HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-07-28 Transcription#2 Page 1
ITEM 2. PROCLAMATION.
a) Americans With Disabilities Week: July 25-31, 2009
Bailey: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation, representing the Everet Conner Center, is
Keith Ruff.
Ruff: Thank you, Mayor Bailey. I would like to further thank the Council for
years of contribution to make sure Iowans, no matter whether they live
here or come here (mumbled) help everyone. And like I said before
(mumbled) the hard work and (mumbled) the Mayor and the Council.
Thank you (mumbled). Have a good evening.
Bailey: Thank you. (applause)
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ITEM 4. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA)
Bailey: This is a time for members of the public to comment on items that are not
on tonight's agenda. If you wish to address the Council, please approach
the podium, state your name for the record, and limit your comments to
five minutes or less.
Hrstka: Apparently I'm the only one who signed up. My name is Ron Hrstka,
um...I am, I'd like to speak in opposition to the recently established
sharrows, or what I'll call bike lanes, on the left sides of the street of both
Jefferson and Market Streets. I have personally for years been calling the
Iowa City Police, asking them to enforce both Iowa City and State law,
which requests that bicyclists ride as far to the right as practicable. I live
on Rochester Avenue, so every day I ride my bike or drive my car, or
both, on both of those streets, and the most dangerous time of riding my
bike is when there is a bike on the right side of the street, where you're
supposed to be and on the left side of the street, where until three weeks
ago, they were not supposed to be. When two bikes are parallel, and there
are two cars in the lanes, it creates a bottleneck where the cars are forced
to come very close or in my case, I've been bumped off of my bike a
couple of times. I don't know what process led to the decision to allow
those bike lanes to be established. I was told when I called, uh, various
City agencies that it was at some point went through the City Council, so
that's why I'm here. I'm presuming that it's a futile effort, since you
already made the decision, but I just wanted to go over the safety issues
that I'm concerned about. Uh, first as I said, the bottleneck...it's just been
inherent problems. Some people are going to continue to ride where they
have ridden all along, which is on the right side of the street. Even those
who are now riding in the bike lane on the left side, sometimes have to
transition to the right side of the street to make a right turn. That transition
is dangerous. Those bike lanes that suddenly put you over on the left side
are not everywhere in Iowa City. You're teaching essentially a very bad
habit to bicyclists that it's okay on other occasions that don't have these
bike lanes to ride on the wrong side of the street. Not every one-way
street has these bike lanes on it. You're teaching them that it's okay to ride
on the wrong side of the street, creating more of a danger. Lastly, as far as
dangers, I...I didn't bring any precedence of it, but I know that there are
documented cases of drivers being much more aggressive against
bicyclists on areas of roads that have bike paths nearby. Um, I've been
yelled at by motorists to tell me to get off the road, get on the bike lanes,
and uh, the same thing will happen with these left-hand sharrows or...or
bike lanes. Those riding on the right, there isn't any law against them
riding on the right. In fact, there's a law telling them to ride on the right,
but now there is also these markings telling them to ride on the left. It
creates a confusing situation; in my opinion it's a dangerous situation and I
would hope that it'd be reconsidered at some point, and it's not that hard to
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remove paint and move it over to the right side. I realize on Jefferson, and
I'm nearly done...on Jefferson there is the risk of, um, getting doored, but
there is room for a bike lane farther over, if you want to have a bike lane.
I personally think that in many cases bike lanes create more of a danger
than simply educating people to ride right. The Bicyclists of Iowa City,
and RAGBRAI, has for years had this phrase of "ride right," and that was
a double ontondra deliberately, and now people are being taught to ride
wrong, and I would hope that at some point you could reconsider it and
move the lane from the left, or eliminate it altogether. That's it. Thank
you.
Bailey: I just encourage you to call Kris Ackerson. Perhaps you (both talking)
Hrstka: I have been calling him for weeks and (both talking) on vacation and I'll
try again.
Bailey: Yeah, and John Yapp...and/or John Yapp, to talk about the process
that...that they use to put those on the roads.
Hrstka: Ultimately, it was a decision by the City Council though, is that correct?
Bailey: Ultimately yes.
Hrstka: But it was based on their recommendation? All right. I'll continue to try
to talk with him.
Bailey: Okay. Thank you.
Hrstka: Thank you.
Correia: (mumbled) there were bike lanes on the left on Jefferson and Market 20
years ago (both talking)
Bailey: ...protracted discussion, but I think you acknowledged the parking is part
of the challenge, and I think that John and/or Kris can walk you through
the process.
Hrstka: WellI...okay.
Bailey: Okay, thank you! Anybody else wishing to comment on...on items not on
tonight's agenda?
Madsen: Hello. My name is Tom Madsen. I live in Napoleon Lane. Um, I'm sure
you all know that, uh, you have plans on a recreation area down there I
believe and cleaning the area up. It desperately needs it. Uh, the Hagen
family has...told us that, uh, the Sheriffll be coming by after the
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last...there's only four of us left down there and I would like to know if,
um, uh...if you could uh, since the flood it might be a different situation
that you could reconsider on how to handle the rest of us. Would you like
to know these names or do you already know the Hagen family situation?
Bailey: I think our staff is aware of this.
Madsen: I'm sure there's someone. I just wanted to say something. All right. I
think I'll leave now.
Bailey: Okay (laughter). Thank you for your comments. Anybody else wishing to
comment on items not on tonight's agenda?
Farris: Mayor, Council, uh, Greg Farris, the Airport Commission. Just wanted to
give you a little update on the, uh, the Airport and where we are for the
summer. As you might know, we started quite a lot of work, uh, there.
We had our Airport Improvement Program, which is, uh, started back in
9...96 I believe or 97, it first came out. This year's probably the most
work that we've done. We have about a, altogether it's $4.1 million
project, um, that's starting to resurface the rest of runway, uh, 12-30, and
complete the 7-25. Pretty much redoing the runways, uh, since their
creation maybe 45 to 50 years ago. Out of that money, the federal money,
we... $1.8 million of that was in stimulus money that we got. It pushed the
AIP program up about a full year, so we're about a year ahead of schedule.
The work though will come across the intersection of those two main
runways, which will require those runways to be shut down for a period of
time, hopefully about 20 to 30 days, which would stop fixed-wing traffic
into the Airport for that period, but the helicopter traffic, uh, that we have
will still operate through there. So that project's going on and should be
completed here by September to get the, all that completed. We also
recently got some State grants for...about $180,000 from State grants to
do some taxiway repairs, uh, which will start up here this year and maybe
carry on to the next building season. We also, as you know, we sold Lot 1
to the Air Care, which I think will be probably approved or finished up in
August. LTh, they are planning on starting to build and have a completion
by 2010, I believe was the date (mumbled) so they could start, uh, using
that facility for the helicopter traffic. I think in 2010, I think is what the
plan was for that. And, we also started completing or will complete by
November, the Hangar H, the operational, um, performance lab. The
University of Iowa's expanded that area for their department, to give them
more room for, uh, more development there. So, uh, quite busy
production in...in finishing that up for November, so the rest of August,
September, and uh October, November will be quite busy construction
wise, but hopefully at that point, we pretty much pushed our whole plan at
least a year ahead of schedule, which is good.
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Champion: Did I understand you'll have to close the Airport while you're doing the
middle of the runways or...
Farris: Yeah, the...the intersection of those two main, you know, the two main
runways or the two runways that are open now, um, is planned, uh, to
take...I think it's a 21 day...28 day schedule with about a 20-hour work
day, so they try to work as quickly as they can. At that point (both
talking) yeah, those two runways will be closed. You can still come in
helicopter traffic, but fixed-wing.
Champion: Is that during the football season?
Farris: Hoping to be finished, they're going to start Monday.
Champion: Oh, okay!
Farris: That pushes it to about right on the 30th. If good weather, like everything
else. Soon as the rip up the, if it gets muddy it's hard for'em to do the
work, but that's (mumbled).
Bailey: Okay, thanks, Greg.
Farris: Thanks.
Bailey: Anyone else?
White: Good evening. My name's Jim White Sr. I'm a resident of 121 Taft
Speedway in Iowa City, Iowa, and after 13 months of hard work, toil and a
lot of...money, I've been able to move back into my home. This is after
my, uh, final City inspection that was conducted about a week ago. The
property my home resides in was owned by Bill Englert. It was Bill
Englert's home, close by was the Englert Ice House; close by was Dutch
Hall, close by were a lot of things connected with the Englert family in
Iowa City. If you read anything written by Irving Weber in that area,
you'd read a number of articles about Little Dutch Hall, Brighton Beach
was the name of the cottage that, uh, Bill Englert owned, and I happened
to inherit that. This has been in the family over 110 years. In 2003, I
started to...this home, I tore down the old Bill Englert cottage, and I
attempted to put it back and mirror as close I could to the original
structure. In 1993 the Bill Englert home did, uh, cottage did not get
flooded. Did not have a drop of water in it. So when the old cottage was
torn down, a new one was built, and it was raised 2 feet higher and the
1993 flood missed our front door by over 3 feet. So we figured we had a 5
foot cushion. In, uh, November 2007, I finished this project and I spent
January, February, and March as a new retiree in Arizona. Came back to
Iowa City in time to fight the flood. House was really never lived in. So
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you might say from age 62 to 68 all I've done is work on this house. And
work in this area. At no time was I verbally or in writing ever told that
Taft Speedway was going to be raised. In fact, myself and my neighbors
were told just the opposite. There wouldn't be money for such a project.
So we asked many times, what are you going to do with Taft Speedway,
how far's Taft Speedway going to extend down the Peninsula? And what's
going to happen to Taft Speedway? And we were told over and over again
there wasn't enough money for such a project. In fact some of my
neighbors are not even here this evening, because as they told me, it ain't
going to happen! Because there's not going to be enough money to do it.
And we've been to1d...I, one person's told me, we were promised that it
would only be raised from the church to Dubuque Street. Just to ramp up
to the new elevation of Dubuque Street. Last night the Council agreed in
principal to a new project, and I do emphasize the new project. That came
about last night -the City staff presented this as a new project. It was the
last thing, it was your final project that you had to discuss in that regard.
And it came about because of a new trove of money...that potentially
might be there. Some Council Members say that we were told Taft
Speedway was going to be elevated or raised. We were told just the
opposite! The Council was led to believe Taft Speedway was going to be,
uh, raised anyway. That's not the case. When the church, when Parkview
Church acquired what we call the wetland, swamp, the old Ice House
property, there was some discussion as an option being given that Taft
Speedway would become adead-end...at the Parkview Church property
line, and many of our residents on Taft Speedway didn't object to that
possible option because it would cut down on the flow of traffic through
that area. So...Taft Speedway doesn't have to be elevated, because
Dubuque Street's going to be elevated. Last night the Taft, uh, Speedway
elevation was indicated as saving Parkview Church. But I think we also
know that Parkview is either building or is in the process of going to build
a new church somewhere else. So in reality maybe Parkview will be
University of Iowa property, and I just wonder, you know, are we saving
or protecting Idyllwild as well as protecting potential University of Iowa
property. It was stated in the paper that some of this property was being
purchased to keep developers out, and I just wondered if the Council
would do the same thing if Parkview came available. Would Parkview be
purchased by the City and torn down so that developers didn't develop it?
Or would it be just given to the University of Iowa, uh, for a token. What
effect will the raised Taft Speedway have on the new University of Iowa
boat house? That was built and is being built in Terrell Mill. Will we
have to build a dam, a levee, a dike around the new boat house? Some
Council Members think the residents of our area have just been sitting
around watching the river flow by from our verandas. If you go up and
down Taft Speedway, you will see since 1993 and 2008 there are many
construction projects still ongoing. I'm one of the lucky ones! I moved
back in after 13 months. Many of my neighbors are still reconstructing
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and building. There were 12 homes on this street, and now last night there
was mention maybe there were only eight of us. I do not know of the four
buyouts. I know of one official buyout, one potential buyout. We've been
hard at work after 1993 and after 2008 doing our own flood mitigation
work, at our own expense. Time doesn't allow me to go into all those
things, but you know that from, uh, building permits that some homes
raised, were raised four feet, many homes were raised an entire story. In
1992, the final plan for the Idyllwild subdivision was approved. We had
fought a standard, um, truck stop, two or three attempts at mature student
housing, and finally we lost out to the Idyllwild condominiums. But many
of the residents there were opposed in 1992, to what was going on. Many
of the residents of Taft Speedway predicted that not only would we have
to worry about flooding from the south, but now we had a new direction of
flood that could come from the north.
Bailey: Mr. White, would you begin to conclude your remarks? Please.
White: Sure. In 1993, the area flooded. In 2008, it flooded, and that was really
with the help of the coffer dam and the Park Bridge. In my life time
there's only been one other major flood in that area, and that was in 1947.
So I think we're really doing a lot of work and a lot of concern about an
area, in our case it was never flooded in the house, and that the flood
business you're all so worried about, maybe absent the coffer dam, maybe
a higher Dubuque Street bridge and absent more developments like
Idyllwild, maybe we wouldn't have as much flooding. I know you want
me to conclude, but I do want you to know, it's not just about dollars and
cents. I pay $5,600 a year in taxes to live, excuse me, to own a home that
I don't live in. So, when you talk about the number of people in Idyllwild
and the number of homes in Idyllwild, and the amount of the tax base,
please realize that you're talking to human beings, people that've been in
the area for over...and families for over a hundred years, and that, uh, we
might deserve better than that. Thank you.
Bailey: Thank you, and as you heard last night, we will have opportunity for
public input. This is simply a grant application. The money isn't there
yet, and there will be opportunity during that application period for public
to...to provide input, which we will consider.
