City officials have amended the liquor ordinance to require businesses that sell liquor to discourage “nuisance” behavior outside their establishments.
The move, made Monday night at a regular pre-council meeting, requires proprietors to monitor and supervise activities near their businesses with the goal of discouraging loud music, fights and urinating in public. The amended liquor code also makes proprietors responsible for cleaning up store litter on adjacent properties.
Mayor Art Schultz, who also is the city’s liquor commissioner, suggested the change in response to residents’ complaints.
The city’s liquor code already bans disorderly conduct, dancing, discrimination, nudity and sexually oriented “fashion” shows inside establishments selling liquor.
Before the council’s unanimous vote, Police Chief Fred Hayes characterized the proposed amendments as a “quality of life” issue.
Hayes said some proprietors argued that their responsibility ends at the doorway. Without specific wording in the liquor ordinance, “we weren’t really able to hold them responsible.”
The amended ordinance, Hayes said after the meeting, “gives us a little more enforcement power. We’ve always felt they [business proprietors] have some responsibility for what goes on outside their establishments.”