Berryville council works to clarify proposed business license ordinance

Editor’s Note: Artificial intelligence software was used to assist in compiling this report.

The Berryville City Council is nearing final consideration of a proposed business license ordinance, with council members continuing to fine-tune language related to whether licenses would be transferable when a business changes ownership.

“We’ve got this business license, I think we’ve all looked at it and I know Jason’s had a couple questions and concerns that we want to think about,” Mayor Tim McKinney said at the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, referring to council member Jason Williams. “I think that we’re getting real close.”

Williams said one of his primary concerns involved the “non-transferable” language in the draft ordinance.

“That was something I saw,” Williams said. “I’m trying to think of everything that could possibly ever happen. It’s hard to do. But if Jay (Lee, the city’s administrative assistant) owned a business, and that’s on the square, and I bought his business from him, I would think that license would go with the business and then it would renew the next year.”

Williams questioned whether a license that had already been paid for should remain with the business if ownership changes mid-year.

“So the non-transferable part, what does that mean?” he asked.

McKinney responded: “I think the non-transferral part would be you can’t transfer it from one business to another, a different business.”

Williams said he wanted to clarify the definition.

“That’s kind of what I was trying to figure out, what the definition actually would be on that and see if we maybe could clear that up or something,” he said.

Council member Linda Riddlesperger offered a different perspective.

“I kind of think it ought to go with whoever buys the new business ought to have to (pay for a new business license),” she said. “Because that’s going to be a new LLC or whatever. So if it’s a new LLC, that’s actually a new business.”

McKinney said the intent is to keep the ordinance simple and consistent.

“I think Jason’s got a good point about clearing up what the transfer is but I believe we’re going to get into a lot of … this or that where we just say: “Hey, every business owner has to have it. And not get into prorating and everything like that.”

McKinney added that the primary purpose is to maintain accurate contact information for business owners.

“As a city, we want to know about the new people so we can be in contact with them,” he said.

McKinney later emphasized affordability.

“We’re going to make them cheap enough that if they haven’t got enough to buy a business license they probably shouldn’t be opening a business,” he said.

McKinney said the transfer language would be clarified before the ordinance is placed on the agenda for a vote at the next meeting.

Earlier in the meeting, police Chief Robert Bartos presented his department’s monthly activity report for January.

“For the month of January, there were 53 citations written, and that was down from last year’s 113,” Bartos said. “Our offenses reported, we were at 45, and we were up from last year’s 35.”

Bartos said the department’s clearance rate was 84 percent and that officers collected $310 in fines and bonds. Fourteen accidents were reported, up from eight in January 2025.

“And our numbers had been kind of low because we’ve been shorthanded, but we have just sworn in two new officers in the last couple of weeks,” Bartos said. “And hopefully in the next couple of weeks we’ll have a couple more sworn in and we’ll be back at full staff.”

The council also heard McKinney’s annual state of the city address, which is printed in full beginning on Page 4A. In his remarks, McKinney highlighted economic development, infrastructure improvements and public safety investments.

“Overall, I’d say the city’s in good shape,” he said.

The next regular meeting of the Berryville City Council is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, at City Hall.