By Anne Thom

A special meeting of the Stacy City council opened Friday, July 6 with a full house including 14 of the 20 liquor operations staff, the city council, Stacy City Clerk Sharon Payne and City Attorney Peter Grundhoefer - and special invited guest.

Mayor John Daher started out by asking Councilor Mel Aslakson why he had called this special meeting at the June 26 city council meeting.

Aslakson said his concern is the $50,000 bond payment coming due on Aug. 1 on the Stacy Bar and Grill. Aslakson also has a concern that Stacy Wine and Spirits is carrying too much inventory.

Daher countered saying, "I'm confused why you couldn't have just asked Brian (liquor operations manager Brian Hachey) about that?" Daher added he felt the council is micromanaging the liquor operations.

Daher went on to say that one new councilor had even come into city hall and asked how he could fire the bar manager.

A brief, tense silence was followed by Daher asking Aslakson, "Do you have any confidence at all in our management team?"

City Attorney Peter Grundhoefer cautioned the council against getting into personnel issues. Hachey, seated front and center with accountant Amy Joslin declined to speak at this time. He didn't have to.

Hachey had brought along Paul Kaspszak, executive director of the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association (MMBA) who, as the meeting progressed, spoke for everyone: council, employees and citizens.
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Kaspszak said 92 percent of municipal liquor operators in the state are members of MMBA and said though Hachey currently sits on the MMBA board, he, Kaspszak, was not there on Hachey's behalf.

"I work for you," he said, "our goal is the success of the operation."

Kaspszak began with wanting to know why Aslakson thought the inventory is a problem.

Aslakson said he understood beer inventory is turning over every 2 1?2 weeks but it's the wine and hard liquor inventory that are taking "substantially longer" to turn over, approximately every 1-1 1?2 months. Hachey confirmed this from his seat.

Aslakson said by his calculations (Aslakson is an accountant) that means it was taking 66 days for inventory to turnover, at least for the first five months of 2007. Kaspszak thought a better comparison of turnover might come from a month-by-month average as he acknowledged the liquor business is subject to seasonal highs and lows.

Aslakson agreed but reminded everyone there is need to get rid of some inventory to make some payments.

"We need $50,000 by Aug. 1, how are we going to do that?" he asked. "We've got to get some money from someplace, it's an important question."

Kaspszak asked Joslin where depreciation money goes and suggested depreciation be taken from retained earnings and put into payment.

Aslakson said, "It probably went to buy inventory."

According to the accounting figures, there is $37,000 in retained earnings so far. Trying to get a sense of the exact issue, Kaspszak asked, "The problem isn't necessarily with the off-sale?"

Councilor Tony Olivolo's issue with the off-sale was too many staff. He said there were seven or eight and said other liquor stores have four to five staff.

Kaspszak asked if Olivolo knew how many were full-time.

Olivolo responded, "three to four?" Hachey said there are actually two full-time staff.

Kaspszak said MMBA suggests hiring part-time personnel. This practice allows an employer to cut benefits as well as some provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Kaspszak said he thought that eight people, six part-timers, "might be really good." "It's a deeper question than total number of people that are there?" he asked. "You're still dealing with some old employee issues, correct?"

The mayor said correct, alluding to litigation with a former bar manager. The first six months of Hachey's tenure had been spent trying to address leftover personnel issues. Still a personnel issue and therefore not open to public debate, the mayor steered the discussion from that topic.

Kaspszak asked, "What role do you want the bar to play in the community?"

Kaspszak said the old Stacy bar had probably appealed to a certain demographic but that the new bar would need to change roles for the community. He wanted to know about marketing plans and how people find the Stacy Bar and Grill, asking if there were signs directing people beyond the new mall off of the freeway.

To get a sense of how the Bar and Grill is actually performing Hachey was asked for sales figures for the on-sale by percentage for this year. In a comparison by month between 2006 and this year. March, April, May and June all had increases in sales.

"So, we're on an upward trend. Would I be correct in saying that?" Daher asked. "Yes," Hachey replied.

Let the employees speak

Daher said, "I want to open it up to employees because they hear a lot coming from this side of the street."

Former mayor Michael Carlson had sent a letter to the council telling them essentially they are part of the problem and not part of the solution. "...you need to let the professional team that is charged with running the place do their jobs and get about building the revenue stream that the city vitally needs." Carlson wrote.

In the audience, Stacy liquor operations employees had sat quietly. They were encouraged by hearing their hard work has been paying off when Hachey presented the figures.

Kaspszak encouraged them, "Your liquor store is a valuable asset and you're fighting for it," Kaspszak said.

Off-sale clerk Doug St. Sauver defended himself and his colleagues saying, "For this Liquor Operations Committee to succeed, these threats and scare tactics by the city council have got to stop. I'm speaking for all employees."

"What are you guys going to accomplish by shutting down and starting over?" asked one of the bar staff. "We're the reason they (the regular customers) come," she said.

