The mayor and council are expected to form an Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee to hear complaints against bars. (Click to enlarge)
On the agenda for Tuesday night’s bimonthly meeting of Rumson council: the creation of an Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee.
And the first item on the committee’s docket: hearing a complaint against a borough tavern for maintaining a disorderly establishment.
Such committees are becoming more common around New Jersey as the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control has ceded a lot of enforcement duties to municipalities, Mayor John Ekdahl tells redbankgreen.
Former Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre, who now heads the state ABC, said local boards can be set up in towns with populations of 15,000 or more to adjudicate cases involving alleged violations by bars and restaurants. But smaller towns may have advisory committees to hear matters and make recommendations for action to the governing body.
That’s the case in Rumson, where a three-member committee will hear the occasional case and advise the council of its recommended action, Ekdahl said.
Borough officials recently encountered the need for a committee when one of the eight license holders in town was cited for “maintaining a disorderly property,” Ekdahl said.
He declined to say which bar or restaurant, though, or to be more specific about the alleged offense. A hearing on the matter, once the committee gets going, would presumably be public, he said.
Here’s the council’s agenda: Rumson 042313
