Silver Moon likely to retain license; town to change ordinance
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
Glenn Meine will likely retain the liquor license for the former Silver Moon in the Town of Darien. But, he said, the rigmarole he went through to keep it speaks to a larger issue – the lack of accountability of small-town government.
“A lot of times these town boards get by with no scrutiny,” said Meine, better known as musician Glenn Davis, which “gives them leeway to do just about anything they want because nobody’s watching.”
Meine owns the bar and property at W9698 Highway 14 across from Twin Oaks Shelter for the Homeless that he operated as the Silver Moon for 17 years. The Silver Moon closed in 2007, and a renter operated the tavern as the Broken Spoke until mid-2011.
Meine said he got a letter from the Town of Darien in April indicating that the liquor license for the property would likely be revoked because the bar was closed.
The potential revocation was based on an ordinance the Town Board adopted two months earlier with Meine in mind, he said.
The ordinance says that any establishment that abandons its license by failing to remain open to the public for 90 consecutive days shall be subject to revocation or non-renewal of its liquor license, said Town Attorney Kim Howarth.
“They went and passed this ordinance in February,” Meine said. “It was directed at me. I’m the only one not using my license. The ordinance was designed to force me to go back into business or to give up the license. That’s why I got mad. All they had to do was call me.”
Meine said a township representative should have talked to him first about a potential problem with his liquor license. Instead, he said, the Town Board adopted an ordinance with no notice to or input from him solely for the purpose of removing his license.
Meine said he received notice in the mail that he would likely lose his license and then was served a summons at his Sugar Creek home to appear at a Town Board hearing Tuesday where the revocation would be considered.
Howarth said Friday the Town Board would not likely proceed with the hearing Tuesday, and he would instead recommend a change in the town’s ordinance.
Meine said the town’s cooperation came after he researched state law with regard to liquor licenses and notified the media of Tuesday’s hearing.
“It wasn’t until I backed them into a corner that they reconsidered,” Meine said.
The intent of the town’s ordinance is to prevent taverns from closing but holding onto a license that isn’t resulting in the sale of any liquor, which brings tax money into state coffers.
“The idea is that we don’t have boarded-up establishments sitting on liquor license when there are a limited number to go around,” Howarth said.
The Town of Darien has five licenses, all of which are issued, based on its population.
Howarth said the town’s ordinance was written so that a liquor license could be taken away from an establishment that is closed for 90 days in a row. But, he said, the wording leaves some confusion about whether the “90 days in succession” applies to places that are closed one or two days a week.
“I’m afraid it’s not entirely clear that that doesn’t mean remaining open all the time,” Howarth said. “To avoid any potential issue with unfairness to Meine,” Howarth will recommend the town renew the bar’s license and fix its ordinance.
The ordinance the Town Board was to consider Tuesday will require establishment to be open at least two days out of every 30 to retain their liquor licenses.
Howarth said the ordinance had to be written generously so as not to automatically exclude the Delavan Sportsman’s Club on County Road P, which he said is not open much when the weather’s not nice.
Meine said he is busy with his music career and does not intend to operate the bar full-time. He said he will meet the minimum requirements of the new ordinance until he can sell the establishment.
“I’m going to have to be open at least two days a month,” he said.
Meine said he is negotiating with three or four potential buyers. The property is listed for sale with Shorewest Realtors with an asking price of $289,900.