White: My only concern on that is, and every organization I've ever been involved
in, once you get the money, once you get the cash cow, it's very difficult
to give it up, and if you receive it, will everyone on the Council be willing
to say we got the money but now we're not going to spend it? And I'm
sure you worry about what the public would think, if that was the case,
and I...even later on if the complexion of the Council changes, those
people will feel obligated to spend that money that was received for such
and such project.
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Bailey: Thank you.
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Seydel: I'm sorry. I'm Carol Seydel, and I'm going to speak on the same issue, but
I will do it as quickly as I can. Um...um, my family, uh, is directly related
to the Englerts through my great-aunt who married Will Englert, and Will
was known as quite an entrepreneur, uh, his father started the Ice
Company on the river and that's why the land was acquired. He also had,
uh, the Parnell home was a, um, tavern and um, stopped at by travelers, so
that whole area had been related to a great history of Iowa City, and I do
not like to think that you're going to absolutely ignore it. I call it...we
have maintained that land...I...we don't live there all the time. It's a
second home, but what I want to make sure you understand is...it's kind of
a shrine, and I don't think that you're looking at it with enough respect to,
uh, realize what we have involved in that. Um, the Idyllwild, as you
know, was a big mistake. I think the Peninsula was another big mistake,
the development up on the hill, and I have eight questions. Number one,
what about fixing, uh, Foster Road, which is the one that should be fixed.
Taft Speedway is...has been, what we were told, never...that it would not
be traveled on. So Foster Road is the important road. Foster Road is
flooded not by the river. It's flooded by seepage from the bottom and it's
flooded by the water that drains off all around that area. Second question I
have is...um, have you consulted a hydrologist? I'm certain you have. He
would tell you about the drainage down into, um, Idyllwild, which will be
behind a dike or levee as you're calling it. Uh, number three...the next
quest is...how much is this dike or levee going to cost, and is it cost-
effective to the amount of money that the Idyllwild concept or subdivision
costs? I mean, they have to balance. You can't put a lot of money in
something that's not going to be worth, uh, being protected, the area being
protected. I also wondered if you're going to fill my property up to a level
with Taft, the new Taft Speedway, which would be only fair, and when
you keep saying that you asked us for a buyout, I told them very much
from the beginning that that property was historical property, it was never
going to be sold. We have taken care of it. My parents worked hard to
take care of it. It always looked like a park. We've done the same thing.
Jim and Marietta, my sister, uh, and I and my husband Lisle have worked
hard to keep it as it is. We have used it for a home for our grandchildren
and children to go to college. They learned how to take care of property
by living in the little house, and that house is historical in itself as it was
the caretaker's cottage at the Country Club. And, um, I just think that I
know that it was just a...an idea to put this forward, but please, consider
that you're not dealing with just, uh, I hate to use a term, but river rats!
We are people that have a very, very conscious and devoted interest in our
property on that land. So, I don't think you're looking at it in quite the
right way. It's probably more important to Iowa City than Idyllwild.
Thank you.
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Bailey: Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak to Council? All right. We'll
move on to Planning and Zoning items.
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ITEM 8. RENEWAL OF A CLASS C LIQUOR LICENSE FOR ETRE LLC
DBA ETC., 118 S. DUBUQUE STREET
a) HEARING
Bailey: This is a hearing, and the hearing is open (bangs gavel), and first we will
hear from the, um, Police Department, and then we will hear from the
establishment.
Hargadine: Good evening, Sam Hargadine with Iowa City Police Department.
Sergeant Troy Kelsay, um, is there....going to take one at a time? Is there
a particular.. .
Bailey: We're...we're discussing Etc. Item 7, or Item 8.
Hargadine: Etc., the reason we're here is, uh, it's my understanding you received a
briefing last night on the guidelines that I have and the things that we look
at for renewals of liquor license. Uh, when we looked at the statistics for
the Etc. bar license, they had been checked 50 times. It's a correction from
92. 50 times, and there had been 69 PAULA violations within their
establishment. That sets a PAULA, a citation rate of 1.38 per visit. Based
on that, I'm mandated to recommend a denial. They have other issues, as
well. The things that we looked at were 14 different instances of under-19
being in the premise, uh, being on the premises. There's 18 public
intoxication, uh, arrests, as well. Those go I think hand-in-hand with the
PAULA rate in that there are, it's...it's clear that there are underage people
in there, uh, drinking alcohol. Um, if you have any specific questions
of...of me or Sergeant, uh, Kelsay, we'd be happy to answer that.
Kelsay: I'd just like to note that I did review, and you should have all the
documents, uh, that I (mumbled) again, the summary page is correct
(mumbled)
Bailey: Sergeant Kelsay, I think you need to move closer to the microphone.
Kelsay: I'm sorry, thank you. Uh, on the...the very first line of the, uh, summary
report, that's the one that's the master document, uh, the PAULA, the
number of PAULA is correct. The PAULA per visit number is correct,
uh, but I failed to change the 92. That actually goes with the other one.
That should be, uh, as indicated 50 bar checks.
Bailey: Okay, any questions for the Chief or Sergeant Kelsay?
Wilburn: Um, Chief, uh, could you comment on...um, the level of cooperation
surrounding, um, the compliance checks and/or any other factors
concerning the, um, the fights that, uh, have happened on the premises at,
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um, a prior, uh, establishment's liquor license (mumbled) you had some
comments related to that establishment trying to work with the
Department, making efforts, uh, that way and that was part of a factor that
Council may have considered in, uh, there wasn't a full renewal of the
license, but there was a partial renewal, so can you elaborate on that
please?
Hargadine: LJh, prior to the evening, um, I've not meet with that particular
establishment at all. I think there has been some dialog with Sergeant
Kelsay, and I'll let him speak to that.
Kelsay: I have meet with one of the owners, uh, George Etre, who is here tonight,
uh, we sat down particularly after the review, uh, and went through and
discussed the numbers, uh, that was actually prior to this application.
What's indicated on here under level of cooperation, if you note, it says
low to medium. In the guidelines, uh, given to me, uh, dated February 4th,
is, uh, from Council, there were some specific criteria towards cooperation
and they're bulleted right there. Uh, high attendance at TIPS training, fake
ID's turned over to the Police Department, timely response to requests, uh,
calls for assistance before a situation gets out of hand. George Etre has
maintained a dialog with me at various times throughout the operation of
the business, whenever there has been issues, uh, we don't always
necessarily share the same perspective, but he has maintained open dialog,
and I've found him easy to work with. They have not turned any fake ID's.
There was a procedure established for that where they would go through
the Clerk of Courts, or I'm sorry, the City Clerk's office and they would
issue a receipt for them. That doesn't necessarily mean they weren't
collected. I don't know. There's some very...uh, formalized guidelines
were put out and so that it wouldn't be an objective...I'm sorry. It
wouldn't be object or subject...
Bailey: Objective.
Kelsay: Yeah, it would be objective, uh, and I just haven't received those
(mumbled). I...I believe that he makes an effort, uh, to do business, but I
have...I have my numbers right here that reflect what business they're
doing.
Correia: It shows on here that...that there haven't been any employees attend TIPS
training in the last year.
Kelsay: That is correct. LJh...there are, there are other training programs. The
TIPS that I count are TIPS that are trained by our, the Iowa City Police
Department's trainer, uh, Officer Al Mebus. That decision was made back
when staff was discussing this, so that Police Department, we would have
some feel for the rigor of the program, and no, they have not attended any
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TIPS training during this particular review period. Uh, the other numbers,
again, the Chief pointed out the under-19. There's 14. You know, that's
somewhat concerning. I think that parallels the number of PAULAs that
are written. They do not have necessarily an overly high degree of violent
incidents associated with their bar, as compared to some of the other bars,
particularly the other bars downtown.
Wilburn: And TIPS is, um, participation in the TIPS training is, um, not a new
criteria that is under consideration. That's something that the Councils
have looked at since there has been a more, um, assertive attempt by
Councils past, uh, the past eight years, is that not correct, that.. .
Kelsay: Correct.
Wilburn: And do you have any, uh, well, I don't recall if Mr. Etre has owned any
other bars, but um, maybe that's not something we can consider, um...
Kelsay: Most of these criteria have existed in some fashion, as part of our review
process. It just became very formalized so that it was the same on paper.
Uh, I have in the past, although not in the past 12 months, I have been
invited in on more than one occasion to provide staff training, not...not
specific to TIPS training, but uh, George Etre did have me in to do some
staff training at times in the past, but again, that fell outside of this review.
Wilburn: Right, okay, thank you.
Bailey: Any other questions?
Hayek: I may have some, but I'd like to hear from (mumbled) establishment first.
Bailey: So, let's hear from the establishment next. I'd also like to ask those of you
who are back by the back door not to block the exits, please, um...thank
you. We like...we try to comply with our own fire codes.
Ballard: Good evening. I'm Steve Ballard. I'm a lawyer with the Leff Law Firm
here in town. Uh, George Etre is here and will speak but I want to address
the Council first, if I may. Um, I'd like...I think pick up where...where
Sergeant Kelsay left off. The TIPS certifications, as you...I'm sure are
aware, are good for three years. And I have here and I'll hand to the Clerk,
uh, seven certifications of...seven of the nine, uh, sometimes ten, uh,
bartenders at Etc. have unexpired certifications, showing that they have
completed TIPS training. It's...I'm sure accurate, based upon these
documents that they didn't complete the TIPS training in the past 12
months, but that's because they...the TIPS certification hasn't expired. So,
it's um, I don't want the Council to be misled by looking at that zero
number. On behalf of Etc. bar, uh, ladies and gentlemen, we request that
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the...the Council consider and view...renew the liquor license application.
It's really hard for me not to get into a lot of minutia and some of the
details surrounding some of the numbers. Um, and I'm going to try to
resist that, but I think that some things need to be addressed and said, and
so I will address those, uh, after Mr. Etre has an opportunity to, uh, to
address the Council, if (mumbled) proceed in that fashion. Um, but there
are three things I guess I want to say, um, more than anything. First off,
uh, you know, when I was in law school, first semester criminal law,
Professor Baldus talked to us about something called the principle of
legality, which is the notion that a law, to be effective, to be just, has to be
clear, ascertainable, and prospective only. Um, as I understand the
Council's uh, action, the Council adopted a resolution in February that
instructs the Police Department, post-July 1, to look back 12 months and
make recommendations based upon data, uh, compiled from the conduct
that occurred some in...in the case of a bar that remains in July...conduct
that occurred 5 to 7 months before the Council took the action, telling the
Chief to make that recommendation, telling the bar community, you
better...you better buck up. Um, so it's a little bit post (mumbled) and um,
in my...in my mind as a matter of fairness, the Council should give
particular consideration to the PAULA incidents that relate to Etc. bar,
after the time that the Council took the action in February to say, okay,
from here on out there's a new sheriff in town -things are going to be
different, and I think that Sergeant Kelsay has a document that is within
hundreds of a...of a point (mumbled) calculated our numbers just slightly
different, but I'm going to hand this to you if I may (away from mic) I took
the numbers, the...the PAULA, the PAULA citations and the number of
visits from the published data on the...the Police Department's web site,
and I drew a line, I mean, I...I included the entire review period, and it
does show, uh, the 69 citations for 50 visits, but I drew a line on February
10, which is when I understand the Council adopted the resolution that
gave the directive to the Chief, uh, requiring a recommendation against
approval, if the PAULA rate exceeded, uh, 1.0. And...and it's pretty
simple math with one little footnote that I...I do want to explain. But
since the time that the Council took this action in February, since that
time...uh, Etc.'s PAULA rate is 1.05, okay? There were, um, 21, I'm
sorry, yeah, 21 visits, I believe, and 18 citations. Um, that's still over .1 or
1.0, but it's pretty close. tJh, my asterisk is...is I hope explained in the
footnote, but...I couldn't tell from the data exactly when there were visits
that did not result in a citation. I mean, I could count the number of visits
in February that resulted in citations because I had the dates and the
citations. But, there were three other visits that I couldn't quite place, and
so I assumed probably two of them came after February 10, and one of'em
maybe came before, just because the 10th is about a third of the way
through the month. I conferred with Sergeant Kelsay before the meeting,
and my assumption is correct. So...so the numbers in front of you, in the
document that I prepared and just handed to you, are accurate. So,
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my...my first long-winded point is is that...that if you look only at the
PAULA rate of Etc. bar after the time that this Council said to its Police
Chief and to the bar owners in the city, we're going to start, uh, holding
you accountable in a different way for PAULA citations, uh, it's very, very
close to a standard where I think the...Etc.'s application for renewal would
have been part of the Consent Calendar and not part of a special hearing.
The second item I would mention is, if you look at the same sheet, um, the
trend, uh...the trend of PAULA citations issued to Etc. bar (mumbled) the
trend is going down. So, um, you know, George Etre, other members of
the staff at Etc. have tried to take, uh, account of...of PAULA and they've
tried to take it seriously, and if you look at their incidents of PAULA, um,
you can see that it's decreased...so, the third item I would mention by way
of requesting that the City Council renew the application is that, and
I...I'm going to step aside then and let George speak to you directly, that's
probably more important than...more interesting to you anyway, but um,
but George will tell you that it's difficult. It's difficult to police PAULA in
a city...in a city where, uh, 19, 20-year-olds are allowed in the bar, but
obviously not allowed to drink, and um, and that he's not...he's not here,
you know, seeking a soft shoulder to cry on, but what he's here to say is
that he's...he believes as a bar owner and as a responsible business person
in this community, that it's difficult enough, uh, to police that, uh, as a
owner, but he's going to voluntarily become a 21-bar....now, and so on
those bases, that post-February incidences is really abut 1.0, that the trend
is downward and thirdly that George is going to make his bar a 21-only
bar, uh, we would request that the City...City Council renew his liquor
license. As I've said, I'd like to step aside and let George the Council. I
do have a couple of final points I'd like to make.
