Despite facing a possible license revocation related to police calls, the proprietors of Billy’s on Grand will be allowed to move forward with their application to assume the liquor license held by previous management.
The St. Paul City Council voted 6-0 to allow the application review process to move forward before the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections, though Wednesday’s vote does not guarantee that the DWD Group will receive or be allowed to keep the requested liquor licenses.
“We would do all the review,” said DSI Deputy Director Dan Niziolek, addressing the council. “If there’s an objection, we’d expect there would be a hearing before a legislative hearing officer. And then all of that would be presented to you for your consideration.”
The building at 857 Grand Ave. is owned by William Wengler of East Mall Associates, who operated the restaurant for 35 years, but the current licenses were issued around June 2020 to Randall Johnson and the RJMP Group. With Johnson no longer involved in the business, Wesley Spearman and the DWD Group have managed Billy’s on Grand since at least May 2021 under a management agreement with the RJMP Group.
Spearman hoped to effectively inherit RJMP’s liquor licenses, which include licenses for Sunday liquor sales and outdoor patio seating. His application before the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections has been complicated by community opposition and a series of license violations, including 132 police calls for service over the course of a year.
In recent recommendations supportive of fining Billy’s, an administrative law judge said while not all the police calls could be attributed definitively to the restaurant and bar, averages of one police call every three days were too compelling to ignore. Billy’s was fined $500 by the city in February 2022 and $1,000 in February of this year.
As the legal appeal hearing before the judge was being scheduled last year, St. Paul Police investigated a call for disorderly conduct shortly before 1 a.m. on May 21 but reported being barred from entering the establishment. Based on that incident and the restaurant’s previous history, DSI then recommended full revocation of Billy’s liquor, patio and entertainment licenses.
The city council has yet to vote on that recommendation.
“It is extremely important that we be able to hold a license holder accountable,” said Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represents the neighborhood. “It’s about transferring the license from a disengaged license holder to an applicant who is engaged (so we can) put conditions on that license.”
