Cape Council approves new liquor-delivery license

The carGO transportation service will pay an annual $50 liquor-license fee to the City of Cape Girardeau in order to deliver alcohol in the community under a new ordinance prompted by a legal dispute earlier this year.

The Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday night approved an ordinance setting up a new liquor-license category for businesses that deliver, but don�t sell alcohol at the retail or wholesale level. James Stapleton, co-founder of carGO, was cited for not having a liquor license after one of his independent drivers delivered two bottles of alcohol, ordered by police chief Wes Blair, to a local hotel in May.

City officials took Stapleton to municipal court. But after Stapleton sought to fight the charge in court, city officials agreed to drop the charge. City manager Scott Meyer said in July that the two sides would work together to develop a new ordinance.

But more than four months later, the measure adopted by the city falls short of what he and fellow carGO investor Jeff Maurer wanted, said Stapleton, who did not attend Monday�s meeting.

�All they really did was provide a new category in an existing ordinance,� Stapleton said in a phone interview after the council meeting.

While the $50 fee is less than the $750 annual wholesaler license the city had required carGO to obtain earlier this year, Stapleton said the new ordinance does not apply to Federal Express or other private delivery services, nor the U.S. Postal Service, all of which deliver alcohol to customers.

It also doesn�t require delivery companies to adopt specific programs or policies to prevent the delivery of alcohol to minors, he said.

Stapleton said he understands the city�s inability to regulate the postal service. However, he said, the new measure should apply to private delivery services.

In an email to the Southeast Missourian, Maurer said the measure provides �no regulatory framework� for retailers/restaurants who may choose to deliver alcohol and does not require all for-profit businesses to follow the same rules in the delivery of alcohol.

Maurer said �it appears this process has been more about regulating carGO than it has been about developing an ordinance to safely regulate delivery of age-restricted products within the city.�

Meyer, the city manager, said city officials had discussions with Stapleton and Maurer on how best to regulate the delivery of alcohol.

But Meyer said city staff felt it would be �difficult to regulate� not only the postal service, but Fed Ex and other such companies.

Stapleton said, �It seems to us this ordinance was just written for carGO.�

He said he and Maurer wanted the city to require alcohol-delivery services to implement policies to prevent delivery of alcohol to minors such as the ones used by carGO.

According to Stapleton, only carGO drivers who are 21 years of age or older deliver alcohol. The company requires its drivers to ask to speak to the person who ordered the alcohol upon delivery, check that person�s driver�s license and take a photo of the license. The photo is then stored in carGO�s database and attached to the receipt of the purchase as a way to ensure compliance, he said earlier this year.

At Monday�s meeting, Ward 6 Councilwoman Stacy Kinder questioned why the ordinance does not include requirements like those implemented by carGO.

But both Mayor Bob Fox and Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard said they did not want to include such regulations.

Fox said if there are violations, �we can take the license away.�

City attorney Eric Cunningham told the council �police do compliance checks and enforcement checks all the time.�

Stapleton said city officials initially wanted to regulate the delivery of alcohol to ensure it does not get in the hands of minors.

But the approved ordinance does nothing to address that safety concern, he said.

Stapleton said city officials �raised a big stink� earlier this year only to come up with a measure that will have to be amended to further address delivery services as they evolve.

Stapleton said the whole issue amounted to a �waste� of time and money for both the city and carGO.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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