F. HEARINGSAlcoholic Beverages Licensees – Failure to Pass Compliance Check – 7:10
Chief Lynch provides background on the compliance checks on illegal serving of underage drinkers on Aug 3 and Aug 4
attempt to buy without ID, was not asked his age, was not asked for ID
Attny Scott Nathan representing Acapulco's
per Acapulco's there was confusion between the two bartenders as to who had asked for ID (when it had not been)
it is a first time, we would ask for a 3 day suspension, 2 days held in abeyance for 2 years, serving the 1 day on the day (of the week of the incident)
Bissanti - clarification on what if anything is heard on the street
Lynch - nothing bad
Jones - we take compliance checks seriously
retraining in the plan for the bartender in question
Mercer - new training required as of Sep 1
motion to proceed with the Chief's recommendation
the ID scan device is being installed tomorrow
- New hearing on Joe's Bar and Grill
2nd half of check done on Thursday, Aug 4
was served at the bar without providing ID or age check
Leslie St Germain, representing the establishment
we take this incident seriously, extremely important
apology for the incident, do not dispute the overview
mitigating steps outlined
Tips certification completing
40 or younger now requiring ID check, had been 30 or younger
bar service is now enabled
a secret shopper program is now being used to do their own stings internally
with all the best measures, human errors do occur
Chap 138 does not require it, has experienced negative experiences with carding everyone, does not normally attract underage drinkers
if we have further issues, that would be a next step
Jones
in 2011, there was also an incident with Joe's
so this is the second offense in 5 years
St Germain
prior instance was claimed to be associated with the transition of new business
with servers trained by the former business, by the end of the 2011 year, the servers had been completely trained
bartender had been suspended for one week and re-trained
future offense will get zero tolerance
we have seen the machines take accountability out of the process and it should be the bartender making the decision
Bissanti - pushing for the Advanced ID system, it is endorsed by the ABCC locally
Pfeffer - glad to see that the bartender did not get fired, the first time offense should be sufficient
Chief Lynch - there was a prior incident, but the time has lapsed, would recommend that this be considered a first offense;
motion to approve the recommendation as stated
Padula - be aware you caught a break this time but don't expect it next time
hearings closed