Mike Signorelli, center, addresses the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday. The council delayed making a decision on a liquor license that Signorelli would use to operate the shuttered Crazy Horse Too Gentleman's Club under a lease agreement. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

The Las Vegas City Council delayed making a decision on a liquor license for the Crazy Horse Too Gentleman's Club.

Mike Signorelli, owner of the Golden Steer Steakhouse, came in front of the City Council, armed with his attorney Steve Caruso and the latest version of a lease, which had been handed to the city earlier that morning.

"I don't feel confident going forward at this time," Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese said after City Attorney Brad Jerbic told the City Council he hadn't read every line of the 20-page lease agreement. "We need to go forward with a microscope."

The lease is for $400,000 a month. There is also a purchase and sale agreement that would allow for the purchase of the Crazy Horse Too for $45 million.

The city revoked the Crazy Horse Too's liquor license after Rick Rizzolo, 16 employees and the corporation that owns the Crazy Horse Too pleaded guilty to a variety of felonies. Since then, attorneys for Rizzolo have been working hard to reverse that decision.

The City Council will rehear the revocation of the liquor license at its next meeting, on Oct. 18. The rehearing was requested by Rizzolo attorney Tony Sgro.

In the meantime, though, the Crazy Horse Too has been closed.

The lease between Signorelli and Rizzolo originally would have allowed Rizzolo to keep an office at the Crazy Horse Too and prevent Signorelli from firing employees with existing contracts.

But the city attorney's office said the lease was unacceptable and should prevent Rizzolo and anyone else who pleaded guilty from entering the business.

"We want a divorce from those who pleaded guilty and the operation and management of this business," said City Attorney Brad Jerbic.

Jerbic also said he put a call into federal prosecutors who negotiated the plea agreements with Rizzolo and the Crazy Horse employees to see if they had any comment. Jerbic said he had not received a phone call back about the lease or Signorelli's status as a potential buyer of the club.

Under the agreement with Rizzolo, he has to sell the club within 12 months to a buyer suitable to federal officials.

Steve Caruso, attorney for Signorelli, said he was disappointed with the delay.

"It's inconceivable that a man of Mike's background and credibility would be denied" by the federal government, Caruso said. He touted Signorelli's stature as a businessman and former holder of a nonrestricted gaming license for a casino in Mesquite.

Signorelli repeated that he hadn't met Rizzolo until two weeks ago.

"I'm not disappointed," Signorelli said after the council's unanimous vote. "I don't think they had any choice but to do what they did. The documents weren't done."

Jerbic also told the City Council that the Little Church of Las Vegas, which held its first service Tuesday, would not prevent Signorelli from getting a liquor license. The church, which some have called a sham, was started by Crazy Horse Too foe Peter "Chris" Christoff.

City code prevents tavern licenses from being issued within 1,500 feet of a church. But Jerbic said that the nonconforming land use for the club had been grandfathered in.

The only way the club could lose the right to serve alcohol would be if it did not serve alcohol for six months.

The seven-member council was missing two of its members Wednesday; Mayor Oscar Goodman was in Europe promoting the 2007 NBA All-Star Game to be held in Las Vegas; and Councilman Steve Wolfson was on vacation in Italy.