[Robert Delafano]: All right, it looks like we can get started. It's 101. This is the public meeting, City of Medford Liquor License Commission for July 17th. It'll come to order. We do have an agenda to follow, and the first thing on the agenda is to approve the minutes from May's meeting and June's meeting And thank you, Daria, for sending them over today. And does anyone have any comments, suggestions, modifications on those minutes?
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Chairman, Dario, you did a fantastic job as always. You've really captured the essence of that May 15th meeting. I read through it. I'm fine with it. I don't know if my other two commissioners are fine with it, but I guess I'd like to make a motion. But first, I want to just hear from Ben. Ben, what do you think?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they were pretty packed meetings. I've read through them, and the minutes look very thorough, very complete. So I'm good with that motion if you want to make it.
[Allan Martorana]: Sure. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from the May 15 Licensing Commission meeting as is. OK.
[Robert Delafano]: Then you want a second. Yep. And I'll second that. Alrighty. All those in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[Robert Delafano]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye I'm going to go a little out of batting order here.
[Allan Martorana]: Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, are we going to do the, was that the voting of all the minutes or was that just the main minutes?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, no, I'm sorry. We should have probably done them individually, correct? Yeah, two different events. Okay, so that was the May minutes.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: May 15th, yeah. That's why I delayed a little bit. So the other one is the June 26th meeting. Yeah. Right. So I read through those. I thought that it seemed quite thorough myself. So I'm good with them.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. Yeah, no, I agree that Daria does a good job of capturing the nuances. Mr. Chairman, number 11. on the minutes. Take a look at number 11. Does that have to be modified or tweaked or whatever the kids say nowadays? But I'm just looking at 11. If we're going to address some of the control compliance violations, number 11 kind of says that we're kicking the can down to September.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I see that. Yeah, that's a good catch, Alan. I think, Daria, will it change that?
[Daria Tejera]: I can amend it, but we originally, during the meeting, discussed that the next time we'll discuss this was September, so I wanted to Yeah, exactly what was said in the meeting. That's why.
[Allan Martorana]: And I get you because September would be the next official meeting, right? Because normally the commission, we hunker down for the summer. We're off in July and August, and then we go back to our normal business in September. So I get that. So I don't know. If we tweak it, however you want to do it, Mr. Chairman, I'm fine with it. But everything else, I'm good. I'd like to make a motion, as I said, to approve the minutes for the June 26 meeting on the condition that we kind of tweak number 11.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: That sounds good. Yeah, I'm good with that. So I'll second that motion as well. OK. All those in favor?
[Robert Delafano]: Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. It's been approved. Okay. Okay, that takes care of her notes and minutes of the past meetings. What I want to do is switch it around a little is I want to see if we can get Snappy Patties out of the way, because that should be pretty quick. Is there a representative from Snappy Patties here?
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: I am online. Yes, indeed.
[Robert Delafano]: OK, could you state your name and business for the record, sir?
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Certainly. Adam Gazzola, owner of Snappy Patties.
[Robert Delafano]: All right, Adam. Okay. All right, Adam, we received all the paperwork. I know you've been concerned about having your hours extended. The city of Medford has their own ordinance for this, which is in, it's a little more stringent than the ABCC's hours, but you followed all the guidelines. You went before the city clerk and the city council and they approved your hours, and we have all the paperwork in front of us. It looks like all the forms are in order. We've got the monetary transmittal form, and we've got the corporate vote form, which is also completed. Thank you very much. We've got a copy of the Newcomen Vigilance License. Just keep in mind the new hours they put on it, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., that's for food only?
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't think I could dare serve food that long, but yeah, no, I understand.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, well, basically what I'm trying to get to is it doesn't include liquor for the 7 a.m.
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, absolutely not. Absolutely not.
[Robert Delafano]: Right. And the days that you're going to stay open till 1 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. your kitchen is required to be open because any time liquor is being served in the city of Medford. Absolutely. You have to have food available.
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. The the just to keep you informed, the late night is generally by request because Medford and West Meredith is generally not a festive late night crowd. We have we have more people eating ice cream at 10 a.m. than we do drinking beer. So I'm fine with that. Yeah, I'm more than fine with that.
[Robert Delafano]: And you don't have to be open that late every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I mean, it's just if you've got a special event or you want to stay open to the place, it's crowded. That's cool. You know, yeah.
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: The irony of all of this, usually when we're asked to stay open and we've been open for 10 years, And we've made requests. It in the past, it's been a lot of folks from City Hall. We've had a lot of retirement parties, a lot of municipality folk. You know, I say City Hall, so the police or fire that have come in. So it's it's it's orderly and it's it's a very different crowd, which we look to serve. We're not we're not looking for the tough party crowd. So that's it.
[Robert Delafano]: Well, that's great. Okay, I mean, everything, it looks in order to me, Alan, Ben.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, I just wanted to reiterate, Adam, you're a very smart businessman, you're very wise. Just keep in mind, as a good rule of thumb, all alcohol, you have to serve food, and that's, I just wanted to reiterate that.
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Oh, absolutely, we have a special late night menu. Generally, you know, we're a family, uh run restaurant we we i would rather have a brunch and a dinner service than a late night bar crowd any day of the week because medford isn't styled for that um we do have late night fair uh and the people that we seek to serve at this hour are people who either do a special request and you know at around 10 o'clock we're generally looking to close down both the kitchen and the bar, unless we have special request or a crowd and a town is deeming that, hey, there's a lot of business here, we're still gonna stay open. But by and large, we are stressed as a small company, both with labor and employees, the number of hours we can possibly work. So we'd rather concentrate on the smarter business, which is families and the community, rather than trying to outreach to fast business.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good, very good.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I was okay with everything as well. You guys, I saw what Adam has presented and with the city's okay with it as he's gone through this, I'm okay on the liquor end.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, sounds great. Thank you. If one of you gentlemen would like to make a motion.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Ben, you want to make a motion? Yeah, I can. I'll make sure I'm saying this correctly. I'm looking at the different documents, so I'll make a motion. To approve. The extension of hours extension. OK, so the extension of the hours shown on this common vigorous license from. Thursday, Friday, Saturday from 7 AM to 1 PM, that's. As for the food, so for the for the liquor portion of of that. Um, as as we've said, the bar has to stay open. Sorry, the kitchen has to stay open when the bar does.
[Allan Martorana]: So, I don't know if that is that well said. Thank you, Ben. I 2nd, that motion.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, all those in favor say, hi. Aaron, and seeing none, your application has been approved. Congratulations, and good luck with your extended hours.
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Good luck. Good luck, Adam.
[MCM00001662_SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: OK, next on the agenda, we have a matter from last month, T1 soccer. We table that. that requests for two one-day licenses. And do we have a representative from D1 Stocker? Mr. Georges?
[SPEAKER_18]: I wonder. I don't see him on, but I did send him the Zoom link. Let's see. I told them to attend today. It's only that's unusual because thank you.
[Allan Martorana]: Aren't they? Aren't they a go? They need to, they need an answer to say they're ready to go, right? Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: I mean, their licenses haven't been approved. You're supposed to be here today.
[Allan Martorana]: Right. And we made them aware of how critical this meeting is.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Maybe we can remind them and then see if they hop on by the end of the meeting.
