A group of 25 residents, activists and proprietors will be assembled to advise Baltimore?s historically turbulent Liquor Board, officials announced this week.
The Liquor Board has come under fire in the past for everything from inspectors not filing time sheets to executives illegally allowing inactive liquor licenses to remain valid. But officials hope that will change with the establishment of a citizen?s advisory committee that will work to update the board?s outdated laws, monitor their proceedings and suggest new legislation.
“For decades, the Liquor Board has been at best ineffective,” said Board Chairman Mark Fosler, who himself was on the verge of losing his job in January. “It?s no secret.”
The board has been working at correcting past deficiencies, Fosler said, such as making inspectors work eight-hour shifts, but there?s still room for work. He named underage drinking as a top priority.
The board collected more than $200,000 in fines in two months, he said, mostly due to underage drinking. He said bars in the Power Plant Live complex have volunteered to nix their “college night” parties, but he hopes the advisory committee can brainstorm ways to combat entrepreneurs who plan to fill the void.
Fosler said the committee will mostly likely meet once a month and more frequently during “high activity” periods. Canton resident Leigh Ratiner ? the past president of the 50,000-member Federation of Community Associations ? has been chosen to head the committee, but other members have not yet been selected. Fosler said the Liquor Board hopes to find representatives from the license-holder community and government to serve.
Ratiner said he hopes to “stick his nose in anything the board lets us.”
“We also want to help in the mediation process,” he said. “I just spent three hours with a community group talking about a bar that’s causing trouble. We don?t want fistfighting in front of the Liquor Board during the formal hearing.”
Most recently, board executives made headlines while squabbling with commissioners and the state senators who appoint them. In January, the board suspended executive secretary Nathan C. Irby Jr., who had the support of the city?s senators.
