02/11/2008 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROVED •1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 LIQUOR COMPLIANCE HEARING 4 5 6 DATE : February 11, 2008 7 TIME STARTED : 6:17 p.m. 8 TIME ENDED : 6:43 p.m. 9 MEMBERS PRESENT : Councilmember Gallup, O'Donnell, Reinert, 10 Stoltz and Mayor Bergeson 11 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 12 13 Staff members present: City Administrator, Gordon Heitke; City Attorney, Scott Baumgartner; 14 Public Safety Director, Dave Pecchia; Police Captain, Kent Strege; and City Clerk, Julie Bartell 15 16 HEARING ON LIQUOR CODE VIOLATIONS 17 18 Police Captain Strege reported that the Police Department conducted liquor compliance checks 19 on June 21, 2007 and officers found several patrons still inside of Miller's on Main after hours. 20 This is a violation of the liquor ordinance. Each of the five patrons was issued a citation and has 21 subsequently pled guilty. The license holder of Miller's on Main was also issued a citation. On 22 the civil side, the police department is recommending that the council follow the Best Practice 23 Grid and institute a fine of $500 to the license holder. Mr24 25 Chad Wagner, Miller's on Main, explained that he was out of town when the violation occurred. 26 He understands it is for having patrons on site after hours, however, there is a discrepancy to 27 report. The ticket was issued at 2:30 a.m. and, according to city ordinance, 30 minutes is 28 allowed so technically a ticket written at 2:30 is not valid. Mr. Wagner reported that he has 29 attempted to argue this matter in court (criminal side) and it has been delayed twice. He has not 30 yet had his day in court. Also, because he received his citation in the mail three weeks after the 31 event, he was not able to verify timing with his record keeping system. 32 33 Scott Baumgartner, City Attorney, noted that Anoka County has a revolving calendar for the 34 prosecuting attorneys for economy sake. It would not be unusual to have a request postponed 35 when there is a request to dismiss. He believes the probable message from the court system 36 would be that Mr. Wagner has a question and it would be looked into. That has been done and 37 Mr. Baumgartner reported that he has clarified that the ticket is valid and indicates a violation. 38 39 Mr. Wagner noted that the time of violation on the ticket is 2:30 a.m. He added that the 40 bartender was going to give these people a ride home for safety sake. Also the clock in the 41 establishment is set to "bar time", 15 minutes fast. 42 43 Mr. Baumgartner replied that he can respect what the bartender was going to do and also that the 44 window of 30 minutes is allowed. With those considerations, however, there is still a violation. 45 •46 Mr. Wagner asked that the council review the police report. There is information indicating that