(a) License Required for Manufacture, Sale or Transportation. No person shall manufacture, sell, possess for sale, transport or distribute nonintoxicating beer within this City except in accordance with the provisions of this section and after first obtaining a City license therefor, as hereinafter provided.
(b) License Tax Imposed; Class A and Class B Retail Dealers; Grocery Store Defined.
There is hereby levied and imposed an annual license tax upon all dealers in and of nonintoxicating beer, which license period shall begin on the first day of July of each year and end of the thirtieth day of June of the following year, and if granted for a lesser period, the tax shall be computed quarterly in proportion to the remainder of the fiscal year as follows:
(1) Retail dealers shall be divided into two classes, Class A and Class B. In the case of a Class A retail dealer, the annual license fee shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each place of business; the annual license fee for social, fraternal or private clubs not operating for profit, and having been in continuous operation for two years or more immediately preceding the date of application, shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00).
Class A licenses for social, fraternal or private clubs shall authorize the licensee to sell nonintoxicating beer at retail for consumption only on the licensed premises where sold. All other Class A licenses shall authorize the licensee to sell nonintoxicating beer at retail for consumption on or off the licensed premises.
In the case of a Class B retailer, the license fee shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) for stores who serve chilled and unchilled and fifteen dollars ($15.00) for unchilled only for each place of business. A Class B license shall authorize the licensee to sell nonintoxicating beer at retail in bottles, cans or other sealed containers only, and only for consumption off the licensed premises. Sales under this license to any person at any one time must be in lesser quantities than five gallons. Such license may be issued only to the proprietor or owner of a grocery store. For the purpose of this section, the term “grocery store” means and includes any retail establishment commonly known as a grocery store, or delicatessen, where food or food products are sold for consumption off the premises.
(2) In the case of a distributor, the license fee shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for each place of business.
(3) In the case of a brewer, with its principal place of business located in the City, the license fee shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each place of manufacture.
(c) Application for License; Information to be Furnished by Applicant; Conditions Precedent to Grant of License. A license may be issued by the City Clerk to any person who submits an application therefor, accompanied by a license fee, stating under oath:
(1) The name and residence of the applicant, how long he has resided there, that he has been a resident of the State for a period of two years next preceding the date of his application, that he is twenty-one years of age, and, if a firm, association, partnership or corporation, the residence of the members or officers for a period of two years next preceding the date of such application.
(2) The particular place for which the license is desired and a detailed description thereof.
(3) The name of the owner of the building, and, if the owner is not the applicant, that such applicant is the actual and bona fide lessee of the premises.
(4) That the place or building in which it is proposed to do business conforms to all laws and ordinances relating to health, building and fire regulations applicable thereto and is a safe and proper place or building, and is not within 300 feet of any school or church, measured from the front door, along the street or streets; provided, that this requirement shall not apply to a Class B licensee.
(5) That the applicant has never been convicted of a felony, or a violation of the liquor laws, either federal or state.
(6) That the applicant has not during five years next immediately preceding the date of the application had a nonintoxicating beer license revoked, nor during the same period been convicted of any criminal offense.
The foregoing provisions and requirements are mandatory prerequisites for the issuance of a license, and in the event any applicant fails to qualify thereunder, the license shall be refused. In addition to the information furnished in any application, the City Clerk or Council, may make such additional and independent investigation of each applicant, and of the place to be occupied as deemed necessary or advisable.
(d) Fees for Issuance of License. Every applicant for a license under this section shall, before the license is issued, pay to the City Clerk the applicable license tax and in addition shall pay a fee of one dollar ($1.00) for each license certificate to cover the costs of issuance thereof.
(e) Grounds for Refusing License. Council, acting upon the recommendation of the City Clerk or upon its own action, may refuse a license to any applicant under the provisions of this section if it shall be of the opinion:
(1) That the applicant is not a suitable person to be licensed; or
(2) That the place to be occupied by the applicant is not a suitable place; or in the case of a Class A license, that the place to be occupied with within 300 feet of any church or school, measured from the front door to front door along the street or streets; or
(3) That the license should not be issued for reason of conduct declared to be unlawful by this section.
(f) License not Transferable; Change of Location. No license issued under the provisions of this section shall be transferred to another person, nor shall the location of the premises to which the license relates be changed without the consent of Council, which consent may be refused, in its discretion.
(g) Display of License. Each license issued under the provisions of this section shall be maintained on display in a conspicuous place on the premises to which it relates.
(h) Revocation or Suspension of License. Council shall have the right to revoke or suspend the license of any licensee under this article:
(1) For any of the reasons and upon any grounds declared to be unlawful by Article 521 of the General Offenses Code; or
(2) For any reason or grounds upon which a license might have been refused in the first instance had the facts at the time of issuance of such license been known to Council.
In addition to the grounds for revocation or suspension of a license above set forth, conviction of the licensee of any offense constituting a violation of the laws of this City or State or of the United States relating to nonintoxicating beer or alcoholic liquor shall be mandatory grounds for revocation or suspension of a license.
(i) Hearing on Revocation or Suspension of License; Notice to Licensees; Review of Action of Council. No such revocation or suspension shall be made by Council unless and until a hearing shall be held after ten days’ notice to the licensee of the time and place of such hearing, which notice shall contain a statement or specification of the charges, grounds or reason for such proposed contemplated action, and which shall be served upon the licensee as other notices, or by registered mail to the address for which license was issued; at which time and place so designated in the notice, the licensee shall have the right to appear and produce evidence in his behalf, and to represented by counsel.
Council shall have authority to summon witnesses in the hearing before them.
If, at the request of the licensee or on his motion, the hearing shall be continued and shall not take place on the day fixed by Council in the notice above provided for, then such licensee’s license shall be suspended until the hearing and decision of Council, and in the event of revocation or suspension of such license, upon hearing before Council, the licensee shall not be permitted to sell beer pending an appeal as provided for by this section. It shall be unlawful for any person to continue to sell beer after his license has been suspended or revoked and, upon conviction thereof, he shall be punished as provided in Article 521 of the General Offenses Code.
The action of Council in revoking or suspending a license shall be subject to review upon certiorari by the Circuit Court of Hancock County when such licensee may be aggrieved by such revocation or suspension, in the manner as provided in West Va. Code 11-16-15a in action by the State Nonintoxicating Beer Commissioner to revoke or suspend a state license.
All such hearings, upon notice to show cause why a license should be not revoked or suspended, before Council, shall be held in the City Building unless otherwise provided in such notice, or agreed upon between the licensee and Council.
Whenever any licensee under this section has been convicted of an offense constituting a violation of this Code or other ordinance of this City relating to nonintoxicating beer or alcoholic liquor, the City Clerk shall forward to the West Virginia Nonintoxicating Beer Commissioner a certified copy of the order or judgment of conviction.
(j) Reissuance of License after Revocation. No license shall be issued to any person who has formerly held a license under the provisions of this section which has been revoked by Council or by a court or officer having competent jurisdiction within a period of two years from the date of such revocation; nor shall any license be issued hereunder to any person who was an officer or stockholder of a corporation whose license was revoked as aforesaid, nor to any person who was a member of a partnership or association whose license was revoked as aforesaid, nor to the wife or husband of any person whose license was revoked as aforesaid, within said period of two years from the date of revocation; nor shall any license be issued to any corporation having a stockholder or director who has had a license revoked as aforesaid, within such period of two years from the date of revocation of such person’s license.
(Ord. 90-003. Passed 5-15-90.)