§ 6-35. Presumptive civil penalties.

(a)

Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish a standard by which the city council determines the length of license suspensions and the propriety of revocations, and shall apply to all premises licensed under this chapter. These penalties are presumed to be appropriate for every case; however, the council may deviate in an individual case where the council finds that there exist substantial reasons making it more appropriate to deviate, such as, but not limited to, a licensee's efforts in combination with the state or city to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors. When deviating from these standards, the council will provide written findings that support the penalty selected.

(b)

Presumptive penalties for violations. The minimum penalties for convictions or violations must be presumed as follows (unless specified, numbers below indicate consecutive days' suspension):

	Type of Violation	1st Appearance	2nd Appearance	3rd Appearance	4th Appearance
(1)	Commission of a felony related to the licensed activity	Revocation	NA	NA	NA
(2)	Sale of alcoholic beverages while license is under suspension	Revocation	NA	NA	NA
(3)	Sale of alcoholic beverages to underage person	$500.00	6 days	18 days	Revocation
(4)	Sale of alcoholic beverages to obviously intoxicated person	$500.00	6 days	18 days	Revocation
(5)	After hours sale of alcoholic beverages	$500.00	6 days	18 days	Revocation
(6)	After hours display or consumption of alcoholic beverages	$500.00	6 days	18 days	Revocation
(7)	Refusal to allow city inspectors or police admissions to inspect premises	$500.00 plus 3 days suspension	15 days	Revocation	NA
(8)	Illegal gambling on premises	$500.00	6 days	18 days	Revocation
(9)	Failure to take reasonable steps to stop person from leaving premises with alcoholic beverages	$500.00	6 days	18 days	Revocation
(10)	Sale of intoxicating liquor where only license is for 3.2 percent malt liquor	Revocation	NA	NA	NA

 

The council may impose a three-day suspension for failure to pay the required fine on the first appearance.

(c)

Multiple violations. At a licensee's first appearance before the council, the court must act upon all of the violations that have been alleged in the notice sent to the licensee. The council in that case must consider the presumptive penalty for each violation under the first appearance column in subsection (b) of this section. The occurrence of multiple violations is grounds for deviation from the presumed penalties in the council's discretion.

(d)

Subsequent violations. Violations occurring after the notice of hearing has been mailed, but prior to the hearing, must be treated as a separate violation and dealt with as a second appearance before the council, unless the city administrator and licensee agree in writing to add the violation to the first appearance. The same procedure applies to a second, third or fourth appearance before the council.

(e)

Subsequent appearances. Upon a second, third or fourth appearance before the council by the same licensee, the council must impose the presumptive penalty for the violation or violations giving rise to the subsequent appearance without regard to the particular violation or violations that were the subject of the first or prior appearance. However, the council may consider the amount of time that elapsed between appearances as a basis for deviating from the presumptive penalty imposed by this section.

(f)

Computation of appearances. After the first appearance, a subsequent appearance by the same licensee will be determined as follows:

(1)

If the first appearance was within 18 months of the current violation, the current violation will be treated as a second appearance.

(2)

If a licensee has appeared before the council on two previous occasions, and the current violation occurred within 30 months of the first appearance, the current violation will be treated as a third appearance.

(3)

If a licensee has appeared before the council on three previous occasions, and the current violation occurred within 42 months of the first appearance, the current violation will be treated as a fourth appearance.

(4)

Any appearance not covered by subsections (f)(1), (2), or (3) of this section will be treated as a first appearance.

(g)

Other penalties. Nothing in this chapter shall restrict or limit the authority of the council to suspend the license up to 60 days, revoke the license, or impose a civil fine not to exceed $2,000.00 for each violation, to impose conditions, or impose any combination of the foregoing sanctions, or take any other action in accordance with law; provided that the license holder has been afforded an opportunity for a hearing in the manner provided for in this section.

(Code 1993, § 6-3.06(B); Ord. No. 99-02, § 1, 1-13-1999)