Person with record can apply for liquor license

BATAVIA -- The City Council voted last week to amend the municipal code to allow a person with a prior felony conviction to apply for a liquor license.

City officials said state law provides that someone previously convicted of a felony have the opportunity to obtain a liquor license if the person can demonstrate that they have been rehabilitated sufficiently to warrant the public trust. Batavia's code does not contain that provision, they said.

The city's revision to the municipal code for liquor licenses states that the lack of language in the Batavia code "constitutes a potential deprivation of certain due process and equal protection rights and needs to be corrected."

Both the mayor, as liquor control commissioner, and staff maintained that, through police checks and interviews with the applicant, a person can be allowed the opportunity to show that granting a liquor license would be reasonable.

Mayor Jeff Schielke has stated the objective is to give Batavia closer controls.

"We have had people who have never been granted a license requesting consideration with issues in their background from when they were 15 or 16 years old," Schielke said.

"Fifteen to 20 years later, they are upstanding citizens of society, but because that proviso still hangs on their record and they don't have the wherewithal to hire a high-priced attorney to have their record expunged, they can't get a liquor license," he said.

"I would think this town is run close enough and with enough watchful guidance of the City Council, were we faced with a situation like this, we would be in a position to make a proper decision ourselves," the mayor said.