Title
Notice/Advertisement Title: Public Safety & Criminal Justice Committee - Liquor Objections Hearing
Contact Name: Pedro Mejia
Contact Telephone Number: (614) 645-7565
Contact Email Address: PDMejia@columbus.gov
Body
Public Safety & Criminal Justice Committee - Liquor Objections Hearing
Meeting Minutes
December 9, 2025
3:00 P.M.
Council Chambers
PRESENT
Councilmember Emmanuel V. Remy, Councilmember Otto Beatty III, Pedro Mejia, Tanisha Pruitt, Nancy Sully, Mark Carter, Emiliana Morales, Cailyn Pittman, Sophie Yano, Mark Ryan
CALL TO ORDER
3:06 P.M.
INTRODUCTION
[Chair Remy] Thank you for being here. Thank you to Councilmember Beatty for being here. Thank you to Assistant Attorney Yano and Detective Ryan for the work you have done all year.
PRESENTATION
[Assistant Attorney Yano] Thank you for the opportunity for being here to go over this year’s liquor license objections. Permit renewal objection process involves 8 steps: 1. Identify establishments 2. Investigation 3.Evaluation 4.Recommendation to council 5.Council resolution to division of liquor control 6. Division holds a public hearing 7. Division issues decision 8.Appeal process.
From about 200 places reported and initial investigation, there was about 50 that met the threshold to move forward in a full investigation and evaluation. Today, there are 6 that we will be recommending to council. We are still working with all these establishments. Potential outcomes includes: Objection sustained, objection overruled, Permit forfeited or agreement between City & Permit-holder. We primary deal with C (Carry out permits) and D (Dine in permits) permits. Let’s get into today’s recommendations:
Renewal Objection:
1165 S High - Speedway
▪ Highest number of calls for service
▪ Attempted to work with property owners but they have not wanted to engage
Objections
2441 Lockbourne - Shell
▪ Number of calls for service have increase dramatically
2800 Sullivant - BP
▪ High number of calls for service
▪ Underage sales, solicitation, Columbus Public Health Violations
▪ Owners has not done what is needed in a significant way
2805 W Broad - Marathon ▪ High number of calls for service
▪ Fire code violations
▪ High number of calls for service
2875 Stelzer - Speedway
▪ High number of calls for service
▪ Drug overdoses, shootings, columbus public health violations, Fire Code Violations.
4432 Walford - Buckeye Supermarket
▪ High number of calls for service
▪ Attacks on customers, highest number of concerning calls including violent offences
I am happy to take any questions.
QUESTIONS
[Chair Remy] Can you speak to why it is a short list this year?
[Ms. Yano] Crime is down across the city, but also we do a lot of work on the front end to try to remedy these issues before we get here in front of council.
[Chair Remy] Can you discuss more about interacting with the owners?
[Detective Ryan] Most of the carry outs have the owners there in store and are family owned. We utilize positive reinforcement and us as a department try to work with these owners to make their businesses in compliance and safe for the community. Carry outs always have the greatest number of issues because of their hours and the variety of items that are sold there.
[Chair Remy] What happens at a Speedway or a corporate one, not a locally owned?
[Mr. Ryan] It goes to their corporate office, and we do try to work with their managers. Most is working via emails and phone calls.
[Chair Remy] Councilmember Beatty?
[CM Beatty] What are the cross streets for the Speedway on S. High?
[Mr. Ryan] Right downtown by Greenlawn?
[Chair Remy] You come up with ideas with the store owners and work with them, correct?
[Mr. Ryan] Alot of carry outs with come up with their own ideas, like sharing security, working between businesses to stop selling certain items etc. Bars will also work together to get the correct type of security and share it.
[Ms. Yano] I will add to this- many of these are small businesses. Our intention is to not shut down businesses and create more vacant buildings. Our propose is prioritizing safety, not just for the community, but for themselves and their employees. As businesses work with us, we see improvements for the individual businesses and for the community.
[Mr. Ryan] This year we boarded up two illegal bars. It’s a long process. There are more that 8,000 permitted places, and only 2 were boarded up. We want to work with businesses and bring them along to get them into compliance. We want to do it right.
[Chair Remy] Thank you for your work. We want to keep businesses open.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
[Chair Remy] We did not receive any testimony and there is not any one here to testify.
CLOSING REMARKS
[Chair Remy] Thank you for all your work. These will be in front of Council on Dec 15 agenda
ADJOURNMENT
Adjourned at 3:41PM
You can reach Councilmember Remy’s Legislative Aide, Pedro Mejia, at <PDMejia@columbus.gov>