[Daria Tejera]: And if not, yeah, just email them again.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We'll do that. And then we'll, instead we'll just move forward with the, the violation portion of the meeting. Okay.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. You have to jump off halfway through. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: That'll work. Okay, well, next on the agenda will be the alcohol compliance check violations. Um, as as Alan had mentioned, my fellow commissioner that we normally don't have meetings in July or August. Um, but we felt as though, um, the people involved felt as though that this was important enough to do as soon as possible. Um, What we're going to do is we have six violations total, and we're going to, in a moment, I'm gonna turn it over, the meeting over to Lieutenant Larkowitz. And what he's gonna do is he's gonna read the compliance violations for each licensee. And all the licensee violations were for selling alcohol to a person under 21 years old. After Lieutenant Lockowicz reads the licensee's violation reports, the licensee will then have the opportunity to speak before the commission. The people we have in attendance for this is our Secretary, Terri Tahara. Um, myself, uh, the commission chair, Robert Delifano. Uh, we have Commissioner Alan Maturana and Commissioner Ben O'Sullivan Pierce representing the method police department. We have Lieutenant Lockowitz, Officer Smith and Officer Sebastian, uh, representing the city of Medford Health Department, Catherine Ding rep and Sophie Greenbaum. and the six licensees that should be present on this meeting is the Hillside Wine and Spirits, Medford Wine and Spirits, Blue Fuji Restaurant, Deep Cuts Restaurant, Aya Place, and Real Gusto Restaurant. Before Lieutenant Lockowicz's presentation, before I turn it over to him. I just wanted to let you folks know, and this is only my opinion, and it's basically the opinion of the commission, is the city of Medford takes this very seriously. If these violations were not a compliance check, it could have been a very different outcome. And if alcohol was purchased and consumed by a minor, there could have been injuries, even death caused by that minor. And it could have been caused to the minor as well as an innocent bystander or a family member. our complete family, yours and mine. And unfortunately, there's no second chances at that point. So that's how serious this is. And what I'd like to do is see if my fellow commissioners have any comments, further comments on that before we turn this over to Lieutenant Lockwood.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, I served on this commission. City moved forward with business being a support. Honestly, in my 12 years on this commission, we have never had six failed control costs. Checks, that's disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if... Alan, if you turn your camera off, your sound is breaking up a little bit. This is a sign of the time.
[Allan Martorana]: Well, I think it's just the... Wi-Fi. I think I lost... Am I still there?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, we can see it.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes if you click your camera off, it'll make it better. You mean click your camera off? Turn your stop, hit stop video. The audio just comes in better.
[Allan Martorana]: OK, I'll try that. All right. I've shut the video down. I guess what I'm driving at is I'm really shocked at the fact that there's been six violations in all my 12 years. We had maybe one, two, three at the most. And we all prided ourselves on the fact that everybody was doing the right thing. Everyone was aware of of serving to a minor, what could result from serving to a minor. So I'm very anxious to hear the situation, the circumstances, what the merchants have to say about what they've done and what steps they're going to take to prevent this from happening again. So I guess that's all I got to say. Like I said, Uh, not to be an echo chamber here, but six is the most I've ever seen in 12 years.
[Robert Delafano]: And would you get a comment?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, no, that's I agree with you both. So here from Mr. Lieutenant Walkowitz.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, yeah, Lieutenant Lakowicz, if that's the protocol, I'm a little new in this chair. If that's the protocol, I'm sure- Happy to try to help get the ball rolling here.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Lieutenant Rory Lakowicz. I've been the compliance officer for the city for 12, 13 years, maybe, 14 years. I'd like to make one little tweak, Mr. Commissioner. I'd like to just kind of go over what we did, and then for the individual reports, turn it over to the officers who wrote said reports, if that's okay with you. Yes, absolutely. So, We conducted a round of compliance checks throughout the entire city, broken up into two dates. One was June the 20th. One was June the 26th. I was working as the shift commander back at the station. It was officers Smith and Sebastian who are in the other video there. were in an unmarked police vehicle with a member of the Board of Health, either Catherine Dhingra or Sophie Greenbaum, and de-identified juveniles. I believe the total was five people that we utilized, but they were all under the age of 18 years old. So our process is to get parent permission forms signed, bring the juveniles to the police station. They're given breathalyzers before and after the process to ensure that there is no alcohol being consumed by them. It might be best for me to just read the first paragraph of one of these reports. This first paragraph appears in each report the same. Once we're comfortable, if anybody has any questions, of course, then I'll turn it over to officers Smith and Sebastian. So the June 20th reports start off with between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. 1800 and 2100 hours. Officer Sebastian, Smith, myself, we're acting in the capacity of the alcohol compliance officer for the city of Medford for the purposes of conducting compliance checks of all licensed restaurants, liquor licensed restaurants. Assisting and listed in the report as a witness is Sophie Greenbaum, the city's underage alcohol coordinator working on behalf of the Medford Health Department and a 16 year old female whose name is on file with Ms. Greenbaum and will be referred to JV1. in the report. Prior to conducting any checks, JV1 was given an alcohol breathalyzer resulting in 0.0, signed a parent permission slip, and was advised of our instructions on how to conduct a liquor compliance check. Those instructions are JV1 was told to enter each establishment with no form of identification. If they have their own driver's license, it's left in the vehicle with the officers. The person is to then enter the establishment, retrieve, in this particular case, we're talking about a liquor store, retrieve a six pack or 12 pack of an alcoholic seltzer, and attempt to purchase it with the $20 bill that I had provided them and recorded the serial number. If the juvenile is asked for identification, they are to say that they have none, because that is the truth. They do not have identification on them. If they're asked their age, they're instructed to answer honestly, 16, 17, et cetera. In this case, in this report, I'm reading from the report from 45 Salem Street for Officer Sebastian. when I pass the baton to you. So if they're asked for how old they are, they're to answer honestly, which in this case is 16. If the juvenile served alcohol, she's to bring it back to the vehicle where Ms. Greenbaum and Officer Sebastian were waiting. And that is pretty much the process for the restaurants. The tweak to that intro paragraph is that we tried to use, and we were able to in this particular round of checks, utilize two juveniles. I feel it's a little bit more comfortable for everybody to have two people together sitting in a restaurant. And that's really the only tweak. We had two 17 year old juvenile males enter the restaurants in question and they were ordering a Bud Light. Anybody has any questions about the process? I'll be happy to answer them. Of course, I can answer them later also. But for the purposes of Continuing on with these violations, I'd like to turn the first report over to Officer Sebastian. And the first one that I have in my hand is 45 Salem Street. Medford Wine and Spirits. You're unmuted.
[SPEAKER_16]: Good afternoon, everyone. I just want to ask the commission if you would want me to read this word for word or kind of just go over the basically the cliff notes version of what happened, or if you want me to read word for word from the report.
