Meeting: Salem Licensing Board held Monday November 24, 2008 at 6:00 in the third floor conference room, 120 Washington Street. Present were Chairman Dave Shea, Members: John Casey, Rick Lee and Special Investigator Lt. Ouellette and Melissa Pagliaro, Clerk.
Approved: Application for a One Day Liquor License. Applicant: St. John’s the Baptist Church. Present: Tom Rich.
Mr. Rich said this is a fundraiser that will take place in the Parish hall on November 29, from 7 pm until midnight.
Mr. Casey asked if it was just beer and wine or alcohol.
Mr. Rich said it would be all alcohol.
Mr. Shea waived the fee for this event.
Mr. Casey motioned to approve
Mr. Lee seconded
Approved: Application for a One Day Liquor License. Applicant: Salem Rotary Club.
Present: Dave Wescott.
Mr. Wescott said this is for the Annual Auction at Hamilton Hall on March 9, 2009 from 6 pm – 11 p for about 200 people.
Mr. Shea asked if the proceeds go to the rotary.
Mr. Wescott said they do.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve
Mr. Casey seconded
Discussion: Casa Blanca – Present: Domingo Dominguez
Mr. Shea said that Mr. Dominguez was being called in because some of the Board members heard he was shut down. He said he knows that Ms. Pagliaro has spoke to the manager Michelle and she said some clean up was being done. He reminded Mr. Dominguez that if he closes for any period he has to notify the Board.
Mr. Dominguez said that after they had the sprinkler system installed there was a mess so he wanted to do some clean up.
Lt. Ouellette said that he was in there today and the workers were not very cooperative.
Mr. Shea asked how they were not cooperative.
Lt. Ouellette said they were not pleasant when they found out he was a police officer.
Mr. Shea asked Lt. Ouellette if they were working when he went in.
Lt. Ouellette said they were.
Mr. Shea asked Mr. Dominguez when he was re opening.
Mr. Dominguez said this Friday.
Mr. Casey asked Mr. Dominguez if he knew that he could not lease out the premises.
Mr. Shea said there were rumors that he had leased out the space and warned against him doing so. He asked Mr. Dominguez to keep the Board informed if he does anything like this again in the future.
Mr. Lee said the Board called him in just to clear the air and find out what was happening and that there was no further discussion.
Discussion/
Application: Salem Jazz and Soul Festival. Present: Matt Caruso
Mr. Shea just wanted to clarify that he is coming before the Board for approval now for next year’s events.
Mr. Caruso said that is correct and that he has all approvals and applications with him for the Board to review.
Mr. Shea asked him to discuss his plans.
Mr. Caruso said the plan is to have 4 concerts in Derby Square on 5/9, 6/13, 7/11 and 8/8/09, then the Cultural Festival for a weekend at the Willows on 8/15 from 11-8 and 8/16 from 11-5.
Mr. Shea the times he has given and the times on the letter from Park and Rec. are not the same.
Mr. Lee asked Mr. Caruso to talk about the vendors.
Mr. Caruso said they are mostly local artists and vendors. He said for the festival weekend it is non-profits artists and local vendors. He said there are no food vendors.
Mr. Casey asked if the vendors paid a fee.
Mr. Caruso said that last year they paid $60.00 each. He said they only did one day of vendor last year but plan on doing two this year.
Mr. Shea asked Mr. Caruso if he was on some kind of master calendar for events at Derby Square and asked if Ms. Talkowsky knew of his plans.
Mr. Caruso said that Ms. Talkowsky knows and that the Planning Department knows as well.
Mr. Shea asked how much of last years revenue was contributed.
Mr. Caruso said that a total of $6,000.00 was donated back to the City to the middle and high school and the Plummer Home for Boys.
Mr. Casey asked if there was an entrance fee charged.
Mr. Caruso said all the events are free, nothing is charged
Councilor O’Keefe said that when this began a few years ago it was a relatively small event. He said that it has grown and the events are great and they give back to the City. He said he recommends the Boards approval.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve dates and times as discussed with the stipulation and understanding that all vendors are to be CORI’d.
