Izakaya Yuki’s landlord emailed Dunedin City Council chief executive Sandy Graham directly hoping she could "help sort this out" because the business had co-operated with the council’s pipe upgrades in Bath St.
The council says the impact of the street work was not a factor in the decision-making process.
Dunedin’s district licensing committee this week issued a decision to renew Izakaya Yuki’s on-licence for another three years.
Committee secretary Kevin Mechen said the renewal application was submitted the day after the licence was due to expire.
However, it was still accepted "because in Dunedin it has been the practice to accept applications on the day of their expiry", Mr Mechen said.
"In this matter, the expiry day was a Sunday and therefore it would not have been possible for the licensee to submit a renewal application on that day."
Police opposed the renewal, submitting an opposition email and stating a full report would follow. But that never arrived so the initial report was deemed "insufficient", Mr Mechen said.
"The committee must advise the applicant that, in the future, it would not accept any application after the expiry date.
"The committee suggests the applicant notes when this licence is to expire and to ensure an application is received by council well in advance of the date."
An email from the bar’s landlord - addressed to Ms Graham three days after the expiry date - said there had been "a misunderstanding" and they hoped the licence could still be renewed "in this one-off case".
During the past three years, their tenant "had to put up with one pump outside their front door" and had never complained about all the road works nor limited street access.
"But most important[ly] he saved the DCC about $2500 by allowing you to plug into his power point too [sic] run that pump, and DCC did not have to put a separate power supply in."
A police spokesperson said they were not privy to and therefore unable to comment on correspondence between the council, the committee and the applicant "that led to an expired licence being renewed outside of what would be considered proper practice under the legislation".
Izakaya Yuki had operated under the same management for several years and had not come to the attention of the agencies, nor were they aware of any relevant compliance issues, Licensing inspector Carlo Bell said.
