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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, May 16,2011 <br /> Page 13 <br /> liquor and providing it to minors; and even though a non-drinker herself, recog- <br /> nized the significant problems of alcohol in the community, state and country in <br /> general. Councilmember McGehee opined that those problems were not the issue <br /> currently before the Council, while being an emotional issue, but that the issue <br /> was one of equity for business owners. Councilmember McGehee opined that the <br /> majority of the problems to-date occurred to be from on-sale, not off-sale estab- <br /> lishments; and further opined that the proposed amendments were reflected ac- <br /> cordingly in what was actually needed. <br /> Councilmember Pust directed several questions to Police Chief Mathwig, clarify- <br /> ing consequences to business owners and minors in sales/purchase of alcohol; <br /> mandatory versus voluntary training and how that training was documented and <br /> tracked by the Police Department to ensure compliance and based on best practic- <br /> es; with the Department only researching training records upon a business's fail- <br /> ure to comply with the department not checking records on site unless a violation <br /> occurs; and additional fees for on-sale licenses versus off-sale licenses based on <br /> typical public safety calls at those establishments. <br /> Councilmember Pust noted the license costs for on-sale versus off-sale at approx- <br /> imately twenty-three (23) times more to take those additional service require- <br /> ments into account, establishing an equity in itself, even though they're not the <br /> same, and the City's past decision that they were not going to be treated the same, <br /> based on potential harm and law enforcement needs for on-sale businesses. <br /> Councilmember Pust apologized for her language related to "drunk" rather than <br /> "intoxicated" persons on her RIF posting, but referred to State Statute use of that <br /> specific language. Councilmember Pust provided her perspective on the impacts <br /> of an intoxicated person based on their frequenting an on-sale versus an off-sale <br /> establishment, as well as the impacts to the general public and the number of <br /> people potentially harmed from their actions. Councilmember Pust defended the <br /> recommendations she and Councilmember Roe had made when they served on <br /> the Task Force related to this ordinance; and the intent not being to treat off-sales <br /> more harshly by keeping penalties the same. Councilmember Pust reiterated that <br /> the penalty structure in the current ordinance was the same as the previous ordin- <br /> ance enacted in 2000, with the same amount of fine and days of suspension. <br /> Councilmember Pust acknowledged that in owning a liquor store, alcohol sales <br /> were the only source of income for that business, and if operations were sus- <br /> pended, it would have a larger economic impact on them. Councilmember Pust, <br /> however, noted that it wasn't the City's liquor ordinance that treated them diffe- <br /> rently, simply the business they were in. Councilmember Pust challenged the <br /> comments made that government was always against off-sale liquor store owners; <br /> noting if that were the case, the City wouldn't have limited how many could oper- <br /> ate in Roseville, and would let the free market drive that number. Councilmemb- <br /> er Pust opined that the City had determined that it had a reason to regulate how <br /> much alcohol was sold in the community; and opined that this had provided a sta- <br /> ble group of good citizens running those off-sale businesses. If a more broad- <br />