Mr. Casey seconded
Application: Annual Liquor License. Applicant: The Upper Crust. Present: Alex Rossi for Michael Bucchalder, owner.
Mr. Shea asked Mr. Rossi what his job was.
Mr. Rossi said he has been the acting manager for four months.
Mr. Shea asked what his experience has been in the past.
Mr. Rossi said that this is his first time working in a restaurant.
Mr. Shea explained that this is and application for an Annual Liquor License from a seasonal one. He said that this process happened through a home rule petition but still has to come before the local Licensing Board. Mr. Shea said they run a good restaurant.
Mr. Casey asked Mr. Rossi if he was certified in serving alcohol.
Mr. Rossi said that he was not.
Mr. Casey said that the Board should make it a requirement that all persons serving alcohol should be trained.
Councilor O’Keefe also pointed out that a Liquor License granted through the Home Rule petition cannot be transferred.
Mr. Shea asked Ms. Pagliaro to get a copy of the actual Legislation written for the Home Rule Petition for the next meeting.
Mr. Casey said that since underage people are serving alcohol, each person should be TIPS or the equivalent trained.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve an Annual Liquor License for the Upper Crust locates at 118 Washington Street Salem, MA, and that they must obey all conditions that a license issued under the Home Rule Petition state. License cannot be transferred.
Mr. Casey seconded
Discussion: The Black Lobster @ Stromberg’s Cove. Present: Peter Kastrinakis, owner.
Mr. Shea said they called Mr. Kastrinakis back in to discuss the indoor Entertainment License that was modified at the November 10 meeting. He said that the Board agreed to a 5 piece band but after finding that the Building Commissioner letter was written to only support a 2 piece band the issue has to be disuse again.
Mr. Katrinakis aid he just went along with what the Board suggested. He said a 2 or 3 piece band for him is fine.
Mr. Shea said they also want to reinforce the capacity issue and has a concern as to how they are operating if there was a 5 piece band.
Mr. Kastrinakis said he spoke to Mr. St. Pierre again. He said he plans on having this entertainment as a trial and if does well and financially makes sense for him to add sprinklers then he will.
Mr. Shea said again for the record that he cannot stress enough about making sure the establishment does not go over the 99 capacity limit set.
Mr. Kastrinakis said he already has an issue because he booked a BHS reunion two months ago for this Friday night.
Mr. She stressed no more than 99 people in the establishment.
Councilor O’Keefe also stressed the seriousness of not going over his allowed capacity.
***Discussion among Board, Councilor and Lt. Ouellette about setting up a tent outside and noise outside. ***
Mr. Casey said on the present diagram it states 99 people. He told Mr. Kastrinakis that he needs to re submit another plan deducting all staff and band members.
Mr. Lee said he wanted to reiterate that Mr. Kastrinakis needs to not have more than 99 for capacity.
Mr. Shea said the Indoor Entertainment License will be granted for a 3 piece band or musicians rather that the 5 discussed.
Old/New
Business: New Business: Gulu Gulu Café. Present: Steve Feldman, owner.
Mr. Shea said that Mr. Feldman has also applied for an Annual Liquor License through the Home Rule Petition. He said the application was supposed to be reviewed tonight. However, the Salem News made in error in printing and it did not get advertised within the ten days that it needs to be before the meeting date.
Mr. Feldman said that the Salem News did indeed make an error and printed the Upper Crust twice instead of his legal notice.
Mr. Shea said that there was one incident about after hours drinking but that the Board was satisfied with Mr. Feldman’s explanation. He also said that it may be a challenge to get this approved through the ABCC quickly.
Mr. Lee asked if all of Mr. Feldman’s employees were TIPS certified.
Mr. Feldman said yes they all were including the cooks.
Mr. Casey asked if all alcohol servers were 18 and over.
Mr. Feldman said his employees are generally all over the age of 20.
Mr. Shea said the fee for the 2009 License would be the full fee. He said they will review the application and vote on it at the December 8 meeting. He said if ABCC takes to long on the approval the Board can figure out some way to help. He suggested that Mr. Feldman hand carry the application into the ABCC once it is ready. Mr. Shea asked Ms. Pagliaro to have the application packet ready for December 9th.
