Mendota Heights-Area Alcohol Compliance Check Failures Result in Varied Penalties

Four establishments failed a sweep of alcohol sale compliance checks performed by the in December.

Cities have begun handing out civil penalties for the resulting liquor license violations.

in Lilydale, in Mendota,  in Mendota Heights and  in Mendota Heights failed the checks.

In each case, police sent a decoy that is under 21 years old into the establishment to try and buy alcohol. The decoy can only provide their own identification, not a fake I.D.  

An employee that makes a sale faces a gross misdemeanor, including potential jail time and a fine up to $3,000.

The ran an alcohol service training about a month prior to the checks, according to Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener. “It shouldn’t have been too far off the radar.”

'Best Practices' Eases Sting

The Mendota VFW and Teresa’s participate in the department’s Best Practices program, which prescribes safeguards such as an I.D. verification machine and regular staff training in return for more lenient civil penalties in the case of a violation.

Tommy Chicago’s and Chet’s were not enrolled in the program at the time of the violation, according to Mendota Heights Police Officer Peyton Fleming, who oversees the program.

While a business with a first-time offense can face civil penalties up to $1,000 in fines and a three-day suspension without enrollment, those in the Best Practices program face a $500 fine for a first-time offense.

First-time penalties also apply to establishments with a clean record for the past two years.

However, city councils ultimately decide whether to follow the policy or to adjust penalties as they see fit.

handed down a fine of $750 to Chet’s Liquor at their meeting Monday night, with no license suspension, on the condition that they enroll in Best Practices both in 2012 and 2013, and have no further violations for a year.

Mendota City Council waived any penalty for the VFW but council members emphasized that a second violation would result in the full penalty of $750 and a three-day susension.

The Mendota Heights City Council has yet to finalize what penalties will be applied to Teresa’s and Tommy Chicago’s, according to City Administrator Justin Miller. 

Aschenbrener said that he would prefer to see the penalties prescribed in the policy handed out uniformly, but that ultimately the city council approves the liquor licenses and they have the final call.

Alcohol compliance checks are scheduled two to three times a year, said Aschenbrener, and the Best Practices program has reduced failures dramatically  since 2006 when it was first developed.

“Our goal is to get them to comply and get them on the straight and narrow,” said the chief.