Rules governing vendors hired by Naperville nonprofit groups to serve alcohol at events may be changed after incidents this summer resulted in complaints that included overserved patrons and drinks being served past the permitted deadline.
Nonprofits that want to sell or serve alcohol at a public event must obtain a special temporary permit from the city. But there is no system to vet third parties hired to provide the liquor and hire employees to serve/sell it or lease a nonprofit’s property for an event where alcohol is served/sold, officials said.
That needs to change, Naperville Liquor Commission members said at a recent meeting. They’ve directed city staff to draft a proposal that would make promoters go through a permit process as well.
“I think we do need to tighten it up and address this so these promoters are held accountable and responsible for these events,” said Mayor Steve Chirico, who serves as the Liquor Commission chairman.
At a commission meeting last week, Chirico said two events this summer received several complaints over how they were run, including:
Events at which staff were not trained to follow BASSET rules that ensure alcoholic beverages are properly served; the city had to intervene and get them quickly trained;
Patrons were served well after the deadline organizers were given to stop;
Patrons were overserved, with some people walking away from beer tents with more than two drinks.
While there were complaints, no formal violations were issued and no penalties assessed, Chirico said.
“There’s just all sorts of things that went wrong and we’re like, ‘OK, these people are gone, they’ll never be back here again.’ But another promotion company will be, so we want to try to avoid” promoters creating negative experiences, Chirico told commissioners at the meeting.
The mayor declined to name the two events. However, it is known there had been a number of problems during the Naperville Music Festival, which leased the Naper Settlement property for the one-day event in September.
Naper Settlement CEO/President Rena Tamayo-Calabrese declined to comment on whether any alcohol-related incidents were reported.
This year, 13 of 41 events held in Naperville were given temporary liquor permits, according to the city of Naperville’s special events calendar. The number was 15 of 68 events in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all public gatherings in 2020.
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Liquor Commissioner Scott Wehrli said he believed existing ordinances could be amended that state third-party vendors, companies or promoters must confirm they’ve met the city’s requirements and “they’ve gone through all this extra work to be trained and qualified.”
“These third-party promoters, they could have a bad show with X/Y/Z event and we punish X/Y/Z event, and (the promoters) go on and work for somebody else. There’s nothing stopping them, even though they screwed up X/Y/Z event,” Wehrli said.
While Commissioner Joe Vozar suggested waiting a few months in order to develop solutions and gather more information on the topic, he said he also wanted something in place to let promoters know that “if you screw this up, you will be on a list, so to speak.”
The city also needs to be careful that any changes do not harm or risk the economic benefits a nonprofit group gains by holding events or leasing its property for outside groups to use, Commissioner Dana Davenport said.
Any revisions must also remind nonprofits that they play a role in ensuring groups using liquor licenses they obtain are following the city rules, Davenport said.
“They are the ones who are accountable,” she said. “They are the primary people, regardless of who they delegate authority to, and they are the ones who will be held responsible.”
Any proposed changes will need City Council approval, the mayor said.
“We want to get this right,” Chirico said.