Bar owner suspends run for city council over liquor license question
“Take my name out of the whole scenario here,” Naperville bar owner Jim Bergeron said as he spoke to city council members about the liquor code regulation that caused him to suspend his campaign to join the council.
His candidacy brought to light the fact that the city code says a liquor license cannot be issued to “any elected public official, Naperville officer or employee or member of any Naperville board or commission; and no such official shall be interested in any way, either directly or indirectly, in the manufacture, sale or distribution of alcoholic liquor.”
But sorting out what that means, exactly, would be an important issue even if he wasn't running, Bergeron said.
“It is something we need to clarify,” he said about the section of code, which last was updated in 1960.
City Prosecutor Mike DiSanto said the code essentially prohibits anyone who holds a local public office from being issued a liquor license and implies that people like Bergeron, who already have liquor licenses, could face a legal challenge if they win election or appointment to a public office.
“I didn't think it was ethical to ask the voters for support and run for a position that I wouldn't know that I could fulfill an entire term,” Bergeron said.
The council heard him out and started discussing a potential code update Tuesday night, but took no action.
A proposed code update sent to the council by a 5-1 vote of the city's liquor commission calls for changing the code to allow city council members and members of city of Naperville boards and commissions to hold liquor licenses as long as they excuse themselves from votes on alcohol sales to avoid conflicts of interest.
Several on the council said they agree with Bergeron that the current code is “vague” and should be updated. They disagree about when an update should take place and what should be changed.
Council member Doug Krause, who is running for mayor and liquor commissioner against city council member Steve Chirico, Jim Haselhorst and Marty Walker, said any consideration of a code update should be handled by a new council.
“This should be tabled until after the election,” Krause said.
Council member Joseph McElroy, who is one of 20 people running for eight seats on the council, pushed for a speedier review.
“To put it off for the next council, I think, would be really unfair to Mr. Bergeron,” McElroy said. “We all agree that the law needs to be revised. I was hoping we could settle it tonight.”
The time frame appears to fall in the middle of Krause's and McElroy's suggestions, as the council is scheduled to take up the topic again at its next meeting March 17.
Until then, council member Paul Hinterlong, who also is running for one of eight seats, said he will be seeking resident input about whether city council members actually should be allowed to be liquor license holders. His initial opinion, he said, is that they should not. Hinterlong said the code should be updated to clearly say that city staff members other than police officers and members of city boards and commissions can have liquor licenses, but that privilege should not extend to council members.
There are too many instances when topics about alcohol come up for a council member to be effective if he or she has to excuse himself or herself each time that happens, Hinterlong said.
“That's not fair to the residents, especially with the sensitive issue of alcohol that we have now,” he said. “That's not providing a service to the residents.”