Adjustments were made in the City of Minot’s alcohol ordinance draft and plans for a temporary animal pound at the Monday, March 16, meeting of the Minot City Council.

The revision of the City of Minot’s alcohol ordinances took a new turn when the city council voted to add a restriction on special event permits to its proposed alcohol ordinance revisions.

Council member Mike Blessum proposed a limit of 21 on the number of days a year that license holders may sell alcohol at special events located off their regular premises. An exclusion from the limit exists if the permit is for an outdoor area next to the premises.

The motion carried 6-1, with council member Lisa Olson dissenting.

Afterwards, Carl Clemetson with The Regency spoke during time allotted to the public to take issue with the restriction. The Regency, which is in the business of working with events, does not hold an alcohol license but uses other services for those events that include alcohol.

He said a new bar service is being hired to serve exclusively, helping to maintain standards and keep operations safe. However, if the number of special permits that service can apply for is limited to 21, The Regency will have to work with multiple license holders to cover all its events, which will make operations more complicated, he said.

“For religious and personal reasons, we will never own a license,” he added. “We don’t want to own a license. I want to contract somebody to come in and take care of it and work with the city, and everything’s good. But if you’re going in blind and making rules up because it sounds good without asking those who have impacts, that’s a problem.”

The council did not act on the proposed alcohol ordinance revisions, which now include the restriction on special event permits. Legal and administrative staff continue to work on the ordinance rewrite based on the council’s directives. Council members reviewed proposed changes so far, which include modifications to supper club licenses and establishment of an alcohol steering committee. The council has indicated a public hearing will be held before final changes are made to the ordinance.

The council also amended its agreement with the Animal Empowerment League to remove mention of a fee for caring for exotic or pocket animals housed in a temporary pound service. AEL is contracted to oversee animals in a pound operating through August at the Ward County Highway Department.

Ward County has limited its contract with the city to dogs only, requiring the change in the AEL contract and clarification language in the county-city contract.

The council also adopted changes by the county to protect the county from any liability related to AEL’s use of the premises and prohibit individuals younger than 18 from coming into the facility or onto the highway department’s operations yard.

The council adopted a veterinarian service agreement that the city can enter into with veterinarians willing to provide services for the temporary pound. Fees are not included in the agreement, but those fees will be worked out with the veterinarians.