The Jefferson City Council approved a resolution Monday to allow beer concession on a city parking lot in association with Salute to America.
At the council meeting Monday, council members voted 7-2 to approve use of the parking lot behind Saffees, located off Monroe Street on Commercial Way. The lot will be used for a new corn toss tournament with beer concessions during the annual Salute to America celebration July 3-4. The festival will partner with Prison Brews for the beer concession.
Second Ward Councilman Shawn Schulte and 3rd Ward Councilman Bob Scrivner cast the opposing votes on the request. Fourth Ward Councilman Carlos Graham was not present at Monday's meeting.
Kathy Crow, chair of Salute to America, said the concession would not replace an existing beer garden on a lot owned by Central Bank next to Arris' Pizza.
In other business, City Administrator Nathan Nickolaus gave his first monthly update on the city's financials, noting the latest sales tax receipts show funds have come in less than 1 percent below projections.
Nickolaus said the general sales tax is about $85,000 below projections for the year and recent receipts are showing slight improvements in collections - though they still are coming in below projections.
"It may be that we are starting to claw our way back," he said.
But, Nickolaus said, the city still is expected to fall short of its projected sales tax revenue for the year. He said savings from keeping open vacant positions should be enough to cover any difference between what is collected and what was projected.
City Attorney Drew Hilpert said the council should be informed within the week of how the city's recently hired facilitator is progressing with work on two conference center proposals, which were unveiled earlier this month.
The council received two proposals for a proposed conference center: one from Farmer Holding Company and one from the Ehrhardt Hospitality Group. Both developers have proposed smaller conference centers than the council requested.
Hilpert said the city's facilitator, Charles Johnson, with Johnson Consulting, is trying to complete his "due diligence" and compile a list of additional questions for each developer. Once that list is finalized, Hilpert said Johnson will provide a more specific time frame for the remainder of the evaluation process.