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Home My WebLink AboutABC MINUTES of May 21 2013 6 New Hanover County ABC Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 2013 11. Call to order Chairman Cedric Dickerson called to order the regular meeting of the New Hanover County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at 8:30am on May 21, 2013 in the General Office at 523 S. 17th Street, Wilmington,NC. 11. Roll call Ms. Martin, Board Secretary conducted a roll call. The following Members of the Board were present: Cedric Dickerson, Chairman Robert W. Martens, Vice Chairman Thomas Wolfe, Member Augustus C. Everett, Jr., Member David Matthews, Member Others in attendance were: Daniel Sykes, Chief Executive Officer Carol Martin, Board Secretary Gary Cain, ABC Retail and LBD Operations Manager Wanda Copley, Legal Counsel Avril Pinder, Ex-Officio Member Earl Ward, ABC Assistant Store#106 Manager Colonel Arch Jones,NHC Sheriff s Department Charles Hill, ABC Store#110 Manager Taylor B. Simms, LS3P Senior Associate &Project Manager Charles Blanton,President, Carolina Place/Ardmore Neighborhood Association 1111. Call meeting to order Mr. Dickerson verbally confirmed that the Board members had read the following ethics reminder: "In accordance with General Statute 18B--201, it is the duty of every Board ineinber to avoid both conflicts of interest and appearances of conflicts. Does any nienzber have any known conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to any natters conning before the Board today? If so,please identify the conflict or appearance of conflict and refrain fi-on any undue participation in the particular matter involved. " Let it be recorded that no conflicts were identified by any Board member regarding this Board meeting. 1 IV. Approval of minutes from last meeting Ms. Martin presented the minutes (from both the open and closed sessions) from the last Regular Meeting of April 16, 2013. Mr. Martenis made the motion to approve the minutes aswritten, Mr. Wolfe seconded, all approved. V. Approval of proposed agenda Motion to adopt the prepared agenda as written,with one addition: Mr. Wolfe requested that a closed session be held, was made by Mr. Martenis, seconded by Mr. Everett, all approved. VI. New business a) ABC Law Enforcement Officer's Unit Monthly (ALE) Report for April was presented by Col. Jones. Officers performed the following activities for the month of April, 2013: *637 Store Visits *302 Bank Deposits * 4 Video Investigations * 13 ID Fraud Noted *Cited 14 "Underage Possession"ABC Law Violations *Cited 1 "Unauthorized Possession"ABC Law Violation *Cited 39 "Other Alcohol" ABC Law Violations *Cited I Traffic "Other Offense" *Cited 2 Criminal "Other Offenses" *Performed 1 Seller/Server"Alcohol Education" *Assisted 5 ABC Law Agencies *Assisted 3 Controlled Substance Agencies *Assisted 3 "Other" Agencies *Performed 33 Bar Inspections *Performed 18 Business Compliance Checks b) Mr. Blanton introduced himself to the Board and thanked them for considering the neighborhood concerns, specifically landscaping, traffic flow, noise and historic overlay considerations in planning the 17th Street/Castle Street renovations. c) Mr. Cain introduced Mr. Ward to the Board, and thanked him for his continued service. d) [This presentation was not given in the same sequence as the printed agenda.] Mr. Sykes briefed the Board on the Building Complex-6009 Market Street (aka ABC Campus Project)updates since the last meeting: 1.) The Real Estate Committee met with LS3P on April 25d' and May 7th to discuss the set-up and design of the LBD area 2.) Plans are being made to demolish the vacant houses on Judges Road. A required asbestos survey has been initiated,the doors have been secured and"No Trespassing" signs prominently posted. [Ms. Simms apprised the Board that the hazardous material study on the two houses up for demolition had been performed on May 20th and that the results were expected in about two weeksl. Ms. Simms presented the Board with three updated schematic drawings of the proposed complex: 2 i i.) A land outline that showed the retention pond repositioned onto otherwise unusable land in front of the existing protected wetlands ii.) A revised rendering of the interior spaces iii.) A colored sketch showing the proposed exterior of the building, prominently showing the LBD entrance for customer recognition. The Board again voiced concern over accessing the complex from Market Street via a private road. Ms. Copley stepped out to telephone Deputy County Attorney Kemp Burpeau to confirm to the Board that there was no issue. e) Mr. Sykes apprised the Board that a meeting was held on April 19�' with members of our Board and members of the Carolina Place Ardmore Neighborhood Association (CPANA) to establish that any future planning would be transparent and communicated well to the local neighbors and CPANA. Mr. Sykes handed the Board a Memo for the Record of the entire meeting topics, including contact information for CPANA. f) [This presentation was not given in the same sequence as the printed agenda.] Mr. Sykes presented the Board with a thorough, twenty-plus point"Justification. for Remodeling the 17th/Castle Streets' LBD facility". Points considered included Contingency Planning,for the event that a sole LBD facility had to close suddenly,to How Other Boards Do It to answering the ultimate question, "What Do the Permit Holders (our 30% customer base) Want?" Mr. Sykes supported his written justification with graphs, budgets, estimates, and historical data. Mr. Martenis made the motion to reflect the affirmative consensus of the Board to have two major LBD outlets. Mr. Everett seconded the motion, and all approved. VII. Closed Session [This presentation was not given in the same sequence as the printed agenda.] The Board entered into Closed Session to discuss potential real estate acquisition in accordance with NC GS 143-318.11(a)(5). Mr. Wolfe made the motion to enter into Closed Session, Mr. Martens seconded, all approved. After several minutes in Closed Session, Open Session began again. Mr. Wolfe made the motion to restart the Open Session; Mr. Martenis seconded, all approved. VIII. Return to Open Session It was stated that the Closed Session resulted in no action. Regarding 17ffi Street/Castle Vacant Residential Lots [Board-owned] — Mr. Wolfe said he had not heard back from the Wilmington Housing Authority, but did indicate that they would want our Board to deed the lots to them pro bono. These comments were made upon return to open session. g) VI. New business (Continued) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with Financial Statements for April 2013. The Balance sheet compared 04/30/2013 with 04/30/2012 figures and the Income Statement compared Actual April, 2013 to Budgeted April, 2013 figures. Mr. Sykes noted that for April Cash- in-Bank was relatively flat compared to last year, that First Bank's interest rate had dropped considerably in the year and that a meeting with the bank to discuss was planned. He noted that Income from Operations exceeded budget by$38k (10.71%), and that Change in Net Assets Before Profit Distributions was up about $35k(21.39%). 