St. Charles wants bar patrons to know that it’s no small offense to urinate in public, fight in the streets or be disorderly while drunk.
That was the point Police Chief James Keegan made in presenting an overview of an updated liquor code to a St. Charles City Council committee Monday night.
“We want to send the message that if you’re going to act like a knucklehead, it’s not going to be tolerated,” Keegan said after the meeting. The council, convened as the government services committee, approved the liquor code changes, which means the new code will come up for a final vote at the next regular city council meeting.
Cleaning up the language in the code and increasing fines are the latest in a series of steps the city has taken over the past two years to combat recurring alcohol-related problems downtown.
If caught committing a drinking-related offense, a bar patron could find some fines more than doubled from the current rate, especially if it’s a second offense.
Fines for public urination would jump from $100 to $250. Fines for fighting would remain at $500. Disorderly conduct fines would increase from $100 to $250. With a prior offense, the maximum fine would be $750, an amount designed to be a deterrent, Keegan said.
Other changes to the code include:
* Requiring bouncers and doormen to undergo a formal Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training.
* Placing BYOB establishments into the liquor code and requiring them to get a liquor license. Currently, the city doesn’t have anything on the books about regulating BYOB establishments (there are currently three in St. Charles).
* Requiring that any person delivering alcohol to a table be 18, instead of the current 16.
* Allowing country clubs and golf courses the ability to serve alcohol from carts on the golf courses.
* Allowing the sale of beer and wine at the Steel Beem Theatre, 111 W. Main St.
* Allowing wine left in a bottle after a meal to be sealed in a special bag when leaving a restaurant.
Ald. Maureen Lewis took exception with the creation of a new kind of liquor license that would allow patrons to bring their own wine, beer or spirits into a social club. One establishment falls under that license – a cigar club that allows patrons to bring in a bottle of scotch and provides lockers to store the spirits.
She said the city had been careful to require that food service be a part of serving alcohol and that the social club license doesn’t require that. She would favor grandfathering the cigar club into the current code, she said, instead of creating a different kind of license.
Mayor Ray Rogina said any future such business would have to come before the council for approval.
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