The Safety and Licensing Committee met 05/22/2024. The first half of the meeting was taking up with public appearances from representatives of establishments that had received demerits for alcohol license violations.
There were 5 businesses that were requested to appear before the committee and explain what efforts they had taken to address the issues that had lead to them receiving the demerit points; however, only 3 representatives appeared. There was no punishment for not appearing even though the Municipal Code requires establishments who have received first time license violations to appear before the committee. Assistant City Attorney Buruin told the committee that there had been some discussion into looking into ways to address non-appearances.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
WALMART ON CALUMET – The Walmart on Calumet Street received 80 demerit points for selling alcohol to a minor. The store representative told the committee that this was the first violation at any store he had run. The violation had resulted from a training issue which they corrected, and the employee had been held to the highest level of accountability short of termination. They also went back and retrained all the cashiers and implemented a policy to ID anybody who purchases alcohol which was more stringent than Walmart’s corporate policy of carding anyone who looks to be under 40.
QUINTO SOL SUPERMARKET – Quinto Sol received 40 demerit points for not having a licensed operator and 25 demerit points for failing to display a license. The store representative said that they had been doing some sort of remodeling project and lost track of their license but it was now displayed again. He also said something about the lack of a licensed operator, but what he said was confusing so I’m not sure what they did to resolve that issue; however, it sounded like it had been resolved.
COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT – Courtyard by Marriott had received 80 demerit points for selling alcohol to a minor. The representative from that hotel said that the employee responsible had been written up and had also received a ticket. The employee underwent additional training, and they also had a meeting with all of the staff presumably about proper procedures regarding the sale of alcohol.
ONEIDA BP – The BP at 1306 Oneida Street received 40 demerit points for having no licensed operator on the premises. A representative of the establishment did not appear before the committee to discuss what steps they had taken to rectify the situation or keep it from happening again.
SG PETROLIUMS/NEWBERRY MOBIL – The Mobil Gas station at 2811 E Newberry Street received 40 demerit points for having no licensed operator on the premises. They also did not send a representative to meet with the committee.
After the public appearances were over, Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) asked about the people who did not show up and said that he thought it was important for them to appear before the committee. Assistant City Attorney Zak Buruin said that there had been some discussion about looking into ways to address non-appearances but he had not been able to look more deeply into it at this point. They were going to check into it.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1183021&GUID=804CAC4B-AF5B-4481-ABF1-3D574EBCEDFD
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