Recodification Sparks Potential Changes to Theresa Alcohol License Ordinance

The Village of Theresa Public Safety Committee discussed recodifying ordinances at its meeting on Thursday, February 6.
“We want to recodify our ordinances, and what that means is we are getting them all organized and reviewed to make sure they are up to code with Wisconsin statutes and constitutionally correct. The recodification agency looks for duplications, conflicts, inconsistencies, recommendations to make our legislation more enforceable, suggestions regarding fines, fees, and penalties, and suggestions on ways to modernize our codes,” stated Trustee Joe Haak. “Our responsibility is to make any final decisions on the changes that are deemed necessary.”
One of the ordinances the committee considered amending during its review for recodification was the tobacco and alcohol license ordinance.
Police Chief Markus recommended the committee consider adopting the alcohol license demerit system used by the City of Beaver Dam. In this system, offenses are worth different amounts of points. If a license holder accumulates more than a set number of points within a 12-month period, the alcohol license is suspended or revoked. In Beaver Dam’s ordinance, 150 to 199 points could result in license suspension for no “less than 10 days and up to 90 days.” If a license holder accumulates 200 points, the license could be revoked.
“This [system] does not require a citation to be issued. This could be simply, we show up and we inform [a license holder] that... ‘Hey, you’re getting 150 points tonight.’ With this [system], if they get 200 points within 12 months, the license could be suspended or revoked,” explained Chief Markus. “What would happen is the governing board (the public safety or the finance committee or a separate committee) would be the people who would hear it. It would kind of be a mini-trial-like thing.”

Chief Markus elaborated with another example:
“So, if somebody in the village may have gotten a citation over the weekend for serving underage, that would be 150 points. We would sit down with them, be like, ‘Hey, you’ve been issued 150 points. What are you going to do to correct this action?’,,, We would write that up and present to the board: we are not recommending or we are recommending suspension of a license for how many days, or we would simply say, ‘These points have been issued. Yes, the license could be suspended for this reason, but we are not going to ask for it to be suspended because they are implementing this... It puts the onus on the license holder to fix the problem.”
The recording of points would create a record for the village to reference when renewing alcohol licenses.
“We also want documentation just in case the village has to make a hard decision,” said Trustee JR Koenigs.
“I don’t foresee that happening, but this puts the system in place before we do have an issue,” responded Chief Markus. “I think it would be a better system just to have in place. There are no questions of, ‘Are we over-enforcing? Are we under-enforcing? Are we picking on this person because of who they are? Are we being easy on this person because of who they are?’ It’s a simple points system that is equal to everybody in the village.”
The committee unanimously agreed to recommend the village adopt Beaver Dam’s alcohol license demerit system.
Committee Matters:
• The committee discussed amending the nuisance ordinance. Chief Markus suggested the committee consider two options for determining whether a property is regarded as a nuisance: adopting a points system similar to the City of Beaver Dam’s alcohol license demerit system or tracking calls for service. Adopting a points system would designate point values to certain ordinance violations. The culmination of points above a designated value within a twelve-month period would result in the property being considered a nuisance. The police department could also track calls for service to a property that resulted in the discovery of an ordinance violation. Calls for service could include a verbal or written warning or a citation for ordinance violation. If a property reached a designated amount of calls within twelve months, it would be considered a nuisance property. The committee decided to recommend that the board amend the ordinance to have the police department track calls for service. Six ordinance calls for service and three criminal calls for service within a twelve-month period are the proposed values to designate a nuisance property.
• The committee discussed updating the village’s business license ordinance as there is currently no designation in the ordinance of the need to notify the village of the opening of a business or of which businesses require a business license. Presently, code checks also are not done by the village on brick-and-mortar businesses. The committee will ask the recodification agency for a template to draft the ordinance revision.
• Updates to the fee schedule and permit fees were also considered by the committee. The committee discussed requiring an annual inspection and fee payment of $50 for chicken coop permits. Currently, chicken coop permits are lifelong and do not require any additional inspections or payments. The proposed annual inspection would be to ensure coops remain in humane conditions and comply with ordinance regulations. The committee decided to recommend the board require an annual inspection and fee payment for chicken coop permits. If passed by the board, existing chicken coops would be grandfathered in based on the previous ordinance guidelines and would not require additional inspections or fee payments. • Additional recommended changes to the fee schedule and permit fees include requiring cat licensing and increasing pet licensing fees. The village currently does not require residents to license pet cats; however, Wisconsin state statutes mandate all dogs and cats over five months old be licensed and vaccinated against rabies. The village used to license cats, but the total expense exceeded the fees acquired, as it currently does with dog licensing. Being so, the committee decided to recommend the board increase pet licensing fees to $20 per pet annually.