Applicant’s history, issues at other stores noted by police chief
By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council voted unanimously in favor of denying a liquor license last week for Sunny’s Liquor, after several issues in the applicant’s history were brought to the forefront.
Sunny’s Liquor is a store that the Council recently approved a conditional use permit after items had been brought to the Finance and Judicial Committee’s attention by the Elkhorn Police Department.
The conditional use permit for the liquor store, at 23 E. Walworth St., was approved at the Jan. 7 council meeting 5-0, amending the permit to require that the applicant acquire a liquor license.
However, when the application was presented to the Finance and Judicial Committee on Jan. 24, new information that was also presented persuaded committee members to deny the liquor license for Manjit Singh.
According to minutes from the meeting, Singh had indicated on his application that he had never been convicted of any offenses, though admitted to one OWI that “happened a long time ago” when questioned by Police Chief Joel Christensen at that meeting.
When asked if there had been any other offenses, Sing said no, according to the minutes.
However, the minutes state that Christensen noted Singh actually had two OWI offenses, one in 2004 and another in 2012, to which Singh said he thought that an OWI fell off his record after 10 years, adding he has been sober for five years now.
Christensen also noted that Singh had a domestic incident in 2014, which Singh said was “an accident.”
Furthermore, it was noted that Singh has a liquor license in Burlington and was cited for having an employee selling alcohol without a license. According to the minutes, Singh said the employee was licensed in the City of Lake Geneva and forgot to apply right away for his license.
Minutes state that Christensen noted all of the incidences should have been noted on the application.
Additionally, minutes state that City Attorney Ward Phillips said that under Wisconsin statutes the city had discretion on whether to issue the license or not, though noted the committee should be consistent when applying the rules.
The committee voted in favor of recommending the full Council deny the liquor license. The Council voted similarly, denying the license 6-0.
