proceedings had in 13 the above-entitled matter, before the COMMON 14 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, on 15 the 19th day of June, 2007. 16 17 * * * * * 00002 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 PRESIDENT HINES: Alderman Davis. 3 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. 4 President. On file number 0700040, it's a motion 5 relating to the recommendations of the License 6 Committee relative to various license, I move not 7 to renew the following in lieu of granting with a 8 75 day suspension recommended by the committee. 9 Terry Cullen, ex - - executor for the estate of 10 Thomas Michels, Class "B" Tavern and Tavern 11 Amusement (Cabaret/Nite Club) renewal 12 applications for Tommy's Club 76 at 4730 North 13 76th Street. 14 PRESIDENT HINES: That's an appropriate 15 motion. However, it's relating to file number 16 070041. And so, we'll make that correction. I 17 think the written verbiage at your desk has 40. 18 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Thank you. 19 PRESIDENT HINES: Yes. With that, 20 Alderman Davis, you have the floor. 21 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. 22 President. I understand the - - the action that 23 was taken at committee. But based upon 24 information that the Council members have - - 25 have read, I'm - - I'm hoping that they would 00003 1 support this motion, based upon the - - the 2 safety and the health and welfare of the 3 community in which I represent. Thank you, Mr. 4 President. 5 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you, Alderman. 6 It's an appropriate motion, Alderman, and I think 7 the issues that have surfaced is, you know, 8 although the applicant was notified, if I'm not 9 mistaken, they're not here. And - - And the 10 concern was whether or not them not being here to 11 defend themselves was appropriate or not, and the 12 unfortunate reality is it's not final until the 13 Council take action, and they are aware of that. 14 With that being the case, the motion is put 15 forth, which is a nonrenewal. On - - On the 16 motion, the Chair recognizes Alderman Mike 17 D'Amato. 18 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: Thank you, Mr. 19 President. I did - - I did not watch the 20 hearing, so I'm not sure what happened. I have 21 the written record. I would just ask for some 22 information from the Chairman or a member of the 23 committee on what transpired at the hearing 24 first. And then my question is - - is to the 25 point that you brought up, but I want a 00004 1 definitive answer on it. Did anyone at the City 2 or did Alderman Davis or anyone from Alderman 3 Davis' office contact this owner and let him know 4 that this nonrenewal was a possibility at this 5 meeting, so that they would have an opportunity 6 to defend themselves. 7 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Alderman 8 Davis, do you want to respond to - - to the 9 questions as you are - - if you are able to, at 10 least the first one as it relates to what 11 transpired differently at the hearing versus now. 12 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Without being specific 13 and because I did consult the City Attorney's 14 office on the - - the properness of this motion. 15 My concern is that over the years of this license 16 there has been some concerns. And the committee 17 took action based upon the information which were 18 before them. And the unfortunate reality is that 19 this has been a problem in the neighborhood in 20 which I represent. And to answer Alderman 21 D'Amato's question. Because of the issues around 22 the liquor license, I'm going to continue to 23 uphold the integrity of this Council to make sure 24 that I, as an alderman, do not get involved in 25 possible unethical behavior, so I will continue 00005 1 to - - I'll continue to make sure that I conduct 2 myself appropriately. 3 PRESIDENT HINES: Alderman D'Amato, did 4 you get the - - That was one portion of your 5 question. 6 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: I didn't. I'm not 7 sure what that meant, but it didn't answer my 8 question. Did anyone - - 9 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Mr. President. 10 PRESIDENT HINES: One moment, Alderman. 11 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: Did anyone notify 12 this gentleman to let him know that this was a 13 possibility today? 14 PRESIDENT HINES: As I understand it, 15 through the City Attorney's office that - - that 16 he was mailed, as is all applicants, indicating 17 that the actions aren't final until the Council 18 take actions. So as to whether or not they were 19 contacted, I mean, that's the nature by they were 20 contacted and the standard procedures. But they 21 were not contacted any differently, to my 22 knowledge. Now I can ask the local alderman to 23 respond to that if he - - 24 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: And I don't want to 25 be confusing. I know that there's no legal 00006 1 requirement that the gentleman be notified that 2 - - that there be a change from a suspension to a 3 nonrenewal. I - - I know that there is no legal 4 requirement for it. I would just like to know 5 - - Oftentimes, I think when these suspensions 6 happen and people don't want to contest them, 7 there's an assumption made, I'm just going to 8 accept my 75 days and I won't show up and bother 9 anybody. And in the past, over the years, at 10 least my experience has been, that when we've 11 done this, someone has been notified so they can 12 defend themselves when the penalty was harsher 13 than levied out by the committee. So my question 14 is, again, simple. Did anyone notify this 15 gentleman to let him know that nonrenewal was a 16 possibility today? 