Mr. Shea said that he invited Mr. Feldman to the meeting for discussion purposes only.
Councilor O’Keefe asked what address they used.
Mr. Feldman said they use 247 Essex Street.
No further discussion on this matter.
Old Business: Clucky’s Wings.
Mr. Shea said the Board had a letter in front of them from the Cit y Council approving the extended hours until 2 am on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays.
Old Business: Salem Waterfront Hotel and Suites – Entertainment License.
Mr. Shea said they would take a vote to approve it so that the funds could be deposited and then it could be modified at a later date.
The Board agreed to approve for the same Entertainment as the Waterfront Currently has.
Mr. Casey motioned to approve
Mr. Lee seconded
Old Business: Discussion about Class II Auto Dealers.
Mr. Casey said that they presently have 23 Class II at $100.00 each. He said that the former Board wanted to try and get down to 15. He said that they brought down the number of licenses from 51 to 25. He said that he spoke to an attorney last week. There is a place that wants to re open after a period of being closed. He said the attorney represented the property owner not the license owner. He asked dif the Board was willing to uphold trying to get Licenses down to 15.
Mr. Shea asked what the rationale was behind lowering the number of Class II License issued.
Mr. Casey said there has always been an issue with being able to verify the number of cars that are on a lot. There is not enough manpower to be out inspecting these dealers.
Lt. Ouellette said that after Lynn started to set up restrictions and stricter rules that it pushed them out of Lynn and into Salem. He said there used to be a used car dealership on every corner and some people had two licenses.
Mr. Shea asked if there are any restrictions on the number of licenses.
Lt. Ouellette said that there have not been in the past.
***Discussion among Board members and Lt. Ouellette about past license holders and the number of them. ***
Mr. Casey said that applying for a License that is currently being used and is active at a legitimate business is OK.
Mr. Shea asked Ms. Pagliaro to bring her list to the next meeting so it can be reviewed and updated.
Lt. Ouellette, Mr. Lee and Mr. Casey =have agreed to start inspections.
Lt. Ouellette said there is still something going on with the Duyon/DiGregorio issue.
Mr. Shea lets try to figure the situation out and then have them come in before the Board.
***More discussion among the Board and Lt. Ouellette about the routing slip process and the ordinances.
Mr. Shea asked about any thoughts on how the number 15 for a limit came to be.
Mr. Casey said he believed that the Board looked at the dealers that had a long history in the City and were stable. He said that most other were come and go operations.
Lt. Ouellette said that there was a lot of sub-leasing happening and lots of other issues as well.
Mr. Casey said that other cities have also cut down on these licenses.
Mr. Shea said we have recently approved a couple.
Mr. Casey said that those were for business that continued operating and had a switch of owner.
Lt. Ouellette said in the past people were being given two or three licenses and got around it by using different corporation names.
Mr. Shea asked that Mr. Casey draft a policy for the Board to review at the next meeting so that the Board can act fairly in the future.
Old Business: Councilor O’ Keefe asked the Board where things stand on the Adult Entertainment Zone draft.
Mr. Lee said that he is waiting on legal expertise. He said he needs information on footage and where and where not the zone can go.
Mr. Shea the draft of the regulations needs to be published.
Councilor O’ Keefe suggested that the Board have a Hearing and then take under advisement and make amendments.
***Discussion among the Board and Councilor O’Keefe about the draft. ***
Mr. Shea said that we could hold the meeting the first meeting in January which would be the 12th. He asked Ms. Pagliaro to publish the whole Draft unless other wise told.
Ms. Pagliaro asked where the money to publish the Draft would come from.
Mr. Shea said to check with Beth. He said that we would need 100 copies of the Draft and a big map of the whole City to display on an easel from Planning. It needs to ID every park and certified school and places of worship. He said to also invite the City Solicitor and City Councilors to attend the meeting. He asked that the Draft be placed 1st on the Agenda.
***Discussion with the Board and Councilor O’Keefe about the zoning. ***
Approved: Minutes from November 10, 2008 meeting.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve
Mr. Casey seconded
Motion to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Pagliaro
Clerk of the Board
Submitted: December 1, 2008
Approved: December 8, 2008
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