05-18-2013 Council Liquor Compliance Hearing Minutes

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LIQUOR COMPLIANCE HEARING May 28, 2013 APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 5 DATE : May 28, 2013 6 TIME STARTED : 6:15 p.m. 7 ' TIME ENDED : 6:30 p.m. 8 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Members Rafferty, O'Donnell, 9 Roeser, Stoesz and Mayor Reinert 10 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 11 12 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; City Attorney Joseph Langel; Public 13 Safety Director John Swenson; Police Captain Kent Strege; and City Clerk, Julie Bartell 14 15 HEARING ON LIQUOR CODE VIOLATION 16 17 Captain Strege reported that on May 7, 2012 at 2:31 a.m. an officer stopped at Miller's On Main 18 to check on people still in the bar. Upon approaching the bar a male fled and was subsequently 19 caught and identified. The male was jailed for underage consumption and fleeing an officer. 20 Upon further investigation it was found that an employee, Lauren Wagner, served alcohol to the 21 male suspect who was under the age of twenty -one. Ms. Wagner was cited for serving alcohol 22 to a minor and pled guilty to the charge on April 10, 2013. 23 24 This is the first license violation at Miller's on Main in a 12 -month period so in accordance with 25 the Best Practices Grid, a $500 civil penalty is recommended. 26 27 Tavern on Main (formerly Miller's on Main) license holder Chad Wagner addressed the council. 28 He explained that while Ms. Wagner is being accused of serving an underage person, she tells 29 him that she did not do it. The underage person who was seen in the parking lot was actually 30 meeting someone there and he was not in the bar. The surveillance system at the business at that 31 time recycled after a certain period so the recording was lost by the time Mr. Wagner heard 32 about the accusation. Since a ticket was issued, Mr. Wagner and the accused employee have 33 been through a legal process. The prosecuting attorney admitted to him that the case is weak 34 and also the court reduced the charge with no admission of guilt. Furthermore there were some 35 discrepancies in the police report. 36 37 Police Chief Swenson noted that he would take exception to some of the points made by Mr. 38 Wagner. The City's prosecuting attorney is not involved in license matters such as the matter 39 before the council now. 40 41 Mayor Reinert noted that the council isn't trying a legal case. The council's job is to react to 42 the outcome of the court. It is not a reflection on the good management that normally occurs at 43 Mr. Wagner's facility. The council has an established policy and staffs recommendation 44 follows that. He also clarified that the best practices grid is based on offenses within a 12 month 45 period and that has already passed since the actual violation. 46