§ 4-34. Procedure for and effect of suspension, revocation, and other penalties for violations.
Upon violation of any offense enumerated in chapter 4, article II, a hearing may be had as follows:
(1)
Committee. There is hereby created a committee to be known as the alcoholic beverage permit review committee; the committee shall be composed of the council chairman or his/her designee, the district council person or his/her designee, one (1) of the directors of the office of research and budget analysis or their designee, the director of the community justice agency, and the director of the department of inspection and code enforcement. The committee shall have the authority to conduct all public hearings, as provided in this article, regarding the suspension or revocation of alcoholic beverage permits including certificates of qualification to dispense alcoholic beverages, the denial of a renewal application, and/or the imposition of other penalties as authorized herein for violation of any of the provisions enumerated in chapter 4.
(2)
Initiating procedure; hearing required. Within one hundred eighty (180) days of notice of a violation enumerated in Chapter 4, a hearing may be held before the alcoholic beverage permit review committee or the parish council [see: section 4-34(3)] at the request of the parish president, the sheriff, or upon motion of any member of the parish council upon written complaint, petition, or notice of violation. When a hearing is timely set and is continued at the request of the permit-holder, the committee may conduct a hearing within two hundred seventy (270) days of notice of a violation. Such hearing shall be noticed by the committee, parish attorney, any member of the parish council, or the sheriff; a hearing shall be held in accordance with the provisions of this article to determine whether the permit of the person charged shall be suspended or revoked or whether a renewal application shall be denied and/or whether other penalties as enumerated in this section shall be imposed upon the person charged. The complaint, petition, notice, or motion shall set forth and enumerate the causes for suspension or revocation of the permit or for denial of renewal application and/or for the imposition of other penalties.
(3)
Notice. A notice or summons shall be served upon the holder of the permit stating the time and place of the hearing, which shall not be less than forty-eight (48) hours from the date and time such notice is given. If the holder of the permit is not the owner of the property on which the business operates, a copy of the notice or summons shall also be served upon the owner of said property. Notices may be mailed by registered, certified, or delivery-confirmed mail to the holder of the permit to the address of his place of business, as given in his application for the permit, and, if applicable, to the owner of the property on which the business operates to the address listed in the assessor's office of the parish or the address obtained from other reliable sources upon verifying ownership with the mortgage and conveyance office. When so addressed and mailed, notices or summonses shall be conclusively presumed to have been received by the permit-holder and, if applicable, by the owner of the property. In addition to the above method of service, the notice or summons may be served on the permit-holder and, if applicable, on the owner of the property by personal or domiciliary service by a deputy sheriff or an employee of the department of inspection and code enforcement. Any person to be served with a notice or summons through any of the aforementioned methods of service may also be sent a copy of said notice or summons via electronic mail (e-mail) to the e-mail address provided in the application for the permit; said electronic notice is not mandatory and shall not be in lieu of the aforementioned methods of service.
(4)
Hearings. Hearings required by this article may be conducted by the alcoholic beverage permit review committee or by the parish council. The council or the alcoholic beverage permit review committee, designated to hold a hearing, may administer oaths, issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, accounts, and documents, and may examine witnesses and receive testimony at the hearing. Subpoenas issued under the authority of this section may be served by sending same by certified mail, United States Postal Service postage-paid, to a valid address of the intended recipient. Parties other than the council or committee requesting any subpoena under this section shall prepare and serve same using forms approved by the committee. No hearing shall be suspended or invalidated due solely to the non-appearance of any witness subpoenaed to testify or produce documents at the hearing.
(5)
Conduct of hearing. Whenever a hearing is conducted pursuant to this article, opportunity shall be afforded all parties to respond and present evidence on all issues of fact involved and argument on all issues of law and policy involved and to conduct such direct examination and cross-examination of witnesses; the testimony received shall be recorded and may be reduced to writing upon request by any party; all documentary evidence, if any, and all written arguments or briefs submitted shall be made part of the record; all hearings shall be prosecuted by the office of the parish attorney; if proper notice has been served upon the defendant, the hearing may proceed without his presence if he fails to appear. When a hearing is referred to the alcoholic beverage permit review committee, it shall hear all testimony and arguments, receive all the evidence and briefs and compile same into the record, which record shall then be certified by the chairman of said committee. The committee shall submit the certified record to the parish council with the committee's recommendation as to what penalty or penalties as enumerated in this section should be imposed.
(6)
Penalties. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the committee shall conduct a vote in open meeting to decide which of the following civil penalties or combination of civil penalties the committee recommends be imposed upon the person charged:
a.
Revocation of the alcoholic beverage dealer's permit or the denial of a renewal application for the permit.
b.
Suspension of the alcoholic beverage dealer's permit . The committee shall state its recommendation for the length of the period of suspension and may also recommend the specific dates for the suspension to be in effect. The committee may also vote to recommend that all or a specified part of the period of suspension be deferred; and, in such cases, the committee shall state any conditions which should be attached to any such deferral of the suspension.
c.
Any other penalty or condition deemed ameliorative of the violation for which the person is charged and/or preventative of further violations, such as those preventative measures referenced in section 4-34(8), except as mandated otherwise in section 4-34(7).
(7)
Mandatory recommendation for suspension, revocation, or denial . For any dealer found to have violated any of the provisions of this chapter three (3) or more times within an eighteen (18) month period or for any violation involving acts as prohibited in section 4-32(21)a., section 4-32(21)b., and section 4-32(21)d., the committee shall recommend suspension without deferral or revocation of the permit or denial of the renewal application for the permit.
(8)
Preventative measures; conditions for deferment of suspension . Reasonable conditions for the deferral of a suspension may include, but shall not be limited to, preventative measures encouraging responsible behavior around alcoholic beverages, such as:
a.
