Public Health & Safety - City of Wausau

PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE
Date and Time: Monday, November 15, 2010, at 5:15 pm, (Birch Room)
Members Present: Rasmussen (C), Wagner, Barr, Gisselman, Abitz
Others Present: Hardel, Buchberger, Jacobson, Michaels, Goede, Ray Schwartz, Sharon Kroll, Eric Larsen, Pat
Peckham
Minutes of the Prior Meeting(s) - (10/18/2010)
Motion by Wagner, second by Barr to approve the minutes of the previous meeting. (10/18/2010) Motion carried 5-
0.
Recommend a member of PH&S to the Mayor for appointment to serve on the City's Bike / Pedestrian
Advisory Committee.
Rasmussen stated when this committee was formed and because it was a citizen based group, there was some
discussion to also include individuals with experience in public health and safety, parking and traffic, and with road
construction, striping and lining from CISM. She noted that Gisselman has already volunteered to be the
representative from CISM but could serve in dual capacity for PH&S as well.
Motion by Wagner, second by Barr to nominate Gary Gisselman to represent Public Health & Safety on the City
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Motion carried 5-0.
Consider tavern activities, licenses and premise amendment at Break Away, 1915 N 6th Street.
Hardel reviewed a spreadsheet of service calls to Break Away that was generated in response to discussion at last
month’s meeting regarding fights at the establishment. He noted there were a total of 15 fights in 2009 and in 2010
there were a total of 24 to date. Some of the incidents were reviewed in detail by Hardel and Manager, Eric Larsen.
Hardel stated there has to be something that management does to intervene way before the fight occurs; they need to
recognize and anticipate conflict and assert themselves to protect the people in the establishment. He stated
although they have been working with police, he did not feel enough was being done to this point because the
incidents are still occurring at a regular rate. Wagner was concerned that only 20% of the reported calls were called
in by staff of Break Away. He felt if patrons are calling police about incidents then something isn’t working right.
Larsen stated that a lot of the calls by patrons were unfounded or were retaliatory for being kicked out.
Rasmussen stated last month the Chief and the committee requested they bring a report back to the committee
regarding a remediation plan on: how you have trained your staff, how many people are on staff, where they are
positioned, what type of behaviors you’re looking for, what you’re not allowing on the premise, what happens and
what response is triggered by your staff, and the expectations that you’re sharing with your staff and patrons. She
stated this has not been done and before any request can be considered the committee needs to know what they have
in place.
Rasmussen pointed out in the Tavern Activities report there is a violent event in which a woman was hit with a chair
in the “smoking room”, which is the third time the smoking room was open in direct violation of this committee’s
direction and State law. Hardel stated there was alcohol being consumed in that room, as well and a citation was
issued.
Hardel read a report on recent activity with the smoking room and stated he felt Break Away management has been
negligent in their duties to properly manage tavern activity on their property. He listed his concerns regarding their
lack of management: management has not held tavern patrons accountable for their behavior; has not prevented
dangerous or disorderly behaviors from occurring; has not anticipated behaviors early enough to prevent escalation
of conflict; has not recognized dangerous or disorderly behaviors early enough to prevent escalation of conflict; has
not complied with State law or City ordinances in reference to their smoking room; has not complied with State law
or City ordinances in reference to keeping alcohol from leaving their licensed premise; and has been deceitful in
their interactions with Officers when confronted on the smoking room issue. He therefore recommended to the
Public Health & Safety Committee that Break Away’s Liquor license be suspended for one month and the Tavern
Entertainment license be revoked for the remainder of the license year.
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