SNOW HILL – County government will lose a long-time employee as Worcester County Board of License Commissioners investigator Jeff Mayne retires this month.
After more than four decades of working to make sure local businesses adhere to alcoholic beverage laws, Mayne, who turns 65 in December, will spend his last day as a county employee Oct. 23.
“He has been an asset to the board and to the licensees in Worcester County,” said William Esham, chairman of the board. “He will be missed. It’ll take some big feet to fill his shoes.”
Mayne, who began his 43-year stint as investigator after graduating from college in 1972, has handled a little bit of everything during his time with Worcester County. Though known in recent years for his role as investigator for the Worcester County Board of License Commissioners (BLC), until 2012 Mayne also worked as special investigator for the Worcester County State’s Attorney. When he retired from that position, members of the BLC encouraged him to stay on part-time as their investigator.
“I really did it for Mr. Esham,” Mayne said of the longtime BLC chairman. “He’s been my mentor and a good friend of mine even before he came on the board.”
As BLC investigator, Mayne has spent his time interviewing individuals applying for new liquor licenses, reviewing requests for license changes and handling complaints regarding any of the county’s liquor license holders. When local police agencies perform compliance checks on businesses, Mayne reads the reports of violations and submits the necessary information to the BLC.
“I take the police report and I distill that to eliminate the stuff they need in criminal court to what they need for this,” Mayne said.
In his early days as investigator, it was Mayne who ran the compliance checks on businesses serving alcohol. Back then, he issued tickets to minors caught drinking.
“The town was running rampant,” he said of Ocean City. “I’d go in a place and you’d see 50 people walk out the back door. You knew what the story was.”
Mayne said underage drinking was so prevalent that one year, he wrote $245,000 worth of tickets. He had a book full of fake IDs from each of the 50 states.
In 1995, the situation reached a new low when there were 12 deaths of minors due to alcohol.
“Something had to be done,” he said.
He credits the partnership of local law enforcement agencies and health officials with turning that around. With increased enforcement and the creation of training programs for those tasked with serving and selling alcohol, underage drinking became less of an issue.
Nevertheless, violations have remained the hardest part of Mayne’s job.
“It means I’ve got to be the bad guy,” he said. “I don’t want to do that.”
Mayne says that when he can, he provides advice to licensees and suggests ways they can avoid violations in the future. He says the board, which hears each case, puts a lot of thought into each violation, as someone blatantly ignoring the law is not the same as someone who made a simple mistake.
“The board, especially under the chairmanship of William Esham, has vigorously fought to maintain a neutrality and fairness and command respect from the licensees for the law,” Mayne said.
He said Esham and his fellow board members worked to be fair because they weren’t trying to put people out of business, they simply wanted to make sure laws were followed. Mayne says he still remembers the advice Esham gave him decades ago.
“He said ‘I’d rather you fix the problem on the street than have them down here for a violation because after all it’s businesses that keep our county floating and people employed,’” Mayne recalled. “When we suspend a license, we put people out of work. How are we helping society, particularly the citizens of Worcester County, by putting them out of work? I do my best to prevent that.”
Though Mayne has enjoyed his time with Worcester County, he says he’s looking forward to retirement, as he and his wife have plans to move to Pennsylvania. While he’s ready for a break from the work, Mayne says he’ll be sorry to leave behind the array of community members he’s come to know during his years on the job.
“I’ll miss the people,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed the people I’ve worked with.”
