Jun. 28—MANKATO — A prerequisite for the planned July 1 sale of the downtown restaurant Olives — the transfer of its liquor license — was thwarted by a shortage of council members at the Mankato City Council meeting Monday.

That required some scrambling to set up a continuance of the meeting to Wednesday afternoon, which should allow the restaurant sale to move forward but will create a somewhat anti-climatic finale for retiring Council member Mark Frost.

Monday's meeting, expected to be the last of Frost's nearly 20-year council career, included a plaque presentation and photos with fellow council members, another plaque and statements of tribute from the Highland Park Neighborhood Association and some parting words from Frost, the city's longest-serving elected official.

And Frost made every single motion at the meeting — to approve the agenda, to approve the minutes, to pass the consent calendar and to approve the sales of bonds. But Frost, who can no longer serve on the council after July 1 because he is moving out of the city to a lake home, couldn't make the motion to adjourn because the meeting didn't end.

With just four council members on hand, the bare minimum was available to pass agenda items. And the final item was the transfer of the liquor license from current Olives owners John and Najwa Massad to new owner Matthew Zigich.

With Mayor Najwa Massad unable to vote on the license transfer because of conflict-of-interest issues and three council members absent because they were traveling or had health issues, the vote couldn't be taken.

"We now have a quorum problem," City Manager Susan Arntz said.

Recognizing the problem in advance of the meeting, Arntz had been scouring council member schedules for a time prior to the end of the month when four members not named Massad were available: "Summer is busy. You all have busy lives."

But she found a time Wednesday afternoon — 5:15 p.m. — when the minimum number of council members would be available, allowing the license transfer to be approved and the sale of Olives to occur on July 1.

So Monday's meeting ended without officially ending and the four council members, joined by staff, headed to Pub 500 for a celebration of Frost's final meeting that wasn't final.

He'll be back Wednesday afternoon for a meeting that might take no more than a minute or two. There were no plans for additional photos or for another round of drinks at Pub 500.