Etre: Good evening. So, I am George Etre and I own Etc. and I also own
Takinami, which is a restaurant downtown, and I also own Iowa City
Fitness, which is a health club in the Plaza Towers, so I have deep roots in
Iowa City, so I'll make this short, cause I know you have a lot of people
that want to talk, but I want to express to you how difficult it is as a bar
owner to control PAULAs, and I feel that we, and I personally do, as well
a job as I can do. Now we don't do everything perfect, and I'm sure there's
some steps we can take to do better, but I don't feel comfortable telling
you to extend my liquor license for six months or a year or however long,
knowing that I have to get PAULAs under 1.0 because there's so many
variables involved in the PAULA that are out of my hands, that I can't
control. Um, so it would be easier and if the rules are in order to have a
liquor license you need to have over...under 1.0, for me it would be easier
to just be a 21-bar, not deal with 19 and 20-year-olds, not have to worry
about PAULAs and...and so on and so forth. Now, I can't speak for every
other bar our size, and I've been here for six years, and I own other
businesses, so a lot of those variables are my (mumbled) in others, but
we...we really do try, and everybody I've asked from Kelsay to other
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members in the community - what...is there any secret or any steps I can
do to reduce my PAULAs, and no one can really come up with a formula
of what I can do to reduce'em. Um, and I would love to hear if you have
any suggestions, and I'd love to answer any of your questions, but it's...it's
not like serving a minor, which...which we really, really buckle down on,
um, and there's a lot of other variables that are involved, and if 19 and 20-
year-olds are in my bar, I just don't feel comfortable coming before you
and saying, hey, give me a year and then next year I'm going to deal with
it and the year after that I'm going to deal with it, and then it's going to be
a .S or it's going to be .9, it's going to be at 1.2 and then we're going to
keep going back and forth. I...I have a lot of other projects I want to work
on, and I don't really want to spend all my time arguing about PAULAs
and this and that. Um, the other things about TIPS is, if you talk to Kelsay
or Mebus, I don't think he's here, I...I consider myself pretty straight
forward when it comes to TIl'S class. Almost all of my staff...is TIPS
certified. Now none of them are in the past 12 years (months) it's because
that TIPS card lasts them three years. So they don't go every year. Um,
but I want to make sure that you know that I take TIPS very important,
and also the PAULAs and when we knew that, in February, that the
PAULAs were going down, you know, we took steps to try to reduce that,
and I'm sure there are things we can do to reduce it, but if the fate of my
liquor license is based on this 1.O...I don't think there's a hidden formula
or any excess thing I could do to make sure I could sleep at night knowing
that my PAULAs aren't going to go down. I mean, we can take steps and
we can check ID's harder and we can go around and take drinks away and
all those sound good on paper, but on a Friday and Saturday night, those
are very, very hard to...to enforce. So, I'm up if you...anybody has any
questions.
Bailey: Questions for Mr. Etre?
Hayek: Mr. Etre, um, you indicated that...that in February when this was enacted,
you started taking steps to...to, more aggressively address PAULA within
your establishment. Can you tell us what you've done.. .
Etre: Well, I didn't...I didn't really, I mean, there wasn't like a thing that...that
we did, I mean, it was...obviously our number one concern is not
serving...sales to minors. That's...that's, from when I first took over, that
was the big thing that we really, really, caution is not...is not serving
minors. Um, and that's what I concentrate 110% on. Once we knew this
PAULA thing had went into effect, there wasn't any more steps that we
took. We were just a little more, um, we just paid more attention to when
the police came in and we paid more attention to what we could do as a
staff. Now obviously in February it's a lot slower for us. Um, our busiest
times are August, September, October, November with the football
season. So it was easier in...in February and March and April to send
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a... a monitor or a door guy to go around and take drinks away and do
things like that. We've always done that, um, we just, instead of doing it
two times a night or three times a night, we did it five times a night, six
times a night.
Hayek: I mean, other than doing more of what you were already doing, can you
identify anything new that you did?
Etre: There wasn't....there wasn't anything, I mean, we just...we really just tried
to limit how many minors were coming in so we would charge more cover
or certain nights we wouldn't let them in or...or things like that, which is
leading up to now and not even let 'em in at all.
Hayek: What did you do, um, with respect to under, uh, to minors you let in, or
under 21 that you let in once they were in the door?
Etre: We...we...
Hayek: Did your practice change after...after February?
Etre: Yeah, what we usually do is give 'em minor wristband. We have a legal
wristband (mumbled) well, now in February we gave 'em a big X too, so
they had an X and a wristband. So it was clear for whoever, because a lot
of times they'll take those wristbands off. So, if a guy was going around
and, or if I noticed someone was drinking and had the big X, it was easier
for me to see from far away or from a group of people who was what and
who should be drinking and who shouldn't be drinking. And then we
escort 'em out and that leads to altercations when you tell someone that
they can't be in there, and then we call the police and then it comes up on
our police calls and then here we are again!
Wright: I've got a question for you, um, is January a pretty slow month for you?
Etre: Um, January is a pretty slow month for us. I'm trying to think of this
January if we had anything going on. A lot of it has to do with, like we
have a lot of private parties, um, January's when the kids are gone so we'll
have like a lot of private parties or social events or things like that, and I
can't think off the top of my head what we had going on January, but
typically if you look at the past six years, January is a little slower, but I
can't guarantee that this January...I can't think off the top of my head.
Wright: I was just looking at, you had...in this past January when we actually were
talking about the PAULA ordinance, you had 22 PAULAs. Um, and I'm
just curious why you might have so many PAULAs in a slow month.
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Etre: I...I don't know. I don't...I don't know if that particular month, this year,
was slow. Thinking off the top of my head I don't know. PAULA, or
January's usually in the past have been slow, um, but I don't know a thing
off the top of my head of this January if we had a party or this, that. It
also depends on...on visits, and if they come in how many people they
write tickets to. I mean, there's so many variables that...that, I mean, and
to write tickets for someone who has a drink next to 'em or has a drink in
their hand or there's a drink here. So it really just depends on the police
and when they come in and how many, I mean, who they want to write. If
we have 19 and 20-year-olds there.
Champion: I think it's interesting that you use the excuse that you can't always tell if
somebody's a minor, and yet the police can walk in there and give 22
tickets in February, or January. Um, you know, it's...it is up to you as a
bar owner to police who's drinking in your bar. This has been a constant
problem since I've been on the Council. I was promised by all the bar
owners in town that they have monitors that control minors drinking. It's
not happening! So to me when you tell me you can't recognize a minor
that's drinking, I think you don't have enough staff.
Etre: Right. I can recognize a minor drinking, but I can't watch every single
minor in there, and see if they're at a table that has a beer next to 'em, or if
they have the beer in their hand or they're holding the beer for the
bathroom, I mean, I can't...I can't be everywhere at once. That's why I
don't even want to deal with 19 and 20-year-olds because...I mean,
we...we can do, we do a pretty good job, and we probably could do a
better job, but to eliminate PAULAs altogether I just don't...
Champion: There are lots of bars that don't have over 1. Lots of bars, that don't have
over a 1....1 PAULA, more than one PAULA per visit. So...
Wright: The majority.
Champion: ...the majority of'em do not have that.
Etre: With the majority of bars that have the same amount of visits that I have
from the Police?
Champion: Oh, I...I don't have that list in front of me.
Etre: Well, I think...it's...
Champion: I think the more visits you have the more careful you'd be. You would
have less PAULAs.
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Etre: But the more visits I have the more chances I would have of PAULA
because it's the more chance they're going to write a ticket.
Champion: It's PAULA per visit.
Etre: Right. But if they're in there more and more and more, then they're going
to write more and more tickets.
Bailey: Anything else for Mr. Etre?
Wilburn: Uh, just a, I'm sorry, is it Mr. Etre?
Etre: Etre.
Wilburn: (mumbled) and um...um, just to be clear, I think you misspoke earlier.
Uh, your employees in the past 12 months, not 12 years, have, um, been
through the...
Etre: Yeah (both talking)
Wilburn: ...because of the (mumbled) requirement before. IJh, there are a couple
other, uh, items, and I'm not sure...your face looks familiar. I'm not sure
how many years you, uh, had a license on your own or been affiliated with
other.. .
Etre: For six years I've had Etc., and I also had Sky Box, um, which I actually
closed when I bought Takinami, because I knew I wouldn't be up there,
and I didn't feel comfortable having a liquor license without me being up
there. So in the past 12, 18 months I've had three liquor license.
Wilburn: Okay. So you've been around, uh, while the Council's had various
discussions on measures to try and, uh, both increase penalties for minors
who are choosing to break the law by drinking.
Etre: Correct.
Wilburn: Um, where we've added the components where, uh, there were, uh,
sanctions against the liquor license holder, and do you recall PAULA
being parts of those discussions, uh, where PAULA was before...it was
against the law before and.. .
Etre: I always have thought PAULAs were important. I have.
Wilburn: And um...I...I just want to hear a little bit more. Council Member Hayek
talked about some of the measures that...that you've tried, and you've said
that you're not aware of any (mumbled) open to, but uh, you mentioned a
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wristband. That's one system that historically different bars have talked
about having in place. You mentioned a monitor, um.. .
Etre: The other big thing we did was, we really went away from the drink
specials. Um, which it's going to get a lot more older crowd in there, if it's
not...not just 21, but 22, 23, 24, grad students, so stuff like that. So we
kind of tried to change our clientele a little bit and not, you know, we used
to have DJ's that would come in and play music. So we'd have a lot of
underage come in that would dance and do things like that, which led to
problems because their friends were buying 'em drinks, so we stopped
doing that. So different steps like that. And...and staffing, like she said,
staffing's a big deal, but it's easier to staff, you know, in February than it is
on Michigan State or Ohio State game when everybody's go the tickets
and the game.
Wilburn: Okay. What about, uh, ID's. There's opportunity, a process, for uh, have
you collected ID's?
Etre: We have. I have collected ID's.
Wilburn: What have you done with...
Etre: To be absolutely honest with you, I was never in the loop that we were
supposed to bring the ID's down here.
Wilburn: So what do you do with the ID's?
Etre: We usually just cut'em in half and throw'em away.
Wilburn: Okay. Um...
Etre: Cause...the more I tend to leave 'em around, the more they tend to
disappear also, so I mean if L ..if every Friday morning I came here and
every Saturday morning I came here, but if I put 'em in the office or I lock
'em up or whatever, eventually, unfortunately one or two.. .
O'Donnell: Where do they go?
Etre: I don't know. That's why I just cut 'em up as soon as I get 'em.
Wilburn: Um, I think just a...just a comment, and then maybe, I don't know if Mr.
Ballard wants to, uh, speak more (mumbled) other questions for, uh, for
um, our (mumbled) or the Chief, but um, it's interesting that, uh, Steve had
pointed out the trend is downward, but still over...over 1, um, it's
admirable that you're willing to "become a 21-bar" but um, that's really,
uh, I guess my comment's about that. That's really nothing that, um, I
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mean, that doesn't...whether you voluntarily chose to do that or not, it's
still City ordinance that a 19 and 21-year-old can...can be in there, and so
you...you're still faced with the position whether you let them.:.whether
you say you're 21 or not, that um, it's really something voluntary. There's
no additional sanctions that the City would do, uh, PAULA is still a
PAULA and there would still be compliance checks, and if you, uh, if
granted, um...um, if the Council, um, even if the Council were to not give
you your license and you would have a period of time with the State
to...to appeal that, um, you know, it's still, um, I guess, um, it's on...it's on
you to really, um, to...it's the risk that you take in the business that you've
chosen to...to be in. So it's just a comment about the, again, it's admirable
that you're willing to be 21, but...
Etre: One small thing I do want to point out, you...I would like you guys to also
take into consideration how many of those people who had PAULAs also
got a ticket for a fake or altered ID. Because a lot of those people who are
getting PAULAs are coming in the bar with a fake ID, and then when the
cop goes up to 'em or whatever, they show 'em their real ID and say it was
my fake ID and yeah, we've been trying to do a better job with the door
guys recognizing fake ID's but I'm telling you, they're getting good, and
they're very hard for us to see, and Officer Kelsay can probably spot one
better than my door guy or than I can, but we're trying, but a lot of those
people who are getting PAULAs, not all of'em, but a percentage of those
people who are getting PAULAs also have a fake ID, which is double hard
for me to watch because then they have the legal wristband so then it's
very hard for me to find out who's not and.. .
Wilburn: And, you know, I guess there's one other question, and maybe you or
Steve would want to think about this and comment after we hear from law
enforcement or Councilors have any other questions, uh, I don't want to
put words in your mouth. I want to make sure I understood...understand.
You said, uh, if 1.0 is the standard, um, that essentially you're saying
you're not going to be in compliance...I want, again, can you just clarify
that. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Because you're....you're
asking for us to make an exception to something that we put it after
reviewing what, uh, some of the experiences of some other bars are in
terms of that rate.