[Robert Delafano]: Officer Sebastian, I think Lieutenant Barkowitz gave us the overall procedure of the way things were handled. First, you know, breathalyzing the juveniles before and after, you know, marking the bills so they could later identify the money. and gave them all the instructions. So I think you can pretty much omit all of that. And where we have six different violations, we kind of get the gist of it. But yeah, the details of the important stuff of it would be wonderful. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_16]: All right. So in regards to 45 Salem Street, the juvenile entered at approximately 708. About one minute later, the juvenile exited the store with a case of truly hard seltzer. I then immediately took the alcohol from the juvenile, as well as the change that was provided. The juvenile described the clerk as a possibly Southern Asian male wearing a blue shirt, black pants, and approximately 40 to 50 years old. I then exited my unmarked cruiser, entered the store, and presented the alcohol to the employee who was the only employee working at the time. I identified myself and informed him that I was a Medford police officer and that he had sold to a juvenile who was the age of 16. I gave him the change back and asked to be provided with the $20 unmarked bill as well as giving him back the merchandise. The employee stated to me that he knew immediately it was a juvenile when the juvenile went to the store. The employee also did not seem to be upset that he just sold alcohol to a minor. He did provide me with his identification with the name of Rakesh Patel. I asked if the owner was in the store. He stated no. He then called the owner, who he said was Karen Patel, and I informed him what had happened. He then just stated okay and began to speak with Rakesh in a foreign language. I advised them that the report would be on file and that they should be checking all parties on, for ID, for liquor sales to avoid this happening again. I then returned to my cruiser and let Ms. Greenbaum know my findings. Also, I felt that the owner and employee showed a lack of remorse and I actually felt strongly about this, so I had spoken to Lieutenant Lockowitz and I believe that we communicated this to Officer Smith, who had two juvenile males with him. Later in the night, those two juvenile males attempted to go back into Medford Wine and Spirits to buy alcohol. The juvenile male was denied sale at this point. but he was told that I cannot sell to you tonight. I was busted by the police and have to pay a $2,000 fine. This is what Juvenile 3 reported to Officer Smith. He also showed Juvenile 3 on his personal cell phone a picture of the juvenile who had entered the store earlier and was allowed to purchase the alcohol.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, thank you, officer Sebastian. Is Mr. Patel here? I actually see a few Mr. Patels. Is there the owner of the liquor store here?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, hi. And I have all my manager, Kapil Patel here on with me too. So I'll let him talk.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Would you be able to just state your name and a business name for the record, please?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Sure. My name is Vatsal Patel. I'm owner of Medford Wine and Spirit. Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. And, um, okay. You have, At this point, the opportunity to tell your side of the story and what might have occurred that night and what you have to say for yourself or the employees that have been working for you.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, I see Krupal Patel here. Could you please unmute yourself and talk to the commissioner? And I'll give my input at the end after he's done, because he is the more in charge of employee handling and So yeah, I'll let him talk. OK. And who is this?
[Robert Delafano]: Good afternoon. Rupal Patel. OK. And your position with the company, sir?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_02]: Manager.
[Robert Delafano]: You're the manager. OK. OK. Go right ahead, sir.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the incident happened, and Rakesh Patel told me about the incident. And then after, we used to ask each and everybody ID, but then after we made a proper sign and each cell without ID, we don't sell anymore now. Now onwards, we don't sell. We put the sign, each and every single customer doesn't matter if they're 50 year old, 60 year old, we need ID to sell first.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so what you're saying now is your policy is that you check every single person?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: And being the manager, you oversee the employees in that store, correct?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, are you aware that the city of Medford just had a tip certification course free of charge for all on premise and off premise accounts? And, and not one of the six offenders here attended either one of those. Now, I don't know any of your employees tip certified. So do you know, do you know what tip certification is?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_02]: No.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. What I would advise to you is that you familiarize yourself with it. It's T-I-P-S. I personally took the course that was offered at the Medford Library free of charge by Ms. Sophie Greenbaum at the Board of Health in Medford. And there wasn't much of a turnout there. So I would suggest that, I would strongly advise that you have your employees attend that because it's extremely knowledgeable of procedures, what to look for in IDs. I couldn't believe half of the stuff that I didn't know. And that goes for everybody, all six places. you've got to get your employees TIP certified because it's too dangerous to deal with. Other than that, does anyone else for this license want to speak?
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: I am TIP certified by the way, so I'll communicate with my manager and employee and I truly am sorry about what happened and I'll be sure that it doesn't happen moving forward.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Myself personally, I think that's going to be acceptable. What this commission, what I'll suggest to this commission to do is put a warning into your file, along with these police reports, and you're going to be on probation for one year. If there is any type of violations within this year, then we will possibly look at suspension. And so it's a fair warning. It's a fair warning like my predecessor two times ago used to say, this is your one and only bite of the apple, right Alan? And that's what I'm going to suggest to my fellow commissioners And the other thing, I'm not sure who I should address this to, whether it's Lieutenant Lakowicz or whether it's, I'm not sure, part of this, report at the end, it said that the clerk in the store, when the two miners come in later on, stated that he was going to be fined $2,000, and he showed him a picture of the kids that come in. Do we think that this is something that should be done? Is there a law against this? I mean, this is a minor. And now this store clerk is putting it out there that, you know, this kid's in this city. They probably know him. They're going to think this kid's a rat and start harassing him, start giving him a rough time. Is there something that we could do to prevent this from happening in the future? I mean, I know with all the surveillance and everything else, myself personally, I don't think it's right for the clerk or anybody to show that information to anybody and to let them know who it is. And I think from this point forward, if that happens, I think we should impose some type of a penalty for that.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Mr. Commissioner, if I could jump in there. That was a little unusual, how that bit of information that Officer Smith provided, excuse me, Officer Sebastian provided. When we were done with our checks, just for the record, the juveniles that we use are not from the city of Medford. The health departments and the agencies such as like Sophie Greenbaum's role often will will use juveniles in each other's cities to hopefully avoid the fact that, you know, dad says, let's grab a hamburger. And the clerk recognizes the juvenile as somebody that had tried to purchase alcohol that week. But anyway. The the juvenile in question who had been sold the alcohol stated to us after the fact that she was uncomfortable that her photo had come up. So I took it upon myself to go down and speak with Mr. Rakesh Patel after the checks were done. And I explained the photo in question was was a picture taken from his security monitor screen. So it was just a it was just a photo of the juvenile in the store. And I explained she's she's underage. You shouldn't be showing that picture to anybody but either your attorney or the owner of the store. And that should not go anywhere else. He said he understood. I believe he understood. Like, yes, yes. We had this secondary conversation.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_02]: He cleared it up right away.
[Rory Lockowitz]: So I'm not too worried about the barring Mr. Patel having posted her picture online, which I highly doubt. I think that matters probably over.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, well, that's great. Thank you for clearing that up for me. Commissioners, Alan, Ben, would you care to comment? You know, as far as what I've said for a, you know, a punishment for this, would you have you guys feel about it? You think you're okay with that?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, Ben, if you don't mind, Mr. Chairman, there is precedent. So I think, you know, as our two predecessors, they used to say one bite of the apple. So I'm a big believer that, you know, sometimes things go wrong. But as long as you understand the severity of the incident, and you've taken the correct measures, that it won't happen again. And by the way, the employee that served the minor, Is that person on probation work-wise, or was there any punishment doled out to emphasize the severity of the infraction? I remember in the past, that employee would get fired. You know, hey, you served a minor, holy cow, you know, that person, that might not have been a controlled compliance check. That could have been, you know, the kids buying some beer and they're out speeding and they wrapped the car around a tree. You know, there are ramifications, you know. So I'm just wondering, does the employee who committed the infraction, fully understand the nature of the severity of what they have committed and what they've done. I guess that's one of my major questions and concerns.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, so I'm currently having a conversation every day with Krupal, my manager, and we are making a bunch of changes internally, and one of the things we did right away is restrict the security password to just myself and my manager, so no employee is going to have security footage access moving forward, so that incident doesn't happen. number two about checking every minor and about the scheduling shift of like busy time right like in the evening we are busy so providing additional support of additional employee so make sure they slow down and make sure they ID everyone and yeah so we're gonna incorporate training and we're gonna see what we're gonna do about Rakesh.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, that's good. Thank you. Being a youth myself, we used to know, I grew up in the city of Medford, we were no angels when we were young too, so we always knew what Paki's we could buy at, you know, what song and dance. So, you know, if the kids know that's the place to go, then, you know, you should be aware of that and make sure that doesn't, you know, that whole trend stops. So I know you guys are very smart. The whole entire family is very wise, very business savvy. I know you guys will take the correct steps to resolve this issue. Yes, and we will.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: What about Mr. Commissioner and Alan? What about just suggesting that they have their employees TIP certified?
