Roseville modifies liquor license penalties

has modified the city’s liquor sales ordinance, reducing  penalties for violations by off-sale liquor license holders.

Councilman Jeff Johnson proposed  modifying the ordinance, contending "the  penalty for off-sale was more harsh than for on-sale.”

The amended ordinance, among other things, now cuts the penalty of off-sale liquor establishments selling to an underage person, on a first violation, from a one day suspension and a $1,000 fine to no suspension. Penalties for the off-sale license holders on a second and third violation for the same offense now are being reduced from five and 15 day suspensions to three and seven day suspensions within a three year period.   

Penalties for holders of on-sale liquor licenses remain the same as under the previous ordinance.

 The Council’s 3-2 vote (with Mayor Dan Roe and Council member Tammy Pust dissenting) this week came after off-sale license holders and store managers contended the existing ordinance was too harsh.  Johnson and colleagues Robert Willmus  and Tammy McGehee voted to change the ordinance. 

In a letter to the City Council, liquor store manager Rod Olson, said “While on-premise institutions would be able to continue to generate revenue through food and non-alcoholic beverage sales while not serving alcohol, off-premise retailers would have to fully close their businesses during the period of suspension causing a total loss of income.

“With no revenue during the suspension period, that would likely put the liquor store out of business,” said Olson, the manager at .  

Under the prior ordinance, a five-day suspension for a second violation to underage selling “would be a death sentence for the bulk of the stores in Roseville," he said after the Council meeting,  (A fourth violation, within a three-year period for underage selling results in an off-sale holder’s liquor license being revoked in both the old and amended ordinances.) 

But the proposed modifications didn't come without spirited debate.

Roseville resident Deborah Mosby said she was concerned that  decreasing off-sale liquor penalties for selling to minors could lead to a more lax attitude about enforcement. She encouraged the Council to table a vote on amending the ordinance to allow time for more public comment.

Mosby, a professor at Metro State University who teaches alcohol and drug counseling, said the economic cost of alcohol use in Minnesota is more than a $5 billion a year problem according to state Department of Health estimate.

But Stephen Burwell, of , said liquor  store owners and managers are also concerned about being socially responsible and law abiding. “We just don’t sell to drunks and we don’t sell to minors,” he said.

Meanwhile  McGehee contended,  “We have arbitrarily worried about the youth. But when you look at the drunk drivers,  when you look the people outstate and in state, the disorderly conduct, these are more likely to be adults who can legally purchase liquor.”

McGehee added that she is aware that alcoholism is a problem in our society. But the issue before the  Council was “one of equity”  for off-sale liquor license holders, she said. After further discussion, Pust moved to table a vote on amending the city ordinance  in order to allow for further public comment. 

Pust’s motion, however, was defeated. The Council then approved amending the ordinance on civil penalties for liquor license violations.