The permit-holder and all alcohol beverage servers employed by the permit-holder attending approved training classes.
b.
The permit-holder and/or owner of the licensed premises installing point-of-sale equipment which would prevent the sale of alcoholic beverages without proper identification from the buyer indicating that the buyer is of age to purchase alcoholic beverages legally.
c.
Any other condition, or combination thereof, deemed ameliorative of the violation for which the person is charged and/or preventative of further violations.
(9)
Failure to complete conditions for deferment of suspension. Any condition imposed for the deferment of a suspension shall be fully completed by the respective permit-holder within thirty (30) days from the respective date of the council's action imposing said condition or within any alternative period of time as delineated by the council. Failure to complete any such condition for deferment on time and in full shall result in the immediate suspension of the respective permit for the entire duration of the otherwise deferred suspension. A permit-holder who, due to the incompletion and/or untimely completion of the respective conditions for deferment, serves the entirety of any such suspension shall not thereafter be required to complete the corresponding conditions of the deferment.
(10)
Assessment of costs of hearings. In hearings of the alcoholic beverage permit review committee which finally result in withholding the issuance of a license, suspending or revoking a permit/certificate to dispense, or other penalties, the committee may recommend the assessment of any costs of the hearing to the applicant, permittee, or holder of certificate to dispense, as the case may be. Such recommended assessments shall not be imposed unless approved by the council. Funds received by the parish from the assessments of the costs of the hearings may be used to defray the costs to the parish for such hearings.
(11)
Council action. If the hearing is conducted by the committee, the council shall not be required to conduct another hearing during its deliberation, unless a majority of the council votes to do so; however, nothing herein shall prohibit a permit-holder from submitting written objections regarding any alleged errors in the record prior to the council considering the permit revocation or suspension and/or the imposition of other penalties for the violation of any of the provisions of this chapter. However, no permit shall be suspended or revoked, nor shall any renewal application be denied, nor shall any other penalty as enumerated in this chapter be imposed except by a majority vote of the parish council. No rehearing shall be granted with regard to any permit or permit-holder/applicant for which the parish council has adopted a resolution imposing suspension, revocation, and/or other penalties.
(12)
Effect of revocation, suspension. When an alcoholic beverage permit is revoked or renewal is denied for any legal cause, by any lawful authority, no parish permit shall be issued consistent with the existing use at the time of the revocation or the denial of the renewal covering the premises for a minimum of one (1) year and one (1) day after the date of the revocation, except under director declared emergency by the director of inspection and code enforcement. When a permit has been suspended by the parish council or their lawful authorities, no new permit shall be issued for the same premises for a period of fourteen (14) days beginning from the last day of the suspension. A suspension shall be executed in and apply to the licensed premises in which or in the vicinity of which the violation occurred, regardless of whether such establishment has been sold or otherwise transferred to a new owner, permit-holder, or applicant for a permit prior to the term of the suspension.
(13)
Signage required. During the entire period of any permit suspension or revocation as provided for herein, the permittee or former permittee shall display on the exterior of the front door of the licensed premises or formerly licensed premises a sign prepared by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office indicating that the permit for said premises has been suspended or revoked, and giving the beginning and ending dates of such suspension and revocation and the reason(s) for the suspension or revocation.
(14)
Removal of inventory. During the entire period of any permit suspension or revocation as provided for herein, the permittee or former permittee shall not retain, keep, or display any alcoholic beverages on the licensed or formerly licensed premises which are subject to the suspension or revocation. All such beverages shall be removed from the premises and shall not be restocked or returned to the premises until the end of the period of suspension or until a new permit is issued after revocation of the former permit. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, however, the sheriff may within his discretion allow a permit-holder whose permit has been suspended to retain the alcoholic beverages on the licensed premises during the period of suspension provided that the permit-holder complies with whatever alternative measures the sheriff may require to ensure that alcoholic beverages are not dispensed on the licensed premises during the period in which the permit is suspended.
(15)
Responsible alcohol management fund; use of proceeds from fines. Funds paid to the parish from the imposition of fines under the provisions of this chapter, or otherwise so allocated to the same account, shall be dedicated to the Parish Responsible Alcohol Management Fund. Said fund shall be dedicated to investigations, programs, and/or awareness campaigns designed: to prevent underage drinking; to enforce the prohibitions against underage drinking and other prohibitions in this chapter; to support substance abuse education; or to increase awareness of the provisions of this chapter.
(16)
Construction; common ownership. For the purposes of this chapter, the Captain of the Ship Doctrine and the Doctrine of Respondeat Superior shall apply without limitation; and the permit-holder shall be responsible for occurrences in the licensed premises and in the vicinity thereof. For the purposes of this chapter, in considering the penalty to be imposed for a violation or violations at the premises of a permit-holder, the committee and/or council may consider any previous violation(s) of this chapter which occurred at the licensed premises during the eighteen (18) months immediately prior to the violation(s) under consideration, regardless of whether the previous violation(s) occurred under different ownership or management.
(Code 1961, § 3-25; Ord. No. 18076, § 1, 8-29-90; Ord. No. 23073, § 3, 6-6-07; Ord. No. 23688, § 2, 11-4-09; Ord. No. 23818, § 1, 5-26-10; Ord. No. 24193, § 4, 1-25-12; Ord. No. 24232, § 5, 3-7-12; Ord. No. 25164 , § 10, 6-8-16)
State law reference
Similar provisions, R.S. 26:93, R.S. 26:290
Editor's note
Ord. No. 25164 , § 10, adopted June 8, 2016, amended § 4-34 and in so doing changed the title of said section from "Procedure for and effect of suspension, revocation" to "Procedure for and effect of suspension, revocation, and other penalties for violations," as set out herein.