2019-09-05 Liquor Adjudication Board Minutes

Home

Sumera-Lee: In the process, because I have youth that are between 14 and 19, only if they're of the age they can sell liquor. But, it's kind of a catch 22 for me because I know if I had one of our aunties that is normally there, that this probably wouldn't have happened. But because I have and train these youth, they're more kids that work on the register. The worse part about this whole situation is that this girl took her liquor class two days before this happened. When it all happened, we're training her, we have the Alu Like program, everything is going well, they're getting paid, they're happy, they're in a good place, people are buying pau hana time; and she actually took the person's license. She followed through with everything, but she read the date wrong. She still input the wrong number into the POS. Our POS prompts you so you can put in the birthdate and it'll tell you they're not legal. Also, you can just tell if it's horizontal or vertical. So simple; but for her, it just wasn't that simple. We ended up getting an electric reader since then, additional pamphlets, and more. She has been taken off the register so she's no longer in a cashier situation because it's so much liability for us. People of Keaukaha would hate us if we couldn't sell liquor. It's a huge liability, so now I'm revamping the whole, maybe the youth shouldn't be on the register. Maybe the youth should just do kitchen and stocking, prepping and POS work, because maybe they're not ready for it. Sumera-Lee: I'm not sure. It's just my way of saying we take this seriously and since then, I've tried to make the changes and adjustments needed to make sure that we can be compliant in all forms. I'm bummed that it happened, it's unfortunate, but again, another learning experience. We tried to write a letter just on where we were. She admitted she made a mistake. She included her understanding of what happened. That's where we are and going forward, we agreed on our job description so our cashier's not on the register anymore. I think that's just, maybe in the future we can forward and have them do more of those things, but because it's put us in a situation like this, even from a financial standpoint, it just might not be the situation I was hoping for. Maybe that's just too much information from me in general, but that's just where I'm at and I wanted to express that. We're really grateful for the Liquor work, the classes you folks have. We send everyone, you know, and it's two dollars and it's really informative; but they can only take it as seriously as they're going to take it. Obviously, I'm really disappointed in her, but am being told not to be too harsh on her. Guess she has to learn. Giffin: Thank you, and we appreciate you telling us what happened. However, I want to know if the Board Members have any questions of the Licensee. Taniguchi: I have a question. Giffin: Yes, Mr. Taniguchi. Taniguchi: Now I remember you. You look familiar and I don't forget faces, but about your non-profit, you came and talked to our Rotary Club. Sumera-Lee: Yes. Taniguchi: My questions is, as you mentioned Mr. Takase told you to look if it's vertical (the driver license). As the employer, what do you tell your employees? If there's a vertical license, that should be a red flag. SEPTEMBER 5, 2019-LIQUOR ADJUDICATION BOARD MINUTES 5