Council hears update on alcohol licenses
Published 8:12 am Monday, October 26, 2020
Dollar General, Circle K receive first local licenses
By JOE ASHER
The Middlesboro City Council held its regular meeting on Tuesday, hearing an update on alcohol licenses.
Mayor Rick Nelson called on Alcoholic Beverage Control Administrator Sheila Durham to update the panel.
“I know everybody’s anxious to hear,” Durham said. “We did get our first two licenses today. The State of Kentucky sent those to me via email.”
Durham pointed out the licenses were malt beverage licenses.
Nelson explained a malt beverage license applies to beer, while a retail package license pertains to the sale of liquor.
Durham passed out a list of applicants for both types of licenses to the council members.
Nelson said license applications are being processed by the state relatively quickly at this time.
“You’ve got to remember, there aren’t a lot of places that went wet this last time…so it’s pretty instant,” Nelson said.
Durham explained the process after the state license is approved.
“Once they get their Kentucky license, then we’ll go out and look at them and give them a packet,” Durham said. “It gives us contact information such as email, phone numbers, and things like that so we can keep track of their sales each month.”
Nelson inquired about the identity of the new license holders.
“The two licensees are The Dollar General and Circle K,” Durham said. “Those are the first two malt beverage licenses that we’ll have.”
A council member mentioned the list showed Kroger as having applied for a retail package license but not a malt beverage license.
Durham explained Kroger was not on the current list for a malt beverage license because they had turned in their application late.
According to a previous report, all state liquor licenses are applied for online. A total of three retail package licenses will be issued for Middlesboro.
“We were told today that the state is taking care of every bit of that,” Nelson said in the council’s September meeting. “We don’t have any say in it. Times have changed, so they will pick the three.”
