12-8 Alcohol Ordinance Workgroup

City of Tybee Alcohol Ordinance Workgroup 12/08/2020 Shawn Gillen called the meeting to order at 10:04 AM. In Attendance: Shawn Gillen, Robert Bryson, Joel Fobes, Matt Harrell, George Shaw, Jenny Orr, Kathryn Williams, Mary Mc Lemore, Steve Kellam, Lawanna Tsoulos, Paula Crowe, Demery Bishop, Bubba Hughes, Alice Jonsson, Todd Morrison, Anne Delaney. No Dillon Patel. Minutes approved unanimously, with some typos fixed. (Could not tell who was making the motions due to masks and low volume.) Joel Fobes went over data the group requested. Shawn Gillen explained that we will be crafting a statement for each item on list. Work with tourism to tweak advertising? – (KW) Mary – corrals at businesses? SG we may need some more info for some of these Some of the statements brought to the council may be that we don’t recommend Kathryn Williams - Add domestic violence to the list. KW also has concerns about littering Ideas - Can we limit the number of people who come on the island? (Paula?) SG – the list does what we want it to do – concerns will pop up. Jenny Orr – pro liability insurance – do they do auditing? Group likes the idea of knowing who has LLI and who does not. 2. Fill all PD positions – Chief we are down five. SG explained the financial incentives for different certifications and increased pay to become more competitive. We want to do better but it will take time. It has to be sustainable. Jenny Orr is pro paying police more. Let’s try to move higher that 65% percentile when it is financially feasible. Many expressed that they want tourists to bear the payment burden. “Push the financial burden to tourists.” SG – liquor tax already large goes to enforcement. Most money comes from Parking. SG - Did not need to tap into the general fund this year. SG answered and we may already have the dollars. Explained how parking dollars need to be spent and explained how the year went in terms of budgeting. Bubba Hughes – explained how the liquor taxes function. SG explained - 2 officers per 1000 people rule of thumb thing - explained the City’s philosophy about how we hire and who we hire for police Filling Positions – want the City to move higher than 65% percentile to keep officers – the financial burden should be on people who are driving this cost based on the data we are seeing. Visitors need adequate protection as do residents, must have adequate public safety services from the City for all people (?) - the people who drive the cost should pay for it. Group discussed toll bridges. 3. and 4. Go together – police presence on the South End more visible. KW – we may need to rework our intergovernmental agreement with Chatham County so we can have more of their officers during peak season. Demry – asked a question about 4 – building would need to meet certain requirements which will cost money- cost factor. Many in group – use technology as a force multiplier. BH answered – mutual aid agreement - explained how census impacts funding for Tybee – mutual aid stuff plays out there. Use TIMSC old during peak season for video monitoring. – Group likes this idea. Better Training for Servers – anyone who handles alcohol or serves alcohol has to have the Safe Serve Training. Anyone who pours or serves alcohol must have Safe Serve Certification – replace bar card. JF – there is a data base of Safe Server Certifications the PD can use to make sure. JF – we don’t require the background check now – PD and court are separated now - we need the proper code in the computer to create a space for the people who are just getting the check for employment in a bar/restaurant. SG - LLI – a complete survey of the bars. BH – general liability insurance means something different than liquor liability. Group - City should encourage the purchase and provide information with acquisition of alcohol (not liquor) license. KW – one not having it negatively impacts those who do. Couldn’t hear who asked - should we require proof of LLI for anyone with an on-premises only license? Discussion about better communication and whether or not the city has anything to do with it. DUI – require a lot of people power and time JF – the traffic flow can’t be interrupted – you have to check every car – multiple layers to it – two cars on the side of the road with lights on can make people think twice. Road safety checkpoint should be phrasing – JF Night Hawks “Use some form of road safety checkpoint on the busy weekends.” 9. More cameras – SG – who can monitor and use the cameras explained- check tape there are many camera per pole – not 43 locations – there is a cost associated with the whole production – connectivity costs money – Chief is looking at some other cameras. MM asked about positions with the PD. SG – nine new fulltime people – JF – one fulltime per each police shift - CE can go first to a noise complaint. SG – there are also trained in animal control/welfare - we are shifting towards welfare. SG explained. JF explained how Code Enforcement is used. Discussion about staffing strategy. MM – Code Enforcement use to monitor cameras – would that really work. SG – for part of the shift they could monitor. Should we hire people who can monitor cameras – people who are outside the PD? DB – some places are training and hiring civilians. Perhaps we could use an auxiliary – force to help get some people to monitor cameras. SG – volunteer- based approaches are not stable enough. JF - Chatham County Sherrifs Dept does have an auxillary but no one else does. 9- Invest in more and better camera tech and personnel to manage them - cost should go to people driving the cost. 10 – new and creative ways to communicate police services in the City and the example might be the Best of Body Cam Montage. 11 – Electronic Sign and behavior messages – coming on the island – New and better sign boards GDOT signs are hard for us to utilize. 12 – corral definition is specific to a certain business and festival zone is more broad - wrist bands – SG it’s the Pirate Fest model - space issue for corrals - no consensus on making a policy statement on this right now - get more info from other cities. Festival zone – can be brought up again next week. 13 Work with tourism board to market differently – SG we should see if they are already doing. Coordinate with the lodging industry re domestic violence - KW – encourage them to include verbage on website – if you are involved in a domestic violence occurrence you will be kicked out and to lose the money – zero tolerance – statement – you can’t kick out victims – only offenders. Will discuss next week SG. SG - cleaning up litter changes people’s behavior. 13. – culturally (Jenny Orr) we let people bring so much onto the beach in coolers. JF – research cooler rules for beaches in other places vs being allowed to bring a single drink onto the beach. 12:11 meeting adjourned. In between 29th and final meeting we should have a Zoom meeting Group agreed- we also need to ask the PD what they think.