LIMA — The Lima Police Department presented its biannual report on calls to businesses with liquor sales permits to Lima City Council during the Monday council meeting at the Lima Municipal Building. With no businesses showing excessive calls to the police from March through August, the department recommended no action to be taken against any liquor permit holder.
Businesses with 13 or more qualifying calls for service in that time frame, whether they be for violent acts or drug activity or excessive noise, are flagged during the review. Lima Police Chief Kevin Martin said the goal is not to shut businesses down but rather to work with them to reduce future calls.
“We will be certainly willing to work with businesses to help them keep control on things,” he said. “The objective is not to shut down businesses, but we want to work with the establishments as best we can to ensure that their patrons are safe.”
The only establishments to reach double digits in qualifying calls were the Shell Food Mart on West Market Street, Harry’s Hide-a-way on Cable Road, both with 11, and the Firehouse Bar on North Main Street with 10. Two establishments that had been the center of several calls in recent years, the Main Street Irish Pub and the G-Spot, both voluntarily closed their doors in recent months.
“There’s not anything that has jumped up on the radar screen at the moment,” Martin said. “That’s one of the reasons why we submit this semiannual report to City Council, since it keeps us tracking the various problems that are occurring to see if there is a pattern and if there are businesses we should take a closer look at.”
In other business, City Council again failed to reach the necessary majority to approved an ordinance to freeze the mayoral salary at just more than $135,000 for the next four years. Three council members, 2nd Ward Councilman Sam McLean, 3rd Ward Councilman Jesse Lowe II and 4th Ward Councilwoman Rebecca Kreher, voted against the measure, which will now go to a third and final reading at the next council meeting. A simple majority will pass the measure at its final reading.
There was no discussion on the salary ordinance during the meeting.
