The City Council on Tuesday will discuss whether the local liquor licensing authority should continue to be the municipal judge.

The process could be changed so a citizen board or a hired hearing officer makes decisions about where and when liquor sales are allowed in Longmont.

From 1981 to 1997, a seven-member citizen board reviewed liquor license applications, but the process proved to be too costly and time-consuming.

City Clerk Valeria Skitt wrote in a memo to council that the board meetings would sometimes go on for hours as liquor license applicants’ attorneys tried to “inundate the board with witnesses and legal arguments that required the board to stop and confer with legal counsel.”

In 1997 the council appointed Municipal Judge Diana VanDeHey as the city’s sole member of the liquor licensing authority. Longmont was the first community in the state to adopt this method, and other municipalities soon followed suit, Skitt wrote.

VanDeHey is retiring in May after 30 years as Longmont’s municipal judge. As part of the discussions surrounding her replacement, the City Council asked staff to bring back other options for a liquor licensing authority.

The city could go back to a citizen board, but it would require Longmont residents who could meet during business hours in order to accommodate applicants and attorneys. Additionally, the board would require additional legal counsel, which could cost between $8,400 and $21,000 annually.

Or, Longmont could hire an outside hearing officer. The hearing officer would have to be an attorney familiar with Colorado liquor law and also would cost between $8,400 and $21,000 annually.

Or the council could decide to keep the liquor licensing authority in the municipal judge’s duties, which staff estimates to be the most cost-effective of the options.

Councilman Brian Bagley said he would rather stick with the municipal judge as the licensing authority.

“It’s a way for government to get out of the way,” Bagley said. “Judges make decisions pursuant to the law all the time, and I think it’s a mistake to assume that someone else other than a judge, especially a committee, would somehow be able to make a better decision.”

Bagley said he thinks the liquor licensing discussion may be coming up because some people in Longmont were unhappy with VanDeHey’s November decision to deny a liquor license to the newly opened Regal Cinema.

Regal is currently appealing the decision in Boulder District Court.

“Just because some people believe (VanDeHey) didn’t make the right decision on the movie theater, it doesn’t mean the process is wrong,” Bagley said.

Councilwoman Polly Christensen said she is interested in hearing more about the issue, but also disagreed with the idea of a liquor licensing board.

“The citizen board, while a good idea, could not keep up with the number of applications, especially because they did not have the legal expertise to really decide a final ruling in difficult cases,” Christensen wrote in an email.

Joshua Goldberg, community and events manager for Left Hand Brewing Company, said he has found the city’s process to be functional and fair, but if the process could be sped up for applicants, it would be beneficial.

If you go What: Longmont City Council meeting When: 7 p.m. Tuesday Where: Council Chambers, 350 Kimbark St. More info: Read full agenda and more at Bit.ly/LM-City-Council

City staff are recommending the council allow them to approve certain liquor license matters administratively.

Currently, VanDeHey is dealing with changes in applicant’s’ corporate structure, manager registrations, renewals, special events permits, tasting permits and temporary permits as part of the regular hearings.

Staff is asking that those matters be handled administratively instead. Any application that had opposition or applicants with questionable backgrounds would still have a hearing, Skitt wrote.

Making the change could significantly reduce the time it takes applicants to obtain permissions such as special events or temporary liquor permits. A special event liquor permit currently takes about 45 days to go through the city’s system, Skitt wrote. If the council empowered city staff to approve them instead, it could cut the time down to 15 days.

Goldberg said that would allow organizations such as Left Hand to respond with fundraisers for natural disasters more quickly. In 2012, when the High Park Fire ripped through Rist Canyon, Left Hand wanted to hold a fundraiser for the Rist Canyon firefighters in a Longmont park but couldn’t get through the permitting process fast enough, Goldberg said.

“We wanted to do it quickly, so a 45-day turnaround was challenging,” Goldberg said.

In the end, Left Hand held the event at its Boston Avenue brewery instead.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci