A report criticizing the Honolulu Liquor Commission as understaffed — with workers struggling with low morale and doing inconsistent and ineffective enforcement of Oahu liquor laws — was met with calls for immediate change Wednesday.

The commission will hear a presentation today from Hui Chen, a strategic adviser to the city managing director, who conducted a months-long review of the policies and practices that cover the enforcement of Oahu’s liquor laws.

The commission agreed to the review in February after “ongoing complaints” relating to its Enforcement Serv­ices Section. The review found unclear policies and procedures for liquor investigators to follow, a lack of structured training and performance evaluations, unreliable enforcement data and a nonexistent system to track and investigate complaints.

Seth T. Buckley, an attorney and commission chair, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he is “in the process of reviewing Ms. Chen’s Report” and preparing for a special meeting that will be held this afternoon.

“As such, I cannot offer substantive comments on the report itself at this time, but encourage the public to attend and participate in (today’s) hearing. I do want to wholeheartedly express my gratitude to Ms. Chen and her team for their diligent work in conducting this systematic review and providing a comprehensive, data-driven and honest assessment of the internal systems and condition of our agency,” Buckley said. “Even a cursory review of the report compels extensive and foundational reform, and I stand committed to respond accordingly.”

The Star-Advertiser asked every member of the City Council for their take on Chen’s findings and what they would like to see change about how the commission does business. Not all immediately responded to Star-Advertiser requests for comment.

Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina told the Star-Advertiser she welcomes the findings and recommendations from the internal review into the Liquor Commission by Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration.

Kia‘aina and Chair Tommy Waters introduced Resolution 22-207 last year, urging the administration “to take action to restore public trust in the Liquor Commission.”

“This has included actively seeking a new administrator, identifying and appointing qualified well-rounded candidates to serve on the commission, hiring an independent contractor to investigate complaints, and performing a systemic review of the commission’s enforcement services capabilities and practices,” Kia‘aina said.

The findings affirm the need for “significant improvement to the agency’s operations” to ensure commissioners regulate and enforce the liquor laws “that keep our community safe, in a fair, respectful, and accountable way, free from even the appearance of abuse.”

Kia‘aina, chair of the council Committee on Planning and the Economy, will hold an informational briefing on the report in July.

The report found that only 30 of the commission’s 53 total positions were filled as of February. Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam told the Star-Advertiser that “23 missing employees is not good, low morale isn’t either.

“Honolulu needs an effective Liquor Commission. They’ve taken some steps forward — I’ve been impressed with their (collaboration) in helping get Narcan into bars and nightclubs — they’ve also taken steps backwards,” Dos Santos-Tam said. “Fortunately, this review provides a pathway forward. As Council members, it’s our job to make sure that pathway is followed.”

Council member Calvin Say told the Star-Advertiser that his “in-depth review of the Liquor Commission’s report is ongoing.”

“It’s disappointing to read the findings. I know they are trying their best being understaffed and I understand that improvements are being pursued. The Council passed measures to support the commission with staff and funding, and I look forward to seeing how we can further work with the administration to expeditiously fix these issues and implement recommendations,” Say said.

Business owners who have filed formal complaints, taken legal action and filed federal lawsuits against the commission hailed the report as validation of their longtime calls for change. The preliminary findings are what many bar and restaurant owners have been telling the city for far too long, they said.

Walter Enriquez Jr., founder and CEO of the Gay Island Guide, told the Star-Advertiser that for decades and after numerous audits “elected officials have failed to exercise their checks and balances of power upon the Honolulu Liquor Commission, even when there’s been no secret within the public for alleged corruption and intimidation of licensees.”

“It has taken a federal lawsuit and community members to stand up to bring forward what appears to be negligence and failed leadership by Liquor Commission administrators and supervisors,” he said. “Instead of addressing the issues that have been consistent it appears they continued to allow the problems to persist and have public trust further disintegrate. We call upon elected leaders and appointed commissioners to take immediate action and ensure steps are taken to cease the targeting of licensees by investigators and their supervisors.”

Gay Island Guide is also a plaintiff with Scarlet Honolulu in a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination and harassment from the commission and at least two inspectors.

Robbie Baldwin, who owns Scarlet Honolulu, said the findings in the Chen report validate the “accusations we’ve made against the HLC.”

“The results come as no surprise to us. In the past year and a half since we’ve filed our lawsuit, we’ve been personally attacked, been told our accusations are baseless and received homophobic comments from defendants (HLC). We hope now with this report they are finally held accountable for their inexcusable actions,” he said.

According to Chen’s report, there were seven active liquor enforcement investigators as of Feb. 15, which is just one-third of the investigator positions available. At the time there were 1,463 businesses licensed with the Liquor Commission, or 209 licensed businesses for every investigator.

Fifteen commission staff, including former employees and all active enforcement investigators, were interviewed and indicated morale at work was not good. They complained of insufficient staffing and low pay.

The commission has no standardized or consistent policies and procedures when conducting reviews of businesses and reportedly felt “no sense of purpose, no standard to meet, and no clear objectives,” according to Chen’s review.

Investigators said they felt isolated, with daily work schedules from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., and inadequately trained to do their jobs. Some complained about supervisors who were “sensitive” to criticism, and the report found job advancement was limited.

Chen also found significant and unexplained enforcement and inspection discrepancies between geographical areas. For example, between January 2016 and March of this year, there were 1,027 inspections of businesses in the ZIP code area that includes Pearl City but only 275 in the Waianae ZIP code area, even though both contain about the same number of licensed liquor establishments.

Similarly, 469 inspections were conducted at 73 businesses in the ZIP code area including parts of Kalihi, and 1,195 at 61 businesses in the Waipahu ZIP code, or 6.4 inspections per licensee in the Kalihi area and 19.6 inspections per licensee in Waipahu, the report said.

Liquor dispensers, which include bars and entertainment venues, made up less than 15% of licensed establishments but represented nearly 73% of those inspected more than once per 30 days, although that could possibly be attributed to the fact that Liquor Commission investigators work night shifts.

Dispenser, cabaret and brewpub licensees experienced the most inspections per business, the report found. Dispensers and cabaret licensees were also issued the most violations per business, beating out other license classifications such as hotel, restaurant and wholesale.

Some 14% of the violations handed out by liquor investigators were because businesses failed to file timely gross sales reports, which was the most common offense, the report said. About 10% of violations came from a failure to file timely annual employee lists, and 9% stemmed from alcohol sales to minors.

According to the review, complaints to the Liquor Commission spiked in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when rules around social gatherings, business hours and liquor sales were constantly shifting.

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Star-Advertiser staff writer Mark Ladao contributed to this report.