With Blue Goose Market President and CEO Paul Lencioni winning his race for 3rd Ward alderman on the St. Charles City Council, current aldermen will now have to decide if the city should lift its prohibition on St. Charles public officials holding liquor licenses in the city.
According to unofficial results in Tuesday’s election, Lencioni received 361 votes, or 57.03% of the vote, while his challenger, St. Charles City Clerk Charles Amenta, received 240 votes, or about 38% of the vote. City code currently prohibits St. Charles public officials – including local liquor control commission members, the mayor and aldermen – from obtaining or holding a liquor license in the city. Lencioni holds a liquor license because Blue Goose sells alcohol.
The state’s liquor control act allows an alderman or mayor to obtain a liquor license for a location in the city as long as the the sale of alcohol is incidental to the selling of food. However, they are not able to vote on alcohol related items.
“I definitely ran this race with my heart,” Lencioni said, in talking about his win. “I put out a proposition to St. Charles – specifically the 3rd Ward – and they answered,” Lencioni said. “So now I have a responsibility to carry through. Now we’re going to have this conversation, a positive conversation. I will shepherd through the process and we will see what happens. But I believe the people of St. Charles have been pretty clear.”
Batavia City Council changed its ordinance last year to allow city elected officials and employees to obtain restaurant liquor licenses. At the time, Batavia 5th Ward Alderman Abby Beck was seeking a liquor license as part of a plan to open a restaurant at the southwest corner of Route 31 and First Street.