The Powell City Council voted Feb. 16 to change six city ordinances to bring them in line with state laws. City Attorney Sandra Kitchen referred to the changes as “housekeeping.” 

The first ordinance deals with electronic cigarettes, which are defined as any device that can be used to deliver aerosolized or vaporized nicotine or synthetic nicotine material. 

While state statutes put the minimum age for such products at 21, the city’s ordinance remained at 18. The new ordinance brings the city’s age limit to match that of the state’s.

The council also voted to update alcohol licensing fees to bring them in line with state statutes. 

State statute allows wine manufacturer license holders to sell wine at up to three satellite locations within Wyoming, which are separate from its license manufacturing site. 

State statute permits the local governing body to hold a public hearing and the payment of additional fees not to exceed $100. The city’s new ordinance sets the fee at $100. 

The same ordinance the city passed also updated resort licensing fees. The state removed dispensing room fees, which were $1,000 for each room. The resort license itself was $1,500. The new city ordinance increases the resort license fee to $2,500 and removes any fees for dispensing rooms.

The council also voted to add a new section to the alcohol beverages chapter of the city code. In adopting the new fees, language was removed from the fees ordinance and moved to the new section. In this section, off-premise permits that are utilized at city owned facilities will need to pay a $100 deposit to ensure the area is cleaned after use. It also limits the facilities available for such use to Washington Park, Homesteader Park, Southside Park, The Commons and Plaza Diane.

The new section also specifies that any use of catering or malt beverage permits used off-site on public right of ways must have a waiver of the open container ordinance, which forbids possession of opened alcoholic drinks in public areas. 

The council also passed an ordinance governing beer gardens. State statute was changed in 2017 to refer to these facilities as secured patios and not beer gardens. So the city ordinance was changed to reflect that language.

Another change added language to an existing ordinance that allows the city to impose special restrictions on malt liquor and catering permits. The added language includes off-premise permits, as they are now defined, in the new license fee ordinance. 

The sixth ordinance the council voted to pass repealed two sections of the city’s liquor codes regarding the number of catering or malt beverage permits that could be issued to one applicant, the duration the permit was good for, and the hours in which it could be used; it applied the same hours to these permit holders as all liquor license holders. 

State statute limits the number of permits that can be issued to one applicant, and the hours of operation are defined by an existing ordinance.