Margaret St. Sauver, a bartender, asked the council members how many of them have ever talked to the staff. "I think it's a huge communication problem" she said.

Assistant bar manager Lori Dahle asked for an explanation for the "reckless comments" cited as published in the paper. Why are we being attacked?" she asked. She was referring specifically to remarks that Councilor Robert "Bud" Wilson had made at the June 26 council meeting regarding his perception of the Liquor Operations Committee and the bar staff.

The employees said this was uncalled for.

D. St. Sauver said he didn't think most of the council understood municipal liquor operations and repeated that staff would like to know why they are being threatened with their jobs.

Olivolo said, "We don't look at you; we look at what's on these papers losing money." Olivolo said his interest is in improving business and in improving the operations.

Olivolo wondered why managers were working days only. He felt working both shifts would give them a better handle on the operations.

"I want to see management there at night once in a while."

Olivolo has had complaints about the service at the bar. Olivolo told Hachey, "I wish they would come to you instead of me."

Kaspszak spoke again, "You have a serious, serious process issue" he said. People are talking to everybody else but each other. There is no process for documentation or follow-up. With no paperwork changing hands to exchange information he said there is no accountability when an issue comes up.

Kaspszak feels the Liquor Operations committee should be meeting every week or every two weeks. He suggested a boiler plate memo or other form be created for use to formally communicate issues.

"Now you have a paper trail," he said, "you need to set up the boring process of getting this stuff done."

Not good enough

Bar staff were still not satisfied they had received an answer to Dahle's question of why they are being attacked.

"Why does the city council feel it's necessary to micromanage when they hired two perfectly competent managers?" asked another bartender.

Bar and Grill cook Jennifer Lind concurred. "I'm being attacked for no reason. I'm a single mom, I need this job," she said.

Other staff wanted to hear from councilor Wilson who had made some remarks and had called for the termination and replacement of all current staff.

Wilson said his comments were about wanting information. He shook his head over the figures Hachey had presented and said, "If we're making more money, (but) there's bad publicity. I'm totally confused."

He said he was here for the taxpayers "to cut down on some of this money going down the drain," but also said he appreciated the staff showing up for this meeting.

Wilson felt his attitude toward the liquor operations was "bad' because he claimed he was unable to get information from Hachey. He said, "I haven't picked on anybody."

Wilson agreed with Olivolo that there are too many employees. "I want to cut down on labor. If you can't figure out how things are going, shut it down and start over. The public has a right to know what's going on with their tax money. The attitude I got at that last meeting was like a tornado. I don't like the attitude. Can I name the names?" he asked.

In unison, Daher and Grundhoefer said "No!"

Grundhoefer spoke again to caution the council against speaking specifically about employee performance issues.

Wilson's final request was a better breakdown of the balance sheets "so guys like me can read it" he said. Clerk Payne told Wilson she provides a photocopy of that information for the council at the regular meetings.

Councilor Barbara Avalos had listened patiently to everyone and finally said, "If we'd all quit bickering, quit being bullheaded on both sides, analyze it as adults on both sides. We're not getting anywhere."

Back to the beginning

Daher steered the discussion back to Aslakson's motion to hold this meeting. Aslakson told the staff his number is in the phone book and that anyone with concerns is welcome to call him. Aslakson said none of the staff had ever bothered to call him nor had any of them asked to speak to him privately when he has come into the bar.

"I'm open to discussion," he said, and promised he would then bring the matter to the Liquor Operations Committee and the council.

Staff still wanted to know how a process would protect them from the council threatening their jobs.

Accountant Amy Joslin said, "Essentially what we have is an issue with not enough sales and too much expense, but somebody needs to step up to the plate." She said both the employees and the council should now forgive and move on.

She addressed the employees saying, "You do understand that what they (the council) said is out of frustration." She said she has sat through numerous council meetings where the council has hoped that liquor operations staff could generate some ideas for sales and marketing.

Daher said, "I want to thank everyone for their candid opinions," and he encouraged everyone to now move forward. He asked Aslakson if he was satisfied at this point. Aslakson said yes and thanked Kaspszak for attending.

Changes to the Liquor Operations Committee will be forthcoming. Regarding the business of liquor operations, Kaspszak said, "It's not supposed to be this big public debate," rather it should be the business of the Liquor Operations Committee.

Grundhoefer said that Liquor Operations Committee meetings are open to the public. Grundhoefer supported Kaspszak's contention of a major breakdown in communication being the real issue. "I agree with Paul. I think he's picked up on it very quickly."

Kaspszak said, "It is their (the council's) job to oversee the operation, not to run it."

The next Liquor Operations Committee meeting will be Friday, July 13 at 1:30 p.m. at the municipal building. The primary agenda item will be raising the $50,000 for the bond payment.

Comment from Dave, 7/20/07

Good Lord. Stacy is starting to sound more and more like Harris every day.