Dorchester votes to expand liquor license at Memorial Hall

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Dorchester Village Board made an adjustment to Memorial Hall’s liquor license at their most recent board meeting last Wednesday, expanding the area covered by the license to include the entirety of the hall, rather than just the lower level and upstairs bar area.

This change came after the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Alcohol Bureau performed an investigation of the hall after receiving an anonymous complaint.

No citations were issued, but an issue with the hall’s liquor license was discovered. Under the prior license, only the upstairs bar area was covered, which meant that alcohol purchased from the bar could only be consumed in the licensed area and could not be taken to other areas of the hall. While this was not an issue and was actually preferred when the hall is being used for activities like basketball or pickleball, it would change how the hall handles other events like weddings.

Two options were presented to the board on how to amend the license: one would be to keep the licensed area the same while the other would expand the licensed area to include the entirety of the hall.

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Both options had their own separate issues. By keeping the license the same, the consumption of purchased alcohol from the bar would be restricted to the licensed bar area. However, should the license be expanded, then a licensed bartender would need to be on the premises whenever the hall was used, regardless of whether the bar doors were opened or not.

It was noted during discussion that parties looking to utilize the hall for events like weddings could still bring their own alcohol and consume it in the non-licensed area if the licensure was kept the same, but there was concern for events that had already been scheduled with the expectation that the bar would be open for use.

Jenny Hinker, who rents and runs Memorial Hall, said parties could bring and consume their own alcohol “as long as the bar doors are closed.”

“Going forward, if we want to go that route, that’s great, but my big concern right now is the weddings and events that we currently have booked,” she said. “They’re under the assumption that they booked the hall one way, and so for them to be told two days before their wedding ‘okay, now you have to bring in all of your own alcohol and find your own bartenders and do all of that.’ So that kind of creates that problem.”

Concerns over what the expansion of the license would mean for individuals who would prefer the bar closed during their events were also discussed. If the license was expanded, Hinker said the bar would still remain closed during those times if those using the hall preferred it that way. The only thing that would change would be that a licensed bartender would have to be on site while those individuals used the hall, regardless of whether the bar is closed or not.

When asked for her opinion on the matter, Hinker said that she preferred that the board expand the license.

“If I had my preference tonight, I would like you guys to expand that to the entire hall so we can get through the weddings we have currently booked,” she said. “It’s more work on me for you guys to expand it, because now I have to be there for all of these events, but I feel like that’s the right thing to do because these are the events that we promised those people.”

After further discussion, the village board eventually voted unanimously to include the entire upper and lower floors of the hall in the liquor license.

Central Fire and EMS purchases

The board also approved a pair of capital expenses for the Central Fire and EMS district at the March 5 meeting. One is for a replacement ambulance that would likely arrive sometime in 2027, and the other would be the purchase of 32 new sets of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) air packs to replace aging equipment.

The new ambulance, a Braun 2026 Ford F550, was estimated to cost approximately $310,000. This would serve as a replacement for the oldest ambulance currently in the district’s fleet.

“We looked into re-chassising (the old ambulance), but a 550 like we are running now will not fit on that box,” district chief Joe Mueller explained. “The design of the box itself won’t work with the cab, so you’d have to reconstruct the box a little to do it. So the price difference (for a new ambulance) was minimal, so it was better to just get in line to order a new one.”

The new ambulance would match the other two ambulances the district has. It was also noted that the district currently has the funds for the capital purchase, so it would not require any further funding from the member municipalities. The village board voted to approve the purchase.

The purchase of replacement SCBA gear for roughly $278,000 was also approved. During discussion, Mueller stated that while the current gear could potentially still be used, it is 23 years old and the department is already in the process of taking parts from damaged packs to maintain others as replacement parts for these packs are no longer made. While he noted that the price point was high, he also said the district currently has the funds for this purchase. The industry standard is to replace the packs every 15 years, he noted.

Concerns were raised that the combination of the new packs and the new ambulance would drain the district’s savings.

“My problem is that I don’t know where we’re going to come up with the money,” trustee Tom Carter said. “It’s going to deplete the department’s funds.”

“Sometime along the line, they are probably going to want more money to replace the capital improvement (funds) and the village is already maxed out,” he added. “But we’re going to have to come up with the money somehow and I don’t know how we’re going to do it. I think we should postpone this and explore other options and then decide. If we spend this money, we also aren’t going to cover emergencies if they happen.”

An alternative option would be to purchase refurbished packs from a different company to tide the department over until they would have to purchase the bottles that go with the packs in 2034. Because the bottles and the packs are not interchangeable with gear from other manufacturers, the district board could potentially seek bids from other companies if they waited until 2034 instead of having to purchase MSA packs now to match the bottles they currently have.

A quote for 32 refurbished packs from 2007 ran about $27,000.

Mueller expressed concern over going with refurbished equipment.

“That’s a 2007 model, so next year, that would also be 20 years old,” he said. “It’s refurbished, but it’s still old equipment.”

“If you want to spend $27,000 on gear that’s going to be 20 years old next year, then I’d say don’t do it at all. Save that money and I’ll just keep the gear I have,” Mueller added. “You run the chance of running that old gear and hopefully nothing happens. But spending money on that I think is a waste of money.”

Newer refurbished models are also available, but the price is so much higher that many on the board believed it would be better to just get new gear.

“The way I see this is that it’s their number one protection for a firefighter in a building,” trustee Erik Klemetson said. “And if you want to get into a pissing match about that, over protecting someone’s safety, then fine. But I know that if I was in that building, I’d want the top-of-the-line stuff.”

In the end, the board approved the purchase of new SCBAs, with trustee Carter voting against and trustee Julie Goldschmidt abstaining from the vote. The motion to purchase will still need to pass at other member municipality councils as well, with it needing 66 percent of the membership to go through.