City council penalizes two business for failing alcohol compliance checks

• City of Worthington

Worthington City Hall (Brian Korthals/Daily Globe)

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WORTHINGTON — During alcohol compliance checks in 2009, four Worthington establishments allegedly sold liquor to minors. The four employees who did so were subsequently charged criminally for their actions.

After those charges were dealt with through the court system, the businesses involved also faced civil punishment through the city of Worthington. A hearing to discuss the recommendations of the Liquor Committee took place Monday night during a public hearing with the Worthington City Council.

The committee met last month and opted to recommend weekend suspension of liquor licenses for those businesses with first-time offenses and week-long suspensions for second-time violators. The Cenex Ampride and the Ground Round were facing a weekend without a liquor license; Hy-Vee and the A&T Tap were looking at a week without being able to sell alcohol.

Cenex and Hy-Vee waived their right to the hearing, but on Monday night, Ground Round manager Bob Rieckhoff and A&T Tap owner Craig Sailor were both in attendance to could speak to the council before action was taken on the committee’s recommendations.

Worthington City Attorney Mark Shepherd stated there was no evidence that any other employees at the businesses had been involved in the violations. Shepherd said Rieckhoff and his attorney, Bruce Kness, and Sailor wanted to address the council on the matter of their respective penalties.

“The violations will be deemed to have occurred,” he added.

Kness made the presentation for Rieckhoff, stating they admitted an employee had sold liquor to someone under the age of 21 — something the Ground Round does not condone.

“The Ground Round takes this very seriously,” Kness stated. “They have been open for seven years and have never had a violation.”

Employees are trained and notices from the police department regarding compliancy checks are posted, Kness said.

“I don’t know how much more they can be expected to do,” he added.

The weekend loss of a liquor license for a convenience store to that of the Ground Round is not a fair comparison, Kness explained, because a convenience store would only lose a few hundred dollars, whereas the Ground Round would lose $4,000 to $5,000.

“It essentially closes the businesses for a weekend,” he said, adding that it also penalizes employees who work as wait staff. “Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the civil penalties. The cookie cutter approach does not work.”

Rieckhoff also spoke briefly, stating that his employee had just made a mistake.

“We do a good job in making sure that people underage are not drinking,” he said.

Sailor concurred with their statements, adding that he was not made aware of his employee’s mistake until several weeks ago.

“I’m guessing he was just overwhelmed and made a mistake,” he said of the employee, who he stated quit his job shortly after the incident.

Sailor said he personally instructs his employees about not selling liquor to anyone who is under the age of 21, and that this was the second time this had happened.

“The first time I just took the weekend (penalty) off and the financial burden was huge,” Sailor stated. “An entire week might just do it for me.”

Worthington Public Safety Director Mike Cumiskey told the council that letters are normally sent out through the city clerk’s office regarding the compliancy failures. The letters, though, were not sent after the 2009 checks, so if Sailor’s employee had not notified him, it’s possible he was never told about the incident.

After some discussion, the council unanimously passed a motion to give the businesses the option to either pay a fine or lose their license for a time — $500 or a weekend for the first offense and $1,000 or a week for the second offense.

The Liquor Committee is planning to meet to add a penalty for a third offense, which has never been needed before. The businesses have 30 days from the date of the hearing to either pay the fine or pick a date for their suspension, which would have to happen within the next calendar year.

Cenex and Hy-Vee had already chosen dates for their license suspensions, but it’s possible they could choose to change those decisions with the council’s change in penalty.

Even though Hy-Vee had waived the hearing, store director Mike Haiar was present at that meeting and spoke to the council. He said Hy-Vee takes the sale of alcohol to anyone under 21 very seriously, and steps have been taken to make sure it does not happen again.

“It is a very big deal for the pride of our store,” he said.

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