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II. COMPARISON WITH NEIGHBORING CITIES' ORDINANCES (see tables I and II) License holders' penalties With the exception of the City of Shoreview ordinance, that provides for a license suspension on the first violation, the Falcon Heights ordinance penalizes the license holder more than the neighboring cities by imposing both a fine and suspension on the second violation. Roseville does not provide for license revocation at any time. White Bear Lake and North St. Paul, also members of the North Suburban Tobacco Compliance, currently do not have a specific penalty for license holders, but use the general licensing regulation that permits cities' to revoke licenses for not meeting the license requirements. White Bear Lake is unique in that it works with license holders who fail compliance checks by requiring them to submit a plan for preventing illegal sales rather than penalizing the license holder. III. ENFORCEMENT OF THE CODE It is most likely that violations under this ordinance will be the result of established compliance checks by the city and its police officers since it is necessary to document that the person illegally sold the tobacco product to the minor. The minor working on the compliance check is directed not to try to buy a tobacco product if he or she knows the sales clerk. Therefore, tobacco product to a minor in the compliance check will be making the sale because the minor is an acquaintance of the sales clerk. Currently, tobacco license holders that pass the compliance check are given a letter thanking them for their success. Council suggested that something more be available. The North Suburban Tobacco Compliance has access to stickers for the tobacco license holders to put in their windows demonstrating their commitment too and success at preventing sales of tobacco products to minors. IV. RESPONSES FROM TOBACCO LICENSE HOLDERS TO THE PROPOSED CHANGES The proposed changes to the code were sent to the six tobacco license holders in the city. One vendor, the operations manager of Tom Thumb, spoke with the city administrator about his concerns about the ordinance. He made four points: 1) that Tom Thumb provides on -going training of its sales clerks for tobacco compliance; this consists of training upon hiring and a quarterly handout that must be signed by the clerk and returned to the store manager; 2) that the 200 fine on the first violation is excessive since it is human nature to make mistakes despite the store managers' efforts to avoid them; 3) that the fine should be increased on the sales clerk from 25 on the first violation to a larger fine to make an impact on the sales clerk and 4) that the sales clerk is sometimes fired for selling to a minor. ATTACHMENTS: A proposed ordinance B Tables I and II comparing proposed penalties with other cities C stickers D letter to tobacco vendors ACTION REQUESTED: Discuss the proposed ordinance amendments and adopt with any additional revisions. O P:C OLI.. �c��c::: fir.