Liquor Control Board - September 21, 2022 Minutes

LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD
September 21, 2022 1:30 P.M.

Present: Commissioner Piepkorn, Kay Schwarzwalter, John Stibbe, Lydia Tackett

Others Present: Police Chief David Zibolski, City Auditor Steve Sprague, City Attorney Nancy Morris

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 August 17, 2022. Moved by Stibbe, Seconded by Tackett

2. Review application of FA license by Puerto Vallarta LLC d/b/a Puerto Vallarta to be located at 4323 45 St S Suite 101. Sprague stated there is the possibility of a transfer of the Johnny Carinos license. Background came back without issues. Recommendation to send to City Commission October 3, 2022. Piepkorn brought up the topic of the City considering “buying back” licenses. Suggested to have further discussion regarding this in the future. Moved by Tackett, Seconded by Schwarzwalter. Motion passed unanimously.

3. A. Review Police Monthly report distributed via email for August. Chief stated it was a fairly light report. A few over serving reports at Windbreak, King Pinz, OB. Piepkorn thanked Chief Zibolski for sending the report prior to the meeting so they can review it, and he also asked if the Windbreak seems to be making improvements. Chief Zibolski said he didn’t have any information at this time to determine if there are changes. They will continue to monitor.

4. Memo for recommending ordinance changes
a. Server training changes - Sprague said back in December the Chief presented several issues, they brought it back a meeting or so ago and highlighted 4 issues. Those issues being, Management Background, Server Training, Deescalating Training, Penalty Matrix overhaul. No specific issues were made by the board, so staff did meet with City Attorney and Health Department in regards to server training. With the current person in charge of server training leaving-it was a good time to look at our practices and what could be changed, the ND Safety Council offers online training and staff went online and took the test to see if it would be something the City could use. City Auditor’s staff would like to see the elimination of the 90 day period to become server trained and that all people need to be server trained and also eliminate the City from tracking it. Put our resources into Compliance checks in the establishments. Piepkorn is comfortable with shortening the deadline, but make sure we have the new process working before we shorten it and would that be using the State online training, Sprague said yes, we would just use the ND Safety Council test, businesses will be responsible for keeping track of employees that are server trained and being able to verify upon request. Stibbe mentioned business interruption, and suggested the elimination of the 90 days could maybe be changed to 5 days, Sprague stated that the employee could take the test as part of their entrance paperwork, the industry does need to be asked for their opinions and the Chief Zibolski should also check out the course. Stibbe asked if there is a waiting period if they don’t pass to take the test again, and if there are language barriers does the test adapt, Sprague will find that out and get back to the Board. Schwarzwalter is in favor of having them trained before serving and would like the opinion of the Chief on the over-serving component of the test. Tackett mentioned that Preston Nesemeier made a recommendation that we move forward quickly if possible and asked who is running the classes now. Sprague stated that Preston may have lined up some classes before he left. Tackett is in favor making a motion to move forward if the Chief is comfortable with the program. Schwarzwalter asked what the next step would be if a compliance check was failed, could a face to face training happen. Tackett is hoping with the online training that the failures would be less. Sprague mentioned that staff hadn’t discussed the failure and how that would be handled. Piepkorn would like to have public discussion and go back to the industry for input before making a motion. Sprague would like to have a little more time to answer some of the questions brought up today and discuss it again at the next meeting. Tackett mentioned that someone should fail the test to see what happens after that. Stibbe asked if waiting another 30 days would cause any issues with our current practices. Sprague does not believe it will be an issue. He also mentioned the State also has deescalating training but it is not online. They offer in person training. Schwarzwalter commented on Fargo’s highest national binge drinking rates, and her concern for overserving. Piepkorn commented on the issues in downtown Fargo and will be addressing the public safety in Downtown Fargo.

There being no further business to come before the Liquor Control Board, the meeting was adjourned at 2:07 p.m.