2011-02-15
New Hanover County ABC Board
Meeting Minutes
February 15, 2011
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I.Call to order
Chairman Thomas Wolfe called to order the regular meeting of the New Hanover
County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at 8:30am on February 15, 2011 in the
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General Office at 523 S. 17 Street, Wilmington, NC.
Citizens Mary Kelly and Danny Leone of the Southeastern Center for Mental
Health, Developmental Disabilities & Substance Abuse Services were given five
minutes to present to the board their proposal to increase the current nickel and
penny tax per bottle to that of a quarter tax to help fund their tri-county outreach
programs for education and detox. Mr. Wolfe stated that such a change would
require a legislative decision, and that our local board would be powerless to
make the change. He iterated that our board disburses funds to the governmental
agencies to which we report, and these agencies disburse these funds as they see
fit.
II.Roll call
Carol Martin, Board Secretary conducted a roll call. The following Members of
the Board were present:
Thomas Wolfe, Chairman
Cedric Dickerson, Vice Chairman
David Matthews, Member
Augustus C. Everett, Jr. Member
Robert W. Martenis, Member
Avril Pinder, Ex-Officio Member
Wanda Copley, Legal Counsel
Others in attendance were:
Daniel Sykes, Chief Executive Officer
Carol Martin, Board Secretary
Chris Harrison, LBD Manager Store #103
Kevin Maurer, Star News Reporter
Mary Kelly and Danny Leone, Southeastern Center for Mental Health,
Developmental Disabilities & Substance Abuse Services
III.Approval of minutes from last meeting
Ms. Martin, presented the minutes from the last meeting, as well as the minutes
from the Board Retreat. Mr. Martenis motioned to approve the minutes as written
and Mr. Matthews seconded; all approved.
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Adoption of the Agenda:
The proposed agenda was presented and the Chair asked if there were any
ded to the end of the agenda. The agenda was adopted as
IV.New business
a)
cers performed the following
activities for the month of January, 2011. Colonel Jones stated that on February
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11 alone 21 citations were written downtown and at Store #108, mainly for those
buying liquor for those underage.
*631 Store Visits
*245 Bank Deposits
* 14 Bank Change Deposits/Trips
* 3 Vice Hand Offs
* 1 DWI Hand Off
* 21 Citations
* 2 Restamps
* 21 Inspections
* 2 Oral Warnings
* 18 Store Observations
* 2 Shifts with ALE officers and 1 with Carolina Beach Police
b)Mr. Sykes apprised the Board of three updates: Surveillance System, Safes and
Computer System Upgrade. The new surveillance system for Store 101 was
installed the first week of February. The new store safes have been ordered and
installation is expected the first week of March. The Store #103 LBD computer
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equipment was installed on February 3 and the LBD computer training took
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place on February 7, 2011. Installation of the point-of-sale hardware and
software has been scheduled and is expected to be complete by the end of
February.
c)Mr. Sykes stated that the store hours for Store 109 in Castle Hayne were changed
from 9am-9pm to 11am-9pm Monday through Saturday, effective February 14,
2011. Consideration is being given to extending the e closing time for Store #102
on Hwy 421/Carolina Beach Road from 7pm to 9pm, as we may be losing some
evening sales. Staff will monitor sales at #102 by the hour on a periodic basis to
determine whether a year-round or a seasonal change is necessary.
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d)Mr. Sykes presented the January 2011 and Rolling12-Month Comparison. For
January, Retail stores showed a 1.18% ($16.7k) net decrease in sales, LBD had a
3.09% ($18.4k) decrease, and Total Sales were down 1.74% ($35.1k). For the 12-
Month Rolling Comparison, Retail stores showed a 4.67% ($957,991) increase in
sales, LBD had a 4.20% ($414,712) decrease, and Net sales were up 1.79%
e)Mr. Sykes presented the Statewide Sales for January, 2011:
Retail: We had a 1.31% decrease compared to 1.62% decrease Statewide
LBD: We had a 3.09% decrease compared to .37% decrease Statewide
Overall: We had a 1.84% net decrease in spirituous beverages compared to
a 1.38% decrease Statewide. Our overall sales figure was short of the
State average by $9,183. Net sales decreases for coastal boards were
greater than the State average.
