Woodstock mayor suspends bars’ liquor licenses for flouting city’s 10 p.m. curfew imposed due to COVID-19

Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager suspended the liquor licenses of three bars Wednesday after their owners acknowledged each has flouted a 10 p.m. city curfew for alcohol service meant to slow the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two downtown establishments – Benton Street Tap and The Cabin, both of which are owned by Mark Bezik – will have their liquor licenses suspended for five days apiece at different times this month while a third restaurant, Niko’s Red Mill Tavern was given a two-day suspension that started immediately.

The decisions were made by Sager, who, as mayor, also assumes the responsibility of Woodstock’s liquor commissioner.

Benton Street Tap and The Cabin were both seen serving alcohol past 11 p.m. on multiple occasions in the last several weeks, including some instances past 1 a.m., according to Wednesday’s liquor commission testimony and an interview provided by Police Chief John L. Lieb.

Benton Street Tap, referred to as the Town Tap by the city’s liquor license suspension order, will serve its five-day punishment starting midnight Monday and can resume alcohol service Dec. 18. Alcohol service at The Cabin will be unavailable from noon Dec. 20, through midnight Dec. 24.

Niko’s management said the bar was abiding by the statewide 11 p.m. early curfew that went into effect for bars Nov. 20. City officials observed alcohol service just minutes after that time that night, hours after the entire state moved into Tier 3 public health mitigations and set 11 p.m. as the alcohol cutoff.

Tier 3 public health restrictions are the second-tightest set of regulations in the Restore Illinois plan put forward by state officials to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and Woodstock went a step further with its bar curfew by making it 10 p.m. when the latest state rules took effect Nov. 20.

Niko Kanakaris, an owner of Niko’s Red Mill, said he was traveling out of the country that night to the Dominican Republic and so did not receive the email from the city notifying bars of the more stringent local 10 p.m. curfew being enforced by Woodstock.

The establishment’s day-to-day manager, Lindsey Spatafora, did not receive a notification, she said, and was unaware of the city curfew news for several days until a city official again told the bar staff.

The bar may have stayed open past 10 p.m. for the several days between Nov. 20 and the return of the city staff to the bar, Spatafora said. It, however, has been in compliance with the local curfew since and had not served alcohol past 11 p.m. since the statewide Tier 3 mitigations order was issued.

Sager said he was prepared to hit the business with a 10-day suspension, a 10-day suspension had been issued earlier this year and held in abatement until city officials could review allegations regarding Niko’s staff breaking mask-wearing rules for restaurants imposed during the pandemic and the establishment’s conduct since.

But because of the lack of notification to Spatafora or other personnel that was not traveling Nov. 20, Sager went with the two-day suspension, while mentioning that it is the responsibility of business owners to follow city communications and promptly comply with new rules.

The restaurant will be able to resume serving alcohol Friday.

“Every day, it’s something different. It’s so hard to keep up. I know everyone is just trying to kind of do what they need to do right now. We’re just tired,” Spatafora said.

An attempt to interview Bezik after the hearing was unsuccessful.

“The city of Woodstock is working hard to provide for the health and safety of residents and visitors while also being as supportive to local businesses as possible. Deriving the proper balance is never an easy task and is particularly difficult in this COVID-19 environment,” Sager said in a statement to the Northwest Herald. “We are trying to work with restaurants and bars to support both the opportunity and accountability within the framework of jurisdictional and legal limitations.”

Woodstock, along with other area municipalities and McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally, have said they would not enforce the ban on indoor dining in restaurants that was included in the state’s recent move into the Tier 3 limitations.

Both bar owners agreed to waive their rights to appeal the liquor license violations to a state body by accepting the suspensions, which were not accompanied by any fines or further penalties.

“I think we could have won at the state,” Kanakaris said. “The law is really 11.”