HIGHLAND PARK, IL — A post-Prohibition-era restriction on local liquor licenses has led to a resignation on the Highland Park City Council — although the seat will not actually be vacated for at least five weeks.
Click Here: Custom Nameplates
Jeff Hoobler, the co-owner of Ravinia Brewing Company, was the top-vote getter in Highland Park’s municipal elections last year, despite being the lone candidate without the backing of Mayor Nancy Rotering, who endorsed more candidates than there were open seats.
As first reported by Patch last month, city staff approved the renewal of Hoobler’s liquor license in late December.
Find out what's happening in Highland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
But earlier this year, officials learned of a clause in the City Code that forbids the issuance of liquor licenses to bars or restaurants where police officers or city councilmembers have a stake.
That portion of the municipal liquor code, based on the Illinois Liquor Control Act of 1934, has never been enforced, as far as staff have been able to tell.
Find out what's happening in Highland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
At its Feb. 12 meeting, the Highland Park City Council was deadlocked 3-3, with Hoobler recused, on an ordinance that would have amended the code to remove the clause.
Councilmember Tony Blumberg, who — along with Rotering and Kim Stone, the third “no” vote — sits on the city’s liquor commission, said Hoobler should have been aware that he was not legally qualified to run.
“If this was unfair to anyone it was unfair to his opponents in the last election and their supporters. It is not a staff issue, it is the candidate’s issue. If anyone has abused the rights of the electorate, it was the candidate,” Blumberg said.
Blumberg also compared Hoobler to former Republican Congressman George Santos, a juxtaposition for which he apologized the following meeting.
“I am not going to vote in favor of amending a law in what would appear to be a convenience or an accommodation for a city council member who, preliminarily, did not follow the law,” he said.
In prepared remarks at the next City Council meeting, Hoobler said he had followed the legal advice provided by the city’s attorney when determining when to recuse himself. He said the previous meeting, from which he was absent, had unfairly devolved into an ethics discussion in violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
“I’ve thought long and hard with my friends and family about how to respond to the deeply insulting, slanderous accusations and rhetoric, but I’m not going to do that,” Hoobler said at the Feb. 26 meeting.
“When this council presented the slogan ‘Together Highland Park Unidos,’ I was very impressed with the thoughtfulness of the statement and the message it conveyed. However, it’s become clear that the leadership in Highland Park, and the council, are anything but together and united,” he said. “The actions of this council to attempt to scapegoat one of their members as unethical was clearly done for political gain, and that only serves to divide this community.”
Hoobler has not participated in any City Council meetings since a Feb. 29 conversation with an agent of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, and he began a leave of absence on Monday to run through the April 30 effective date of his resignation.
According to his letter of resignation, he is waiting until the conclusion City Council meetings next month to give councilmembers another chance to amend the ordinance.
“My resignation is effective subsequent to that meeting allowing the City Council time to consider these items, follow normal processes and to see if the legislation changes, which would affect my position as an elected official who also holds a liquor license in Highland Park,” Hoobler said.
Councilmember Andrés Tapia, who last month voted along with Councilmembers Annette Lidawer and Yumi Ross to remove the liquor license restriction, said last month that city officials need to move out of mentality of an “either-or dilemma” and recognize it as a “both-and paradox.” He encouraged community members not to let the liquor license ordinance divide them.
“The key question is what is more important: finding the winning argument around a 100-year-old ordinance, or finding a way to bring the balm of healing to our community?” Tapia said. “Which is more important?
Read more: Ravinia Brewing Co. Owner Could Choose Between Council Or License
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.