f)Mr. Sykes presented the Board with a notebook containing financial statements
for each month so far in the fiscal year; and Financial Statements for January and
YTDboth compare actual to budget figures. He stated that prior to July, 2010,
the Board did not prepare internal financial statements. Rather the independent
CPA firm prepared quarterly and year-end financial statements. Also noted was
that although the Board is only seven months into the fiscal year, it has already
distributed nine months of the budgeted profit distributions, $900,000 out of
$1,200,000.
g)s
main office/warehouse/Store #101/Store #103 building. There was no alarm
system in place to monitor the existing fire sprinkler system to report offsite to a
central station for fire department dispatching. Mr. Sykes presented the board
with three vendor quotes. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the Security
Plus bid of $2,106.00, and Mr. Matthews seconded, all approved.
h)Mr. Sykes apprised the board that since the last board meeting, he did follow up
with Ms. Copley, Legal Counsel, as to whether non-ABC Board Members can
outsiders participate in the board committees as long as they have no ulterior
motive, such as a monetary gain from future business with the board. She also
stated that the committee meetings can be posted for the public to see, but that the
committee can make no board decisions. Their findings will be presented to the
board for any action.
i)Mr. Sykes presented the board with an extensive analysis of four charge card
processor vendors. He stated that our Board currently has over $10 million
annually in retail charge card acceptance and that the fees currently being paid
can be cut considerably. Mr. Sykes stated that there is a termination clause with
the current provider, Transfirst of $500 per store. Mr. Sykes stated that this
amount will more than be offset with the fee savings by instituting one of the
proposing vendors. There was an estimated savings of almost $51,000 for the
first twelve-month period even after deducting the early termination fees. Mr.
should one of the stores suffer a system glitch, and two of the proposing vendors
did offer this assurance. Mr. Sykes showed that sixty-eight of the North Carolina
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ABC Boards currently use Heartland Payment Systems as their charge card
processor, and that our new store computer upgrade would work seamlessly with
this provider. Mr. Everette made the motion to accept Heartland as our new
charge card processor; Mr. Martenis seconded, all approved.
j)Mr. Sykes presented the board with a more concise Health Reimbursement
Arrangement (HRA) policy than the one that was approved in the June, 2010
board meeting. He also stated that to date, only $500 of the projected $5,000
board HRA expenditure had been made. The policy explains in detail that this
benefit is meant to reduce employee out-of-pocket medical expenses. A copy will
that they will be aware of the
benefit. Mr. Matthews made the motion to accept this revised policy, Mr.
Dickerson seconded, all approved.
k) Variances between
Shelf-icy. The policy iterates that customer
satisfaction is key. The policy states that the Senior Manager-on-duty is
authorized to reimburse a customer for up to $5 for a valid customer complaint,
and that those variances over $5 are to be handled by the main office. The
Commission may use this policy as a template for other boards to use upon
approval. Mr. Dickerson made the motion to approve this new policy, Mr.
Martenis seconded, all approved.
l)Mr. Sykes presented the board with a Landscaping Contract renewal with Karnes
Lawn Care, LLC. The Board discussed an increase of the liability coverage
which was generally agreed upon by the Board members. Mr. Sykes will have the
conract revised to show the increase in insurance and a related monetary increase
in the renewal. Mr. Everett made the motion to accept the $13,350 renewal, Mr.
Dickerson seconded, all approved.
m)Mr. Dickerson, a State Farm Insurance agent by trade, suggested to the board that
lity limit of
$1M per occurrence with an aggregate of $2M, and that the board should be listed
as additionally insured. Mr. Sykes stated that he and Ms. Copley would work
together to draft a formal contract for future vendor quotes, which will include
these minimum accepted liability limits.
V.Adjournment
The board meeting was adjourned at 10:00am.
Minutes submitted by:_____________________
Carol E. Martin, Secretary
Minutes approved by:______________________ Date:_______________
Thomas Wolfe, Chair
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