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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-05-16 MinutesNew Hanover CountyABC Board Meeting Minutes May 16, 2024 I. Call to order Chairman Bruce Shell called to order the regular meeting of the New Hanover County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at 9:00 am on May 16, 2024 at the General Office, 6009 Market Street, Wilmington, NC. II. Chairman confirms quorum The followina Members of the Board were resent: Bruce Shell, Chairman Angela Barr, Vice Chairman Cedric Dickerson, Member William Rivenbark, Member Louis Burney, Jr., Member Others in attendance were: Charles Hill, General Manager James Casteen, Assistant General Manager Kathy Clark, Finance Officer/Board Secretary Lauren Iammatteo, Outreach & Communications Specialist Kemp Burpeau, Legal Counsel Lt. Josh Cortes, NHC Sheriff Department Captain Hettinger, Carolina Beach Police Department Captain Bishop, Wrightsville Beach Police Department Sonya Stephenson, Police Grant Coordinator for Wilmington Police Department III. Conflict of Interest Reminder Mr. Shell 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 member to avoid both conflicts of interest and appearances of conflicts. Does any member have any known conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to any matters coming before the Board today? If so, please identify the conflict or appearance of conflict and refrainfrom any undueparticipation in theparticular matter involved. " Let it be recorded that no conflicts were identified by any Board member regarding this Board meeting. IV. Consent ALYenda Items of Business 11Pabe Mr. Shell presented the minutes from the Regular Meeting of April 18, 2024. Mr. Dickerson made the motion to approve the minutes as written. Mr. Rivenbark seconded the motion, all approved. Mr. Shell presented the minutes from the Closed Session Meeting of April 18, 2024. Mr. Dickerson made the motion to approve the minutes as written. Mr. Rivenbark seconded the motion, all approved. Mr. Shell presented the proposed meeting agenda. Mr. Dickerson made the motion to approve the agenda as written. Ms. Barr seconded the motion, all approved. V. ReL-ular Agenda items of Interest • FY 2025 Law Enforcement Annual Grant Presentations In the Proposed Budget for FY 2024/2025 Law Enforcement Annual Grant Program in the amount of $150,000. These are available to the five Law Enforcement Agencies in New Hanover County (New Hanover County Sheriff's Department, City of Wilmington Police Department, Carolina Beach Police Department, Wrightsville Beach Police Department and the Kure Beach Police Department). Four of these agencies applied for a grant, they are as follows: Carolina Beach Police Department — Captain Hettinger presented the grant proposal to the Board, for $50,000. This grant would fund continued developing and implementing strategies to deter alcohol -related incidents, while also increasing the educational approach to determent. One of the goals of Carolina Beach Aide since inception is to implement educational campaigns targeting young adults. Focusing on responsible drinking habits, the dangers of alcohol abuse, and the legal consequences of underage drinking. To do so, it is critical to establish community partnerships to enhance education and enforcement efforts. Carolina Beach Police Department is hoping to add a designated law enforcement officer to specifically focus on community -oriented policing on and around their beach strand, Boardwalk and central business district while providing increased visibility and building a rapport within the community. This targeted area is their most populous area containing the majority of the establishments licensed to sell alcohol. The officer will target areas identified as the prevalent locations for common alcohol -related disturbances. While encouraging proactive problem -solving and creative solutions on a collaborative level with not only their community members and town staff, but also their Carolina Beach business owners. Carolina Beach Aide program will continue to provide increased police presence in the designated areas and will continue to conduct sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, and compliance checks. The addition of a specified law enforcement officer would also require a specific unfitted 4WD vehicle in order to gain the most effective coverage of targeted areas at which the majority of alcohol -related offenses