Chester City Council approves liquor license increase
<span>CHESTER -- Without much discussion, the Chester City Council approved an increase in the number of the city's Class A liquor licenses during its regular session on Feb. 17.</span>
<span>During the council's Feb. 2 session, the council acted on a request from Virgil Smith, part-owner of Wisper Vapes LLC in Carbondale, to amend Chester's liquor license ordinance as Smith was intending to bring a new vapor lounge to the city.</span>
<span>The council authorized City Attorney Jeff Kerkhover to amend the ordinance, with a vote on the amendment scheduled for the Feb. 17 meeting.</span>
<span>The new lounge will include five video gaming machines, the maximum allowed under state law, and a liquor license was required in order to provide the machines.</span>
<span>The lounge will be located at 2449 State St., formerly the location of The Colors Edge. In a phone interview with the Herald Tribune, Smith said he hopes to have the new lounge up and running in "about a month."</span>
<span>"That was great," Smith said about the city council's decision. "It brings us a little closer (to opening).</span>
<span>"We have a city license and we have to get one from the state now."</span>
<span>Smith said he hopes to have two employees at the lounge to start and plans to hire locally.</span>
<span>"This is a very business-friendly city to be in," he said.</span>
<span>According to the Illinois Gaming Board, there are nine other establishments in Chester that have been granted a license to have video gaming machines.</span>
<span>During the Feb. 2 city council meeting, Smith said told the council members he was not intending to open a bar, but he may serve some beer or wine.</span>
<span>In other action, the council approved designating the house at 130 W. Harrison St. as "dangerous and unsafe," joining the house at 1047 George St. as properties recently designated as "dangerous and unsafe" by the city council.</span>
<span>The owner of the 130 W. Harrison St. is Thomas Doherty, who will now receive a notice of the council's decision. The house is also located adjacent to the City Steps.</span>
<span>The Harrison Street house was highlighted during the Chester Police Department's Jan. 7 presentation to the Public Safety Committee on derelict properties in the city.</span>
<span>"It hasn't been lived in since it was a former meth lab," said Chester Police Chief Ryan Coffey during the presentation.</span>
<span>During his Mayor's Report, Chester Mayor Tom Page reported the city's sewage treatment plant had received an award from the Illinois Rural Water Association for managing, maintaining and operating to the highest operating standards.</span>
<span>A presentation will be made during the council's March 2 meeting to acknowledge the award. Page said the plant was built in 1996 as a result of the flood of 1993.</span>
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