Mills’ proposal was voted down, however, and the LAB lived on.

Now one of the LAB’s newest members says the board can be useful if it steps up its efforts to be more in tune with the community and the council.

That new member is none other than John Mills.

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Although Mills spearheaded the effort to get rid of the LAB, he said he now thinks the board should increase its current responsibilities by inspecting the bar situation in Carbondale.

Inspection is maybe not the right word, but that is what we were doing when I was on the board before, Mills said.

Mills said he would like to see quarterly inspections of the bars so board members can be informed when they make recommendations to the city council.

Once I got off the board, those things had quit, he said.

But LAB Chairman Mark Robinson said the board performs informal inspections on a timely basis.

Most of us go down independently or in small groups to the bars, Robinson said. If all the members inspected the bars at once, it would constitute a violation of the Open Meetings Act, he said.

I’m down there all the time talking to students and bar owners, Robinson said.

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Robinson also said he never thought the board had outlived its usefulness.

When we started giving opinions that were not what the council wanted to hear, that’s when we got into trouble and were told we weren’t needed, he said.

Robinson protested in January against Mills’ proposal to disband the LAB, but said that will not get in the way of working with Mills now that Mills sits on the board.

I will work with anybody, Robinson said. I really don’t know why he’s on the board, but he’s welcome.

Robinson said there will probably be disagreement among the members, but the disagreement would strengthen the board.

Disagreement in a free society is one of America’s great strengths, he said.

Mike Nolan, the former student LAB member who also protested Mills’ proposal, said Mills will most likely work very hard for the board because he worked so hard as a councilman.

Nolan said the board is important to the city because it is one of the only ways the city can get input from the community about liquor issues.

I was getting my input and opinions from 20,000 people the students, Nolan said.

That is the purpose of LAB and it is not useless one, Nolan said.

Mills said the board needs to know how the city’s liquor commission does its job and he is the person to show them.

I thought the board had become stale doing just renewals (of liquor licenses), Mills said. The council was doing the same thing. It was redundant.

Mills also said the board had become a political sounding board for certain individuals, but would not elaborate on the identity of those individuals.

Yes, I tried to get rid of it (the LAB), he said. But if the board can be a contributing group in the community, it will be a great help to the council.