Todd Kuhns on City Council

At the October 27 study session, the council discussed a proposed policy that would expand our current policy allowing alcohol consumption, with approved permit on specific public property in specific situations. The goal is to expand the use of our parks by allowing a wider variety of events to take place.

There is some misinformation going around, so I need to clarify a few points so you understand exactly what is being proposed:

1) The policy would only allow consumption in three public areas: Rotary Park, North Park and the airport.

2) Permits would be awarded on a case-by-case basis. A person or group would have to submit a proposal for a specific event for council review and approval.

3) A number of restrictions and guidelines are built into the ordinance - a roped off section for consumption, designated entrances/exits and appropriate security, and ID checks, among other things.

The genesis of this ordinance was a series of requests from three different entities, based on events they wanted to hold. The organizers of the airshow this year wanted to host a dinner function with drinks for the contributors to the airshow in the then city-owned hangar. Some representatives from the Kirksville Rotary Club wanted to see greater usage of the new amphitheater in the park - for wedding receptions to be able to do a champagne toast, for example. And Steve Bell asked to be able to have beer sales available for out-of-town adult tournament games, like they do at other cities, citing a lack of alcohol as the reason why we cannot host these events now.

I have received relatively little feedback regarding these policies, and little of that has been negative. A few residents have spoken with me who are completely against it. But the majority of the others are either for it or take a more balanced view. Many have told me that they would not like to see unrestricted alcohol consumption in the park, but that these restrictions seem appropriate and acceptable.

I’ll let you judge for yourself. Below is a document with more information, including the complete text of the proposed ordinance. Please read it and let me know what you think. I really need your feedback on this!

alcohol-policy-info (PDF)

Folks, if you read the Daily Express article this week about Monday night’s council meeting, I need to clarify something: the paper completely misquoted Jill McCord’s comments.

At this two-hour meeting, we talked about the Brashear B&B situation for about 5 minutes. Mari Macomber mentioned to the Council that Tiffany Platte was in the process of repaving her driveway. She asked us if we were interested in restoring her special use permit after the work is complete, or make her reapply for a special use permit all over again.

Jill said she thought it would be a waste of time for us to make Tiffany go through the process all over again. In other words, she was IN FAVOR of granting Tiffany her special use permit back after she paved the driveway.

Here is what the paper said:

However, Councilwoman Jill McCord, who owns a competing Bed & Breakfast in Kirksville stated, “it would be a waste of time,” if the Council were to make a revision to the resolution passed last week.