MONROE - A decision on whether to issue a city loan for a new local restaurant and bar is on hold as officials look to add two new members to the committee that makes lending decisions.
The Monroe Common Council last Wednesday was split on the issue of whether to send the first direct loan from the city's revolving loan fund back to await review by a larger Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Committee. As a result, the council voted 4-4 on whether to lend $50,000 to the pub and restaurant proposed for the downtown Square - requiring Mayor Bill Ross to break the tie.
Ross then voted to send the loan back, because he wanted to see consensus on the issue, he said.
Council members verbally agreed that Ross should add two more members as soon as possible to the current three-member committee. Ross had planned to appoint all city committee members after the April 5 election.
RLF Committee chairman Mike Doyle said he would not call another meeting until the new members are appointed. Mayoral committee appointments require council approvals. The next scheduled Common Council meeting is March 1.
Previously, the Revolving Loan Fund Committee members - Doyle, Steve Bechtolt and Michael Boyce - unanimously approved the $50,000 loan Feb. 2 and sent it to the council for final approval.
But that loan may be delayed as city officials work through their differences over the approval process.
Loan applicants Joey and Laura Winters of ABC Ventures, LLC, Monroe, want to establish North Side Pub & Grill on the downtown Square. The loan is to be used for equipment, inventory and supplies and for working capital, to enable them to open and operate the restaurant.
At the Common Council, the resolution was read, motioned and seconded, when Charles Koch said he had been contacted by residents from the city, had read the committee minutes, and understood the committee wanted two additional members.
"I would feel more comfortable if we sent this back to committee with additional members in place for another look at the application," he said.
He later made the comment, adding that the two extra committee members are to have financial expertise, as an amendment to the motion, which was seconded by Jan Lefevre. Charles Schuringa and Paul Hannes voted with Koch and Lefevre. Boyce, Thurston Hanson, Dan Henke and Kent Kallembach voted against the motion.
Neal Hunter was absent, and the Ward 6 seat is vacant.
Ross said he was sending the issue back to committee to be brought back to the council "to be voted on in good conscious."
The final vote brought harsh criticism for fellow council members from Boyce and Hanson. Boyce noted that the lack of revolving loans made in more than two years jeopardizes the state grant-funded program and that the city could be made to join regional revolving loan fund projects that would make loans even harder to get by local entrepreneurs.
"You have allowed the Revolving Loan fund to languish and done nothing about it," he said.
He called the vote, which could delay the loan application by at least two weeks, an "absolute abuse of power."
Hanson, alderman for the downtown Ward 7, where the restaurant is to be located, said the loan delay is a delay in economic development, and those council members who talk about increasing economic development are "speaking out of both sides of their mouths."
"The longer you delay, the more likely they might decide not to continue. This was a bad decision, and I think the four of you know that," he said.
But Lefevre said the committee approving a loan without a participating bank was a change of the rules.
"I want to be absolutely certain 100 percent," she said. "I want them to have a restaurant and the loan, but I want to make sure what we are doing is the absolute right way to go."
If approved, it will be the first loan in the fund's history to be made without a bank participating in the venture.
The North Side Pub & Grill at 1609 10th St. has not yet opened. It has a class B liquor license, issued Nov. 15. According to city "use it or lose it" ordinances on liquor licenses, the business can be closed for a maximum of 120 consecutive days or not less than 25 percent of the days in any license year.
The North Side Pub & Grill could apply for a variance.
The Monroe Common Council last Wednesday was split on the issue of whether to send the first direct loan from the city's revolving loan fund back to await review by a larger Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Committee. As a result, the council voted 4-4 on whether to lend $50,000 to the pub and restaurant proposed for the downtown Square - requiring Mayor Bill Ross to break the tie.
Ross then voted to send the loan back, because he wanted to see consensus on the issue, he said.
Council members verbally agreed that Ross should add two more members as soon as possible to the current three-member committee. Ross had planned to appoint all city committee members after the April 5 election.
RLF Committee chairman Mike Doyle said he would not call another meeting until the new members are appointed. Mayoral committee appointments require council approvals. The next scheduled Common Council meeting is March 1.
Previously, the Revolving Loan Fund Committee members - Doyle, Steve Bechtolt and Michael Boyce - unanimously approved the $50,000 loan Feb. 2 and sent it to the council for final approval.
But that loan may be delayed as city officials work through their differences over the approval process.
Loan applicants Joey and Laura Winters of ABC Ventures, LLC, Monroe, want to establish North Side Pub & Grill on the downtown Square. The loan is to be used for equipment, inventory and supplies and for working capital, to enable them to open and operate the restaurant.
At the Common Council, the resolution was read, motioned and seconded, when Charles Koch said he had been contacted by residents from the city, had read the committee minutes, and understood the committee wanted two additional members.
"I would feel more comfortable if we sent this back to committee with additional members in place for another look at the application," he said.
He later made the comment, adding that the two extra committee members are to have financial expertise, as an amendment to the motion, which was seconded by Jan Lefevre. Charles Schuringa and Paul Hannes voted with Koch and Lefevre. Boyce, Thurston Hanson, Dan Henke and Kent Kallembach voted against the motion.
Neal Hunter was absent, and the Ward 6 seat is vacant.
Ross said he was sending the issue back to committee to be brought back to the council "to be voted on in good conscious."
The final vote brought harsh criticism for fellow council members from Boyce and Hanson. Boyce noted that the lack of revolving loans made in more than two years jeopardizes the state grant-funded program and that the city could be made to join regional revolving loan fund projects that would make loans even harder to get by local entrepreneurs.
"You have allowed the Revolving Loan fund to languish and done nothing about it," he said.
He called the vote, which could delay the loan application by at least two weeks, an "absolute abuse of power."
Hanson, alderman for the downtown Ward 7, where the restaurant is to be located, said the loan delay is a delay in economic development, and those council members who talk about increasing economic development are "speaking out of both sides of their mouths."
"The longer you delay, the more likely they might decide not to continue. This was a bad decision, and I think the four of you know that," he said.
But Lefevre said the committee approving a loan without a participating bank was a change of the rules.
"I want to be absolutely certain 100 percent," she said. "I want them to have a restaurant and the loan, but I want to make sure what we are doing is the absolute right way to go."
If approved, it will be the first loan in the fund's history to be made without a bank participating in the venture.
The North Side Pub & Grill at 1609 10th St. has not yet opened. It has a class B liquor license, issued Nov. 15. According to city "use it or lose it" ordinances on liquor licenses, the business can be closed for a maximum of 120 consecutive days or not less than 25 percent of the days in any license year.
The North Side Pub & Grill could apply for a variance.