The Ames City Council unanimously voted to reject Club Element/Chaser’s request for a renewed Class C Liquor License.

This means that once their current license expires, they will be unable to serve any form of alcohol at their location. However the general manager, Scott Davis, can still appeal this decision with the Alcoholic Beverage Division (ABD) of the Iowa State Government. As soon as that appeal is filed, they would be able to continue serving alcohol until a final verdict is decided upon. 

The main issues the Council had come straight from the Police Department. Last year, Club Element/Chasers was cited with 8 violatioins by the Ames Police. This year, they were cited with 47. These violtions include public intoxicaton arrests made inside the premesis, anyone under the age of 21 being caught in the establishment, and over serving patrons who are obviously intoxicated. There was also an incident in which an employee was discovered passed out in the bar with a BAC of .221.

Other issues include not supervising the doors carefully, their security system giving off false alarms and a large amount of 18+ events, which encourages the younger crowd to come back more often. 

Davis said, “We are constantly working to find improvements.”

He said that many of the incidents involved some sort of human error, in many cases leading to the firing of a staff member.

“We have had a high turnover rate this year,” said Davis, “We are currently on our third manager.” 

Despite all of their troubles, Councilperson Riad Mahayni said, “I have looked over many of these [reports] in my time here. This is one of the worst I have ever seen.” Shortly after this statement, the request was denied.

For the time being, Club Element/Chasers is still in business.