EASTHAMPTON – Members of the Easthampton Healthy Youth Coalition hope to convince the Licensing Board to increase regulation of alcohol sales at bars and restaurants in the city.
Since news of the coalition’s effort surfaced last week, controversy has erupted on social media involving residents concerned that the Licensing Board would approve the proposed regulations submitted by the coalition without public input.
Included in the document are proposals that would require training for all servers of alcohol, regulate outdoor patio areas, control noise levels inside bars, mandate that dress codes be posted outside establishments and several rules around closing times, including prohibiting bartenders from announcing last call.
But Licensing Board Chairman Jason Duda said Monday that any vote to change alcohol serving regulations in Easthampton will come only after a discussion is listed on an agenda, which would give the public a chance to attend the meeting.
Coalition coordinator Ruth Ever said the group aims to start a discussion among community members.
In response to the discussion on social media, Ever and members of the group’s executive board drafted a letter posted online Monday evening. Ever also responded to questions from the Gazette in a series of emails Monday.
“The intent of the coalition is to support the community in examining current regulations and discussing how they may be updated to support our common goal of preventing underage substance abuse,” Ever wrote in an email.
And Ever said the group is not interested in telling musicians how loud to play or bar patrons how to dress.
“From the coalition’s perspective, we care about alcohol sales to minors, consistent enforcement and penalties related to underage sales and quality training for alcohol beverage servers,” she wrote.
The controversy came after Stephen Linsky, chairman of the coalition’s policy committee, spoke at a Licensing Board meeting March 7. He said that he had come to “say hello” and reiterate the coalition’s interest in working with the board to assess the city’s current liquor license regulations.
The group submitted the draft regulations first in June 2014, but no action has since been taken on the document by the board.
At the Monday meeting, Linsky did not go into detail about the particulars of the draft regulations other than saying they are about “uniformity of practice.”
Board member Kelly A. Richey suggested that Linsky’s request be placed on the agenda of an upcoming meeting for a formal discussion. Both Richey and member Raymond Redfern expressed interest in discussing the regulations, but neither offered their opinions on the merits of the proposal. The third member, Duda, was absent.
Duda on Monday said he has not yet reviewed the draft regulations, which he received via email that morning.
The coalition had not yet requested to be placed on the agenda of the board’s next meeting April 4, Duda said.
According to Mayor Karen L. Cadieux, state law dictates that the Licensing Board has autonomy when it comes to implementing liquor license regulations.
The coalition started in 2008 as the Easthampton Prevention Task Force. It is funded by a grant from the federal drug control policy office that is administered by Easthampton Superintendent of Schools Nancy Follansbee. All of its members, besides Ever, work on a voluntary basis, according to the letter posted online, which also said that the group’s mission is to “keep our youth safe from substance abuse and other risky behaviors.”
Those efforts include workshops for parents and their children, talks by medical experts and advertising campaigns surrounding drug and alcohol use. While the coalition does not have any authority in making laws or policies, it may suggest or lobby for changes.
The coalition several years ago hired a consultant to draft a set of model liquor license regulations. The consultant collected input from coalition members, members of the Licensing Board and the Easthampton Police Department, Ever said in an email.
She said she believes those discussions happened in 2013 at Licensing Board meetings. She started working at the coalition in 2014.
After nothing happened to the draft regulations since they were submitted in June 2014, Ever and Linsky spoke during a public hearing at a November City Council meeting. The council was considering voting to ask the state Legislature to issue eight additional liquor licenses to the city. That measure was approved.
Linsky suggested that the council consider consider taking action on the draft regulations before the state issued the additional licenses.
He distributed a copy of the document to each councilor and summarized what he said were the most important parts of the regulations: allowing the Police Department to serve as agents of license enforcement on behalf of the Licensing Board, establishing guidelines for punishing establishments that violate liquor license regulations and guidelines for outdoor seating areas and “most importantly” implementing a requirement that all servers of alcohol be trained in safe serving of liquor.
“The reason we’re concerned about this (increasing the number of liquor licenses) is that research shows and the data shows nationally when you increase the number of alcohol outlets, you increase the risk of youth either perceiving easier access or getting easier access,” Ever said at the meeting. “We want to be able to partner with the city. We understand the reason why you’re doing this. We want to make sure there’s thoughtful engagement – how is this going to affect our youth?”
The council opted not to take any formal action on the draft regulations. City Council President Joseph McCoy referred Ever and Linsky to the Licensing Board.
Reached Monday, McCoy noted that the proposed rules that have proven to be the most controversial – regulating dress code and music and not announcing last call – were never brought up by Ever or Linsky at that meeting.
“None of those parts were even discussed,” he said.
The draft regulations would require that a “sign must be posted at entrance stating dress requirements or restrictions with clear descriptions” and that “entertainment inside may not be heard outside the licensed premises.” The city does not currently have any rules or ordinances regarding noise.
But Ever said in her email Monday that the coalition is not interested in pushing for those rules.
“If or when these regulations are on the agenda of the Licensing Board, the Easthampton Healthy Youth Coalition will not be there to advocate for any of the language about dress code or noise levels,” she wrote. “We will be focusing on issues like youth access, consistent and stronger penalties for underage sales and some kind of language that supports quality trainings for alcohol beverage servers within a reasonable time that they are hired.”
The rules about noise and dress code announcements were likely included at the request of another person involved in the drafting of the document, Ever said.
The draft regulations submitted by the coalition differ from the city’s existing liquor license regulations in several key ways.
The draft rules would require that all employees who serve alcoholic beverages take in-person training courses, such as ServSafe or TIPS. The city currently requires only managers and at least one server per shift to have been trained.
Under the draft rules, sale of alcohol must stop 30 minutes before closing and all alcoholic beverages removed from tables 15 minutes later. The establishment would be required to notify the Police Department if any employees remain on the premises for more than 90 minutes after closing. Bartenders would be prohibited from announcing last call “by any means.”
The city currently requires service of alcohol to stop 15 minutes before closing and tables to be cleared by the licensed closing time, often 2 a.m. Customers are required to leave the establishment 15 minutes later.
Unlike the city’s existing regulations, the draft regulations outline rules for the issuance of special one-day licenses and outdoor seating areas of bars and restaurants. Currently, the city issues such licenses in accordance with state regulations.
The draft regulations require that all servers at the special event be trained on an approved alcohol server program.
They also list guidelines for patios and beer gardens, including requiring that the area be cordoned off with a “durable means of boundary” at least 4-feet high, which may include “fence rope, stanchions, (or) planters.”
State guidelines require that outdoor drinking areas be enclosed by a fence or rope or another way that would prevent access from a public walkway.
The draft regulations also suggest punishment for licensees who are found to be in violation of the rules. It is suggested that a first offense come with a warning or suspension of license up to three days, a second offense a three- to six-day suspension, a third offense a six- to 12-day suspension and that a fourth offense trigger a hearing to determine if a license should be revoked.
Duda said that since he joined the board in 2014, it has considered reviewing the city’s existing regulations around liquor licenses, at the suggestion of a board member who has since left. He said that effort was not prompted by a request by the Healthy Youth Coalition.
“It didn’t really go any further than that,” he said. “It’s something we’ve talked about and something that hasn’t really gotten off the ground.”
More recently, he said the board has requested liquor license regulations from area communities to see how their policies compare to those of Easthampton.
“It’s not to say that we think are regulations are in any way inadequate or antiquated,” he said. “It’s just to kind of get an idea of what other towns have been doing.”
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.