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City Attorney Goodrich stated that he would at a minimum, send out a copy of the new ordinance <br />to all the licensees and allows them an opportunity to comment on the changes. <br /> <br />Councilmember Cook stated that he would like to review what impact, if any, the later closing <br />time had on criminal activity after one year. <br /> <br />Councihnember Strommen agreed. She questioned what concerns the Police Chief would have <br />with allowing bars to stay open until 2:00 a.m. and would the lowering of the legal drinking limit <br />to .08 complicate the situation further. <br /> <br />Police Chief Way replied that he did not feel that changing the legal drinking limit to .08 would <br />have much of an impact because typically the DUI range is about 1.4 or 1.5. As far as policing <br />his only concern is that if they allow bars to serve until 2:00 a.m. and than allow another hour <br />until they have to actually close they could see a significant increase in the amount of overtime <br />that is paid because their shifts end at 3:00 a.m. <br /> <br />Councilmember Cook inquired if bar owners felt that allowing for the 2:00 a.m. closing time <br />only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday was adequate. <br /> <br />Mr. Gruber replied that he had discussed that with the other bar owners, who were present at the <br />meeting, and they all agreed that would be adequate, but they would also like to include the night <br />before Thanksgiving, New Years Eve, and 4th of July. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec inquired if the City would be requiring full menu service until close. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig replied that he would recommend that, at a minimum, appetizers would <br />have to be served up to one hour before they stop serving alcohol. <br /> <br />Police Chief Way expressed concern that if they do allow bars to serve alcohol until 2:00 a.m. <br />and then allow for another hour before they have to close they will really be pushing the Police <br />Department. He would suggest that they stop serving at 2:00 a.m. and close by 2:30 a.m. <br /> <br />Mr. Gruber stated that the reality is that as soon as the drinks are pulled people will leave. <br /> <br />Consensus was that establishments must close by 2:30 a.m. <br /> <br />Police Chief Way stated that if the Council decides to approve the 2:00 a.m. alcohol serving time <br />the Police Department will track to see if the number of DWI's has increased. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig noted that his proposal would be to incorporate a fee to help offset any <br />additional police time. <br /> <br />Councihnember Strommen inquired if it was possible to come up with an estimate on how much <br />Police overtime they may expect with the change. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session/March 1, 2004 <br /> Page 5 of 12 <br /> <br /> <br />