City Council Approves Liquor Licenses Requests

Municipal Offices in Lamar

Three public hearings pertaining to liquor licenses were held by the Lamar City Council on Monday, March 13th.  Lamar Hospitality, LLC dba Cobblestone Hotel & Suites was granted its request for a hotel/restaurant liquor license with councilman Mike Bellomy abstaining.  Cobblestone general manager, Mike Gratta explained the lounge serves as the hotel’s breakfast nook in the morning.  Walmart, at 1432 East Olive Street and Safeway at 906 East Olive Street were both granted their requests for a liquor license modification of premise application, allowing additional shelving and floor space to provide wine sales to their customers.  Councilwoman Gerry Jenkins abstained in the Safeway vote.  Colorado voters approved the inclusion of wine sales in grocery stores during the past November General Election.

Electra Pro LLC was the lower of two bids submitted to the council for electric line and outlet installation for the Escondido Park Soccer score booth.  The council awarded the bid of $17,450 which included running power lines to the building, installing a breaker panel, installing four inside and one outdoor light fixture, five receptables and wiring of the two score boards which are currently under construction.

The council voted approval to receive opioid settlement funds from five companies following action by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.  The five companies are Allergan, CVS, TEVA, Walgreens and Walmart.  The funding to be received by the city covers Region 19.  That region will receive a total of $15,589,254.70 from a statewide total of $200,283,971.03.    The payouts will be distributed over a length of several years such as Walgreens for 14 years to six years for Walmart.  Police Chief Kyle Miller explained the council opted out of the 2022 settlement as Lamar would receive only about $1,900 and the council felt that the accrued funds from all the communities could be put to better use, collectively.

City Administrator Evans reminded the meeting of his future Coffee with Rob meetings at 7am on March 22nd at McDonalds and at the Hickory House on March 29th.  National Weather Service SKYWARN Storm Spotter Training will be held on March 22nd at 6:30pm at the Home Ec Building at the County Fairgrounds.  Prowers Economic Prosperity will conduct its annual meeting at 6:30pm on Thursday, March 23rd at Las Brisas Restaurant and Seizure First Aid Training will be conducted at Brew Unto Others on South Main Street from 1 to 3pm on Saturday, March 25th.  The council will conduct a joint work session with the Prowers County Commissioners on Monday, March 27^th to discuss each entity’s concerns over developing new comprehensive plans for the city and for the county.

By Russ Baldwin