[Robert Delafano]: I would agree with that.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I mean, the manager doesn't even know what TIP certification is. So that would be a good start.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Yeah. I would think that we should possibly mandate that for at least these six violators. Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: Ben, I think that's a great idea. You know, when people hear TIPS Certified, they immediately think of bartenders or bar service. Oh, you know, it's not a bar. We're not in a club. We're not in a restaurant. And I think that's where they immediately gravitate towards the thinking. But the TIPS Certified goes way beyond that. It encompasses a lot of avenues and things that you can get into trouble. Would you agree, Mr. Chairman?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I would agree 100%. I think we should probably put that in form of a motion for wine and spirits that is part of the being on probation and having a note in their file for a year that their employees who are going to serve alcohol. Yeah. The customers be TIP certified in a reasonable amount of time.
[Allan Martorana]: That's the question, Mr. Chairman. What is a reasonable amount of time, three months, six months? What would be a fair timeframe?
[Robert Delafano]: I'd say three months, but started immediately. So at least there's one that's TIP certified. You know, I mean, it's understandable. You can't send all of your employees for a four hour course because you'd have nobody to work. So starting immediately, they go over the next three months to have them TIP certified. It's not very costly either. And especially the employee that caused this mess, he ought to definitely be taken out of pocket. So it'll be money very well spent.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. If somebody wants to put that in the form of a motion, is that how we used to do it, Alan, that you put in a form of a motion for this?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: And where are we going to put the warning in the form of the motion as well? Or is it just the training, Mr. Commissioner?
[Robert Delafano]: I put the whole thing in it. Do you want me to try and do the first one? Yeah, yeah, that might be better. I'd like to make a motion for the violation which occurred on June 24th at the Medford Let's see what the official name is here, Method Wine and Spirits at 45 Salem Street. But this commission has heard from the police and the owners, and we have decided to put the licensee on probation for one year. and the employees that work at that license to all be TIP certified starting immediately and being completed within three months.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Anybody want to second it? I second the motion.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, all those in favor, aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. Motion's been passed. Mr. Patel, I hope we got something out of this, which I think we did. And as a matter of fact, if you can do me a favor and report back to this commission, just to Daria, letting her know three months from now that all of your employees are now TIP certified.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, sir. I'll take care of that personally. Thank you, Bobby. Yes.
[Daria Tejera]: Maybe we could get a copy of the tip certification so we know it's been completed.
[Robert Delafano]: And it might even be advantageous, just looking at it a little deeper for everybody, that when you hire a new employee, you give them three months or 30 days to get TIP certified and provide you with a copy of that TIP certification. You don't have to send it to us, just keep it in your business on file from this point forward. But just your current employees, we'd want to keep an eye on that.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, definitely.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[MCM00001624_SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Are we good to go to the next?
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Chairman, do you want to break here and jump over to D1 soccer? Did I see a representative from D1 soccer on here? All my little squares here are small. Can we jump back to that or no?
[Robert Delafano]: Well, we do have D1 Soccer. We've got Mr. Curley here as well. It's up to you. Yeah, that's fine. Let's do that. I don't think it's going to be that involved for that long. Let's see. D1 Soccer.
[Paul Georges]: Yes. Mr. Georges. Yes. I'm here. I apologize for running away.
[Robert Delafano]: That's OK. We had you slated to go at the beginning so we could get you out of here because this is going to be a little lengthy. But if you wouldn't mind, just state your name and organization for the record, please.
[Paul Georges]: Sure. My name is Paul Georges. I am the vice president of D1 Soccer League, local soccer league that plays at Harmel Stadium.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so thank you. You came before this commission last month, you presented well for two one day licenses. But there was a question about entertainment in the report of some possible sort of violation last year. And so at that point, we had a table your request. This commission has not been able to find out the information to date about a possible violation of a previously granted license to D1 soccer. And what I'm going to ask now, is there anyone in attendance that would like to speak in favor or against the granting of the two one-day licenses to D1 soccer? I see Mr. Curley, do you wanna speak?
[John Curley]: Yeah, so Kevin, Mr. Bailey's on vacation, so I'm stepping up on him. I am the facilities coordinator for recreation. Over the years past, the last couple of years, it seems like we've had a lot of things that have changed in this season.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Could you speak up a little bit, Mr. Curley? Yeah, I can.
[John Curley]: It's not the greatest, It's not the greatest volume to be honest with you. Can you hear me now? Yeah, I'll get as close as possible to my work computer. So, yeah, my name is John Curley. I'm facilities coordinator for recreation. Mr. Bailey's on vacation this week. So he asked me if I can step in. So, over the last couple years, D1 Soccer has been working on the field at Pomelo Stadium. And it seems like we get a few emails every year about the noise and complaints about the fans and stuff in the parking lot. We're just trying to figure out what exactly has been going on because we get emails about complaints. And then about a month ago, I guess there was complaints that people were drinking. And I talked to Paul and he said that it was the fans drinking in the parking lot. So it's, um, at the end of the day, they were, people were drinking in the stadium. Yeah, they were, we just didn't know if it was actually D1 serving alcohol. They did serve these fruit like punches. Um, they once again said, there's no alcohol in those as well. Um, we just been getting a few complaints about them every season, if I'm trying to be generally honest with everybody.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Mr. Georges, do you have anything to say about that?
[Paul Georges]: So I did hear about the complaints in terms of like the noise and the alcohol that was possibly served in the place. We weren't aware of that. So we've put in additional measures to make sure that we have our security guards searching every bag that's coming in the stadium. The past couple of weeks since I've met with the city in terms of, like, what's been going on. We've been making sure, like, the fans leave early after the game's over. We've been pushing them out of their parking lot. It's, and it's, to be honest, it's not, like, very hard to do. But it takes a few minutes to get everybody out because everybody's so excited about the game. They tend to want to talk about the game, what happened and what they could have done better and stuff like that. So we've just been trying to push them out and try to figure out like what other places that they can go hang out at, like a bar or something that is better than being hanging out at the parking lot. So that's just what we've been trying to push. I see.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. And... Mr. Curley, I just wanted to ask you one question, and I'm not sure if you have the answer. It would probably be Mr. Bailey, but if this has been an issue in the past, how come No one ever came before this commission to let us know. And the only reason why I'm asking that is because Mr. Georges came before us and he's gone through the effort of making out all the permit paperwork and coming before us and everything else. We don't want to deny issuing them the licenses, but if there's been issues in the past, we can talk about it and see if we can get around it. So, you know, on the city's end or Mr. Bailey's end or whatever, if there are any future issues, I would suggest that you report them right away to this commission so we can bring in Mr. Georges and have him explain. One of the other things I wanted to ask too, I'm sure Mr. Georges, you've been in contact with the police detail desk and you hire police for this event because it's approximately 600 guests.
[Paul Georges]: Yeah. I'm sorry. No, we're estimated it would be that because it's an actual event. I mean, barring that it doesn't rain, hopefully, we would be getting that kind of outcome. And we are reaching over to the police department to make sure that we have the proper security there.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so you do hire details, correct?
