About 30 club, restaurant and event venue owners met last week with city officials and Montgomery police to discuss ways to make the city’s nightlife scene safer and prevent businesses from being shut down.

Club Reset hosted the meeting and invited area business owners, who showed up voluntarily, City Councilman Oronde Mitchell said.

Ideas included stricter age limits, dress codes, a no smoking rule, limiting the hours of operation, and not allowing people to come back in after leaving the business. “They wanted the police to be more present,” Mitchell said. “In Birmingham, for instance, police officers are able to pat people down and go inside the club. They sit the paddy wagon outside so if you do anything (wrong) you’re going to jail.

“They just want to make sure their patrons are safe, and that’s the biggest thing. A lot of them have spent so much money … and nobody wants to go into business to get closed down.”

At its previous meeting, the council revoked the business license for Yu Bar and Grill at 163 East Blvd. after reports of violence, including two shootings. Brothers and co-owners Yumeitrius and Yumarcus Manuel said they were paying $3,000 a night for extra security and had installed new metal detectors, but that some patrons were bringing disputes into the bar to solve.

It was one of a string of night spots the city has shut down this year. It closed two night spots on a single day in August.

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At Tuesday’s meeting, the council scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing to decide whether Signature Event Center at 5050 Narrow Lane Road should be stripped of its business license.

Mitchell said he met with night spot owners to help them come up with better ideas for how to stay in business, but also to reach an understanding about their responsibilities.

“I can talk to you all day as Oronde, but when you come (here) and you have to call me Councilman Mitchell, I’m going to do my job,” Mitchell said. “Don’t have to come down here because of a show cause hearing.”