occur. • Wrightsville Beach Police Department — Captain Bishop presented the grant proposal to the Board, for $35,000. This grant would fund the tactics that support a 2 1 Pa ge strategy of both increased deterrence and increased efficiency. Surge staffing to increase the number of officers engaged in DWI focused enforcement efforts will help them to increase the perception of risk to the potential DWI offender. They hope to increase the perceived risk of arrest, thus increase the incentives to choose safe options like rideshare and designated driver. They will advertise the investment in increased patrols and share their plans for checking stations with nightlife community members. The message of the deterrence will balance the threat of arrest, with appeals to make better choices to include the use of ride share or designated drivers. For those not deterred, the increased staffing for enforcement will increase the likelihood they can intercept a DWI driver before they injure an innocent person. Increasing the visible presence of police and deputies in the area where they are experiencing serious assault and bad behavior, will increase the perception of guardianship, which in turn will make people feel safer and more inclined to adhere to social norms. Based on their evaluation of crime data this will require more people involved in these patrols, earlier and later in the "season" and adding Tuesday night patrols to the traditional weekend patrols. When serious crimes occur despite the increased presence of foot and bike patrol officers/deputies, we expect a higher perception of efficiency and accountability to the degree we are better positioned and prepared to intervene quickly. Finally, by increasing the likelihood we will quickly and accurately identify unknown subjects in serious crime investigations through the use of high -quality video surveillance, we hope to increase our efficiency in Iatent investigations, improve our ability to prosecute serious offenders and increase the perception of guardianship by holding serious criminals to account. Wilmington Police Department — Sonya Stephenson, Police Grant Coordinator and Brandon Shope, Communications Specialist, Wilmington Police Department presented the grant proposal to the Board, for $50,000. This grant would fund 3 eBikes for use in the Downtown/Riverwalk area as well as other areas of the City should enhance the ability to enforce alcohol related violations. eBikes will allow for increased accessibility to certain areas and coverage that would not be physically possible with traditional bikes. eBikes will also be a great tool for the Community Engagement Unit to help foster community relations with the public_ This would be especially beneficial fostering healthy relationships with younger people by making Police Officers less intimidating on a bike, than in a patrol car which could lead to better decision making in the future. We would also like to like to purchase BERLA iveToolkit which is a forensics tool to aid in crash/DWI investigations. There were 570 DWI arrest charges in 2023 alone along with traffic accidents where alcohol was a suspected factor. The last part of our project is 3 Soundpro DL-2 Datalogging Sound Level Meter & Calibrators. These would be used to assist in noise violation investigations. We currently have only 3 in use. In 2023, there were 1976 noise related calls and 147 citations issued. These would help in identifying repeat offenders for noise related ordinance violations which could negatively affect a business's ABC Permit status. Our ability to enforce noise related ordinances will hopefully decrease violations which will free up officers for more critical calls. • New Hanover County Sheriffs Department — Lieutenant Josh Cortes 3 1 Pa ge presented the grant proposal to the Board, for $50,000. This grant would fund the purchase of a new, replacement vehicle for the Sheriff's ABC Unit in an effort to contain Alcohol related violations and promote the safety of the citizens by spending more time investigating Alcohol and Beverage Control matters. After hearing all of the proposals, the Board discussed each of them. Mr. Dickerson made motion to fund Carolina Beach Police Department $35,000 towards a 4WD vehicle, Wrightsville Beach Police Department $15,000 for cameras, fulIly fund Wilmington Police Department $50,000 and New Hanover County Sheriff's Department $50,000. Mr. Burney second the motion, all approved. • Community Outreach