Council OKs Elks Club liquor license
POTTSTOWN » With a 4-2 vote, Pottstown Borough Council Monday night endorsed the transfer of a club liquor license to the Montgomery Elks Club No. 1271 at 605 Walnut St.
The vote moves the application to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which has final say in the matter.
Had council rejected the request, as it did last year, it would have all but killed any hope of the license being transferred.
The vote only came after some drama.
In addition to supporting or rejecting the application, council had a third option of “taking no action,” which has the same effect as a vote to support as far as the liquor control board is concerned.
Councilman Ryan Procsal first made a motion to take no action, which was supported by Councilman Joe Lebedynsky.
Councilman Joe Kirkland immediately wanted to know why this application was being treated differently than one approved several months ago with council’s full support.
Procsal referred to problems at the club previously, before the club’s license was denied renewal in 2015 by the PCLB because of disturbances and police calls there.
“I’m not comfortable supporting it, but I don’t think it’s fair to deny them,” said Procsal.
Lebedynsky said it would give council “plausible deniability” if those problems arose again.
But Kirkland said the club’s management has changed, the minimum age is now older and the kind of license they are seeking would prevent the serving of alcohol to anyone but club members.
The license transfer being sought is a “club license,” which only allows serving alcohol to members.
Last year, the club sought a “catering license” from the Gilbertsville Fire Company No. 1, which would have allowed alcohol to be served to guests at catered events likes weddings and birthday parties.
“For some reason, you’re choosing to treat this application differently,” Kirkland said. “You’re holding them to a different standard and I think we all know why, and I don’t like it.”
Councilwoman Trenita Lindsay, who attended the online meeting from Texas where she is visiting family, agreed.
Both Lindsay and Kirkland are African-Americans and the membership of the Montgomery Elks club is primarily AfricanAmerican as well.
But Kirkland and Lindsay’s position also got support from Borough Council President Dan Weand and Councilwoman Lisa Vanni. (Councilman Michael Paules was absent.)
“Based on the current record, I agree with Joe and Trenita, that they should be approved,” Vanni said. “I don’t know how much more we need, they did everything we asked them to do, and there has been no opposition from the community.”
“I should say that should they gain their license, they will be under the microscope, a lot of scrutiny,” Weand said.
Ultimately, council rejected Procsal’s motion to take no action by a 4-2 vote, and by the same margin approved Kirkland’s motion to support the license transfer from a club in Bridgeport borough.
“It’s a shame we had to go through that,” said Kirkland.
This article first appeared as a post in The Digital Notebook blog.