A special Springfield City Council meeting has been called for noon Friday to consider a liquor license for a new downtown bar planned to replace Sammy’s Sports Bar & Grill in time for the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The special meeting comes after aldermen Tuesday rejected a request for a liquor license for New Beginning 217 LLC, which will operate as Willy P’s Tap and Grill. Aldermen said they had last-minute questions about whether the owners owe money to the city.
The vote was 6-3 in favor of the license, but because the request was on emergency passage, it needed eight votes to pass. Alds. Gail Simpson, Kris Theilen and Tim Griffin voted against. Ald. Frank Edwards was absent.
Normal procedures send an item that failed on emergency passage through the regular approval process. But that would take too much time, said Dennis Polk, one of the managers listed in state records for New Beginning 217.
“Our intention is to be open the biggest day of the year,” he said, referring to the St. Patrick’s Day parade scheduled for March 13.
Even a special meeting next week would allow only four days to open the bar, Polk said.
Theilen said he received e-mails alleging the owners owed money to the city. He said he was told by Mayor Tim Davlin’s administration late Tuesday that Polk has a delinquent tax increment finance loan. It was unclear Tueday how much Polk owes.
Theilen said he wasn’t comfortable approving the license as an emergency.
“I’m not questioning Mr. Polk’s character, I’m just questioning numbers,” Theilen said. “Under other circumstances, we would not issue licenses if money was owed.”
Deana Poole can be reached at 788-1533.
Read the original article from The State Journal-Register.
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