The City Council wanted to have the Police Department in full control of issuing keg permits, but recently had a change of heart.

The council will discuss the keg ordinance and its possible revisions at tonight’s city council meeting at 7:30.

The council will also discuss the properties along Lake Charleston whose leases are set to expire in 2009.

On the March 20 city council meeting, the council put the keg ordinance on file for public inspection.

The ordinance called for the police to have full control of issuing keg permits, but after meeting with liquor storeowners, the council wanted to revise the ordinance, said Mayor John Inyart.

“The problem we have is if we make the students go to the police department to buy a keg permit, I think more of them will try to escape the law because they are not going to want to come by the police department,” Inyart said.

The reason the council wanted to change the ordinance in the first place was because they were receiving inaccurate information on the permits.

Scott Wolff, co-owner of Gateway Liquors and East Side Package, said Chief of police Paul Welch showed him keg permits that had Never Never Land and 123 Timbuktu Ave. written out as the address.

“We’ve been here a long time and we are willing to work with the city in any way,” Wolff said.

Wolff said that he has talked to Inyart about developing a new system for issuing keg permits and both sides are willing to comprise.

Wolff and Inyart agreed that students would go out of town to buy kegs if the original ordinance would be in effect.

“If they do that, people are going to go out of town to get their kegs,” Wolff said. “I don’t want to see that happen and I don’t think the city does either.”

The council will not vote on the ordinance tonight and will probably be left on file for public inspection, Inyart said.

“The original idea was to have the police department take (keg permits) over completely,” Inyart said. “Now we are trying to find a happy medium.”

As for the properties along Lake Charleston, each council member will be given a chance to make a statement as to how they feel about the situation and then the council will discuss the matter, Inyart said.

In 1992, the City Council voted to set all leases around Lake Charleston to expire in 2009 and included a provision that said the leases would not be renewed.

The people who are currently leasing those properties will not be in control of that property in 2009, Inyart said.

Inyart said the tenants of the properties came to him last year and asked to make a decision to what is going to happen to the property after the leases expired.

He said that the tenants always held out hope that the leases would be renewed.

Inyart formed a committee and put together a public hearing in front of the Board of Zoning and Appeals to discuss the situation.

The committee recommended the land be returned to recreational use and the Board of Zoning and Appeals took no action on the issue.

Inyart hopes to have a good feel for what the council thinks after tonight’s meeting.

He said that council would not vote on it, but merely discuss it.

“I would imagine the outcome of (the properties along Lake Charleston) will be very evident after tonight’s meeting,” Inyart said.

Other items on the council’s agenda include:

-Presenting the city budget beginning May 1, 2007 and ending April 30, 2008. The council plans to put the budget on file for public inspection.

-Amending the Unified Developing Code. The code calls for commercial developments to have 25 percent of landscaping when constructing. The amendment will decrease the amount of landscaping to 15 percent.

-Adjusting the rates for water and sewer water. The council wants to raise the rates for both.