Rhinelander City Council ponders provisional liquor license

During its July 28 meeting, the Rhinelander city council dealt with a matter regarding a business that was being built. The owner of the business, Rosati’s Pizza — in light of the fact that limited liquor licenses were available within the town — wanted to ensure a license would be available to them by the time their business was built and operational. However, according to city attorney Steve Sorenson, the city did not have an ordinance provision that could allow that.

Sorenson had more information for the council’s Aug. 11 meeting.

Provisional licenses

“Wisconsin does provide for the provision of having what’s called a provisional license,” Sorenson said. “You can’t be selling material until you have an actual structure or building completed. But this allows someone to know that, when they do build their building, and are operational with an occupancy permit, that they will have a license. Then the provisional license changes to a regular license.” The only limitation on the provisional license, he said, would be that it has to be issued to someone who has a proposal and is likely to go forward with that proposal. The provisional license would also have to stay within the number of licenses that the city can issue, he said. 

A provisional license would allow an operator to order stock, and would allow them to purchase wholesale liquor. It would also allow for the transfer of stock from an existing license holder to the new business. This would help with the transition period  from a former owner of a business location to a new owner also.

This provisional license would give a 60-day window, which is restricted by statute. When asked whether the council could approve subsequent 60-day provisional licenses, if the business owner was not yet at a place where their structure was ready to be inspected as needed in order to convert to a regular liquor license. Sorensen said that would be an option, but felt as though, at some point, the council would likely put an end to issuing a provisional license repeatedly to the same entity.

The council approved the first reading of this ordinance.

Approval of resolutions

The council also approved several resolutions at their regular meeting. These included change orders for several road projects including the Messer Street, Lincoln Street, Timber Drive and Courtney Street projects.

There was also the matter of the city vacating a portion of Navajo Street. Reagan told the council there was no reason for the city to keep the property and it would be beneficial to vacate that property given the plans for it in the future. 

A city-wide bow hunt was also approved for the 2025-26 deer season. That season would run from September 13, 2025 to January 4, 2025. Police chief Lloyd Gauthier stated he felt hunters enjoyed that extra opportunity. Last year 20 deer were harvested within the city limits in the city-wide bow hunt.

Rhinelander fire chief Brian Tonnancour appeared in the matter of approving the purchase three life pack units from Stryker as well as an utility task vehicle (UTV). The UTV would be purchased from Shoeder’s to be used at the Heal Creek Property. While the Crescent fire department already had a UTV that could be used on that property, he said his feeling was that Rhinelander needed one as well, as they would be able to respond more quickly to an emergency on that property. These purchases were both approved.

The last resolution needing approval was for the placement of four murals at Hodag Park. These murals would have a life expectancy of two years, according to Ashley McLaughlin from ArtStart, who had been working with the public arts commission on this project. That commission passed the murals through to the full council in May.

Three of the murals would be from local artists and the other a mural from an artist in Appleton. They would all be pre-printed panels, places just east of the beach house at Hodag Park. 

McLaughlin said the panels were fairly inexpensive and could be easily replaced if needed. The artists would be installing the panels themselves, using a specific method that was approved for such murals. The funds, she said, were from a grant received, meaning no cost for the city. This resolution was also approved.

The state of tourism

Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce Director Lauren Sackett updated the city council on the state of tourism in the Rhinelander area. Overall, tourism was positive.

In Q4 of 2024 and Q1 of 2025, room tax numbers were up 3.92% compared to the same period in the previous year. Visitor center visits were stable, she said, but website views were up 21.5%, meaning more people were looking for things to do and places to stay in the area. 

The Chamber had been marketing in the Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Minneapolis markets, Sackett said. Those target market groups were showing up in the user groups, which was a strong indicator that the marketing efforts were having an impact.

In June, the state came out with their annual economic impact numbers. Oneida County again saw an increase in visitor spending, ranking 17th in the state overall. 

Chamber sponsored events have seen a bit of an increase in attendance in 2025 thus far, she said. The outlier was the car show, which unfortunately was down in a bit, being on an especially “rainy and gross” day, she said. 

Fishingbooker.com had named Rhinelander as one of the top 10 ice fishing destinations in the country this year, she reported. The city was the only one in Wisconsin that made that list.

Discover Wisconsin will be airing a completely Rhinelander-specific episode in early 2026. Sackett said they were in town filming for the first day on the day of the city council meeting. Film crews would be filming for several days, then returning again in the fall for several days and, pending snow, would return again this winter to complete their filming for that episode. She said they chamber was looking to do a community-wide watch party when that episode was set to air.

The Department of Tourism also awarded the chamber a GEM grant. This would allow for additional marketing in the Milwaukee market this fall that would include TV commercials, a digital billboard and other marketing.

The chamber will also be involved in a The Cabin Podcast episode. That episode will be recorded in September and air this fall sometime.

Sackett said the fall room tax grant cycle would also be coming up from September through mid October. These grants are available for non-profits who bring events and activities to the community that have a direct effect on tourism, promotion or development. Grants will be awarded in December.

Building shoulder season travel is an area on which the chamber is concentrating currently, she said. Focusing on those seasons helps to lengthen the time people could be drawn to the area to recreate and attend events.

Overall, she said, tourism is still strong, but there a plateau of post-Covid records is starting to be noted.

The next meeting of the Rhinelander City Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, August 25 at Rhinelander City Hall. Meetings are also available on HodagTV, the link to which can be found on the city’s website https://www.rhinelanderwi.us/.