Downtown business owners urge council to rewrite proposed server-training alcohol ordinance

Multiple downtown business owners urged the Idaho Falls City Council on Thursday to revise a proposed server-training ordinance they said is vague, places undue discretion with police, and could criminalize paperwork lapses.

"The statute as it's written raises too many questions, leaves too much ground uncovered — it's too vague," said Terry Ireland, a downtown business owner and representative of the Downtown Merchants Association. Ireland said the draft could impose heavy burdens on temporary volunteer staffing at annual events.

Shane Dial, owner of Boardsmart and president of the Merchants Association, criticized the provision that lets the police chief designate approved training programs. "It gives unchecked executive power ... the pick-and-choose curriculum to the chief of police," Dial said. He argued that the ordinance as written would make compliance dependent on a single official's subjective judgment and could force businesses to repeat training at great expense.

Matt Jacobson, who identified himself as a resident and business owner, said the draft turns routine paperwork into a misdemeanor. "When you step back from that, ... this is just about paperwork for training," Jacobson said, adding that criminal penalties for missing or out-of-date certificates would be disproportionate.

Other speakers — including longtime downtown restaurateurs Tom Larson and Jake Schafer, and owner Christina Thompson — echoed concerns about cost, administrative burden, and enforcement. Several asked whether city staff had metrics or specific incidents that prompted the rapid timeline for implementation.

Council members did not take action on the ordinance at the March 12 meeting. Multiple speakers asked the council to consult with industry, clarify which personnel must be certified and how certificates should be stored and reviewed, and to adopt objective criteria for approving training programs rather than delegating that authority without guardrails.

The record shows repeated requests that the city either adopt an existing national standard or specify clear approval criteria and a less-disruptive enforcement approach (for example, spot-checking management records rather than requiring servers to produce certificates on demand). The council will consider the ordinance in upcoming meetings and staff indicated follow-up conversations with industry and law enforcement are planned.