Liquor store issue not settled yet

The City of Custer’s liquor store was put back on the chopping block at Monday night’s regular meeting of the Custer City Council, when alderman Ed Starr requested a vote that would once again close the liquor store by the end of this year.

Before calling for the vote, Starr gave each council member and those in the audience a handout in which he reiterated his belief that the city could make more money if it were to sell the property and get out of the liquor business.

“I still come to the conclusion we can replace revenue and sell assets,” he said. “I’m comfortable saying it’s the right idea. We can make more by closing the liquor store.”

Starr’s handout laid out a plan for closure of the store, which he said could eventually help lower taxes in the city, while making more than the current liquor store profit of $30,000 a year through increased sales tax, while cutting expenses associated with the store.

“The selling of the store solution guarantees the city big income annually, and follows our belief of smaller government,”â��the letter said.

Mayor Harold Stickney said he objected to the vote, saying he still had a desire to hear from the public as to what it wants the city to do, whether it be through a survey or vote. Starr said he has heard from only two people in his ward who wanted the store to stay as is. Stickney said he has heard from many who want the store to remain in place.

“I object to this. We still don’t know what the people want,”â��Stickney said.

Alderman Terry Reetz sided with Starr, saying in looking at the liquor store figures, he believes the store only clears about $1,000 in profit.

“We can do so much more if we get out of (the business),” he said.

Stickney disputed Reetz’s claim the store only makes $1,000, saying an audited financial report shows the store made a profit of $27,000 in 2007.

When the vote was taken, Starr, Reetz and Patty Ressler voted to close the store, while Steve Pischke, Duane Murphey and Karen Schleining voted against it. Before the vote, Schleining said she was not comfortable with voting to close the store because a vote to close the store was not on the agenda. Stickney broke the tie with a no vote.

“Tell me why I’m wrong,” Starr said. “No one ever tells me that.”

“I want the public to get adequate notice,”â��Murphey said.

The council agreed to take up closing the liquor store at its next regular meeting, Nov. 16. Doing so will allow the public time to come to the meeting to speak on the issue should they choose to do so.

In other news, the council tabled the second reading of an ordinance that would regulate taxis in the city while city attorney Chris Beesley gathers information on the wording of background checks for potential drivers.

Starr also requested that Beesley see if a part of the proposed ordinance that requires all drivers to be able to read and write in English is legal. Beesley said it was, and urged the council to keep that language in any ordinance. He used a scenario in which someone who was picked up needed to go to the hospital and told what street the hospital was on, but if the person could not read the street signs, it could be an issue in which the city could eventually incur some liability.

Starr agreed that could be an issue, but still felt it might be illegal to discriminate in that way.

“I’m not talking about common sense,”â��he said.â��“I’m talking about the law.”

In other news, the council:

• Passed a resolution asking for the partnership of the South Dakota Department of Transporation on replacing the current downtown lighting with the antique lighting the city plans to do as part of the downtown Tax Increment Finance (TIF)â��improvements. The resolution offers to pay 50 percent of the cost of the new lighting.

Although the DOT�does not have any money at the present time to help with the project, passing the resolution could help get money if any is freed up at the state level. If the DOT�does not help with the lighting, it will still proceed as planned under the proposed TIF.

The rest of Monday’s council meeting will be covered in next week’s issue of the Custer County Chronicle.