[Paul Georges]: Yeah, we make the phone calls for the details. The details have not, the last couple of weeks we've been making the phone calls, they have not came. Prior to that, we were not. To John's defense, I think when he noticed that there were alcohol, and then he reached out to us and asked, you know, how could we not, like, go into the proper channels to make sure that we have the things that we need instead of seeing that illegally there. So when he saw that, he reached out to me, and that's when we started making the right decisions to go with the proper channels to make sure we have the licenses and stuff. That's what the fans want. Okay, that's great.
[Robert Delafano]: It's good that you do that.
[John Curley]: Can I answer your question? Ask me a question.
[Robert Delafano]: Oh, I'm sorry.
[John Curley]: Yeah, so so basically last year they were called more music. We told him to shut down the music this season before the season started. I know it's a flyer at home. L saying there was going to be live music with DJ. So I emailed Mr. Paul. His email is our business partner before the season started this year. If they were going to serve alcohol, we need a liquor license. No loud music. And then all of a sudden I was hearing rumors. There was loud music. I got rid of that this year and then I was hearing rumors. There was alcohol, but I had no proof and that's why Mr. Georges went to you guys a month ago. So I've been doing my due diligence as a facilities coordinator to make sure there's nothing wrong there. So I did email D1 soccer before the season started this year to make sure they had all their proper licenses and I can forward that email if needed to be.
[Allan Martorana]: OK. Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, Mr. Georges, every time we have an event, it's a learning experience. As time goes on, you get damn good at running large venues. Now that we know from Mr. Curley what the city concerns are and what some of the neighbors concerns have been, can you tell us what steps you're going to take to stop this? Because Mr. Chairman is correct. you know when you come before us next year if we hear it was just insane and there was complaints left and right well then you know we didn't learn anything you know we didn't we didn't take the proper steps and and we look like fools for not you know not holding your feet to the fire and and you guys look like fools because you know your patrons go ah you know bring get that case put it over the fence you know So kind of tell us, at least for me, I want to know what you've learned from it, what steps you're going to take, and are you going to keep in mind the debriefing after a game? I get it. Everybody wants to talk about the play. I get that. But it's the music also, because down there, especially in the night, that sound just carries all through those buildings. If you don't mind, you could spend a little time just giving us an overview of the steps that you're going to take to make sure this commission is comfortable issuing the one-day licenses for the 17th and the 31st. If you don't mind, please.
[Paul Georges]: Sure. I think With knowing some of the boundaries of what needs to happen, we will have more of a program in our curriculum. It's just not something that we're winging in terms of bringing someone that just played music, whatever. So if we know we're going to be playing music from this time to that time, it's only an hour's amount of time, then music is set at a reasonable interval, then we'll pretty much have more control of that. In terms of the people outside of the games, that's one thing we've been trying to push. I've always been one of the last people to leave after the game because we like talking about the game and stuff like that. Being in contact with John and the rest of the city staff, we want to hear the reports of what the neighbors are thinking. We don't want to disturb anybody else. Everybody has a right to enjoyment of their own area that they live in. So if the noise is a little too late for some amount of time, we want to hear about it so we can get people out. And that's what I've been doing is after the game, okay, guys, like within 30 minutes, everybody got to leave the parking lot. Uh, we can't have, um, cause you would hang out and not have their music in their cars. Like, okay, we'll say within 30 minutes, you got to get ready to go. That means that, that within that 30 minutes, you can't be playing a lot of music in your car either. Um, and that's, that's what we've been doing, um, with all of our cleanup crew and our security staff.
[Robert Delafano]: What about a possible suggestion that where I was getting, well, there's a couple of things. The first thing is I noticed on your application for one day license, and I believe last month, we did bring this up. We asked you if you were a nonprofit and you stated no. So we told you can only do beer and wine. There's no mixed drinks, no juices with that stuff. Yeah. So, you know, that's that's I just wanted to clarify that. The other thing where I was going with the police detail, I'd like very much maybe if Lieutenant Lockowitz could just make sure that the detail office and Mr. George contact each other. Let's see how many Police detail officers are required. And is that something the officers could? do at the end of this game, Lieutenant Lockowitz, is monitor the behavior and possibly clear out the parking lot, the disturbance of the peace, because right behind Harmel, it's all condos and apartments. It's just like, you know, these people are, you know, they'll put up with a little bit of it and stuff, but if it just gets- Yeah, there's high rises on both sides.
[Allan Martorana]: High rises on both sides, yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: You know, maybe the police detail, you'll pay the police detail until the parking lot is cleared. And, you know, that'll kind of push everybody to get out because it's costing you money. And Lieutenant Lockwood, where it is city property, I believe, or state property, I'm not sure what Cornell is, but, you know, with jurisdiction and all that stuff, I'm not really sure how that works on your end.
[Rory Lockowitz]: We have utilized details in the past. Mr. Paul, is your organization D1 Soccer? Yes. OK. Because I know that we get requests for, I think it's called Galaxy Soccer. Is that a different organization than yours? That is not ours, no. OK. Yeah, it's something you could consider. an expert on the policy as far as the requirement of a detail, but it's definitely an option. And I can I can. We can get you that information, you can actually just call the main main desk in the police station and ask for the detail office that's staffed from usually from seven in the morning till 11 at night. I will just throw the asterisk in there that everybody is short-staffed. So you could put in the request, and it's a possibility that it won't be filled because of staffing demands. But yeah, it's something we could look at.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, well, you know, since we're at a point that, you know, we know what's going on, we know what's wrong. Mr. George, you're well aware of it. You know, you're gonna have some entertainment there. I understand you gotta fire up the crowd a little bit, do whatever. But just keep it reasonable. And if you keep it reasonable and we get no complaints, then, you know, it's two one-day licenses. You know, after hearing both sides and hearing what everybody thinks and what's gone by in the past, myself personally, I would feel comfortable granting the two licenses in the form of one motion and approving the one day license for August 17th, 2024. And for the license on August 31st, 2024, which is your second game or event, I would suggest granting it only in abidance of the 8-17-24 event, meaning if there are no issues on 8-17-24, the license for 8-31-24 will be granted as well automatically. If we've got issues, then you would not be able to get the license on 831-24. That's my feelings on it. I'd like to hear from my two fellow commissioners to see if they think that that is suffice or maybe should we just eliminate the music altogether? I mean, the entertainment altogether. Let's just play soccer. You know, somebody wins, somebody loses. You talk about the game and it's over. If you want to do that, then I won't hold, I won't suggest to hold your August 31st one day license and abidance. I'd suggest to just go through with both of them since you don't have entertainment and there's nothing to rattle people about. I mean, police are there, they got a detail, they can clear out the parking lot, that's great.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I would be fine with the first suggestion you made that we could we could agree on both licenses. The second one being, you know, conditional that the first the first goes goes well and there's no issues, which I'm sure there will not be because now everybody's on notice that there's been issues in the past. So I would be in favor of that Bobby.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. Yeah, I'm, I'm wrestling with the whole thing because I get it. You know, I get where you're going with your logic with the, you know, one is continued upon the other. I don't know. It's just that, you know, what constitutes, you know, the nullification of the 831? You know, what someone who's, I mean, we think about what we have down in South Medford. There's a resident who forever was up in arms about the noise. The slightest noise, they were up in arms. And they had made their way all through the city to the mayor's office. I don't know. I don't know. I understand the logic. I just don't like one conditioned on the other. My thought would be to, since we had no idea of any of the, prior history to this events that I would say Mr. George is going to step up and they're going to do everything right to minimize the gathering and the drinking and the loud noise. Next year, it doesn't become a 100 percent challenge for us. That would be my thought, my recommendation would be to just approve both licenses, the 817 and the 831st. We roll the dice and we hope that Mr. Georges takes care of all the loose ends. Next year when he comes before us again, we'll say, congratulations, you did a great job. Bang, zoom, it's done. That would be my thought, but like I said, that's one versus the two others.
