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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 03.aCity of Lakeville Police Department Memorandum To: Mayor and City Council From: Lt. Jason Polinski Copy: City Administrator Deputy Chief Kornmann Date: May 6, 2015 Subject: Tobacco Ordinance – Recommended Changes to Disqualifications for License Approvals and Best Practices Tobacco disqualifiers: The current City Code reads as follows: Denials: The following shall be grounds for denying the issuance or renewal of a license under this section. The following list is not exhaustive or exclusive: 1. The applicant is under the age of eighteen (18) years. 2. The applicant has been convicted within the past five (5) years of a violation of any provisions of this chapter or a violation of a federal, state, or local law, ordinance provision, or other regulation relating to tobacco or tobacco products, or related tobacco devices. 3. The applicant or license holder has had a license to sell tobacco, tobacco products or tobacco related devices revoked within the preceding twelve (12) months of the date of application. 4. The applicant fails to provide any information required on the city license application, or provides false or misleading information. 5. The applicant or license holder has outstanding fines, penalties or property taxes owed to the city. The Police Department has recognized through recent past tobacco license applications that convictions of narcotic and drug paraphernalia possessions are not taken into account for a denial. With the increase in “e-cig” stores coming into the city, it should also be noted that many of the items sold in these establishments are found later by police and are used for illegal narcotic use, for example marijuana pipes, methamphetamine or crack pipes, etc. The Police Department recommends that additional language be added to this section to include convictions of narcotic possession as well as drug paraphernalia possessions. Tobacco Best Practices: The current City Code reads as follows: Best Practices Program: The best practices program is a program offered by the city of Lakeville with the intent to eliminate sales of tobacco to youth. It is a voluntary program offered to tobacco establishments in the city. The program offers incentives to the licensees to undertake certain practices believed to be helpful in avoiding sales to minors. Establishments participating in the best practices program will benefit. Specially trained officers will provide training to participating license holders. The officers provide a training program targeting illegal sales of tobacco to persons under the age of eighteen (18). Participating license holders will also be given the advantage of a different set of presumptive penalties. Those who choose to participate in the program will have the opportunity to enroll any time during their licensure period and at the time of their license renewal. The licensee will indicate in writing to the Lakeville police department their intent to participate. The first four (4) items in the grid are mandatory. The licensee must choose items from the list of electives to equal a total of sixty (60) points. The city will conduct random compliance checks to verify compliance. The Police Department does not have the resources to offer the training as outlined in the code for tobacco selling establishments. We have found that the compliance checks have returned a favorable outcome as well as a strong deterrent in the amount of sales being conducted to minors. The follow statistics show the results of the latest compliance checks: Licensee Date of Violation Offense Fine/Penalty Kwik Trip #343-Glacier Way Oct. 25, 2014 Sale to minor $150.00 Hideaway Tobacco Oct. 25, 2014 Sale to minor $150.00 When you take into account there are currently 31 establishments within the City of Lakeville, in 2014 there were two violations by these establishments, which equates to a 94% success rate. With that being said, the last best practices training session offered to establishments was several years ago. To conclude, the following factors are taken into account for discontinuation of the Best Practices Tobacco Program: • the money and time spent into training officer(s) to be “qualified” to instruct a best practices program • the time spent training business employees, • the turnover rate of sales clerks selling the tobacco products and, • several years gone by without the training offered; These factors show that there is no justification for the continuation of a program that is already producing a 94% success rate. In conclusion, the Police Department recommends the discontinuation of Best Practices for Tobacco Sales. In addition, staff recommends a change in language that reflects a stricter penalty (beyond criminal charging) for a violation of compliance checks, which we have shown serves as the biggest deterrent for not selling tobacco to minors. VIOLATION BEST PRACTICES NOT BEST PRACTICES PROPOSED FIRST $150 $500 plus 3-day suspension $300 SECOND $400 $750 plus 5-day suspension $500 plus 3-day suspension THIRD $750 plus 3-day suspension $1,000 plus 10-day suspension $800 plus 5-day suspension FOURTH $1,000 plus 5-day suspension Revocation Revocation Subsequent violations occurring within a 24-month period