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Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission (ATC) remanded Robert T. Carter’s new beer retailer - restaurant application back to the Kosciusko County Alcohol and Tobacco Commission on Tuesday, citing concerns from remonstrators.
Carter applied for a new beer retailer - restaurant license at 206 W. Monroe St., Mentone, in March to the Kosciusko County ATC. During that hearing, there were questions by the commission on the zoning of the property and if the building had access to sewer and water. They also pointed out Carter had a history of keeping an alcohol license in escrow for a long period of time, and he remonstrated against The Pug Pub in January when they applied for an alcohol license - the only one left in the town - at 102 E. Main St. The commission denied The Pug Pub’s application, citing the building’s closeness to a church, and the state upheld the denial, with Carter then applying for that available license.
Excise Officer April Tackett tabled Carter’s application in March to their April 2 meeting for “further investigation.”
At the April 2 meeting, the Kosciusko County ATC approved Carter’s application after all their questions were answered and there were no remonstrators against it. Tackett expressed again her concern about Carter keeping a permit in escrow, but said that would now be left up to the state commission when they have escrow hearings.
The Indiana ATC first heard Carter’s application April 7, but tabled it to their April 21 meeting following information received from remonstrators.
At the Tuesday, April 21 meeting of the Indiana ATC, Commissioner Marjorie Maginn said, “We did continue it from our last meeting because we had received several communications from individuals who are opposed to the issuance of this permit. I will note that since that time we have received at least one additional communication from an individual who is opposed.”
She noted the proposed owner of the business has had another permit, which was never placed into use. It was transferred to someone else and the new owner didn’t place it into use, and then the permit was transferred to a third owner, who has put it to partial use, about two days a week, Maginn said.
“The proposed owner for this business, there is some criminal background that, quite frankly, their records that are in our system I couldn’t read. The font was too small and the background is very dark. We need to obtain new information to make sure that there are no problems there. It did look like several things may have been recused, they may all have been, but I couldn’t verify due to the small print,” she said.
Because of the two issues, Maginn made a motion to remand the new license application to Kosciusko County’s local board. She said she would like to hear from the remonstrators and wanted legal to clarify if there was any problems with criminal background.
“We don’t like to send back to the local board for another look, but in this case we have had, I believe, it’s four communications from individuals who are opposed. For whatever reason, they didn’t get a chance to appear at the local board. We’ll share those with the local board and see if those individuals want to show up, and also have the owner there for any questions that we may want to ask,” Maginn stated.
When an unidentified man in the audience asked if he could speak on the petition, Chair Jessica Allen said no.
“I would just note that one of the concerns of the remonstrators is holding permits, holding all the permits in a location that in itself is not a problem, but there is a history of letting permits sit in escrow too long, maybe not having arm’s length transfers at the end of those escrow periods, so I think what I would be interested in when it goes back is for the local board to look at - when I went back and looked at the application, the statements about when will it be open, what needs to happen to open were pretty brief, so maybe expand on that,” she said.
Allen said there’s a building so the local board should look at what’s needed for the building, such as if the owner needs to hire architects, designers and contractors and if those people are secured. She said they need to look at the timeline for the building and what building permits are needed, as well as any rezoning.
“These are the things we frequently see as hurdles during escrow time periods, so that is the information I’d like the local board to review and get information on from the permit holder,” she continued.
The motion to remand Carter’s application back to the Kosciusko County ATC was unanimously approved.
The local board generally meets at 1 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month in the old courtroom of the county courthouse. Carter’s petition was remanded to the local board’s June meeting, June 4, according to Tackett.
The Indiana ATC April 21 meeting can be viewed online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O29Oa_-av1w and starts at about the 46:16 mark.
