§ 6-110. Employee and manager regulations; employee pouring permits.

The following regulations shall apply to all establishments holding a license for consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises:

(1)

No person shall be employed to dispense, sell, serve, take orders, mix alcoholic beverages, or serve in any managerial position by an establishment holding a license under this chapter until such person has been cleared by the chief of police or his/her designee indicating that the person is eligible for such employment and may be issued an employee pouring permit under this section.

(2)

This section shall not be construed to include employees whose duties are limited solely to those of a busboy, cook or dishwasher.

(3)

No employee pouring permit shall be issued until such time as a signed application has been filed with the police department or such department's designee and upon payment of a fee established by the city and a search of the criminal record of the applicant completed. The application shall include, but shall not be limited to, the name, date of birth, and prior arrest record of the person, though the fact of an arrest record shall be used for investigative purposes only, and shall give rise to no presumption or inference of guilt. Due to the inclusion of arrest information, these applications shall be regarded as confidential and shall not be produced for public inspection without a court order.

(4)

The chief of police or his/her designee shall have a complete and exhaustive search made relative to any criminal record of the applicant. If there is no record of a violation of this chapter, the chief or his/her designee shall issue an employee pouring permit to the applicant. If it is found that the person is not eligible for employment, the chief of police or his/her designee shall notify such person at the address contained in the application, in writing, that such person is not eligible for employment, the cause of such denial, and right of such person to appeal.

(5)

No person shall be granted an employee pouring permit unless it appears to the satisfaction of the chief of police or his/her designee that such person has not been convicted of, pled guilty to, or entered a plea of nolo contendere to any federal, state or local law for any felony and/or crime involving moral turpitude, including but not limited to, illegal gambling, illegal sale or transfer of alcoholic beverages to minors, keeping a place of prostitution, solicitation of sodomy, or the commission of any sexually related crime within a period of five years of the date of conviction and been released from parole or probation. If the applicant has been convicted of, plead guilty to, or entered a plea of nolo contendere to such a crime under the circumstances set forth above, the applicant may show that substantial steps have been taken to rehabilitate his or her character through: a) successful completion of his/her sentence (which would include completion of the sentence without revocation of probation); and/or, b) submission of at least three affidavits of employers, previous employers and members of the community stating: a) that the applicant has rehabilitated his or her character; b) the basis for the opinion that the character of the applicant has been rehabilitated; and c) that the affiant would believe the applicant under oath. Upon submission of this additional information, and submission of an affidavit (executed in person at the Cornelia Police Department) of the person or entity holding the underlying license for consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises that such person or entity understands that any violation of the employee pouring permit issued to the applicant under this section may result in the revocation of the applicable consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises license, and may result in additional penalties for violation of this section, an employee pouring permit may be issued to the applicant. For purposes of this subsection, a conviction or plea of guilt or nolo contendere shall be ignored as to any offense for which a person whose sentence was entered under the Georgia First Offender Act, as amended; provided, however, that any such offense shall not be ignored if the person violated any term of probation imposed by the court granting first offender treatment or committed another crime and the sentencing court therefor entered an adjudication of guilt as to the crime for which the person had previously been sentenced as a first offender.

(6)

An employee pouring permit shall be issued for a period of one calendar year from the date of the original application. As noted in subsection (11) of this section, the employee pouring permit must be in the possession of the employee while the employee is working at the licensed establishment. This permit must be in the possession of the employee while the employee permit holder is working and must be available for inspection by members of the police department or the city's staff.

(7)

No person shall be issued a permit if it is determined that the person falsified, concealed or covered up any material fact by any device, trick or scheme while making an application to the police department for an employee pouring permit under this section. If it is determined that a person is in violation of this subsection and a permit is denied for this reason, then 30 calendar days must elapse from the date of notification by certified mailing before a new application and fee may be resubmitted.

(8)

All permits issued through administrative error can be terminated and seized by the chief of police or his/her designee or the city manager or his/her designee.

(9)

Replacement permits will be issued within 30 days of the original date, upon paying one-half of the fee charged for employee pouring permits. A new application and fee must be submitted after 30 days from the original application date.

(10)

All permits issued under this section remain the property of the city and shall be produced for inspection upon the demand of any officer or designee of the chief of police or the city code enforcement office.

(11)

No licensee shall allow any employee or manager required to hold a permit to work on the premises unless the employee or manager has in his/her possession a current valid city employee pouring permit. For new employees, a receipt issued by the city may be used for a maximum of 30 days from the date of its issue. Licensees are required to inspect and verify that each employee required to do so has in his/her possession a valid current employee pouring permit.

(12)

It shall be the duty of all persons holding any license to sell alcoholic beverages to file with the chief of police or his/her designee the name of the establishment, the license number and a list of employees, including home addresses and home telephone numbers, twice annually, during the month of June and again in the month of December.

(13)

Any person, entity or license holder found in violation of this section may be fined in an amount not to exceed $500.00 for each separate offense. Also, any violation of this section may result in the revocation of any license or permit issued under this chapter.

(Ord. No. 01-05-01, § 1(24-32), 3-1-2005; Ord. No. 02-15-01, § 2, 2-3-2015)