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Home My WebLink About2011-02-15 New Hanover County ABC Board Meeting Minutes February 15, 2011 . 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 th 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. 1 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 th 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 rd equipment was installed on February 3 and the LBD computer training took th 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. 2 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 3 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 4