Etre: Right. Me personally, and I can't speak for any other bar, me
personally...if it's 1.0 there's so many variables involved that I can't
guarantee to you. I can tell you that we'll try our hardest to keep it below
zero or below 1, but it's not something that I can guarantee and I can stop
myself...from, from these PAULAs, and the reason I could go 21 would
be so that I wouldn't have 20 and 19-year-olds in the bar, which would
greatly decrease the number of underage people, which would greatly
decrease my PAULAs, and if...if this comes down to my...a liquor
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license, it's not something I want to leave up to chance or to other
variables that I don't have as much control on as I do on...on some other
things. So I'd feel a lot more comfortable, I guess is the word, applying
for a liquor license every year because I've been here for six years. I live
here. I own properties here. I plan on being here for a long time. So I'd
feel a lot more comfortable, and I don't want to deal with this next year
and I don't want to deal with it the year after, I mean, if these are the rules
in order to play the game, I would feel a lot more comfortable if we were a
21-year-old bar.
Wilburn: And if you're comfortable at 21, um, did you institute this already? Did
you do it (both talking)
Etre: We're actually closed. Right now...we've been closed all summer. And
that's because I own so many other businesses that I usually don't, I'm not
open, um, if I can't be there. So I usually close for the summer, and then
close for parts of January, and close for parts of December and whatever,
but as soon as we do open, um, that's...
Bailey: Even with the challenges of spotting fake ID's, you think 21 is a better
position for you?
Etre: For me personally.
Bailey: But you've stated there's a huge challenge in spotting fake ID's, so I
mean...
Etre: There's a huge challenge in spotting fake ID's, but that's something we can
work with the police, we can work with the police on.. .
Bailey: Are you going to get a scanner? I mean, there are ID scanners that...that,
you know, help your door people verify if...if it's an actual ID, I mean, to
what measures are you going to take to actually be a 21-bar, or is this
something that you're, I mean...
Etre: Well, do the other 21-bars have scanners? I mean, how do they...
Bailey: I don't know. I'm not in the bar business.
Etre: I mean, I could get scanners and I could...I could, we could work with the
police and we can train our kids the best we can do it. And, I don't think
we'll have a zero, I mean, I hope we have a zero PAULA, but there might
be somebody that sneaks in and gets in, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable
and there'd be a lot less chance of us having underage people drinking
if...if we didn't let underage people in. As best as we could, I mean,
we...I can't control everything, like fake ID's and this, that. I can do the
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best I can do, but I, you know, I can't be at the door, you know, myself.
could, but even I'm not the smartest person in the world and I'm sure I'd
make a mistake and (mumbled). These steps I think would greatly
decrease the amount of PAULAs that we get and.. .
Wright: Why didn't you (mumbled) possibilities before now?
Etre: Because...the reason we let underage people in the bar usually is because
we have these parties and we charge 'em cover to come in, because they
can't buy drinks. So financially this would probably be a little bit of a step
back forme. Um, but seeing the big picture wise, and trying to be, build
my roots in the community and try to be here for a while, I think in the
long run it will pay off, cause I, unfortunately whether I agree with it or
not, I believe that the City's slowly going towards 21. I mean, it's
just...I've been here long enough to realize that.
Wilburn: You had asked if some of the other establishments, uh, use scanning
technology, and I recall as part of several conversations the Council's had,
uh, with the owners over the last four years or so, there have been some
who said they would look into it, some talked about the cost, some...but
uh some said they would be willing, some said they would be willing, but
they didn't want to do it if the City was going to go 21, but no one, to my
knowledge, has yet gone to it, but it's still a choice and an option that's
available.
Etre: And it's an option that we'll...we'll look into, but unfortunately as soon as
the young adults find out that they're scanning it, they're going to find
another way to do it (mumbled) do it another way, I mean, it'll reduce
things, correct, and so wi1121, and I'm all for steps to reduce and...but
you've got to understand the variable out there is...is, it's a tough, it's a
tough beast to tame. We're going to try our hardest to take the proper
steps and...and scanning is what it takes, then scanning is what it takes, I
mean, I don't think a $400 scanner or $100 scanner is going to make or
break my thing, and if it helps prevent PAULAs in my bar, then I will take
those steps necessary.
Bailey: Any other questions? Mr. Ballard, did you have some other comments?
With apologies to Council, we're going to hear from Mr. Ballard, and then
I need to take a little bit of a break.
Ballard: Um, the...picking up on one item that George mentioned, the data that
were submitted by, uh, by the Police Department show that of the 69
PAULAs that were issued in the last 12 months, 10 of them were
(mumbled) fake ID's. And the, you know, you can look at the same data
that I looked at, it's the same as that that came from the Police
Department. And uh, I believe that, um, six of those were after the
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February one date, it's either four or six, which would further reduce
that...that rate. I'll close by just saying a few things. The...the resolution
that was adopted, as I understand it, it wasn't an ordinance. It didn't go t
through three readings. It went through one reading. I don't believe it was
published, at least it wasn't required to be. There was, at least the minutes
of the Council, I wasn't at the meeting February 10, but the minutes of the
Council show that somebody stood up and said, hey, can you put the
brakes on so we can have bar owners and restaurant owners can have a
little time to react to this, and the Council said, no, we're going to adopt
this, and...and that's the Council's prerogative. All I'm saying is...is that,
if this...this is a coercive ordinance, and I don't mean that in a pejorative
way. The Council has the clear prerogative of, in fact a responsibility to
try to encourage good behavior. I think that you'll see by comments from,
uh, Etc. tonight and probably another, uh, license holder or two that...that
resolution is having an effect. I think that people are hearing you and
trying to react, and what I'm saying is, don't punish a licensee who
happens to have purchased a business in July and therefore has a renewal
time in July, and therefore is judged by conduct that occurred five to seven
months before the February resolution when you're not going to hold a bar
that purchased the business in February to the same standard, and if I'm
not clear, I want to be. A bar that's going to renew in February 2010 will
have had 12 months notice of the resolution that says if you're .1...1.0 or
greater, uh, the Chief of Police has to recommend non-approval. Right?
A bar that's up for renewal in July, such as Etc., um, is going to be judged
on seven months of conduct that occurred before the Council ever said,
we're going to make the Chief recommend against renewal, if your over
1.0. Does that not make sense? (both talking)
Wright: The law only matters when the City is carrying a big stick, is that what I'm
hearing?
Bailey: That's what I'm hearing as well.
Ballard: Absolutely not!
Bailey: That's my question.
Ballard: Absolutely not! The law matters...the law matters and should be observed
at every turn.
Bailey: Right, so you only take PAULAs seriously when it factors into a license
renewal.
Ballard: Not in the slightest! That's not my point, and if I've misstated it, let me try
to be clear.
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Bailey: Okay, restate then, because that's exactly what I have heard.
Ballard: There must have been a reason...there must have been a reason that this
Council took action in February. This Council must have thought (both
talking) I'm sorry?
Wright: Because nobody was taking PAULAs seriously.
Ballard: Then this Council must have thought perhaps the law as it exists isn't
enough. This Council must have thought something more was needed
because I'm assuming this Council wouldn't have taken the action of
adopting a resolution as a...as a superfluous matter. The Council thought
this will help, okay? It doesn't mean that the law shouldn't have been
abided by and followed before, at all! But the Council leading the City
said, we're going to put an extra layer, we're going to put something extra
there to encourage licensees to, um, to abide by this law, to do what...and
of course it's not the licensees that aren't abiding by the law. It's patrons,
but the Council has said, well, we want you as the people who are serving
those patrons and letting those patrons in, we want you to get a little more
active, or a lot more active, or however you want to describe it, but the
point is, the Council took the action in February and it's not as though in
October of 08 it wasn't illegal to have a PAULA, and it's not as though if a
bar owner had a PAULA in October of 07 it might not have been a factor
that the Council could have and would have considered, but the Council
made it very clear that things were going to change, effective February of
08, or by resolution February of 09 I should say, to be effective July of 09,
and all I'm saying is that a bar owner that renews after the first of next
year is going to have had 12 months of notice of that, and they just don't
sit in the same city, the same footing, as a bar owner who's renewing
tonight. It's not that the bar owner tonight didn't know in October of 08
that PAULA was illegal; it's that the bar owner tonight can't do anything,
and couldn't have in February, to change what happened last fall, but a bar
owner that renews in March of 2010 will have had every opportunity,
every one of those months to take corrective action and try to do
something about it. That was my point.
Champion: Well, it's too bad the bar owners didn't take advantage of the fact that it
was illegal to have PAULAs, uh, and do something before the Council had
to do something about it. And this is what bothers me about the whole
situation is bar owners. They're not going to blame me if they lose their
license!
O'Donnell: I...I've been very supportive of under-21 in bars, uh, for entertainment,
and I expected and I still do expect the bar owner to police their business.
There are many bars downtown that have not...not violated it to this
extent, and I think this...what happened in February was this Council's
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way of saying: enough! You know, we...we are going to do something
about this and um, I think that it's very appropriate that we're having this
discussion.
Ballard: I don't disagree in any respect, Mr. O'Donnell, and my only point is, let the
bar owner that's here tonight be treated the same as the bar owner's going
to be here in February of 2010. Let (both talking)
Champion: ...totally ineffective.
Ballard: I'm sorry?
Champion: Then the law will be totally ineffective. LTh, this also...quite a few public
intoxes on this bar, uh, that means that they're not even observing that
their people are being over-served. It's pretty easy to tell people that are
drunk. I.. .
Ballard: As I said, in the condensement of my remarks, it's hard for me not to get
into some of the minutia of the data that have been presented to the
Council, but I don't...I don't want to, I don't want to get bogged down in
that. I went and looked at the first five public intoxes that are listed, okay?
Two of them were in the Clerk's storage area so I couldn't get to 'em, or I
should say one of 'em, I think four of'em, and I have 'em in my hands and
you can look at 'em. According to the complaints that were filed to the
Johnson County Clerk of Court, they didn't have anything to do with the
Etc. bar. They don't have Etc. bar's address on them. Marcus Adams was
cited at 100 S. Dubuque Street. That's not the address of Etc. bar. He was
cited at 2:18 for public intoxication. If this fellow was sitting in Etc. bar at
20 after 2:00 in the morning, drunk, I have a feeling there'd be a citation
and a charge that would be more than just a public intox. This guy was in
the Ped Mall. Um...I don't want to go through all of these but...but I'll be
happy to provide 'em if you haven't had a chance to look at 'em. I think
some of the data are...are...unintentionally misleading in some ways. The
calls for service, if you look at fights in progress, two of them were
resolved by, um, by what the police use as a code to say 'the tow' -towing
a car -was completed. Two of'em were found to be of, uh, there wasn't
anybody there. One of'em was resolved. One of'em was in fact a fight in
the bar. The other one, again, I've got the document right here, was a fight
in the Ped Mall. It had nothing to do with Etc. bar.
Champion: Well, I'm not going to judge a bar for calling the police because there's a
fight. That's...they should call the police!
Ballard: I would think!
Champion: Well, that's not...
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Ballard: Yeah, but my point is, we...we talk about these intox charges, I don't
know how these, I mean, I don't have to tell this Council. I certainly don't
have to tell you, Miss Champion, the nature of the Ped Mall, what it looks
like, but there's a lot of people out there and...and I'm, the police always,
in my experience as a lawyer, write down some sort of an address when
they issue some sort of a citation. And uh, and some of these citations
don't even have the Etc. address, but others of them...I'm, I'm confident,
I've seen, have the Etc. address, but they were just in the Ped Mall.
There's nothing to tie them to anything that was happening at Etc. They
just happen to be in that location. In any event, uh, ladies and gentlemen,
we request that...that you, uh, approve the liquor license of Etc. bar. As
I've said, the trend is downward since...since the Council took action in
February. Etc. bar is very, very close to 1.0, uh, within five-hundredths of,
uh...uh, five-hundredths of a point. And as Mr. Etre has said, uh,
voluntarily he intends to make his bar a 21-bar, which as he said should
help. It may not cure everything, but it certainly should help, and we think
that given his record in the community, he's deserving of an opportunity to
have his license renewed, so he can show the Council, uh, what he's able
to do. Thank you for your time.
Bailey: Are there any questions for Mr. Ballard before we take a break?
Dilkes: I think Sergeant Kelsay is...may have something additional to say.
Wilburn: I actually have.. .
Dilkes: You have some questions?
Wilburn: Yeah, yeah. (mumbled) law enforcement, yeah.
Bailey: (unable to hear person away from mic) Yes, please. All right. We'll
come back at 8:20 (several talking). You had some comments.
Kelsay: Yes, if I could make a few comments and I'll be glad to answer any
questions.
Bailey: Thank you.
Kelsay: LTh, one of the last things that Mr. Ballard made, one of the points he
made, was that calls for service associated or arrests associated with Etc.,
in this particular instance, might not actually have occurred in the
premises. That is true, uh, they have to be associated with that physical
address somehow. He is pulling out...the example he gave is a specific
intox arrest that showed 100 S. Dubuque Street, I believe he said. Uh, if
that's all that's available on that charge, then I am confident in saying if I
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go back and dig through records there's going to be an associated charge
that lists Etc., at least that physical address. It still may not have occurred
inside, but it is being landmarked, if you will, to that address. Uh, he's
right. There's always a problem with statistics, and I can only search them
by an address. There's going to be some incidents that occur at, for
instance, Etc.'s that move away from Etc.'s and are never associated with it
because now they're logged as 100 S. Dubuque Street. I mean, those
outliers, if you will, are going to go both ways. The stats themselves, I
believe, are fairly sound and they're consistently applied. Uh, I was
interested...I looked at, for instance, the assault arrests. There were nine
assault arrests plus one domestic assault arrest. We have an officer on
light duty that I asked him to go through those particular arrests and find
out where they occurred, find out if he could make a determination that
they truly had anything to do with Etc.'s. Of those, eight of the assaults,
I'm sorry, not arrests -calls for service. Eight of the assault calls for
service and the one domestic assault call for service, all occurred inside
and/or involved staff from Etc.'s. I mean, there's...there's documentation
of that. Uh, when you look at some of the other ones, fights in progress.
