A manual of employee expectations and work processes wouldn't be noteworthy in most workplaces, but for the Baltimore Board of Liquor License Commissioners, a set of standard operating procedures released Thursday represents its latest step to remedy longstanding problems within the agency and improve relationships with local stakeholders.
The board, which regulates liquor licenses at bars, restaurants and other establishments across the city, has been mired in controversy for years, and had no formal guidelines for its staff before the manual's publication. The procedures have been in draft form for several years and address a number of problems exposed in a 2013 audit of the agency. They come as another audit is due to be published.
Although mandated by the state, the new procedures are part of the board's efforts to make the organization more effective and transparent, commissioners said.
"A lot of the problems that our agency incurred was that one person would do it one way, another person would do it another way and there was this sense that the process wasn't fair," said Thomas Akras, the board's deputy executive secretary. "And by publishing this document, by training our employees, we can hold them accountable, and the public can hold us accountable for being fair."
The board has been slow to evolve since the 2013 audit unveiled widespread problems within the agency, including 311 complaints closed prematurely, inspections handled inconsistently and failure to follow state law in awarding licenses. Commissioners said part of the delay in righting those problems stemmed from turnover in board leadership and staff. The agency has seen three sets of commissioners in the past three years.
"When you don't have commissioners directing staff and you don't have staff that's permanent and has institutional knowledge … it trickles down to the administrative staff, certainly the inspectors and how they inspect," commissioner Aaron Greenfield said.
Greenfield, commissioner Dana Moore and chairman Albert Matricciani were appointed in late April by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young after the power of liquor board appointments was transferred to the city from the governor.
They replaced chairman Benjamin Neil and commissioners Douglas Trotter and Elizabeth Hafey, whose appointments had not been confirmed by state senators. That board also helped craft the operating procedures.
Now, armed with a document that outlines day-to-day operations, a new system to track employee performance and a budget surplus, the agency's members are starting to realize the work their predecessors began.
"I do think it's a turning point. I feel like the temperature's coming down," said Moore, who previously served on the board in 2014-2015. "We want to demystify this board and the work that we do. … And I don't think this is a board of ogres; this is a board of people that care about Baltimore just as much as anybody else."
Matricciani said he was pleased to see the operating procedures were in the pipeline when he joined the board.
"When I first read the audit from 2013, I was taken aback at so many serious criticisms about the way that money was handled internally … evaluations of staff, the supervision of inspectors and on," he said. "I thought, 'What did I get myself into?'"
The procedures address the daily workings of liquor board staff, no matter how mundane. They include instructions on processing license transfers and amendments, docket preparation guidelines, policies for responding to 311 calls, and processes for conducting inspections and reviewing violations.
At the same time, the board has created a system to track inspectors' productivity, which includes monthly goals and breakdowns of the number and type of inspections they complete. Similar to the Baltimore Health Department's recent upgrade, the liquor board is hoping to soon equip its inspectors with tablets that allow them to upload inspection results in real time.
Another project that has been in the works for several years — creating an online portal that allows the public to view liquor license files — is set to roll out by the end of the month. It was due a year ago.
Chrissy Anderson, president of the Fells Prospect Community Association, said she would have liked to see those projects come to fruition sooner, but she's been largely pleased with the changes the board has implemented.
"I do see a major difference," she said. "[The previous board] let licensees or their attorneys kind of run the show, and they're not standing for that anymore."
She added that she appreciates the questions the commissioners ask licensees during hearings and the interest they take in previous violations.
Anderson is among community leaders keeping a close eye on the board.
"Anything we do seems to garner an immediate response," Matricciani said, which he attributes to the lack of trust in the commissioners. "We would like to restore that trust so that they'll give us a little breathing room."
Stephan Fogleman, a previous liquor board chairman, said the goal of every new set of commissioners has been to create more transparency.
"Nothing other than having a track record of fair decisions is actually going to prove that transparency and accountability to the citizens of Baltimore," Fogleman said.
The board Moore served on under chairman Thomas Ward was criticized for being too community-friendly, while the most recent board was condemned for siding with business owners too often. Moore said she was surprised at the level of discontent from the community when she returned, and the current board is trying to strike a balance.
"You have to be very community-aware," she said, "but that has to exist within the framework of the business community, and I think this board is doing that."
Corey Polyoka, a partner in Spike Gjerde's Foodshed restaurant group and the liquor licensee for Parts & Labor, was among the first liquor license holders to come before the new board, with a request to expand the license at Parts & Labor to allow outdoor service.
"It went really well," he said. "They're very fair; they asked a few questions about how we were going to operate, had we reached out to the community."
Although the board has fewer inspectors than in 2013, it is conducting more inspections and has a target for each inspector to meet. Another bilingual inspector is set to join the staff next week, bringing its total to nine full-time inspectors.
And its budget is back in the black. In fiscal 2013, the board was operating at a $166,588 deficit, according to documents provided by the board. In fiscal 2015, the board had a surplus of $118,457. The board is projecting a surplus again this year.
"Give us a fair chance. Judge us after a while," Matricciani said. "Let us do our thing and see if we can't right this ship a bit."
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