3 m Mr. Sykes further noted that for the year, Income from Operations exceeded budget by 4 $519k (14.17%). Mr. Sykes presented the Board with his Cash Flow Projections by month for FYI 3/14 on a separate handout to show the Board that liquidity doesn't appear to be a concern, and that perhaps the new building will be completed without debt. h) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with his Financial Pro'ections thru Year-End actual thru 413012013) for discussion purposes. Mr. Sykes surmised that year-end sales may actually exceed the $35 million mark! Projected Cost-of-Goads Sold are low, therefore projected "Gross Profits" should be better than budgeted by over $470k by June 30. Mr. Sykes advised the Board that if additional distributions will be distributed for FYI 2/13 and reflected on this fiscal year's financial statements, that the decision must be made prior to June 30, 2013. i) Mr. Sykes stated that he had two updates for this Board meeting: [Note that because many of the agenda items were presented out of sequence that the meeting at this point has covered both of these updates] 1.) the two houses up for demolition on the Judges Road property, and 2.)Carolina Place Ardmore Neighborhood Association(CPANA)meeting was held. j) Mr. Wolfe apprised the Board that New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David had approached him recently requesting ABC Board matching funds to establish a Regional Lab (for New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender Counties) for alcohol and drug blood testing. These services are currently provided in Raleigh,NC and can take up to 17 months to analyze, he stated. The ABC Board matching funds would specifically be used toward the purchase of a $375k testing machine. Federal funds are expected to be matched for facility and staff. The Board felt that this may be a worthwhile fiduciary investment and asked Mr. Wolfe to invite Ed McMahon,NHC Sheriff and DA David to the next Board meeting to discuss. IX. Public Hearing A public hearing for the proposed budget required under NC General Statute 18B-702, paragraph(f) was advertised in the legal section of Star News on May 8, 2013. The ad stated the time, date and location of the meeting (same as this Board meeting) and that it was to give all interested citizens the opportunity to make comments on the budget. Let it be recorded that no one from the public attended the meeting_ k)VI. New business (Continued) Although our Board's current Travel Policy was approved by the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on October 15, 2012, Mr. Sykes advised the Board that this approval must be obtained at the beohnnink of each fiscal year. The NC ABC Commission, per G.S. 18B-700 (g2) states, "...the local board shall annually provide the appointing authority's written confirmation of such approval to the Commission and a copy of the travel policy authorized by the appointing authority" requires all ABC Boards obtain approval of their travel policy from their appointing authority annually. 4 a e G.S. 18B-700 (g2) requires the appointing authority to approve the adopting of their travel policy annually. This approval must be obtained at the beginning of each fiscal year. Ms. Copley will add this to the County's July meeting agenda for consideration of adoption. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the Travel Policy as written,to become effective upon approval by the Board of County Commissioners. Mr. Everett seconded, and all approved. 1) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with an Administrative Budget Amendment. At third quarter-end, five (5) budgeted line items necessitated clean-up adjustments. These accounts were: a. Unemployment-Payroll Tax Expense-this expense was the result of a terminated employee's successful application for unemployment. The expense was first accrued in April, 2013, and therefore was not included in the current year's budget. b. Maintenance Contracts Expense - actual expenses were greater than budgeted year-to-date. c. Board Member Per Diem Expense—actual expense greater than budgeted because the appointing authority approved an increased Board Member stipend mid-fiscal year. d. Vehicle Expense—routine and necessary maintenance expenses were greater than those budgeted year-to-date. e. Travel Other Than Board Expense—routine and necessary non-Board Member travel exceeded the budgeted amount year to date. Mr. Martenis made the motion to approve the budget amendment request (#3) for FY 12113 as requested to shift funds from one Operating expense account to another. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion, and all approved. These five (5) budgeted line item adjustments were offset by the budget's built-in Miscellaneous/Contingency balance and will be recorded in the General Ledger in May, 2013. m) Mr. Sykes summarized and personalized for our Board the North Carolina General Statute 18B-805 that governs how ABC revenues are to be distributed. He explained that the Board distributes 100% of the taxes (Local Board 3.5%, Additional Bottle Tax and Mixed Beverage Surcharge Taxes) to beneficiaries with no hold-back for administrative services; but that our administrative and warehouse operating expenses are allocated to the various beneficiaries based on the respective percentage of net sales. 5 Note: agenda item 4.f.) Fiscal Year 2013-14 Budget Document and Budget Message was NOT voted on in this Board Meeting. Mr. Sykes apprised the Board that the budget should be finalized and approved by June 30 at the Iatest. X. Adjournment Mr. Martenis made the motion to adjourn the meeting; Mr. Matthews seconded, all approved. Minutes submitted by:._ ato { , 71 Carol E. Martin, Secretary Minutes approved by Date: '-f Cedric Dickerson, Chair 6