Thirteen of the 21, uh, with five of those occurring inside. Now, the ones
that are outside that staff are involved, is it possible those eight that are
outside that are staff...that are staffer involved or associated with it
somehow might they come out to assist? Certainly that's the case, and I'm
not hanging my hat, Police Department's not hanging their hat on any one
of these statistics. I'm just collecting them and presenting to you for your,
uh, so you can review them. I like as law enforcement...I deal with a lot
of bright lines. Ideal with...with codes and ordinances. It makes it much
easier forme when Council presents a very...a very formatted set of
criteria and says, 'Here's what we want you to review.' Uh, the 1.0
PAULA per visit, that makes it easier for me. I can run the statistics and I
can tell you what the numbers are. He...Mr. Ballard also commented as
to, uh, he broke out Etc.'s stats and I believe he used the past February 10
as a dividing date. My document, or the date on my document for
guidelines to police if February 4, uh, I a1so...I saved, just something that
I'd found on line while doing research, uh, and it's dated February 12. It
happens to be from, uh, Mark Thompson, who's a local attorney, and he
talks about, uh, a new measure that Iowa City Council approved on
February 3rd. LTh, it's very brief, and it talks about how downtown bars
could lose their license and quickly go out of business; therefore, one can
expect greater control by bar owners of underage patrons in their
establishment. Again, he talks about it being approved on February 3rd. I
saved this, both because of that date and also because I felt that that last
summation of his very much mirrored what I took away from staff
discussion, uh, back when this was being formatted. The Etc. numbers
that I have, if I break out their 12-month review period, the January, I'm
sorry. July 17, 2008 to February 3, 2009 - so before the new guidelines
were adopted, uh, 44 PAULA from 27 bar checks. ilh, 1.629 PAULA per
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visit. From February 4 to July 16, the end of the review period, 25
PAULA from 23 bar checks, fora 1.086 PAULA per visit. Uh, both Mr.
Ballard and Mr. Etre are absolutely correct. There has been a reduction,
but that 1.0826 is over the bright line that Council has given Police
Department to review. There was also comments towards...alluding to or
flat out stating that, uh, it was difficult, uh, impossible, I can't guarantee
that we could...that we could operate as a 18, you know, allowing
underage persons into the bar. I have, I maintain a PAULA report, you all
receive copies of it. The latest numbers through June, I don't believe, have
yet been distributed to Council. Understand when I do liquor license
reviews I look at a rolling 12-month period and this June data is only for
the first six months of this year, but still it's a...indicator, if you will.
When I look at this, of 110 places with liquor license, and again,
appreciate that many of those are restaurants not bars, but of 110 places
with liquor license for on-premise consumption, seven bars would fail to
meet your criteria. They have 18 or more bar checks and they have a
PAULA rate of greater than 1. One of those bars, uh, the 808 Restaurant
and Nightclub, they actually...their review was just after July 1st. Their
number on this is 1.043. When I looked back at that rolling 12-month
period, they happen to come in just below the 1.0 rate. So there are six
bars...that are at jeopardy, that need to do something to fix their numbers.
Etc.'s is one of those six. The other bar that we'll talk about tonight is
another one of those, but you have, uh, you have bar...you have PAULA
rates indicated on this report as high as...as 1.95, uh, you know,
that's...there's avery select few bars that struggle with this. Some bars do
a very good job, uh, I...I agree with the sentiment expressed that it'd be
possible to find an underage drinker just about anywhere at any bar in
Iowa City, but not with the frequency and with the ease that...that at least
seven of these bars indicate. The final thing that I wanted to point
out...uh, maybe I have it here and maybe I don't. Well, that's good
enough. I'11...I'll entertain...
Bailey: Okay, any questions?
Correia: The TIPS training, that is for any bar employee who serves alcohol. So
for bartenders, as well as wait staff, anybody who.. .
Kelsay: Correct. Anybody can attend, but typically those are the persons that it
would be useful for. Uh, Mr. Etre, Mr. Ballard are absolutely right. The
TIPS certificate is good for three years before it expires, and again, the
review period that I look at is for 12 months. That's especially going to
become apparent in some of the other bars (both talking)
Correia: I guess I just have a...um, a question for Mr. Etre that relates to that. So,
uh, at Etc., are bartenders the only staff that deliver or hand drinks to
patrons?
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Etre: Bartenders and waitresses.
Correia: Okay. So I mean...
Etre: We actually have, and I don't have all my cards, but we actually have our
door guys and our bar backs, who don't actually serve but clean and make
drinks for the waitresses get TIPS certified.
Correia: Okay, but currently you have seven certified staff.
Etre: Currently we have seven certified staff.
Correia: And what's...what's the size of your staff? How many folks are on it,
Friday or Saturday night, working?
Etre: As of right now we would have seven.
Correia: Seven people serve...seven people working, the whole bar?
Etre: Serving drinks.
Correia: Okay, so waitresses...
Etre: We would have four bartenders and we'd have three waitresses.
Correia: Okay, and so all of those seven are always working?
Etre: As of now they're the only seven we have. Like when we hire new ones,
everybody we hire new has to go through TIPS certification, yadda, yadda,
yadda, so we have a very small staff because we have a very small bar.
Occupancy's 178, compared to some of the other bars, so we don't
need...we don't have two floors. We don't need ten bartenders and so on
and so forth. And the ones we have are the ones that I trust and so they
work as much as possible, and we're only open for the majority of the year
Thursday, Fridays, Saturdays, so that the shifts that they work, they're not
working a Monday night so we don't need that much, that many of the
staff. Any other questions?
Hayek: Sergeant, um, can...do you, or does the Chief, have any personal
knowledge of what Etc. did from February to now to address PAULA,
within their...within that establishment?
Kelsay: I do not, uh, again...as...as Mr. Etre explained, their hours of operation or
days of operation are...are different than many of the other bars, but prior
to probably the end of last month, uh, early this month, I hadn't had any
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contact that I can recall with Mr. Etre yet in 2009. Is that right? That's
correct.
Hayek: I assume that also applies to anybody else at...at that establishment, you
haven't been in touch with anyone else at Etc. and be familiar with what
they may or may not be doing post-February?
Kelsay: No. There was...there was an event, if you will, uh...oh, what was the
date of that? I have it in my report. There was a service, uh, on a party
that they had been having or a special function. I'm sorry, it was February
15, so it was this year. Uh, I was thinking it was last fall. Where...a
student organization had made arrangements with...with Etc.'s, and
correct me please if I'm wrong, George. Had made arrangements with
Etc.'s to host a function there, and part of the...what the student group was
doing was, basically, serving an unlimited amount of drinks, or from the
Police Department's perspective, for a fixed price. They can't do that, uh,
Police Department did check to verify that that was happening and when it
appeared to be happening to us, we...we dealt with it. We, uh, Mr. Etre
was there. He usually is, uh, Mr. Etre was the one the Police Department
and the officers charged. LTh, that did go to trial and there was a direct
verdict, which means that after prosecution presented evidence, uh, the
judge said, the magistrate in this case said, you know what, Mr. Etre
wasn't the appropriate person to charge here. The appropriate person to
charge would have been the actual server, and he commented as to...as to
based on what prosecution the City had presented, that there was a
violation. There was only half the evidence ever presented, because it was
a direct verdict. I mean, the defense never got (mumbled) but because of
that, Mr. Etre and I did have some conversation, uh, and I believe, and you
can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that they do any sort of
those specials any more. So, uh, it isn't that there's no communication, and
when there is either a need for communication perceived by police, or on
Mr. Etre's part, I think we do a pretty good job of communicating, uh, for
what it's worth.
Hayek: Thank you.
Bailey: Any other questions for Sergeant Kelsay?
Wilburn: How does, uh, Mr. Etre had uh, Council Members pointed out that is a
rate, but how does the number of visits to, how did the number of visits
compare, uh, to some of the other establishments?
Kelsay: May I just pick and choose as I go down here?
Wilburn: Sure.
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Kelsay: This is, again I, when I do liquor license reviews, it's a rolling 12-month
period, and it varies from bar to bar, so I'm just going to look at the first
six months for instance of this year. Uh, the 808 Nightclub has had 23
visits, uh, the American Legion 20. I'm sorry, not the American Legion.
The Airliner, uh, Brothers has had 44, Caliente 21, uh, Etc.'s 32, Field
House 48, One Eyed Jakes 21, Los Cocos 78, Pints 28, Sports Column 35,
Summit 40, Union 39. The only comment I would make there is, uh, most
of these bars with the higher rate that we're talking about as far as visits do
tend to be downtown (coughing, unable to hear) most of these bars, or
many of these bars, also allow 19 and 20-year-olds, and Los Cocos is the
exception, uh...police go there for other issues, but that...they're by far the
outlying bar with the most police visits.
Wilburn: Thank you.
Bailey: Any other questions?
Dilkes: Before Sergeant Kelsay leaves, um, because we've had discussions about
the PAULA rates, pre the February 10th guidelines, and post the February
10th guidelines, I just wanted to remind you that as you know the
guidelines were revised, um, and adopted on February 10th. There really
was not a whole lot of change, other...in those guidelines, other than
making it an automatic recommendation for denial. But there was a
PAULA rate in the earlier guidelines, which was 1.5.
Kelsay: That is correct. Under the other guidelines that...that the pre-existing
guidelines, I mean, PAULA is, as has been pointed out by Council,
PAULA is illegal regardless of what the guidelines are and regardless of
whether you're a 21-only bar. Prior to the new guidelines presented, uh,
Police Department operated under at...at your direction a 1.5 PAULA per
visit guideline, and then that was one of many factors to be considered. It
wasn't, uh, it wasn't a bright line that if you exceed this, then you shall not
renew, or shall not approve.
Wilburn: And there are...it's still one of several guidelines. It's, as you said, more
formalized. There's a checklist that you go through and...
Kelsay: Correct. The language, the PAULA rates came down and it went from
being one of many factors to be considered to it's still one of many factors
to be considered. A denial from Police Department maybe issued with a
rate less than 1, if some of those other red flags are present. Uh, if you're
above 1 (mumbled) and it's in this case Council's directed Police
Department to deny.
Bailey: Any other questions? Okay. Thanks.
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Kelsay: Thank you.
Bailey: Yes, of course (unable to hear person away from mic)
Ballard: During the break, I'm sorry....during the break there was discussion about
questions from Council about enforcing, uh, a voluntary policy of being a
21-only bar, um, if...if it's, if that's an issue, then we need to defer action
on the present action, the present application, to work out some agreement
from an enforcement standpoint of being a 21-only establishment. Uh,
Etc.'s certainly willing to do that.
Wright: That's not an issue.
Bailey: Does anybody need to take that into consideration?
Wilburn: Well, I guess I....I was just acknowledging that it's admirable that he's
willing to do that, but it's...it's still, uh, whether...whether he were to do
that or any liquor license holder were to do that, um, they can say that and
then there may be a special event where they...they relax it and 19 year
olds get in or 20 year olds get in, so it's...it's purely voluntary.
Ballard: Well, that was my point, Mr. Wilburn. It's purely voluntary in the sense
that Etc. has said that as of today it's going to do that. My point is that it
can be made other than purely voluntary by agreement (both talking)
Wilburn: Is that possible?
Ballard: Between the applicant and the...
Dilkes: I...I think what Mr. Ballard is suggesting is that you would, or his
proposal, is that you would defer action on this license until mid-August,
and in the meantime, uh, he and my office and the Police Department
would work out an agreement with respect to the specifics of it being a,
uh, 21-bar. Um, and through things like signage, enforcement, that kind
of thing.
Wilburn: So there would be potentially sanctions, if a (both talking)
Dilkes: Well, their license, their continued holding of their license would be
contingent on that, and you could for instance do a six-month license,
um...
Wilburn: With the understanding that (both talking)
Dilkes: With the understanding that those conditions would be met. But, but we
can't work that out tonight. We would have to have a deferral.
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Ballard: And that was my point, saying if that enforcement tool or mechanism is
important to the Council, Etc.'s certainly, um, willing to request that the
Council defer action on the present application, so that those details can be
worked out. That was my point.
Wilburn: Okay, thank you.
Bailey: Thank you. Um, certainly. (unable to hear person away from mic)
Kelsay: Uh, Mr. Ballard mentioned that some of the calls for service were cleared
"tow completed." If it's cleared with an X, disposition that's handled. If
it's cleared with a Y that means completed. They're basically the same
thing. It isn't specific to tows, although the disposition that the, the key
that I gave Mr. Ballard does indicate that, but clearing a call for service on
the plaza with a Y is an appropriate way to clear it and it's completed.
Bailey: Oh, okay, thank you. Um, this hearing is certainly open to the public, but
we would like you to limit your comments to your direct experience with
the establishment being discussed. Um, so if there are members of the
public who would wish to comment specifically on their experience with
this particular establishment, Etc., um, we'd be happy to hear from you.
Shipley: Uh, yes, my name is Jeff Shipley. I'm the Student Liaison. I just had a
really quick comment. Um, that if you do deny this liquor license
application, it's very likely the business will go out of...the business will
fail and all the employees will be, you know, forced out of work. And
then with the recent zoning change that, uh, no new bar or liquor license
will be granted, and so I think having a piece of real estate just sit there,
empty with you know no businesses or entrepreneurs being able to make
anything of it would be much more damaging to the community than, you
know, a dozen or so PAULAs. Thank you.
Bailey: Anybody else wishing to comment with...about direct experience with
Etc. bar? Not the philosophical underpinnings of this...of this resolution
(laughter), not about drinking. I mean, we can have those discussions
another time. I'm sure we will, but.. .