17 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you, Alderman. 18 Mr. City Clerk, do you want to attempt to - - Let 19 me first have the local alderman respond. Then 20 we'll have the City Clerk, based upon the 21 information that he's gathered. Alderman Davis. 22 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. 23 President. If there were a legal requirement 24 that I needed to contact the applicant, I would 25 have. But there is no legal requirement for me 00007 1 to contact the applicant, and I follow the law. 2 PRESIDENT HINES: Okay. And so contact 3 was not made by the alder - - the local alderman. 4 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: Thank you. 5 PRESIDENT HINES: Mr. City Clerk, did 6 you want to speak to the issue further? 7 CITY CLERK: Excuse me. Mr. President, 8 at the time that this matter was scheduled for 9 the Licenses Committee, the applicant was 10 notified and counsel, that the license may, as a 11 result of the objections, be nonrenewed or 12 suspended. So all options were noticed 13 originally when it - - before it went to 14 committee. After the committee action, the 15 applicant was further notified that it was a 16 recommendation of the committee and it would come 17 to the full Common Council for final action. 18 PRESIDENT HINES: And that's pretty 19 standard. So - - 20 CITY CLERK: That's the standard notice 21 and meets all legal requirements. 22 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: Thank you. 23 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Alderman 24 Bauman, was there a desire to speak? 25 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 00008 1 I - - I appreciate Alderman D'Amato's comments. 2 However, I have to say this has come up before on 3 this floor, where we have modified 4 recommendations to be more harsh than the 5 recommendation was, and up to and including 6 nonrenewal when that was not recommended. And in 7 those cases it just so happened that the 8 applicants were here. So, in effect, if Alderman 9 D'Amato is setting up the requirement that there 10 be informal notice or courtesy notice, shall we 11 say, even though it's not legally required, you 12 basically create a situation where someone is 13 better off not showing up at Council than showing 14 up. Because if they don't show up, then they're 15 locked in to whatever the committee recommends. 16 If they do show up, they're vulnerable to a 17 change which is more harsh. So I think we should 18 just follow the law, frankly. I mean, our 19 notices are very clear. I think it's generally 20 known that things are not final until this body 21 acts on them, and that there is always potential 22 for modification of a recommendation on the 23 Council floor. It's happened many times. 24 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you, Alderman. 25 No additional lights, no additional comments. 00009 1 The motion is on the table. Is a nonrenew as put 2 forth by Alderman Davis, differently than what 3 the committee had proffered. Mr. City Clerk, 4 please call the roll. 5 CITY CLERK: On the amendment. 6 Alderman Hamilton? 7 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 8 CITY CLERK: Davis? 9 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 10 CITY CLERK: D'Amato? 11 ALDERMAN D'AMATO: Aye. 12 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 13 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 14 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 15 ALDERMAN BOHL: No. 16 CITY CLERK: Wade? 17 ALDERMAN WADE: No. 18 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 19 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 20 CITY CLERK: Puente? 21 ALDERMAN PUENTE: No. 22 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 23 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 24 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 25 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 00010 1 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 2 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: No. 3 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 4 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 5 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 6 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 7 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 8 PRESIDENT HINES: No. 9 CITY CLERK: Nine ayes, five noes, one 10 excused. 11 PRESIDENT HINES: Nine ayes, five noes, 12 one excused. The amendment motion passes. 13 * * * * * 14 00011 1 2 STATE OF WISCONSIN ) 3 ) 4 MILWAUKEE COUNTY ) 5 6 I, JEAN M. BARINA, of Milwaukee Reporters 7 Associated, Inc., 5124 West Blue Mound Road, 8 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53208, certify that the foregoing 9 proceedings was transcribed under my direction for the 10 license of Tommy's Club 76, that came before the 11 Common Council. 12 13 14 15 16 17 JEAN M. BARINA 18 Court Reporter 19 20 21 Dated this day of June, 2007. 22