The Government Affairs Committee of the City of Wauwatosa voted June 17 to recommend changing the municipal ordinance that limits temporary Class B beer licenses to 16 per year, directing staff to prepare an ordinance to match state law and to explore administrative changes to streamline multi-date event applications.

The change was proposed as part of unfinished business by Alders who reviewed a revised memo from an alder sponsor. Committee staff described three items in the revised proposal: removing the local cap on temporary beer licenses, administrative adjustments to allow one multi-date application for recurring events, and the option of preparing a resolution asking the state to raise or remove a two-license limit on temporary wine licenses.

The committee discussed how the city's licensing system currently treats each event as a separate license tied to a specific premises description and agent. Staff said they are exploring an internal system change so an organizer could submit one application listing multiple dates when the premises and agent remain the same; if any details change for a date, a separate application would still be required.

City legal staff told the committee the ordinance change would align local code with state law and raised no legal objections; staff noted a nominal additional fee exposure if a single applicant were to request many additional licenses (staff cited an example of roughly $150 in extra fees if someone applied for 30 events in a year under current fees).

Alder discussion repeatedly returned to enforcement tools: staff and alder members confirmed the city retains the ability to deny, limit or revoke individual event licenses or to impose specific conditions (security, premises limits) if a permitted event produced public-safety or nuisance issues.

Without further delay the committee voted to recommend an ordinance removing the 16-license local cap so the city's code would be consistent with state statute; the committee also asked the sponsor to return with a proposed resolution for the state concerning temporary wine-license limits and directed staff to continue work on the single-application administrative improvement.

The committee did not adopt a state-resolution at the June 17 meeting and left that item for future consideration by the sponsor.

Context: The discussion arose under "unfinished business" after staff presented a packet memo revising an alder sponsor's original proposal; no final state legislative action was taken by the committee at the meeting.