Dilkes: Yeah, and L ..I think.. .
Bailey: It really is a hearing about this item at hand, and I just want to be specific
and respectful of the people waiting for other items on the agenda. Okay,
I mean...all right. Any other questions or comments that you need
addressed before we close this hearing? All right. So this hearing is
closed (bangs gavel). We need a, um, a motion.
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b) CONSIDER A MOTION TO DENY IN ACCORDANCE WITH
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Wright: I would move that the (mumbled) uphold the Chiefs...
Bailey: Consider a motion to (mumbled) is how...how we have it in the agenda.
Wright: ...staff recommendation.
Bailey: Okay. Moved by Wright.
Champion: Second.
Bailey: Seconded by Champion. Discussion among Council Members?
Wilburn: Uh, just a process, um, and I'm...I'm mulling over this, uh, idea or concept
of a...uh, an agreement related to 21, and asix-month license.
Champion: Well, except that the owner said he couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be
any PAULAs then either.
Wilburn: Well, my question is for...for Eleanor, just in terms of, just so I can think
about this. Um...if Council denies this, and this is again clarification for
myself and for the public, um, there is...a 30-day appeal. They'd still
retain their license. They can still.. .
Dilkes: They, if they...if they appeal within that period of time they retain their
license through the appeal process.
Wilburn: I (both talking)
Bailey: And they appeal to the State.
Dilkes: Appeal to the Alcoholic Beverages Division of the State, and thereafter
there is an appeal, um, to the District Court.
Wilburn: Okay. So we could deny here and in the end they could end up with their
license and no sanction, or they could end up with...
Dilkes: Correct.
Wilburn: ...uh, they could be sustained or it could be overruled.
Dilkes: Right.
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Wilburn: Okay.
Bailey: Any other discussion among Council? Did you get...
Correia: Well, the thing about, I appreciate the strategy, um, that Mr. Etre is
proposing for his business to be able to be in compliance with the current,
with our current policies, um, however, we don't have a special way of
looking at bars with our liquor licenses, with our liquor license review
process. It's, we have these...we have these considerations. We get the
data. Certainly there's no guarantee that you would not have high PAULA
rates, even if you had a 21 bar. Um, so I don't...I don't know that that, for
me, at this juncture is a compelling reason to, um, put this on hold.
Wright: I...I agree with your comment (mumbled). This is not, Etc.'s not a
particularly large bar, as Mr. Etre has pointed out. Um...there's been a
consistent problem with enforcement by a lot, uh, and I'm not...I'm not
convinced that until, uh, the boom was being lowered that this was being
particularly seriously as a problem and I'm not entirely...uh, convinced
that even with the 21-only that that would take care of the, uh, issue.
Hayek: I'm, uh, I'm not going to support this motion for this applicant, um, it's true
the guidelines we established with, uh, in February require the Chief to
recommend denial if you're above the bright line rule, um, we did not
impose that standard on ourselves. It remains acase-by-case basis, subject
to the discretion of the Council. Um, from my perspective the underlining
intent of what we did in February was to address a problem and to get bars
to wake up and police themselves better. And I think we should
recognize, uh, where possible bars that are making efforts and showing
results, and um, it's not a slamdunk, but I think on balancing in the last six
months, Etc. is doing a better job, and I...it's true their PAULA rate is
trending downward. It's not quite where it should be, but uh, it's...it's in
the right direction. Um, I would combine that with the totality of the
other, uh, information the Police Department provided us in terms of calls
for service and arrests, uh, which suggests that, uh, those numbers while
not perfect, uh, aren't bad, uh, relative to other establishments, and uh,
thirdly, the...the efforts albeit a little weak, there are some efforts since
February of 09 to...to address this situation. Um, I think the...the totality
of those things suggests that it's a little premature with this applicant
to...to deny a liquor license. Um, I would support asix-month renewal.
Whether we're looking at 21, uh, agreement on that, haven't thought much
about, um, and I agree with Amy. I'm not sure it's the elixir. If it were
we...we, you know, this Council could take action on that, um, but uh, I
would suggest asix-month license renewal, uh, there's plenty of room for
improvement, um, but I think they're moving in the right direction, um, it's
unfortunate that we're hearing that they can't guarantee they can get under
1.0. Uh, they're headed in that direction and it is a fact that many, many
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bars, uh, are under 1.0, um, and even ones, uh, that are considerably bigger
than this applicant, so um, I expect them to be under a 1.0. (several
talking)
Wright: But the statistics are actually what...really cuts it as far as I'm concerned.
That there are so many bars that are larger that have a lower rate.
Hayek: And I...I appreciate that.
Wilburn: Um, and clearly, I mean, my experiences with this and several of our
experiences with this on the Council over the years is, um, is trying to get
that better compliance, and like you, Connie, haven't seen, um, results.
The reason that I was asking, I understand that they...if they can't control
a PAULA rate, but what was intriguing about some type of agreement
would be if they did have a...a PAULA, they lose their license. That
would be part of the agreement. Uh, and again, I know we can't work that
out, but...it, that's my understanding of what was being suggested, that, I
mean, if they have any PAULA rate, if any 19 or 20-year-old is in that,
presence there in violation of a potential agreement with the Council, and
so um, the reason I was thinking about that is because...uh, if we deny,
there's still the potential that, uh, the State may, uh, reverse that and then
there's essentially no sanction. Um, but this might be a way to have some
type of impact that, again, if they were in violation and it was again, um,
so that's kind of....I was just, an intriguing notion to me. So...am I
interpreting what, that potential agreement...
Dilkes: I'm not sure the agreement would be...I'm not sure it would be any
PAULA, um, I think that would probably be too (laughter) draconian
but...but I, but yes, I think the...the idea was that you would reach an
agreement whereby there were measurable things put in place that would
exclude people under 21 from being at that bar. Um, and that if those
measurable were not complied with that there would not be a renewal in
six months.
Bailey: Further comments?
Wilburn: I guess, uh, in hearing that then, I mean, in my mind the measure would be
zero, and if, again, because this has been, uh, has not met the standard.
Yes, the trend has been down, but it's not met the standard, but if that
agreement could be zero then, um, I would be interested in that flexibility.
So...
Bailey: Well, we've been discussing alcohol since I've been on Council, and we've
given direction to staff about a bright line and um, we have two tools to
deal with alcohol in this community. We have land use and we have
enforcement. I think we leave the rest to other institutions. And, I hope
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that this Council begins to take its enforcement and the direction that it
provides to staff, I hope that it begins to take it a little bit more seriously,
and um, it's very clear. We decided on this right. They're trending
downward. That's great. Good. Continue to do so. Go 21. Do what you
can, but it concerns me when a responsible business owner stands at the
podium and says that they cannot control this, when others in our
community, what...we have 110 liquor licenses out there? Other
establishments do. There might not be a magic bullet, but some...some
people are finding a way to do this, and I hope that you find a way to do
this. I mean, you brought up your other establishment, and I've noticed
that it is also receiving PAULAs, and that's concerning to me, as well.
And...so I'm very supportive of denying this, um, and...and complying
with the recommendation from our...our Police Department. This is what
we've asked them to do. They've done it. They've brought it to us, and it's
time for us to step up and, uh, and be serious about this, so I'll be
supporting this.
Wilburn: And if, um, and if denied by the Council...if a majority supports this
denial, uh, those measures can still be implemented while they are going
through the (both talking)
Bailey: Absolutely! I would hope that they would take every measure possible
to...to bring this, I mean, to continue that downward trend. Um, I'm
certain it's good for their business and I think it's good for our community,
but enough, as Connie has said, is enough. Any other comments,
discussion? Okay. All those in favor of a motion to deny this, um, liquor
license say aye. Those opposed say nay. Okay, motion carries 6 to 1,
Hayek voting in the negative.
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ITEM 9. RENEWAL OF A CLASS C LIQUOR LICENSE FOR IOWA CITY
FIELD HOUSE CO. INC. DBA THE FIELD HOUSE, 111 E.
COLLEGE STREET.
a) HEARING
Bailey: This is a hearing, and the hearing is open (bangs gavel). We will first hear
from our Police Department.
Hargadine: Likewise, the uh, Field House bar has been checked 92 times and...during
those 92 checks we've had 143 violations. That triggers a PAULA rate of
1.55 per visit. Um, additionally they have other factors to consider - 64
public intoxication arrests, 28 different assault or disorderly conduct,
fighting arrests, and nine different, uh, charges for obstruction or
interference or assault on an officer. Um, we also checked out their, um,
their PAULA rate prior to the February rule and um, they were not in very
good standing prior to, but since the rule went into effect in February it is
gotten significantly worse. Um, that point if you have specific questions
need to ask of me, or Sergeant Kelsay...
Champion: I'm sorry, Sam, it's gotten worse or better?
Hargadine: Significantly worse (mumbled)
Champion: Oh, thank you.
Karr: Madame Mayor. I...I apologize, I should have had a motion to accept
correspondence from Attorney Ballard (several talking)
Wilburn: Move to accept correspondence.
Bailey: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by O'Donnell. All those in favor say aye.
Those opposed same sign. Motion carries.
Karr: Thank you.
Bailey: All right. So, um, questions or...yes, Sergeant, go ahead.
Kelsay: Uh, especially given that this is falling right on the heels of Etc.'s, I want
to make sure that they aren't an apple to apple comparison. Just appreciate
that the Field House has a...a capacity of 420. Etc.'s has a capacity of
178. That said, when we did the review, uh, the Field House certainly had
some issues outside of PAULA also. Uh, the PAULA I think speaks for
itself as far as underage consumption issues. Overconsumption would be
the public intox arrests, uh, the public intox offenses, and there were 64
charges of public intox during the 12-month review period. Physically
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violent behavior by patrons, again, this doesn't necessarily mean staff, but
the patrons are in there and whether it's overconsumption, uh, whatever
the issue is, it's occurring in the bar itself, or associated with the bar itself,
uh, out with subjects, 65 calls for service. There's some sort of negative
behavior there. Fight in progress 21, uh, so some sort of violent behavior,
and...and apparent...I don't know how much of it staff has been able to
address, but certainly some of it is beyond their ability to address. If it's
just because of sheer numbers or because they're busy dealing with other
things, but these numbers wouldn't be appearing here if that wasn't an
issue.
Bailey: Okay. Any questions for the Chief or Sergeant Kelsay?
Wright: I'd like to wait until we've heard from the...
Bailey: All right. So can we hear from the establishment, the Field House? Thank
you.
Adam: Mayor, Council, uh, my name is Matthew Adam. I'm an attorney with
Simmons, Perrine, uh, Moyer, Bergman in Coralville. I represent the
Field House, uh, with me tonight are their principal owners Dave Carry
and Joe Denny, um, and their manager Rafe Mateer. Um, in addition to
the Field House, my clients have owned approximately 14 bars over the
last 12 years. They've owned the Field House for about six years now.
Um, in that time, they've never had a liquor license denial. They've never
had a suspension. They've never had revocation. None of their staff
members have ever been convicted of any, um, liquor control law
violations, um, violated a rule of the Alcohol Division, nor uh, a
municipality, including this municipality. Um, the Field House, uh, would
like to address some of the, uh, factors that the...that the Police have
indicated, specifically the PAULA, but I'm going to hold off on that
because that seems to be the factor that Council right now is giving the
most weight. Um, the Field House goes to great lengths to prohibit and
prevent underage drinking, consumption, and possession in its premises.
I'd like to take a moment to explain to the Council some of the factors,
some of the things, the policies and procedures that the Field House has in
place, and has been in place, uh, for some time now. Um, first before
selling any alcoholic beverage to any patron, they check for proper
identification. They have a scanner. They've been using the scanner, but
I'll tell you what -the scanner doesn't always work. When it's a real ID,
it's just a different person that looks just like the person on that ID, the
scanner won't pick that up. So it becomes a judgment call...between, for
the staff. All these staff members are TIPS trained, with the exception of
two recent hires. Every staff member that serves alcohol, uh, waiters and
bartenders, are TIP trained. Um, I'm not sure if that showed up in the
report that you received from Officer Kelsay or not. There was an updated
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report done mid-week, after the initial one was filed, so I just want to
make sure that that was in the...the initial report reported that no one was
TIP trained.
Bailey: We have 23.
Adam: Okay, good.
Bailey: Is that the full, besides the recent hires?
Adam: Yes.
Bailey: Okay, we have the number 23.
Adam: Thank you.
Bailey: LJh-huh.
Adam: Um (mumbled) going back to the wristband thing, no individual's served
without a wristband. If an individual is caught in the bar drinking without
a wristband they're immediately removed. They have individuals they've
hired to walk through the bar to self-police this issue. They don't want
people drinking in their bars underage, and they've tried very hard to keep
them out. Um...in fact, the Field House has an incentive program to their
bouncers and to their staff. The incentive program provides them $5.00
for every fake ID that they catch. Within the last two weeks the Field
House, I believe, has turned over to the City, and they have a receipt for
approximately 930-some fake ID's that they've turned over to the City
Clerk. That's an astounding amount of fake ID's. Pardon me?
Wright: In two weeks?
Adam: In the last two weeks they've turned those over. Those have been
collected since sometime last November.
Bailey: Oh, okay!
