Liquor Control Board - March 16, 2022 Minutes
LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD
March 16 2022 1:30 P.M.
Present: Commissioner Piepkorn, Kay Schwarzwalter, Robert Nelson, John Stibbe
Absent: Lydia Tackett
Others Present: Police Chief David Zibolski, City Auditor Sprague, City Attorney Nancy Morris, Rick Carik, Rick’s; Dustin Mitzel, Happy Harry’s, Dave Glessner, Sidestreet, Duane Litton, Duffy’s, Jared Hardy, Fargo Brewing, Preston Nesemeier, FCPH; and other interested parties.
Meeting was called to order at 1:30 P.M.
1. Commissioner Piepkorn called the meeting to order and asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes of February 16, 2022. Moved by Schwarzwalter, seconded by Nelson to approve the minutes of February 16, 2022 of the Liquor Control Board all voted in favor, motion passed unanimously.
2. A. Application to issue a Class ABH-Limited alcoholic beverage license to Advanced Hospitality LLC d/b/a Expressway Inn to be located at 4303 17th Avenue South, ownership change due to death of owner.
Moved by Schwarzwalter, seconded by Stibbe to approve the issuance of the class ABH-Limiter alcoholic beverage license to Expressway Inn. Motion passed unanimously.
3. Chief Zibolski discussed the monthly reports. Chief asked if there were any questions on the general monthly reports. There were no questions on the monthly reports.
Chief Zibolski reviewed the compliance check failures.
• Izumi – the server failed to ask for the ID and was not trained. Moved by Schwarzwalter, seconded by Nelson to apply the penalty, motion carried.
• Plaza Azteca – server failed to ask for ID but was server trained in May 2021. Moved by Stibbe, seconded by Schwarzwalter to apply the penalty.
• Longhorn - server failed to ask for ID but was server trained in March 2019. Moved by Schwarzwalter, seconded by Stibbe to apply the penalty.
• Happy Harry - – server failed to ask for ID but was server trained. Moved by Stibbe, seconded by Schwarzwalter to apply the penalty. Voting in favor Stibbe, Schwarzwalter, Piepkorn. Voting against Nelson.
• Delta – server asked for ID but served minor anyway, server trained May 2021. Moved by Schwarzwalter, seconded by Stibbe to apply the penalty.
• Crave – Server asked for ID, trained May 2021 – Crave manager indicated the night of the failure was his first night at the restaurant after returning from 2 months training. They had multiple managers that night; he feels the employee was just nervous. All employees and managers on duty that night were trained. Schwarzwalter commented she felt they should still pass the compliance check even with the first day chaos. Nelson commented the vast majority of the businesses that serving minors seriously. Piepkorn indicated he did not like the feeling we were hurting small businesses. Schwarzwalter commented the 18-year-old ID is vertical whereas a legal ID is horizontal, there should not be a failure.
Moved by Schwarzwalter, seconded by Stibbe to apply the penalty, voting in favor Schwarzwalter, Stibbe, voting against Nelson, Piepkorn. Motion defeated lack of majority.
Moved by Nelson, seconded by Piepkorn to waive the penalty, boring in favor, Nelson, Piepkorn, voting against Schwarzwalter, Stibbe. Motion defeated lack of majority.
This will go to the City Commission with no recommended motion.
3b. Sprague reported he reached out to two businesses that had reported terrific success with ID scanners. One business reported approximately 30 to 40 ID’s are confiscated each weekend. Neither business wanted to speak in public. Nelson inquired of the penalty for using a fake ID. Chief responded owners are confiscating the ID’s. Nelson further asked what the penalty was for the minor. Morris responded it is a Misdemeanor. Stibbe asked what the penalty is for the servers that serve a minor. Morris indicated she would research the details and get back to the Board. Nelson questioned the balance of severity between the Minor and the business and the employees.
4. Sprague commented he and Morris met with Schwarzwalter and Tackett to discuss the penalty matrix. Schwarzwalter indicated her concern has been peaked recently with the rapid rise in failures and that we need to do a better job checking IDs and not serving to minors. She questioned if the penalty matrix is strong enough or if it should be adjusted. Alcohol if potentially a lethal drug and we need to protect the public. She indicated she would love to meet with some business owners to see what we can all do to improve our process. She also wondered if there is a way for us to incent business owners rather than just being punitive. How can we recognize businesses that do well and pass compliance checks? Should we look at a fee reduction? Scanners have proven they are working. Sprague indicated he would be willing to facilitate meetings with business owners and board members. Schwarzwalter questioned why servers have 90 days to be trained. Sprague indicated when the ordinance was created there was concern about the frequency of classes; we now have 3 to 4 classes every month so that should not be a concern.
There being no further business to come before the Liquor Control Board, the meeting was adjourned at 2:13 p.m.