[Robert Delafano]: Can I ask you, Mr. Georges, is there a possibility that we can omit the entertainment?
[Paul Georges]: No, I think the entertainment is the big part of the league and how we would improve, like, the league itself. I mean, just thinking about other measures that we can put. We can put, like, sound interval measurements around and see how it's affecting in certain areas, how loud it's getting. Like, we can think outside the box. And how really, because like I said, we want to entertain the fans. We want the league to get better. We also don't want to, like, disturb everybody and because everybody has the right to enjoy their neighborhood.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. I thought we could compromise a little bit. Maybe you can just kind of like take your speakers and turn them around towards the school and Route 93, towards the bleachers.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I'm in favor of what Mr. Commissioner Matarano has said. I do think that we've discussed this enough and he's got to run his league here and I don't want to tinker with how he operates and what drives 600 people. 600 people aren't going to come if it's not a fun event.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. We all know with sporting events is the sporting event. And then there's the show. So I get that.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So it goes till eight and then get people out of the parking lot and no sitting around drinking in the parking lot. I mean, everyone wants that.
[Allan Martorana]: Again, that would be my thought. Let's Yeah. Let's roll the dice. Mr. Georges will think about our concerns because he'll know he has to come back to us next year. And it may be different. It may be a no the next time because of all the commotion.
[Robert Delafano]: That's fine. One of you gentlemen want to put it in the form of a motion? We'll push through.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I motion that we approve that both one day licenses, August 17th and August 31st at Hormel for the D1 Soccer League and music performance. And we'll cross our fingers that all the proper steps are taken to have a successful uneventful event. If you know what I mean, uneventful. I'll second that motion.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. All in favor? Aye.
[Allan Martorana]: Aye.
[Robert Delafano]: All opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. Your one day licenses have been granted, Mr. George. You know what you need to do. And if you would, please contact the police department detail desk. And I think it'd be very beneficial just to have presence there, especially after the event. And I think it'll work out okay. And hopefully we'll see you next year.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Mr. Georges, you said 600 people? Yes. Yeah, you absolutely have to have probably two details. Okay. I'm sending you the phone number right now. Like I texted it to you on the side. That's the detail office number. Okay. Yeah. And whoever answers the phone, there's an officer, there's a sergeant that work in there. They'll be happy to discuss it with you and how the billing and all that stuff works.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Paul Georges]: Thank you very much.
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Georges, I was in England on July 10th when they played the Netherlands.
[Paul Georges]: Oh, nice.
[Allan Martorana]: Wild, wild, wild. So I get it. So good luck. I hope it doesn't rain, but the rain's not going to stop the athletes. Good luck. Best of luck.
[Paul Georges]: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Appreciate everyone. Good luck, Mr. Georges.
[Robert Delafano]: Have a good day. Okay, back to, let's get back to the violations portion of the meeting. Lieutenant, if you want to.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Absolutely. Just keeping it chronologically, we had three violations on June 20th. We did the first. I see Officer Sebastian sitting there patiently, so I'll grab his report next. For Hillside, 323 Boston Ave. Okay. The report starts off with the same paragraph about the 16 year old who was given the breathalyzer. We can just pop down to the violation part when the check was done. I'll turn it over to Officer Sebastian.
[SPEAKER_16]: Okay, so this one's pretty short and sweet. So at approximately 7.45, the juvenile entered Hillside Wine and Spirits at 323 Boston Avenue in an attempt to buy an alcoholic beverage. Approximately three minutes later, the juvenile exited Hillside Wine and Spirits with a 12-pack of Truly Side Seltzer. The juvenile informed myself and Ms. Greenbaum that a short, possibly Southeastern Asian male, approximately 40 to 50 years old, wearing a blue shirt and glasses, sold her the alcohol. At no point did the employee ask the juvenile for an ID or her age. The juvenile also informed us that her purchase was $20.09, and that she only had the marked $20 bill, and the employee told her she was all set. The juvenile then, gave me the alcohol, I exited my unmarked cruiser. As I began to walk towards the store, the tribune noted that there was a large sign on the door that said no ID, no sale, in all capital letters. I was then greeted by the employee who also identified as the owner and excuse my pronunciation on the name, Dharmendra Patel. I identified myself with my Mefford police badge as a Mefford police officer and informed Mr. Patel that he had just sold alcohol to a minor. Mr. Patel was extremely upset and regretful and stated multiple times, I promised you this will never happen again. I informed Mr. Patel that I would be reporting my findings to the Liquor Commission and that I would be on file with the Mefford police. Mr. Patel returned the Mark $20 bill. I returned the merchandise and I advise them to check all IDs in the future to prevent this from happening again.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, very good. Thank you. Mr. Patel, would you care to speak?
[SPEAKER_14]: Yes, my name is Rahul Patel. I'm owner of Hillside Wine and Spirits. Thank you, officer, for the summary and hello to the commissioner. So, yeah, with this, you know, again, it is, you know, again, I was extremely disappointed with the sale, meaning I definitely know the importance of the underage, meaning there is a license for a reason. And as you mentioned in the previous one that we went through, meaning that there was this October, I believe, meeting that was a joint ABCC and Medford Commission licensing training. So, we made sure that the The manager that was on site that day when this took place, he was there for the training. This is back in October 2023. It was a citywide, all the liquor stores were asked to attend and it was a joint with ABCC. So he did attend the training. Other things, TIPS certification, you know, was one thing that was brought up. So I'm just kind of going through the things that were asked, but then we can go through, you know, other questions or comments you may have. But TIPS certification is something that was done. I do want to be honest or transparent that the license or the certification did expire. I was under the impression it was more like four years to five years. But it seems like it was from 2020 June, July through June, July of last year. So it expired 2023. I have asked the manager and all the employees to make sure that they do recertify. It is important. It's a quick, I wouldn't say quick, it's about two, three hours of online certification training that they have to go through, which I recall we've done that a few years back. So that's that. And then, you know, the ID check, we do take that very seriously, meaning us especially being right on the campus of Tufts, you know, the location, meaning we I would say, get dozens and dozens of these licenses, right? There is tip certification type of training that gets put in place, but we also have age ID check, which is like, one law. and tracking, meaning we have a device. So this incident is truly a one-off, I would say. And I would assure that we are very, very careful, and we do take this seriously going forward.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. Thank you, Mr. Patel. What I feel is fair that we should make a motion for the same requirements for Hillside Lookers as we did for Main Street Lookers, that all of the employees must be TIP certified and starting immediately, finishing by 30 day, or would we say 90 days, right?
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_03]: 90 days.
[Robert Delafano]: 90 days. And this will go into your file and you will be on probation for one year. Um, and, uh, I guess that would probably be just about it. How do you like fellow commissioners feels this? Okay.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, Mr. Chairman. Oh, go ahead, Mr. Patel.