Adam: In addition to those other fake, those fake ID's, they have approximately
1,800 other ones that they've either handed to officers or destroyed. At
times, the officers won't take them to the City Clerk's. Sometimes they'll
just throw them away. But the manager can report, Rafe would be happy
to step up to answer any questions about how that works, but got about
another 1,800 fake ID's that they destroyed themselves. That's almost
2,700 fake ID's in one year that they've caught. That, put another way, is
27 PAULAs that they've prevented at the bar...2,700, excuse me, PAULA
that they've prevented at the bar. Um, unfortunately, uh, these policies
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and procedures sometimes aren't enough. Like the officer stated, some
underage drinkers have been cited with PAULA charges, uh, specifically
143 PAULA citations on 92 visits. Um, so we would like the Council to
take into consideration some other facts when making its decision in
looking at this particular factor. LTh, first, the Field House has
approximately 5,000 customers each week go through its bar. On average
that's over 250,000 customers a year. Uh, the number of PAULA
citations that have been issued, although it's high at 143, that's one-half of
one-tenth of 1% of all the customers that come to the bar. That's a
significant number. Um, second, another one of the factors besides the
PAULAs that was identified was...were the other, uh, the other charges.
The, uh, public intoxications, the assaults, the...the other charges that the
officer identified. Some of this data that, as Mr. Ballard stated, is not
entirely accurate. And, I think needs to be looked at a little bit closer. We
have not granted had enough time in the last five days to look at all 143
charges and the other companion charges that were identified, but I think
when you, what you will see coming from my experience as a defense
attorney that a lot of those charges are companion charges. Charges that
officers wrote to someone who was charged with a PAULA, and then
coupled it up with public intoxication charge. I believe the data would
show that, and I don't believe the Council's had a chance to look at all that
and...and we have not had a chance to review all this data and present it to
the Council, but I think that's what you'll see. Also, what doesn't report is
that when we have a dispute at the bar, it starts to get out of hand, in an
effort to cooperate with the officers and um, call for assistance where
appropriate, which is one of the factors looked at for cooperation, calling
for assistance when appropriate, we'll call the police -they will come -and
then they will write a citation. Inevitably they write a citation. A public
intoxication charge, an assault charge, or a PAULA charge. So on one
hand in an attempt to cooperate with the police officers, we're hanging
ourself because the data, the citation that's written will then be used
against us at a...at a license renewal hearing, such as this one. So, there
are a number of incidents where this has taken place. Again, going to the
fact that the data isn't always accurate and...and maybe somewhat
misleading when taken out of context. Third, uh, the Field House when it
first came to town about six years ago made an effort to contact the Chief
of Police and ask what we could do to better serve this community and be
an out...and upstanding bar. They've always maintained a level of
cooperation with the police officers. Uh, the police often times visit this
particular establishment. Now, what's not clear to me, and it's not been
clear to my clients is what constitutes a visit per this particular PAULA
ordinance. Um, through the testimony that Mr. Mateer can attest to, they
get approximately three visits a day on Thursdays, three visits on Fridays,
and three visits on Saturdays. On average in, throughout the year, they get
six visits a week. Granted in the summer times it's somewhat slow. So it's
six visits a week times 50 weeks, that's over 300 visits, or I'll say contact
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by law enforcement coming into the bar. So, I'm not sure what 93 visits
constitute, or 92 times that the officers have represented that they've come
to this establishment, but it's clear that they've been there way more than
92 times. And by our estimate, well over 300...times they've had contact
with the bar, and every time they come in their law enforcement expertise,
they had the chance to look through the bar and notice for underage
drinkers possessing alcohol, consuming alcohol. Okay? Um, when
looking at that number compared to the number of PAULAs that are
issued, our ratio is under .5 -- not just 1.0. So the question that I have to
the officers is where are the visits, um, documented? Cause we have
testimony that will establish that they're there way more than just the 92
times. Again, this is an effort to cooperate with the police officers. They
often come by, say hello. Sometimes they'll do an inspection. Sometimes
they won't, but the point is that they're there. Um, I want to briefly
summarize by saying the Field House continues to work to prevent
underage drinking. They always have. They're a very large
establishment, uh, this establishment has never, the staff members and the
owners have never been convicted of violating any...any citation. Their
license for renewal has always been upheld, not just for this establishment
- for, but the other, for the other 14 that they own. And I tell you that to
show that these are experienced bar owners working, and they don't seem
to have any issues, or they haven't had any historical problems, uh, their
employees and their owners are of the good moral character that are
required by this Council in looking at renewing their application, and we
hope that you will approve the application, uh, for renewal. I'll take any
questions that Council may have. Thank you.
Bailey: Any questions for Mr. Adam? Go ahead, Matt.
Hayek: No, um, I asked the same question of Etc. in terms of what, if anything's,
been done by the Field House from February through the present that
wasn't being done, or wasn't being done as aggressively prior to that point?
Adam: Well, I'll, again, I'll have Rafe speak to this, if the Council would like, but
through my communications with them, they've hired, uh, three
individuals to police underage drinking. These individuals are not
bouncers. They're not servers. They're going to be dubbed security
personnel and that's their role is to walk through the bar and just try to spot
underage drinkers.
Hayek: Was that done after...in February or...or after February? Do you know?
Adam: That...that, the decision to do that was made circa-May when the
summary came around, because that was when the new policies were
being discussed and how they could better prepare for the fall, get ready
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for the football season. Summertime's a slow time, so this is something
that will go into effect before the students come back.
Bailey: And, can somebody from the establishment speak to the fact that, um, that
after February the PAULA rate has gotten worse instead of better, I
mean...that was surprising to me.
Mateer: I think it's because...
Bailey: Could you introduce yourself, I'm sorry.
Mateer: Oh, sorry. I think it's because we've gotten busier. Our business has gone
up since...
Bailey: Introduce yourself...please.
Mateer: Oh, my name is Rafer Mateer.
Bailey: Okay, thank you. All right.
Mateer: I'm the General Manager at the Field House. Yeah, I think the numbers
went up because we have gotten busier.
Bailey: Since February.
Mateer: Since February.
Bailey: It's...is that a typical trend in your particular establishment, that the spring,
it gets busier in the spring or...
Mateer: No. No, I think it was just our business has gotten busier.
Bailey: Okay. Thank you.
Wilburn: How long have you had the, uh, scanner in...in place, and we understand
that, uh, there's no technology that's perfect but I'm just curious...what, is
that a new thing, is that...
Mateer: No, a couple years.
Wilburn: Last couple years, okay, all right.
Mateer: And we didn't really get it for the fake ID's, because as we said, most fake
ID's are somebody else's ID that they're using. We got it more as, um, to
flag people that we've had problems with in the past, to keep 'em out.
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Wilburn:
Bailey:
O'Donnell:
Bailey:
Hayek:
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Okay, thank you.
Any other questions?
I...I think it's amazing that you've taken 27...uh, 2,700 fake ID's you've
destroyed? I think that's amazing.
Anything else?
I have a question for Sergeant Kelsay.
Bailey: Thank you. Sergeant Kelsay?
Hayek: Can you...you, uh, or the Chief alluded to, um, a worsening of the
PAULA rate from February to present. But can you actually give some
numbers?
Kelsay: I can. I did the same statistical breakdown with the Field House. I used
their 12-month, uh, review period, and I used February 3rd as my cut-off,
so from July 10, 2008 to February 3, 2009 there were 54 PAULA, arising
from 52 bar checks. So a rate of 1.038. From February 4, 2009 through
the end of the 365 days to July 10, 2009 there were 89 PAULA on 40 bar
checks, for a rate of 2.225.
Bailey: And can you talk about what constitutes a visit, the question that was
raised by their attorney?
Kelsay: Yes. Mr. Adam, is it Adam or Adams? Mr. Adam, uh, mentioned that
maybe officers had been there as many as 300 times. LJh, if you look at
the calls for service and how many times that officers have actually been
out at the location, it comes out to be 229 calls for service. iJh, I would
agree with Mr. Adam that there's probably additional times when officers
are on foot patrol and are stopping to...to talk to the door man or...or
maybe even a patron, or go in to use their restroom or get some water.
That it's not being called out, but a bar visit for the sake of the PAULA per
visit stat is when an officer going there specifically to check ID's. He's
calling out, he or she is calling out I will be out at the Field House on a bar
check and they're going table to table, or patron to patron, or their
positioning themselves some place that they're, again, are actively, I mean,
their reason for being there is to look for PAULA.
Bailey: Okay. Any other questions for Sergeant Kelsay?
Kelsay: Could I make a couple comments to (both talking)
Bailey: Oh, absolutely!
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Kelsay: He also talked about companion charges. He's absolutely correct. The
number of arrests, if you will, when I total the arrests...273 arrests, I
wi11...I'm very confident in saying that's not 273 individuals. I want to be
as fair as I can. That's going to represent some smaller number of people,
because often times people...people are going to have multiple charges.
LTh, data used is misleading, you know, I work with stats every day in my
current position, and he is absolutely right. Uh...the stats themselves are
generated and whether he talks about the bar being penalized for calling
once...once a problem arises, the stats are just meant to be indicative, if
you will, or a flag of things to look towards, and if the situation is getting
out of hand often enough with somebody else calling or staff is calling, if
it's getting out of hand often enough then it's getting out of hand often
enough. I mean, I...it's being identified as an issue that police are having
to respond to, too often. Uh, TIPS, I don't think Rafe addressed this. I
expected him to. They have approximately 40 employees, is that correct?
LTh, approximately 40 employees. The 23 represents how many went
through it in the last 12 months. I didn't verify this. I have no reason to
dispute Rafe. He says that of his other 40 employees all but three of them,
I believe, at the time of our last conversation had current TIPS
certification. Again, I don't have any reason to dispute that, and I think
that that might be information that Council would like to hear. Uh...and I
think we've talked about everything else. I was going to bring up the
scanner, but you already did.
Bailey: You indicated a medium level of cooperation with you. Can you speak to
any specifics regarding that or...
Kelsay: Yes.
Bailey: Okay.
Kelsay: The criteria, uh, some of the criteria, the four bulleted points that, uh, were
included in guidelines to the Police Department. Timely response for
requests for improvement made by Police Department, again, when there
is a need for contact, uh...I've always found staff to be...to be friendly and
cooperative. I mean, there isn't...I don't have any issues there. Calls for
assistance where appropriate before a situation gets out of hand, again, I
don't have any issues there. High attendance at TIPS training, they do
participate in our TIPS program. Really the only place they fall down on
the three bulleted points is number of fake ID's turned over to the Police
Department, and even though that became formalized, part of a formalized
process in February, also in the interest of being fair while I'm evaluating
them on that, until earlier this week or last week, whenever it was they
turned them in, there had not been a bar or an establishment in Iowa City
that submitted ID's per those guidelines, and I just...I don't think it's
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something being honest and trying to be fair that...that bars were aware of
the process or...or took the time to become educated on the process, and
I'm not sure where the fault lies there. Uh, part of the reason we
formalized that was so that it wouldn't be, well, I handed a bundle of ID's
to officers one night, or I cut up a bunch. It was too hit and miss as far as
what was being collected, and that's why...that's why a process was put
into place.
Wilburn: Sergeant Kelsay, can you comment on, uh...I just want to make sure,
um...that I understand your message in, uh, this example and the other
example you comment about, uh, the attorney's comments about, uh,
statistics. Within that, uh, can you comment on your efforts to apply the
same standard to be consistent within those, which still result in, um, a
handful of bars being above that threshold and a number, quite a number
being under that threshold. What efforts do you do, uh, in looking at these
to make your computations to be consistent?
Kelsay: You're absolutely right. Uh, the statistics are just a number, but the
same...the same address query, if you will, is run on every bar for calls for
service and for arrests that come up for liquor license review. If there's an
issue...if the numbers are more than I would expect to see relative to, uh,
you know, another large bar in the same general area...it's a flag. It's
something to get my attention and something do I need to look further.
Mr. Adam is exactly right. There isn't anything in any of the background
of any of the people involved in it that I'm concerned with. There's some
statistics that I'm very concerned with, and absent the PAULA rate, we'd
be sitting down at a table and we'd be discussing it, and we...just like
again I'll use Los Cocos as an example, we'd be saying these statistics I
don't like, I don't like what it indicates. Again, they aren't perfect, but
their the same...they're the same imperfect measurement that every bar is
held to, uh, I can also compare them to their own numbers in the past and
we'd be sitting down at a table and we'd be saying, you need to come up
with some...some ideas of how you're going to improve this, before I'm
likely to even consider a renewal. Uh, in this case, the PAULA preempts
that, uh, and I think the statistics...as imperfect as they are go to support
there's an issue there, as indicated by the PAULA.
Wilburn: And also I'm looking in the conclusion, um...uh, variety of issues
including underage consumption, overconsumption, the physically violent
behavior, uh, apparent inability of staff to adequately address the issues,
concerns. Um...um, again, all of these are, um, several attempts to kind of
quantify, um, what's happening at, uh, at this establishment, um, is there
any other comments that you wish to add in terms of, um, it's not level of
cooperation that I'm talking about when I'm talking about just the
problems that are occurring at this establishment with...those, those
criteria.
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Kelsay: You could have a bar with the exact same floor space, uh, and still have a
very different...a very different environment inside, and that's in part why
I pointed out Etc.'s for example, uh, Mr. Etre talked about a current staff
of seven, but additional hires to take place. Again, Field House's current
staff is approximately 40, uh, their bar is...is significantly larger. I believe
that they address many of the issues and resolve many of the issues
without police ever getting involved, but whether it's because of the
volume that they do, uh, the number of people that go through the doors.
Mr. Adam talked about the number of people that are present, the fact that
it's amulti-level establishment in the back, with basically a third level in
the front, uh, and people moving around. While those 40 employees, and I
don't know how you're staffed at any one time may do a very good job of
addressing issues as they're able to, there's still a number of issues that
police are having to get involved and having, and getting called to, uh, and
I, again, I want to be fair. I...I like it when we're out on the Plaza and
we're dealing with something, and whether it's Etc.'s staff or...or it's often
staff that's out there on East College Street comes out and helps, I mean, I
very, very much like that as far as keeping people away, and they are.
