Amendments to a new liquor ordinance will likely pass at the Aug. 4 council meeting, despite arguments from bar owners against the changes.

Owners were invited to the council work session Tuesday night to discuss the changes, which use a grid system to determine punishments for violations.

The first violation incurs a $500 fine and three-day license suspension. The second violation is $1,000 and seven days and the third violation is $2,000 and 12 days. On the fourth violation, the license is revoked.

Marv Peters, owner of the Brown Derby, said rules in the ordinance are not fair because many of them do not apply to other businesses.

For example, if customers create a nuisance on the premises or in the surrounding area, the owner can be fined and his or her license suspended. Also, illegal acts performed on property owned or controlled by the establishment constitute a violation if the bar is aware of the actions.

City Attorney David Hoversten said while it is true that other businesses do not get suspended for similar activities, everyone must follow guidelines specific to their type of business.

"Everyone has their own unique regulations that don't necessarily match up with other businesses," he said.

Steve Michels' top concern was being responsible for patrons' activities outside the bar. Michels is the owner of Charley's Lounge.

"We aren't going to baby-sit everyone out on the sidewalk and out on the street," he said.

However, Hoversten said that amendment was consistent with laws in the Twin Cities.

Many bar owners said they can not constantly be aware of employees' activities. Punishing owners for illegal activities of employees is not fair, they said.

Hoversten said without that, the ordinance would be useless.

"It's one risk you have to undertake when you choose to be in this business," he said.

The changes to the ordinance have been in the works for more than a year. The proposed changes were in response to a compliance check by the police department in which 43 percent of bars in Austin served alcohol to a minor. Minors worked with police during the checks, ordering drinks and seeing if they could get served. However, they did not lie about their age and did not use false identifications.

Dick Lang, owner of Bobee Jo's, said the current ordinance has only been in effect for one and a half years, and bars should have more time to show a good effort toward stopping the problem.

He said the best solution for stopping minors from getting alcohol was to put more police in bars.

"We have no contact with police officers unless they're driving around our block 18 times in a night," Lang said. "They never get out of their vehicles."

Police Chief Paul Philipp said since moving to a 10-hour work day, more officers are already doing that. He said the police department would work with owners to help with the problem, but ultimately the responsibility still fell on owners and operators.

At-Large council member Wayne Goodnature agreed with Lang that punishing bars would not ease the problem.

"The bars sound like they need some serious assistance from the inside," he said.

Officers working the bars would work short-term, he said, but with budget constraints, that system could not be sustained. Another idea he mentioned was putting cameras in bars, so minors would not be as apt to attempt to purchase alcohol.

Goodnature was the only council member to indicate he would not vote for the amendments, which will be on the Aug. 4 meeting agenda.

The other members said they would support the new grid system of punishment.

"I think that only makes sense, and I think that's only fair to everybody involved," said Lynn Koch, of the 1st Ward.

One change that was made to the amendments was in regards to incidents occurring outside the establishment. The wording was changed from "nuisance" to "reoccurring nuisance" so bars would not be penalized for isolated incidents.

Tracey Chamberlain, 3rd Ward, was not present at the work session.

Matt Merritt can be reached at 434-2214 or by email at matt.merritt@austindailyherald.com