Sheetz rep at Adams Twp. meeting: ‘They card everybody’
ADAMS TWP — A representative of Sheetz explained the company’s policies for alcohol sales at a public hearing for a liquor license transfer at a new Sheetz location at the intersection of Route 228 and Three Degree Road.
The hearing was held ahead of the Adams Township meeting on Monday night.
The hearing was a chance for the company to present its case in favor of the transfer of a restaurant liquor license from the city of Butler to the in-progress Sheetz at 1000 Dori Drive, across from the Mars Area Middle School and Mars Area High School campuses.
Lawyer Mark Kozar of Flaherty and O’Hara said Sheetz has a universal card checking policy for all customers who buy alcohol.
“This policy removes any gray area from the sales associates. They card everybody,” Kozar said. “Sheetz uses a card scanner to verify the age of the person, and these card scanners will also detect fake cards.”
Beer and wine are the only alcoholic beverages sold at Sheetz locations. On-premises alcohol consumption of beer is permitted, but not emphasized, Kozar said.
All Sheetz employees receive training to prepare them for selling alcohol or dealing with potentially intoxicated customers, Kozar added.
After supervisor Ron Nacey asked for specifics, Kozar clarified that single beers are the only types of alcohol permitted to be consumed on the premises.
Resident Jennifer McAfee said she was encouraged by the training, but was concerned about the on-site consumption of alcohol.
“Kids are always my priority,” she said. “As long as the policies are tight, and they are following the policies and not serving underage, and you’re watching the on-site consumption with the police officers, I guess my thing would have to be to the supervisors before they let the license ride, you would have to make sure as a township it was enforced. You don’t want someone getting hurt on 228, and you don’t want kids getting a hold of alcohol.”
Kozar said Sheetz takes its policies seriously.
“Sheetz has too much to lose to serve minors,” he said. “They are very strict. That’s why they have 100% carding in place.”
Residents again asked questions about the ongoing evaluation by and potential sale of the Municipal Water Authority of Adams Township and Breakneck Creek Regional Authority to Pennsylvania American Water Company.
Supervisors in Adams and Mars, the two founding municipalities for the Breakneck authority, signed a confidentiality agreement earlier in the year, the first paragraph of which refers to Pennsylvania American Water Company’s “interest in discussing the potential acquisition of the wastewater system assets of the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority using the Act 12 fair market value approach.”
The confidentiality agreement expired July 29.
Residents expressed concern that a potential sale of either authority had potential to increase water and sewage bills for customers in the area.
“We are really being squeezed financially in today’s economy all the way around,” resident Emily Marrara said. “If anything could stay the same and doesn’t have to increase exponentially, or just a little bit, we would really appreciate that.”
Vice chairman Ron Shemela reiterated that the township supervisors had agreed only to evaluate the authorities to determine their value as assets, as chairman Russ Ford had previously said.
“The only decision this board made was to appraise those two assets,” Shemela said. “The purpose of that appraisal, we are responsible for those assets. We as the board should know what the value of that asset is. There’s no reason in the world that we wouldn’t, and as a supervisor here, we absolutely should know that, and we don’t.”
Shemela said the township has not yet received the results of the evaluation from Pennsylvania American, and confirmed that the confidentiality agreement expired at the end of July. The township has not entered into another confidentiality agreement, he said.
When the results of the evaluation are available, Shemela added, they will be made public at a board of supervisors meeting.
“It has not come back yet, but once it does come back and we review it, we are going to make that publicly known,” Shemela said. “That’s another step in the process.”
