Two years of revisions by the DeKalb Liquor Commission are closer to becoming the new DeKalb liquor laws.

A joint meeting between the Liquor Commission and the DeKalb City Council was held Monday night to discuss changes to Chapter 38 of the DeKalb Municipal Code.

DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen said the Liquor Commission has spent the past two years wrestling with the issues in Chapter 38, and not everything would be cut and dry in the matter of one meeting.

“I think it’s important to realize that this is not a meeting where we will take action tonight in one fell swoop and everyone will walk away and say that we completed to two-year process,” Povlsen said. “I see this as the next step in the process.”

One proposed change to Chapter 38 is the addition of the control of premises definition. This definition means the license owner is responsible for the premises they operate and any parking lots, side walks or other adjacent areas to the premises.

City Attorney Norma Guess said this is important because it makes business owners accountable for their patrons’ actions.

“The reason for that is if an altercation were to occur within your premises, and goes outside into the parking lot, you still have an obligation to contact the police to correct that situation,” Guess said.

This change was met with opposition from Julie Lundeen, owner of Lundeen Liquors, 1030 Arcadia Drive.

“That ties that incident, whether it starts in my building or if it doesn’t start in my building, but it starts in my parking lot, not related to my building that still affects my liquor license,” Lundeen said. “I can no more control if a robbery occurs in my parking lot any more than if a robbery occurs in the gas station parking lot across the street.”

DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said each case is reviewed by the police to determine whether the owner is at fault.

Another contested issue brought up was the proposition that the owner of an establishment in DeKalb that wants a liquor license must be a resident of DeKalb. Guess said this would create faster responsiveness in the case of emergency, and a sense of investment in the community.

Lundeen said it would limit their employee pool because DeKalb is a very transient area, and most of Lundeen Liquors’ employees are college students. One of their longest term employees would not be able to work for the business if they had to live in DeKalb.

Michael Embrey, of the Liquor Commission, said in the current age of cell phones, it is easy to alert people of emergencies. He said there is no need to live in DeKalb to be able to respond.

Embrey advised that this proposition be taken off, because when franchises come into DeKalb, their acting managers don’t live in DeKalb. He said that most businesses that don’t have owners in the area usually have acting managers in the area.

Feithen said he doesn’t think they should hold liquor license holders to a different standard than other business owners because there is no requirement for non-liquor establishment owners to live in DeKalb.

The next joint meeting between city council and the Liquor Commission will be held Monday at 6 p.m. Oct. 20.