| By Big Radio News Staff |

The city of Janesville plans to put more teeth in its alcohol sales compliance rules.

This is after five of 13 businesses failed the Janesville police Department’s most recent alcohol compliance check in October. The checks determine mainly if sellers are following the law in checking IDs and selling alcohol only to people 21 and older.

City Clerk Lori Stottler says in recent years, the city has required individual store clerks who fail random compliance checks to give the city liquor board an explanation of what went wrong.

The city aims to try a different approach. Stottler says the city attorney’s office and the police department are in the midst of working on some draft rules staff would bring to the city council in early 2025.

Stottler says one idea on the table is to sanction actual stores for liquor compliance violations, rather than fining individual store clerks who violate the rules.

Those fines can total $500, and yet some sellers continue to fail compliance checks.

One local retailer, grocer Hy-Vee, has failed alcohol compliance checks twice in the last few months.

Stottler says after the second offense, Hy-Vee voluntarily met with police and the city and was “proactive” discussing its plan to adhere to city liquor rules in future compliance checks.

But she says some other sellers may need to be spurred to shape up their compliance efforts.

One possible measure Stottler says the city is looking at: temporary, 24-hour liquor license suspensions for repeat violators.

Stottler says the city aims to bolster its compliance rules in time for annual alcohol license renewals in March.