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After hearing from officials with the Livermore Police Department on Monday about challenges to enforcing tobacco retailer laws, the City Council expressed support for amending the city’s municipal code to include compliance monitoring and inspection authority by city officials and the discretion to utilize administrative fines and penalties.
Although the sale and possession of flavored tobacco products or vaping products is illegal in Livermore, some tobacco retailers still sell them. The updates to the ordinance would provide officials with a tool to address tobacco retailers who refuse to allow compliance monitoring or inspections as well as further deter retailers from violating existing laws.
The potential fines for violating the ordinance would be no less than $250 and would not exceed $1,000, or possible revocation of their tobacco retailer license, according to city officials. Additional penalties could include cost recovery fees related to the law enforcement response
The specific amendments to the ordinance include providing inspection rights at licensed tobacco retail establishments, with those inspections including all areas of the business – not just areas open to public view but offices, cabinets and storage areas as well.
LPD officials noted during the council meeting that inspections of this nature would be conducted at a time and in a manner that will minimize business interruption.
The ordinance would also stipulate that a business’s refusal to allow an inspection would result in a civil fine or license revocation.
Under the ordinance, unlicensed tobacco retailers would be subject to criminal prosecution and seizure of tobacco products.
Vice Mayor Bob Carling and Councilmember Evan Branning each shared similar sentiments during their brief remarks on the topic, offering gratitude to those in the community who brought the issue to the council’s attention.
Councilmember Ben Barrientos also commented on the amendments saying, “I think this is needed even though kids will find their way around it. But whatever holds them back, that’s great.”
Following the introduction of the ordinance, the item will be considered for adoption at the March 11 council meeting. If approved, it will take effect 30 days from that date, according to city officials.
In its second public hearing of the evening, the council approved a resolution establishing a fee to cover staff costs when reviewing preliminary applications for eligible housing developments.
The approved fee amount of $580 was determined by the estimated average time spent by staff reviewing the applications.
Officials determined that for one application, it would take three hours of associate planner time, one hour of principal planner time, and one hour of planning admin tech time. The fee amount reflects the sum of the fully burdened hourly rates of those positions which is $117.54 for associate planners, $143.61 for principal planners and $82.75 for planning admin techs.
“I’ve been in this business for a while and one of the mantras we’ve all come to repeat over and over again is ‘those who benefit pay’ and that was that the current residents should not have to subsidize new development. So the fees that they collect are actually the cost of delivering service. We’re not making money on this, this is the cost of delivering the services,” Mayor John Marchand said, reiterating the reasoning behind establishing the fee.
“I absolutely support it because it enables the developer to pay those costs and we don’t rely upon the current residents to subsidize it,” he added before the council took its vote.
The resolution was approved in a 4-0 vote with Councilmember Brittni Kiick absent from the meeting.