By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

The Bucyrus City Council granted its approval for two liquor licenses Tuesday night.

A request had been made by Baker’s Pizza Sports Shack at a prior Health and Safety Committee for a new liquor license. Baker’s would transfer its old license to a new location in Waldo and retain the new license for the Bucyrus location. The Health and Safety Committee had approved the request and passed its recommendation on to the full city council.

Another request had been by Los Tapatios for a D5 liquor license. Los Tapatios will be a Mexican restaurant located at the former Burger King location on Marion Road. Health and Safety chairman Steve Pifer reported that Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke had no objections to the request. The committee voted prior to the council meeting Tuesday to not request a hearing and to present its recommendation to council.

The Bucyrus City Council had no objections to the liquor licenses.

Mayor Jeff Reser said that he, along with Service/Safety Director Jeff Wagner, Council President Sis Love, and Law Director Rob Ratliff extended their sympathies on behalf of the city government to the families of the four victims that had died recently.

“It’s not something we think we’ll ever have to go through,” Reser said. “Healing will come.”

He also expressed his confidence in Chief Koepke and the Bucyrus Police Department as they investigate the four deaths.

Councilmember Pifer requested that a four-way stop sign for the intersection of Tiffin Street and Perry/River Street be put into the Traffic Commission for review. Wagner noted that the intersection had been a four-way stop until 1996, when it became a two-way stop.

Love also noted that students use that area to walk to school.

Council member John Walker stated that he has always been opposed to a four-way stop at that intersection because of the workers that need to plow snow down Tiffin Street. He explained that snow plows would have issues slowing or stopping as they came down the hill.

“The removal of the sign was an accident because of an accident,” Walker said.

The issue was approved to be handled by the Traffic Commission.

One piece of legislation was passed during the council meeting. Ordinance 36-2014 created a contractual services line item within the General Government Category within the fiscal year 2012 CHIP-CDBG fund subparagraph.

Council voted to appoint Alan Basinger to the Planning Commission for the term ending Dec. 31, 2020, and to appoint Mayor Jeff Reser to the Tax Incentive Review Council.

The Finance Committee has scheduled a meeting for 4 p.m. on Thursday in Council Chambers.