StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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budget cuts. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) is no dif- ferent. In its next two-year budget, it is facing cuts of $4 to $4.5 million, even as its sales increase by rates of more than 4 percent per year. “Everyone’s facing budget prob- lems, the possibility of staff reductions, and are looking for efficiencies,” said Rudy Williams, one of the two deputy directors at the OLCC. “But though things are tough and the budget is bad, our mission has not changed. We are still commit- ted to public safety – that will never change.” The OLCC, based in Portland, has the exclusive right to sell packaged distilled spirits in the state of Oregon. It oversees the 246 liquor agents it has con- tracted with. The stores these agents run are the only entities in the state that sell packaged distilled spirits to licensees and consumers. The OLCC runs a two-ware- house distribution center in Portland to keep these agents stocked. It issues licenses for the on-premise, or by-the-drink, sale of distilled spirits, beer and wine to restaurants and bars, and also licenses businesses that sell packaged wine and beer. It trains and issues permits to every server, every person working on-premise who sells alcohol beverages to the public. And its staff of 37 enforcement officers, called inspectors, enforce the state’s liquor laws. Technically, “the commission” is the five-person policy-making body of the OLCC. The commissioners, each of whom resides in one of Oregon’s five congres- sional districts, meet every month. During these meet- ings, which alternate between face-to-face and phone meetings, the commissioners make decisions on rule changes, contested cases of liquor-law violations and the appointment of new liquor-store agents. What people at the OLCC refer to as “the agency” is the entity that runs the day-to-day operations, from the distribution center to the licensing operation to the enforcement officers out in the field. The agency is headed up by an executive director, Steve Pharo, who reports to the commissioners. The agency is divided into 18 three “programs.” Administration and Support Services includes human resources, communications, informa- tion technology and financial services. Distilled Spirits handles the purchasing of distilled spirits, the operation of the distribution center and also, with a division called Retail Services, oversees the liquor agents. The third program, Public Safety, encompasses licensing, enforce- ment, the state’s alcohol-server education program and a division called Administrative Policy and Process, which handles the agency’s legal needs. The two larger programs are Distilled Spirits and Public Safety. Each of these is headed up by a deputy director: Rudy Williams at Public Safety and Merle Lindsey at Distilled Spirits. Distilled Spirits has 67 employees, including five district managers who work with liquor agents across the state. Two of these district managers work out of field offices in the eastern and southern parts of the state, while the other three work out of Portland, whose metro area accounts for a lion’s share of the state’s population and, hence, liquor agents. These district managers are the liquor agents’ first point of contact with the agency. “Each district manag- er has a group of agents whom they meet with at least monthly,” said Merle Lindsey, deputy director of Distilled Spirits. “They are who the agents turn to if they get bad product or have an issue with ordering.” The liquor agents of Oregon represent a cross-section of the state’s population. They are male and female, white, African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern and Hispanic. The vast majority run one store, though there are provi- sions for an agent with an exemplary record to apply to open a second location, something a handful have done. StateWays s www.stateways.com s July/August 2011