Members of the Barrington Town Council approved what appeared to be a compromise regarding the town’s alcohol servers training program. 

The previous ordinance required local restaurant workers and those involved in alcohol retail sales to attend a Barrington-only training program once a year, in addition to the state-mandated training program, which is once every three years. 

The new ordinance, which passed by a 4-0 vote during the Nov. 6 Council meeting, requires the local alcohol server training any years that workers do not attend the state training program. 

The change was not warmly received by Gio Cicione, who owns Brickyard Wine and Spirits.

“This makes it worse,” Cicione said while exiting the Council meeting.

Before the Council voted on the issue, Cicione explained how the local alcohol server training program essentially created an additional tax for Barrington businesses — Barrington is the only municipality in the state that has legislated the annual training; every other city and town only requires the state training once every three years. 

Cicione said the local program, which is run by the BAY Team, forces Barrington business owners to pay their workers to take the training and pay additional staff to work while those employees are at the training. Cicione said the local training can cost Barrington business owners $5,000, $10,000 or even $15,000. 

Cicione also questioned the need for the Barrington-only program.

Cicione said Barrington teenagers are not purchasing alcohol illegally in Barrington establishments. He said they are not going to Brickyard Wine and Spirits because they would likely see someone they know. He said they were not saddling up to the bar in local restaurants because they probably now more than half the people in those restaurants. 

Cicione also questioned whether the BAY Team training program was effective. He said it is difficult to find any evidence that the requirement has yielded positive results. 

That message was echoed by members of Barrington’s Economic Development Commission. Kaz DeCarvalho spoke on behalf of the EDC. He praised the BAY Team and its director, Denise Alves, for many of their programs in the community, but questioned whether the alcohol server training program worked. 

DeCarvalho said the BAY Team has never been asked to report on the effectiveness of the program, adding that most grant-funded programs are required to show their effectiveness. Dan Horowitz, who serves on the EDC, said that without creating a way to measure how effective the program is, the town should just allow the state to handle all alcohol servers training requirements. 

Alves said the BAY Team’s alcohol servers training program was not grant-funded. She also addressed questions about whether the program worked — Alves said it was very difficult to prove how many incidents have been prevented, and how many lives may have been saved, because of the training. 

She told Council members that it was OK to be an outlier for good things, such as providing additional training for those who serve or sell alcohol. 

Alves also challenged the idea that the program may scare away some potential businesses. She said two new businesses that will need to adhere to the program just recently opened up in town. 

Alves said she wants to see the town conduct more alcohol compliance checks with local businesses. 

The EDC liked that idea — Commission members said the compliance checks are effective. They also offered a proposal: Businesses that failed compliance checks could be ordered to undergo the annual alcohol server training program by the BAY Team. 

Council decision

Members of the Barrington Town Council were not prepared to eliminate the BAY Team program.

Rob Humm said Barrington experienced a number of alcohol-related tragedies in the past. He said that since the beginning of the training program in 2010, Barrington has not experienced those same issues. Humm said he wants all the groups involved in this issue to work together.

Kate Berard said the alcohol servers training can have an impact on the community. She said she liked the hybrid approach, which called for local training when a worker did not have state training. 

Braxton Howard Cloutier then made a motion to adopt the ordinance change, requiring the local alcohol server training any years that workers do not attend the state training program. Berard seconded the motion, which passed 4-0.