They are, there's no flack there, but there's still plenty of issues in their bar
that we're responding to, and despite their best efforts to staff, we're still
getting, whether they're calling us to help with something they can't handle
because an issue has developed in their bar because the people they're
allowing in and the service, or whether somebody else is calling us,
because there's a fight in the back, we're still spending time there and it's
just a less than perfect situation.
Wilburn: Okay. Thank you.
Bailey: Any other questions for Sergeant Kelsay?
Wright: I do have a couple questions for the establishment.
Bailey: Okay.
Kelsay: Thank you.
Bailey: Thank you.
Wright: Um, how many staff do you typically have, uh, on a shift on any particular
night?
Mateer: 24 usually. 24 or 26.
Wright: And, okay, you indicated that you had been...busier the past, over the
winter time through now, um, but you saw your PAULA numbers going
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up. I assume you were aware of this policy change at the City level, so
what...what measures did you take to try to bring that down, and why
didn't they work?
Mateer: Um, well, like he said, we hired three extra people just to walk around and
observe minors drinking and get 'em out of there, um...uh, why they didn't
go down, I guess I don't know. I guess just more people through the
doors, there's more opportunity for minors to, uh, be drinking.
Wright: Do you have any idea how (mumbled) percentage basis how much your
business might have gone up?
Mateer: What's that?
Wright: Any idea, uh, on a percent basis how much your business might have gone
up - 5%, 10%?
Mateer: Um...I'm not exactly positive. Um...I would say maybe between 5 and
10%.
Wright: 5 and 10%.
Mateer: Yeah.
Wright: And you have how many staff?
Mateer: What's that?
Wright: You added how many staff? Sorry, I'm mumbling.
Mateer: Uh, 24.
Wright: No, but you added to your staff this winter to patrol the floor you said.
Mateer: That would be 26.
Champion: Are they there now?
Mateer: Tonight?
Champion: No! Yeah, I mean, are they hired by the bar now, or are they going to be
there in the fall?
Mateer: They're hired by the bar now.
Bailey: Any other questions? (mumbled) Okay, thank you.
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Mateer: Thank you.
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Bailey: All right, once again, this is open to the public. We're asking for
comments that are directly related to direct experience with the bar being
discussed, the Field House bar. Direct experience, not philosophical
comments, which we appreciate, but not (mumbled)
Tallon: My name's Daniel Tallon. I live in Iowa City now. I'm a student at the
University of Iowa. I'm a junior. Uh, prior to the current time I was under
the age of 21, and I just wanted to...that's not the reason I actually came
here, but I just wanted to point out that I've only, um, without admitting
too much, I've..when I was under 21, I utilized the same methods as
everyone else to try to have a good time, and the only two places I've ever
had my ID taken away, um, one was at Etc. and the other one was at Field
House, and one time at Field House I actually had my real ID taken away
because I'd lost a lot of weight, um, and they just, it didn't look like me
and the guy, one of the guys...my roommate works at...works at Field
House, I said hey, that's my roommate. You can go ask him my name.
He's like, I'll do that, but I'm taking it for now. I eventually got a cop. I
showed her my other ID's. I got my ID back, but everyone...everyone
that's my age, or that was under 21, um, they all know that the one place,
one of the places you don't go, there's a couple places that you just don't
go if you have a fake ID, um, so I guess the problem would be if you go in
as a 20-year-old, um, which I also did, and I'd go in with friends when I
was 20 years old and I would go in and, uh, other people buy you drinks
but like I said, my roommate works there as security and he wouldn't even
let me drink there. Uh, even though you know I lived with him at that
time, and he wouldn't...he wouldn't let me drink anywhere near them, and
one time I got in a little argument with somebody and he just told me to
leave. So, it didn't even matter to him that I was his roommate. I couldn't
ever get in with a fake ID there. I wouldn't even try. I mean, or my real
ID got taken away there and it was kind of ridiculous, but I just wanted to
make sure that that was clear to everyone, that they actually do that.
Bailey: Thank you. Anybody else wishing to comment? About direct experience
with the Field House bar.
Lenoch: Hi, my name's Tom Lenoch. I'm an Iowa City resident, um, and I've been
here for 37 years. I currently am not affiliated with the Field House. I
was affiliated with the Field House, with the prior ownership, uh, under
Lou Converse and Dave Moore. And currently I'm running three other
bars here in town. Um, I just had a question and I think this is more for, to
clarify for our own, so I understand how this works with the commentary
that Officer Kelsay made about the visits for, called visits, and um, the...if
they call to visit for a fight or something like that, and they happen to cite
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a PAULA at the same time, and I guess I'm not concerned because the
discussion, is that PAULA considered a visit for the PAULA record, or do
we still get the PAULA, and not considered a visit for the police, as far as
the police go?
Bailey: Eleanor (both talking)
Dilkes: I'd suggest you give, um, Sergeant Kelsay a call and talk to him about that.
Lenoch: Okay. Cause I just...
Bailey: Avery specific (both talking). Yeah.
Lenoch: With that because there's references to things that we're not sure so...
Bailey: Sure, and I think that....she's right, that's the best approach, to make sure
you're clear on it.
Lenoch: Okay.
Bailey: Thank you.
Karr: Tom, for the record your last name?
Lenoch: Lenoch.
Karr: Thank you.
Bailey: Thank you. Anybody else wishing to comment regarding the Field
House? Okay. We will close the hearing (bangs gavel). Do I have a
motion?
b) CONSIDER A MOTION TO DENY IN ACCORDANCE WITH
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Wilburn: Move to deny.
Bailey: A motion by Wilburn.
Wright: Second.
Bailey: Second by Wright. Discussion?
Wilburn: Uh, I just wanted to add another, this is more of a historical piece for the
Council, um, it was pointed out that there have been no, um, denials
of...of license in the past, but I do want to point out to the Council that,
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uh, historically, uh, there have been no criteria specifically related to that
moral character that the State requires, uh, or mentions as a criteria, and a
few years ago Council put in an attempt to quantify that, and that's how,
um, this and a prior...indicators, uh...to help provide some type of guides,
other than, um, you know, the license comes up and there's no criteria to
deny and so uh, it's...I was just saying that that's not necessarily...it's a
factor. It's not necessarily I think an exclusive factor because, again,
Councils in past didn't necessarily have a...uh, objective way to look at
some subjective criteria.
Bailey: Thank you. Further discussion?
Wright: You know, I just have to say that I'm really bothered by the fact that the
number of PAULAs has been going up, during the time...I think it was
pretty clear that the Council was...expecting ahigher level of...of
cooperation and vigilance from the owners of the establishment, and I...I
find that odd...knowing that...that the number of PAULAs was going to
be tied to the renewal of the license.
Bailey: Any other comments?
Hayek: Um, unlike with the previous agenda item, I...I can't classify this as a
borderline case, um, there's not movement in the right direction. There's
not even a status. It's...it's gotten considerably worse in the six months
since the adoption of the policy, the guideline. The rate at this place has
increased between two and two and a half times. Um, which is...which is,
uh, very disturbing. That combined with the other data the Police
Department provided to us, uh, leaves me with little choice but to put this
in motion. It's difficult, but it's not impossible to police an establishment
of this size, other similarly sized, if not larger establishments are doing so
in town, in downtown even. I think the 1.0 standard is both reasonable
and realistic. It's not, um, an impossible, uh, threshold to meet, um, and so
I'll support it.
Bailey: Any other comments? All those in favor of the motion to deny say aye.
Those opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AMENDMENT
TO THE AGREEMENT WITH THE JOINT EMERGENCY
COMMUNICATION CENTER OF JOHNSON COUNTY AND
MIKE SULLIVAN.
O'Donnell: Move the resolution.
Bailey: Moved by O'Donnell.
Hayek: Second.
Bailey: Seconded by Hayek. Discussion?
Wright: I would just like to point out that, uh, that this is a situation where the City
is...is acting as the employer from a contractual basis, but not in terms of
paying the salary.
Bailey: Thank you.
Wright: It was basically doing a favor to Joint Emergency Communications Center
while they're getting their administration, uh, and their operations pulled
together. The City is, uh, acting as the agent, uh, but...but not parting
with any funds, not particular to this salary. That's coming from the
Center.
Bailey: Okay. Further discussion? Okay. Roll call. Okay, item carries 7-0.
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ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RENAMING THE SAND LAKE
RECREATION AREA LOCATED EAST OF THE IOWA RIVER
AT THE SOUTH EDGE OF IOWA CITY AS "TERRY
TRUEBLOOD RECREATION AREA."
Wilburn: Move adoption of the resolution.
O'Donnell: (mumbled)
Bailey: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Champion: Great idea!
O'Donnell: Great man.
Bailey: Okay, roll call. Item carries 7-0.
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ITEM 15. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE JCCOG METRO
BICYCLE MASTER PLAN AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
Wright: Move the resolution.
Bailey: Moved by Wright.
Correia: Second.
Bailey: Seconded by Correia. Discussion? Roll call. Oh!
Wright: (mumbled)
Bailey: No, that's good! I think we all are!
Wilburn: One particular...I, uh, I know the plan contains some of those structural
things and like, uh, some of the sharrows was mentioned earlier tonight,
uh, actually the sharrows themselves are not bike lanes. The sharrow is
just an indicator that there's bike traffic on...on this, but I think this is
great. This is will be helpful in movement towards getting designation as
abicycle-friendly community.
Bailey: And maybe the sharrow discussion needs to fall under that education
component (both talking) yeah. I think you're right. Further discussion?
Okay, roll call.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Wilburn: So moved.
Bailey: Moved by Wilburn.
O'Donnell: Second.
Bailey: Seconded by O'Donnell. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed same
sign. Motion carries.
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ITEM 16. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO SIGN AN APPLICATION FOR I-JOBS GRANT
FUNDS TO MOVE THE NORTH WASTE WATER TREATMENT
PLANT.
Hayek: Move adoption.
Correia: Second.
Bailey: Moved by Hayek, seconded by Correia. Discussion?
Champion: Another great idea.
Bailey: We're full of great ideas tonight apparently! (laughter) Roll call.
Resolution carries 7-0.
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ITEM 18. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK
TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE
CITY OF IOWA CITY/SHERATON HOTEL PEDESTRIAN
WALKWAY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT.
Bailey: The engineer's estimate was $249,500, um, Public Works recommends
awarding this bid to Calacci Construction of Iowa City and their bid was
$237,600.
O'Donnell: Move the resolution.
Hayek: Move the resolution.
Bailey: Moved by O'Donnell, seconded by Hayek. Discussion?
Hayek: Glad to support a local firm.
Bailey: Okay, roll call. (laughter) Resolution carries 7-0 enthusiastically!
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ITEM 26. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Bailey: Let's start with Council Member Wright.
Wright: I'd just like to make a quick reminder (mumbled) the mass move-out time
in Iowa City, that, uh, we have the Rummage in the Ramp program, uh, at
the Chauncey Swan ramp right across the street from City Hall. Be very
happy to accept usable donations of household goods, uh, it's a great way
to make sure your stuff does not go to the landfill, and that uh, you can
count on the proceeds going to some good causes.
Champion: And it's dirt cheap!
Wright: Dirt cheap. We bought a new chair for 5 bucks!
Bailey: Very cheap! Connie? Mike? Ross?
Wilburn: Couple items. Um, one is, uh, just a congratulations to all the
communities that, um, hosted or passed, RAGBRAI passed through and
hope everybody had a pleasant time on RAGBRAI. Uh, it's one of the
lower, it had to be a record low temperature for RAGBRAI. I couldn't
believe it (mumbled). Um, keep your eye out...eye out for some activities
at the State Legislature, um, my understanding is that there maybe attempt
to, um, do some other type of ban on bicycling in certain areas. I think
this is, is it farm (several talking) farm to market roads, um, I think that,
um, while folks have concern, the overall concern is safety for everyone
and something we should be focusing on, and I think our new master plan
is something that will, uh, talk about safety. Uh, the final thing I wanted
to talk about is it's time to be thinking about the Amish harvest tour to cure
cancer, honoring the courage of Seth Bailey, so look on line at
www.cour~eride.org, um, goes to support efforts at the, uh, Holden
Comprehensive Cancer Center here in town, and to encourage people to
get teams and donate and get your bikes, keep your bikes going to
September, September 26th is the ride, and uh, I'll be out there.
Bailey: Great. Matt?
Hayek: Uh, just want to recognize the recent passing of the former Mayor John
McDonald, uh, who was a stalwart in the community and many people in
this room, and throughout the community, know he left us with a lot of
examples about respectful dialog between people of very, very different
political persuasions, um, and the building of consensus generally. He's
got a great family and uh, I know he's missed.
Bailey: Thank you. Okay. Um, tonight we had the ADA proclamation and I'd just
like to recognize there was a celebration last Saturday and it was very well
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organized and a great time and uh, there were a lot of people out, so a nice
job for the ADA celebration, and on Sunday the Governor rode through on
the...on the train, and I'd like to commend the Iowa City Area Chamber
for a really great rally and all their advocacy work for this Amtrak from
Iowa City to Chicago, which we're all very excited about, but the Chamber
has really taken the lead, and if you need more information about that
particular effort, contact the Chamber office or go to their web site, um,
they're very enthusiastic. It's a very competitive process to get the funds,
but we're very hopeful that this, um, route to Chicago, this Amtrak route,
will be a reality in two years. So, that was a great Sunday afternoon!
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