County seeks to get its beer, wine license back from city

  After more than two decades, Cascade County is on the verge of getting its beer and wine license for Montana ExpoPark back from the city of Great Falls.

However, it will take passage of a new law to get it.

The bill, which was approved by the Legislature and awaits Gov. Brian Schweitzer's signature, allows the transfer of beer and wine licenses between public entities.

The county sheriff's office currently is conducting background checks to make sure commissioners Joe Briggs, Bill Salina and Peggy Beltrone are fit to hold the license.

"The commissioners need to be fingerprinted," Salina said.

The county transferred the liquor license to the city in 1988, when it turned over management of ExpoPark to the city.

The county owns the grounds, which is home to Four Seasons Arena.

In 2002, when the county hired private operator SMG to run the fairgrounds, the state Department of Revenue wouldn't allow a transfer of the license from the city back to the county because the law didn't allow a transfer between public entities, Briggs said.

That prohibition apparently was overlooked when the county transferred the license to the city, Briggs said.

Temporary licenses to sell beer and wine at the fairgrounds were issued every three months, but the county wanted the issue resolved permanently when it took over management of ExpoPark earlier this month.

"The license has been in limbo all this time," Briggs said.

The legislation awaiting Schweitzer's OK allows the transfer of the license between public bodies and says a gaming license can't be attached to a liquor license, although a liquor license can be used at horseracing events, Briggs said. The county runs horseracing events at ExpoPark.

The legislation would allow the license to be used throughout the fairgrounds, Briggs said.

At a meeting Tuesday, commissioners:

Approved a motion signaling their intent to spend $341,492 in federal stimulus funds to offset the expense of energy-efficiency upgrades to county buildings. The funding hasn't been received yet.

Terminated a contract with SMG, the former operator of Montana ExpoPark. The county took over management April 1.

OK'd entertainment contracts with Josh Turner, Rodney Atkins, Heidi Newfield and Lady Antebellum to perform at Montana ExpoPark during the Montana State Fair.

Tabled a contract with Montana LLC to operate horseracing at ExpoPark. Briggs said a verbal agreement has been reached but that contractual details remain.

Tabled a decision on allowing a large battery to be tested at the county shop near Vaughn. The battery would be tested to see how well it could store electricity from a wind turbine at the shop.