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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.e. Minutes of the November 5, 2008 Special City Council Meeting Proceedings (2)f. Ayes: DeBettignies, Shoe Corrigan, Droste, Sterner, Baxter Nays: None. Motion carried. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 5, 2008 CALL TO ORDER Pursuant to due call and notice thereof a special meeting of the Rosemount City Council was held on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 2875 145 Street West, Rosemount. Mayor Droste called the meeting to order with Council Members DeBettignies, Shoe Corrigan, Sterner and Baxter in attendance. Staff members present included Chief of Police Kalstabakken, City Administrator Johnson, City Clerk Domeier, Director of Parks and Recreation Schultz and City Attorney LeFevere. The Pledge of Allegiance was said. ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO AGENDA City Administrator Johnsons stated that the applicant for item 6.g. An application from U.S. Homes for a Minor PUD Amendment Adding a New Home Product to the Evermoor Glendalough Neighborhood, Case 08- 41 -AMD requested that it be removed from the agenda. He added a new business item for receiving the official resignation of Council Member Baxter. Motion by Droste. Second by DeBettignies. Motion to adopt the agenda with item 6.g. being pulled and addition of 9.a. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0. Motion carried. CONSENT AGENDA Motion by Baxter. Second by Shoe Corrigan. Motion to approve the Consent Agenda a. -f. and h. a. Bills Listing b. 2008 City Council Meeting Schedule c. Charitable Gambling Premise Permit RAHA (Resolution 2008 d. Expenditure Approval from the Donation Account Parks Recreation Dept. e. Lease Agreement with the Community Action Council fro the Family Resource Center Criminal Justice Data Network Agreement h. Authorize Magellan Pipeline Agreement Meadows Park, City Project #387 OLD BUSINESS 8.a. Liquor Violation Rosemount Liquor License Hearing Police Chief Kalstabakken provided background on the process of the liquor license violation. He reviewed the penalty recommendations from the hearing officer and the staff ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 5, 2008 as well as the penalties for previous violations for Rosemount Liquor. The proposal for Rosemount Liquor was twofold: 1) pay a $1,500 civil fine with a 21 day suspension and if a software was purchased serve a five day consecutive suspension but the remaining day would be stayed for 24 months or if the software was not purchased Rosemount Liquor would serve a 10 day suspension. Mr. Kalstabakken asked the City Council to recommend a penalty to impose moving forward. He added that the specifics of the penalty could be detailed in a resolution depending upon the complexity of the outcome. Council Member Sterner questioned the purpose of using a hearing officer and what the normal protocol was for liquor violation hearings. Mr. Kalstabakken replied that the hearing examiner conducts a hearing and recommends an outcome. He added that for this case the findings of fact were not disputed but determining the appropriate penalty was the issue. He made it clear that the City was not bound to the decision made by the hearing examiner. Steve Gawron, the attorney representing Rosemount Liquor, stated the owners were hoping to find a resolution both sides agree on. He added that the City Council made the decision to have the matter heard by a hearing officer. It was his belief that the findings of the neutral arbitrator should be accepted as presented. He thought the most appropriate punishment was that the store be required to purchase an age identifying software. He stated that owners would obtain the software within six months and would pay the $1,500 fine without question. He noted that the arbitrator found the most effective way to use the suspension was to have it hanging over the business for two years. Council Member DeBettignies stated that the City has the authority to impose civil penalties for each violation. He added that Rosemount Liquor needed to take ownership as they have broken the law by serving to minors. Mr. Gawron stated that the arbitrator listened to all facts and found a reasonable resolution. He added that now a owner is present at the business at all times. Council Member Baxter questioned how the City Council could justify a lower penalty for a third violation for non compliance then what was agreed to for a second offense. Mr. Gawron stated thought the reason the arbitrator came to his conclusion for the penalty was because Rosemount Liquor was serving more than the normal in 14-16 communities. He stated that the average was seven days of closure for a second offense but that Rosemount Liquor was closed 21 days for the third offense. Council Member Baxter stated that the mitigating factor was the penalty and it was contrary to what we think of criminal violations. He did not think the findings supported the conclusions of law. Mr. Gawron stated that everyone agreed to the findings of fact but the actual issue was whether or not it was reasonable to get another pound of flesh from the owners who already served a stricter sentence. He thought Rosemount Liquor had already been punished enough. Council Member Sterner questioned what has changed at the store to ensure it a violation would not happen again. Mr. Gawron stated that one of the owners is on -site at all times. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 5, 2008 He added that a policy was instituted where every person is now carded despite customer's appearance or how often they frequent the business. Mayor Droste stated it was extremely hard as an elected official to consider the penalty after the short amount of time from the last failure. He stated that with the recommendation of software if there were a network problem the system could be overridden. Mr. Kalstabakken stated that any system could be circumvented. Mr. Gawron agreed that there may be some type of override. Council Member Shoe Corrigan pointed out that when comparing Rosemount to neighboring cities that most of those cities have municipal liquor. She added that she could be flexible on serving the suspension as the City had been flexible in the past. Sean Schumacher, an owner of Rosemount Liquor, stated that he never would have moved the business to the new location if not for the previous suspension. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated that the City Council uses its right to impose penalties based upon community standards. She noted that no other business in town had been before the City Council with this many compliance check failures. Mr. Kalstabakken added that the liquor code has always been available to the owners but that the code did not include a penalty matrix. He added that the history of this issue has been established and used in determining the penalties moving forward. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated that while the City Council wants to support local businesses they do have a standard on underage drinking. She wanted the message to be clear that the City was not going to tolerate selling to underage drinkers. She wanted to see Rosemount Liquor serve a five day suspension with 16 days stayed over a 24 month period. Council Member Baxter was uncomfortable with the computer software recommendation because he was not sure it would work. He thought that compliance to not selling to minors should come from the diligence of the business owners. He suggested that the owner serve an immediate non consecutive 10 day suspension and to hold 21 days over the business for two years. He wanted the business to know how serious the City Council viewed the violations. City Attorney LeFevere stated the penalties should be established now and the City Council should determine the penalty should the software not be installed in six month. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated that Rosemount Liquor should then serve the 16 day penalty in addition to no violation within 24 months. Council Member Sterner favored going forward with the hearing officer's recommendation. Council Member Shoe Corrigan questioned why the City Council would make the penalties for a third violation less than those for the second violation. Mr. Kalstabakken stated that the hearing officer's proposed penalty was inconsistent with the City's past third violation penalties. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated the business should want to install the software not because of the requirement but because it would be best practice. She was willing to tie the software requirement to the number of days served. Mr. Schumacher addressed the City Council again and stated he has taken over the day to day duties of the operation. He added that they closed in 11 days in May which has caused ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 5, 2008 financial problems including being behind on rent payments. Discussion was held regarding the serving of the suspension and whether it would be consecutive days. Council Member DeBettignies summarized the discussion to include the business paying a $1,500 civil fine with a 21 days suspension with six days being served Monday through Wednesday starting October 10. He added that 15 days would be stayed but would be served consecutively if a violation occurred again in 24 months. He added that the owners would install software within six months and have a policy in place to card all customers. Mr. Kalstabakken stated that the fully integrated point of sale software that requires the card to be swiped should be approved by the Chief of Police or his designee. Discussion was held regarding delaying the item to the November 19 meeting so that all the conditions could be adopted in resolution. Mr. Schumacher requested that the suspension be served in January to allow the business time to catch up with the back rent owed on the leased space. The City Council was in agreement to have the suspension start in January, 2009. Motion by DeBettignies. Second by Shoe Corrigan. Motion to direct staff to prepare a resolution on the liquor violation for Rosemount Liquor for the November 19 presentation at City Council meeting. Ayes: Shoe- Corrigan, Droste, Sterner, Baxter, DeBettignies Nays: None. Motion carried. 9.a. Resignation of Mike Baxter Council Member Baxter announcement his resignation from the Rosemount City Council effective November 6 because of his appointment to serve on the First Judicial bench in Le Sueur County. He stated he enjoyed the work and found representing the citizens to be a tremendous honor. He added that the City staff is talented, hardworking and followed the City Council goals. Council Member Baxter acknowledged the hard work and dedication of the following staff members- Kim Lindquist, Andy Brotzler, Dan Schultz, Jeff May, Alan Cox, Scott Aker, Gary Kalstabakken, Rick Cook, Dwight Johnson, Amy Domeier and Charlie LeFevere. Council Member Baxter highlighted the big projects he took part in as a City Council and Port Authority member. He also paid tribute to Mayor Droste and fellow Council Members. Mayor Droste congratulated Council Member Sterner on winning the State Representative 37B seat during the election. He added that a public reception would be held to honor Council Members Baxter and Sterner in the very near future. He commended Council Member Baxter for his many years of service. Motion by Shoe Corrigan. Second by Sterner. Motion to accept the official resignation of Mike Baxter from the Rosemount City Council effective November 6, 2008. Ayes: Droste, Sterner, DeBettignies, Shoe Corrigan Nays: None. Abstain: Baxter. Motion carried. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 5, 2008 ANNOUNCEMENTS Mayor Droste stated that the next City Council meeting would be held on November 19, 2008. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the City Council and upon a motion by Droste, Second by Sterner, the meeting was adjourned at 9:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Amy Domeier, City Clerk