[SPEAKER_14]: No, sorry, I just wanted to put it in my defense where, again, like I said, this DIP certification, meaning I can share my screen, I do have a copy of it and show the name, the manager's name, but it is, to be transparent, it did expire mid last year, 2023. The other thing I would say is this ABCC and Medford town, which had the alcohol sale and that whole seminar, which was very well organized, I should say, in October, meaning we did have a strong presence or attendance there as well. Age ID, meaning, again, if I am able to share my screen, I can show you stacks of IDs. Again, we don't give this back to the kids. We take them. Yes, there may end up some arguments because they own it and they paid, but it's just we don't return it to them. If I may, I can share my screen if you would like to show a real stack from the store that we just gather. And it's just the norm. You mentioned earlier.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, we don't doubt it. Mr. Patel, we appreciate that you're doing that. Again, I just want to make sure that the employee that committed the infraction is well aware of the severity of the incident and that you guys are taking the necessary steps to educate the individual so it doesn't happen again. And as I was saying, the Patel family, they're brilliant. You guys are very smart. very savvy and I know you'll take the right steps to resolve the issue. I think, again, one bite of the apple. I totally agree with the commissioner's recommendation. Ben, I don't know about what your thoughts are, but I think it's fair for first-time offenders and we start building a jacket. You know what I mean? Like a little file there. And then if something happens again, we pull it out and we go, ah, it's a trend. It's not a one-off. So I'm good with the commissioner's recommendation. Ben, what say you? I'm good with the commissioner's recommendation as well.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, great. If one of you would make it in the form of a motion. Actually, just one other quick thing. Mr. Patel, we are going to have a compliance seminar. We're shooting for near the end of September with the ABCC. And you'll be notified when it is. It's going to be another mandatory attendance for all licensees in the city. And thank you. Thank you for attending. And, you know, I'm sure you've gotten something out of it. Anyways, I'm sorry. One of my fellow commissioners want to make a motion.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I could do that. Okay. All right. I'll make a motion to. Uh, for hillside wine and spirits that we're going to place them on a 1 year probation, um, for, uh, for the violation of under serving to underage. And also that we're going to require that they're all employees. They have serving alcohol are going to be getting tip certified in the next 3 months. Sending those certifications to Daria at Medford City Hall.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Thanks Ben. I second that motion.
[Robert Delafano]: All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it, the motion's been passed. Thank you, Mr. Patel.
[Allan Martorana]: Thank you, Mr. Patel. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Bye-bye. Okay, Lieutenant.
[Rory Lockowitz]: All right, moving along, the last violation on June 20th. was a restaurant that was Blue Fuji at 38 Salem Street. This report was done by Officer Smith, who's in the screen there. The only difference to the prior reports is that there are two juveniles referred to as JV1 and JV2. They're both 17 year old males. And they were instructed to go into the restaurant and order a Bud Light. And I'll pass it over to Officer Smith for the violation.
[Patrick Smith]: Hello, everyone. I'm Officer Patrick Smith with Medford Police. On June 20th, 2024, we conducted a compliance check at Blue Fuji, located at 38 Salem Street. I was with Miss Dhingra and two juvenile males, age 17. At about 6.20 p.m., the two juvenile males entered Blue Fuji. Within about five minutes, they sent a message to Ms. Dhingra stating they had been served an alcoholic beverage. At that time, I went into the restaurant. I observed the restaurant to be empty other than a hostess, a server, and a bartender. There were no other patrons or staff members visible. I observed the two males sitting at a booth in front of them with two Bud Light bottles. I approached the table. I asked them who served them the alcohol. and they pointed to a gentleman who was later identified. I'm not going to get the name correctly, but I believe it's Ziyi Ouyang. He was the server. They pointed towards him. I asked the juveniles if they had asked for identification, which they did not. I asked the juveniles if they asked for their age. And once again, they said that they had not been asked their age. They just ordered the Bud Lights and were served. So then I thanked the juveniles, and I asked them to return to the vehicle, and Miss Dingle was waiting. I then motioned towards the server and had him come over to the booth. He was identified, and he gave me the following, He stated that he didn't ask for ID, he didn't ask for their age. He thought they were tough students and that he usually doesn't ask for identification if the person looks over the age of 30. He said he'd only been working there a couple months and that the manager was not working that night and was on vacation. I explained to the server, the hostess, and the bartender the importance of underage and they have to check IDs if they look young. I mean, these juveniles males look very young. And I explained to them that a report would be generated and it would be submitted to the commission.
[Robert Delafano]: Very good. Thank you very much. Okay. Would someone from, is anyone from Blue Sochi here and would they like to speak? Do we have an employee from Blue Fuji?
[SPEAKER_18]: We might not, Bobby. I'm not sure. Let me see. Blue Fuji replied to me. I don't think they did. I don't see them.
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Commissioner, why don't we table this one?
[Robert Delafano]: I'm sure we're going to have to, Ellen, but just a matter of information, if a person does not appear, have the notification.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, because I emailed and mailed, so.
[Robert Delafano]: Right, and that's why we emailed and mailed. if they don't appear, failure to appear could face indefinite suspension of their license starting immediately. I don't know if I wanna go that strong. Maybe diarrhea can reach out to them today, tomorrow, and maybe schedule them to appear in September. Um, I mean, I really don't want to suspend their license. There might have been a communication issue there. I don't know. We're giving the benefit of the doubt is my feelings. I don't know the two other commissioners. So you feel the same?
[Allan Martorana]: Well, Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, can I address a question to Officer Smith? Officer Smith, um, in some of the narratives in the police reports, they talk about, um, not the culprit, but the person who committed the infraction showing little or no remorse. Um, because to me, that's Fuji. Was that the case there? Because if they had little or no remorse, or they didn't, they were concerned that they got caught in a controlled compliance check, and then they don't even give us the respect to show up on the day of their hearing. I think they've just compounded matters. So what was your observation at the time of the infraction?
[Patrick Smith]: The server was very apologetic. He did show remorse. The hostess and the bartender, they just nodded their head to what I was explaining to them, but the server was very apologetic. He said he had only been working there for a few months and he knew better, and he said it wouldn't happen again.
[Allan Martorana]: I just made a mistake, and all of a sudden, okay. Okay, then that's good enough for me that maybe this here is just, you know, everybody is complaining about help and maybe they just couldn't, someone couldn't break away to participate. But again, I think we could table this, Mr. Chairman, and revisit it in August. Again, August is when we're normally off. I'd hate to have just one hearing for that. I'll push it to September. I don't know what your thoughts are.
[Robert Delafano]: Possibly push it to September and at the September meeting, we'll send them out another notification because we normally don't meet in August. Whether we meet in August or September, it's not gonna make a bit of difference. So why don't we just set them up for September so it doesn't inconvenience this commission as well. And I think we should set a stricter penalty, possibly a small suspension for them not knowing, for them not showing at this meeting and show that we mean business when we tell them we want them to appear before the commission.
[Allan Martorana]: I agree with that.
[Robert Delafano]: And we can issue it at that time.
[Allan Martorana]: Sure. What about Officer Smith? Are we going to have him bring him back in September or his narrative of the police report is enough for the record?
[Robert Delafano]: And that's up to the lieutenant. I think the lieutenant usually like when you have cases in court and stuff, the officer is supposed to be present, correct?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Absolutely. Historically, I know we got away from it over the last couple of years, but we've started anew with Officer Smith and Sebastian becoming members of the commission. in, I believe, October. Historically, it would only be me, but now there are three of us, is at every commission meeting, just whether it's for advice, guidance, or, you know, what have you. So I definitely have Officer Smith at the next meeting, and we'll work it out to have at least one of us at each meeting going forward.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, that's great. We could use your advice.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I have seen, for past precedent, I have seen suspended, suspended, suspended, doubling up on the word, almost like in a probationary, a suspension, suspended period. So I've seen like a day of suspension hungover. if the infraction occurs again, then that day is then inflicted.
