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Home My WebLink About2011-05-17 New Hanover County ABC Board Meeting Minutes May 17, 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 May 17, 2011 in the General Office at 523 S. 17 I Street, Wilmington, NC. II. Roll call Ms. 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 Wanda Copley, Legal Counsel Others in attendance were: Daniel Sykes, Chief Executive Officer Carol Martin, Board Secretary Jimmy Hearn, Recently Retired Store Clerk, Store 105 Gary Cain, ABC Retail and LBD Manager Colonel Jones, NHC Sheriff's Department Kevin Maurer, Star News Reporter III. Approval of minutes from last meeting Ms. Martin presented the minutes from the last regular meeting of April 26, 2011. Mr. Matthews motioned to approve the minutes as written; Mr. Martens seconded; all approved. IV. Approval of proposed a e nda Motion to adopt the proposed agenda was approved as written by Mr. Martenis, seconded by Mr. Dickerson, all approved. V. New business a) Mr. Hearn was presented a retirement plaque for his five plus years of service to the ABC Board. Mr. Matthews asked Jimmy if he had any suggestions on how the present board could do a better job and Jimmy had nothing but praise on how everything had improved in the last year. 1 b) ABC Law Enforcement Office's Unit Monthly (ALE) Report for April was presented by Colonel Jones, NHC Sheriff's Department. Officers performed or cited the following activities for the month of April, 2011: *680 Store Visits *305 Bank Deposits * 12 Bank Change Deposits/Trips * 1 Burglar Alarm * 13 Assist Other Agencies (ALE, Wrightsville and Carolina Beach) * 182 Change in Tax Stamps (New Owner Change) * 5 Video Investigations * 31 Compliance Checks (Underage) * 22 Arrests * 44 Charges * 34 Formal Inspections Mr. Jones apprised the board of several recent club permit revocations and the opening of a new motorcycle gang bar on Carolina Beach, Hollister 47 was visited on opening day of business by the ABC, ALE and Gang Task Force to explain complete compliance in New Hanover County. Mr. Sykes presented the board with comparative summaries of ABC law enforcement reports for March and April. The information is transmitted to the NC ABC Commission by the respective law enforcement agencies and is posted on the Commission's website. The April comparative summary shows that although New Hanover County ABC's percentage of Statewide Sales for the month of April was 4.34 %, our ABC Law Enforcement Violations Reported were 5.71% of those of the state. Our Law Enforcement officers have a strong local presence in our stores and bars. c) Mr. Sykes apprised the Board of three updates: 1.) The Board's Travel Policy Update from the April 26, 2011 board meeting was approved by the County Commissioners on May 16, 2011. 2.) Mark Boyer advised on the Power Point presentation discussed at the April 26, 2011 board meeting and would continue to provide input. 3.) ABC Chairman John Williams will be in Wilmington for the Rotary meeting on May 31, 2011 for those board members that are able to attend. d) Mr. Sykes presented the April 2011 and Rolling 12 -Month Comparison. For April, Retail stores showed a 9.47% ($161k) increase in sales. All stores showed an increase, and Store #104 had a double -digit percentage increase. LBD sales were down with a 3.76% ($34.6k) decrease, and Total Sales were up 4.83% ($126.4k). For the 12 -Month Rolling Comparison, Retail stores showed a 5.54% ($1.146 million) increase in sales, LBD was down 2.94% ($287k) and Total sales were up 2.82% ($859k). 2 e) Mr. Sykes presented the Statewide Sales for April, 2011. This information is for spirituous beverages only (no wines /mixers are included): Retail: We had a 9.26% increase compared to 7.11% increase Statewide LBD: We had a 3.76% decrease compared to 1.03% decrease Statewide Overall: We had a 4.69% increase in spirituous beverages compared to a 5.37% increase Statewide. Our overall sales figure was short of the State average by $17.9k. Mr. Sykes surmised that LBD sales are being affected by bars closing and empty storefronts downtown. f) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with Financial Statements for April and YTD— both compare actual to budget figures. Mr. Sykes noted that shortly after April 30, 2011 "Investments" were transferred to "Cash in Bank" because interest rates were substantially better at our local First Bank. Mr. Sykes noted that even with sales being slightly less than projected, YTD Gross Profit was up .59% ($38.2k). g) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with a proposed modification of the current HRA Policy that was put into place in August, 2010. When the new health insurance policy goes into effect June 1, 2011 the higher deductible ($1,000) and the higher out -of- pocket ($2,500) transfer a greater risk to the employees. The HRA provides the Board reimbursement if the employee actually has to pay out medical expenses. The modification states, "if an eligible employee pays the "Out -of- Pocket" maximum during the plan year the Board will reimburse the last $250. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the proposed modification, Mr. Everett seconded, all approved. h) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with a Comparison of Proposals for Alarm Services. The comparison considered three alarm service providers to provide burglar, fire, UL fire and annual fire alarm inspections — requirements that differ from store to store. Mr. Sykes recommended our continued 12 year service with Security Plus Electrical (SPE), the company that installed all of the alarm systems. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the Security Plus estimated $4,025 annual contract. Mr. Dickerson seconded, and all approved. i) Mr. Sykes presented the board with the New Hanover County ABC Board Proposed Budget Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2011 -2012 and the Budget Message. Mr. Sykes' budget message included "The ABC Board determines, through adoption of an annual budget, the level of customer service that the ABC system will provide and the resources available for operations and capital projects" that "In addition to providing for operating expenses and distributions, the Board must retain a level sufficient to "seed" future capital improvements and expansion costs ", and "The Board does not have any debt at this time; there is no anticipation of incurring debt during the budget year ". Mr. Sykes stated that the proposed budget ordinance will be released to the public today and that a public hearing needs to be scheduled. The board set the public hearing date and time for 3 Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:30am in the General Office at 523 S. 17` Street, Wilmington, NC. Mr. Sykes stated that the final approval of the budget must be made no later than June 30, 2011. The Board discussed reducing Liquor- by -the- drink sales by $300,00 (compared to projected sales through year -end). The reason for the reduction was because several clubs with high - volume sales were now closed. There was a general agreement among the Board members, so Mr. Sykes will make that adjustment; and he will also adjust other accounts affected by the reduction in sales. VI. Closed Session The Board entered into Closed Session to discuss the CEO's Annual Evaluation, applicable to paragraph NC GS 143- 318.11(a)(6)). Mr. Matthews made the motion to enter into closed session, Mr. Martenis seconded, all approved. After several minutes in private closed discussion, the general session began again. Mr. Martenis made the motion to restart the open session, Mr. Matthews seconded, all approved. It was stated that the Closed Session resulted in no action, contingent on the New Hanover County Commissioner's next meeting, expected to be held at 9am Monday, June 20, 2011. VIL Ad.iournment Mr. Martenis made the motion to adjourn the meeting; Mr. Dickerson seconded, all approved. Minutes submitted by: Caro E. Martin, Secretary Minutes approved bya l Date: �V1z o r J 1 �7 Thomas Wolfe, Chair 4