An amendment to an ordinance could change the composition of the Alcohol License Review Committee, with additional plans to possibly introduce a voting student member to the committee.
An amendment drafted in May changed the composition of the ALRC from two alders to three and from five adult residents to four, according to city records. In essence, this draft would have replaced an adult resident with an alder.
A later amendment was drafted into a proposal in July that changed this to keep the adult resident on the committee, thereby changing the number of people on the committee to eight.
According to Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, this would have created an undesirable situation in which ties could occur.
The Common Council Organization Committee discussed the proposal Sept. 1. According to Eagon, a possible solution was presented to increase the number of non-alder members on the committee to six, effectively solving the potential tie problem.
Eagon said he made a motion to make the student position a voting position, currently being served by UW student Mark Woulf.
Eagon said students can offer a unique perspective on alcohol polices related to the ALRC.
“A student voting member would generate debates about licenses and would provide a voice that would otherwise be missing,” Eagon said.
Woulf said he is supportive of the idea and hopes it happens someday.
Ald. Michael Schumacher, District 18, said he could not support the motion due to the history of adding the student position to the ALRC.
Schumacher said the original approval of the student position was a compromise with the alcohol industry, in that the student term had a sunset clause written in.
“[The motion]” is premature, because the idea was to say: Let’s try this out,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher added he was an advocate of adding a student as a technical expert on the ALRC, and he is open to having a voting, student member on the ALRC “sometime down the road.”
Ald. Bidar-Sielaff, District 5, voted in favor of the motion, saying she is “very supportive of having a voting student member of the ALRC.”
Eagon said although the motion failed four-to-three, he said he thinks the idea got some “good traction,” adding it is not a “dead issue.”
Eagon said other members told him they were supportive of the idea of having a voting student member, but they wanted to work through some of the details.
He added he would work with the city’s attorney office and the mayor to draft language for the motion.
