At the Bemidji City Council's meeting Monday, the annual Truth in Taxation presentation will take place to inform residents about the 2022 budget. The Council will also hear a proposal from the Bemidji Parks and Recreation Department to create a new strategic plan.
The Council approved the outdoor dining, including the barricades and allowance of alcohol sales. City Attorney Alan Felix said this can continue as long as Walz s emergency mandates are in effect. As long as the order is in place we have the flexibility to permit alcohol with outdoor dining, Felix said. As legal staff, what we re watching is when the state emergency order is going to end and by that, our local order ends. Then, we have to deal with the authority on having alcohol outside. That would take an ordinance change to continue, said Felix. We re going to want to keep a local emergency order in place even after the state s ends if we want to keep outdoor dining with alcohol this summer. You could have outdoor dining without alcohol, but having alcohol associated with it becomes a challenge.