Committee Grants FY 2024/2025 —Ms. Barr provided to the Board the recommendations from the Community Outreach Evaluation Team and Committee to award the following Grants for the FY 2024/2025, • The Healing Place of New Hanover County • Coastal Horizons • Tide, Inc. • Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern NC • The Centre of Redemption, DBA A Safe Place • Leading into New Communities, Inc. • First Fruit Ministries • The Carousel Center Total of Grants $100,000 $90,000 $70,000 $100,000 $90,000 $100,000 $85,000 $90,000 $725,000 Ms. Barr made a motion to approve the above Grants for FY 2024/2025 in the total amount of $725,000. Mr. Dickerson seconded the motion, all approved. Pronosed Budget FY 2024/2025 — Ms. Clark presented the Proposed Budget for FY 2024/2025. Mr. Dickerson made motion to increase the 401k employer match to 3% from 2.5%, and provide employees with a 3% COLA and 2% merit based on performance reviews. Mr. Burney seconded the motion, all approved. The Public Hearing will be held prior to the next regular meeting of the Board on June 20, 2024 at 9:00am. Once approved, the Board will adopt the Budget for FY 2024/2025, VI. Administrative Reports • ABC Law Enforcement Officers' Unit Monthly_ — ( ALE) Report for April was presented by Lt. Josh Cortes, NHC Sheriff's Department. Please see the attached LE Monthly Reporting Numbers from the North Carolina ABC Commission website (Attachment "A"). • Financial Statements — Mr. Casteen and Ms. Clark presented a copy of the Board 4 1 P a g e Financial Statements for April, 2024. The Financial Statement showed, the Actual - to -Actual comparison Gross Sales more than the prior April by $91k (1-57%), Operating Expenses more than prior April by $55k (1011%), and Income from Operations less than prior April by $5k. • General Manaller Updates • Purchase of 2615 Castle Hayne Road — Mr. Hill advised the Board that lie and James met with the NC ABC Commission field auditor on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Staff is scheduled to appear June 12, 2024 for an approval hearing at the NC ABC Commission meeting in Raleigh. • NC Association of ABC Boards Annual Meeting — Mr. Hill advised the Board that the NC Association of ABC Boards Annual Meeting will be held July 14, 2024 — July 17, 2024 in Greensboro, NC. He has made the reservations for James Casteen, Matt Stevens, Lauren lammatteo, Bruce Shell, Angie Barr, Cedric Dickerson and himself, V11. Closed Session Mr. Burney made the motion to go into Closed Session pursuant to NC GS 143-318.11 (a) (5) to discuss a real estate issue. Mr. Dickerson seconded the motion, and all approved, V111. Return to Open Session Mr. Burney made the motion to return to Open Session, Mr. Dickerson seconded the motion, and all approved. Ix. Action coming out of Closed Session Mr. Dickerson made a motion make an offer to purchase 4840 Carolina Beach Road, Wilmington, NC for $3,146,500. Mr, Burney seconded the motion, and all approved, X. Adjournment Mr. Shell advised the Board the next regular Board Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 9:00 am at the General Office, 6009 Market Street, Wilmington, NC. Mr. Dickerson made the motion to adjourn the meeting; Ms. Barr seconded the motion, and all approved. Minutes submitted by: Kathy Xth�yy I a rl Z,; cretary Minutes approved by: Date Bruce Shell, Ch�,ian- 5 1 P 1r; e - 6 /zo .1 lz'l-t- Attachment "A" Law Enforcement Report Report bate: 04/01/2024 Violation Reports Submitted to ABC Com fission _ — Total Number of Offenses Contained in Reports 2 Sell to Underage Campaign Checks 29 Pe mitteelnspections -- 28 — Compliance Checks 174 Seller / Server Training O Alcohol Education 0 At Permitted Establishment Ativay From Permitted Establishment Sell! Give to Underage Ifl 0 Attempt to Purchase / Purchase by Underage 14 0 jUnderage Possession 8 2 Unauthorized Possession 5 6 Sell, Give to Intoxicated 0 0 All Other Alcohol Related Charges 11 6 38 14 At Permitted Establishment Away From Permitted � Felony Drud Related Charges — 0 — Establishment i 2 Misdemeanor Drug Related Charges 0 4 At Permitted Establishment Awav From Permitted _Tp@ Establishment Driving While Impaired 10 0 All Other Criminal Charges 8 96 8 196 162 Assistance Provided to Other Agencies 25 Remarks: Store Visits 654, Bank Deposits 298, Change Deposits 1, Video Investigations 24, Charges M, Arrests 28, Searches 7, Reporting Officer / Title: New Hanover County ABC Officers Report bate: 0510812024