[Robert Delafano]: I think what you might be referring to is like maybe a second violation that we'd recommend the one day suspension held in abidance for a year and kind of hanging it over their head. do the right thing, then we don't suspend. And that might be something that, you know, we could look at for a possible thing for Blue Fuji. But anyways, we'll have Daria reach out to them and we'll table it until September if one of you gentlemen want to put that in the form of a motion.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I'll do this one. I motion that we have- I'm sorry, Ben, did you want to speak on this, Ben?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: No, no, I was in agreement with what you said, Mr. Commissioner. Okay, I'm sorry.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, I was gonna just make a motion to table Blue Fuji until the official meeting in September, the third Wednesday in September. Anything else do I need to add to that, Mr. Chairman?
[Robert Delafano]: No, then have Darian notify them again. Right, and have Darian, yes. Registered mail return receipt requested type of thing.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Just so we know to get it.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, so that would be my motion to, yeah. I'll second that then. Okay.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Mr. Chairman, you want me to continue on? Go right ahead, Lieutenant. All right. So six days later, same scenario. I was working in the shift at the station. Officer Sebastian Smith, as well as Catherine Dinger and Sophie Greenbaum. On June 26, we did another continued on with the checks. There's too many to do in one evening on the 26th. For Officer Smith, we'll just go in chronological order. Officer Smith had a 16-year-old female and a 17-year-old female with him, with Ms. Greenbaum, to do restaurants, and I guess you could say on-premise. And this first report is Hyatt Place at 116 Riverside Ave. Okay.
[Patrick Smith]: Well, again, Officer Smith, I just want to start out by saying that when we do the compliance checks at the restaurants and the hotels, if they are to be served, we have the juvenile or the underage remain with the alcohol. We want to observe it in front of them when we enter the establishment. However, we do notify these juveniles that at any time, during any of the compliance checks, they do not feel comfortable there to get up and just walk away. We expressly tell them it's their safety, it's their, we want them to be comfortable. And if any time they're not, they're to get up and walk out. So I'm gonna begin with the hired police. On June 26th, I did the compliance check with Ms. Greenbaum and a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old female. At approximately 6.20 p.m., two juveniles entered the Hyatt and went to the bar. A few moments later, Ms. Greenbaum received a message from the juveniles that they had been served alcohol. Now, they had been instructed to order like a hard seltzer, alcoholic beverage, specifically, truly. Now, once they received, Ms. Greenbaum received the message, I entered the Hyatt Hotel, and as I approached the main desk slash bar area, I observed the 16-year-old and 17-year-old walking towards me, and they explained the following. They explained that they had approached the bar and they had asked for a hot salsa. The Hyatt Hotel does not have hot salsas. So the bartender said that they had angry orchard hard cider, which is an alcoholic beverage. He did not ask them for identification. He did ask them how old they were. They did not initially immediately respond. to which the bartender told them, next time don't hesitate when answering, and then stated something along the lines, it doesn't matter anyway. He then told them to stop talking about college because his manager was close by. and then started having small talk with the 16-year-old and 17-year-old. They did not feel comfortable after being served these alcoholic beverages. They felt uncomfortable with the bartender, and they got up and did not wait for me to come to the bar. They got up and just wanted to get out of there. They did not feel comfortable at all. They identified the male to me by his name tag. His name was Jarrell. At that time I sat, I had them go back out to the car and I sat down at the bar and a Jarell White Gunter was the bartender. He approached me. He admitted to not asking them for their IDs. I said he's worked at the hotel for nine months and he's received minimal training. He was apologetic once he realized that he had served alcohol to a 16 and 17 year old female. Um, he then got his manager, Mr. Harold Jones. Mr. Jones once again apologized for what had transpired, and I believe he said it was his third day of working at the hotel. So that was the extent of that night.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you, Officer Smith. Um, do we have a representative from Hyatt here to like to speak?
[SPEAKER_10]: Good afternoon, everybody. First and foremost, my apologies on the gross negligence on the compliance for- Can I just interrupt you for a second and just have you state your name and organization for the record, please? Yep. First name is Harold, last name is Jones. I'm the general manager here at the Hyatt Place on 16 Riverside Ave.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_10]: Absolutely. Again, I wanted to kind of lead in with apologies on our negligence on our compliance. You know, it's not indicative of our community standing within the neighborhood. As an organization, we do require all of our associates to be TIP certified. As a management company, we require all of our hotels to be TIP certified. Associates are not allowed to serve alcohol unless they're TIP certified. And the appropriate protocols with this particular individual had been followed. However, given the training, as the officer had indicated that this associate did not have, different protocols in this case were followed because he did not have the full amount of training that this individual had. So an audit was then conducted for all of our associates that need to have their TIPS training. All of our TIPS tokens were purchased for all of them to complete their TIPS training. As mentioned, we are a TIPS compliance property and management company for all of our properties to do that. So that is a process for all of our individuals that work the gallery here at the property to ensure that all of our front desk team members are TIP certified, so instances like this don't happen. When the officer told me that Jarrell served a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old alcohol, I almost fell backwards. I don't know that I even have words to express except for apologies. Again, that's not indicative of behaviors here at the property. I've been with our company for quite a bit of time, not necessarily this property. It was in fact my first couple of days at the property, so that was not necessarily the welcoming that I really would have wanted to have.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Was he disciplined? Jarrell, was he disciplined for it at all?
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes. Yeah. So Jarrell is on his final warning here at the property for anything for that matter. Not necessarily just the infraction that occurred for this particular incident, but a final warning for anything that might occur after this. You know, wearing the wrong dress shirt to work, shoes, anything.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: OK, thank you.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yeah.
[Unidentified]: Ellen.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, your business is tough because you want to keep your guests very happy. But yeah, no, I'm satisfied that you've taken the necessary steps and the individual is aware of what they've done. So I don't have anything else to say.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. Well, you know, since you say all of your employees are TIP certified, I'm going to ask you to just please submit a current list and copies of the TIP certification to Daria. Sure. And ones that are not TIP certified, if there are any, if you can make sure that they are TIP certified within the next 90 days, please.
[SPEAKER_10]: Okay, sure.
[Robert Delafano]: This is, I'm sure if it's okay with my fellow commissioners, we'll impose the same type of warning on you folks. That's fair. One bite of the apple. Yeah. One bite of the apple.
[Allan Martorana]: One bite of the apple. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: You'll be on probation for one year. And if you should have another violation and we'll deal with it at that time, but this is like Alan said, you're only wanting. So it's if one of my fellow commissioners would care to put that in the form of a motion.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I can do this one. So I'll make a motion that we're going to give a warning to the Hyatt and 116 Riverside Ave for one year due to this violation, just a warning, and that we're requesting that all employees who are serving alcohol that are TIP certified and that TIP certification is sent to Daria at Medford. Um, within the next 3 months.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you, Ben. Do I hear a 2nd?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I 2nd that motion. Thanks, Ben. All those in favor. Yep.
[Robert Delafano]: All those opposed. I have it motions passed.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Lieutenant.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Thank you. Moving along. About an hour later, Officer Sebastian was out that evening of the 26th with Catherine Dingra and a 16-year-old and 17-year-old male who are known as JV3 and JV4. And they went into real gusto at 24 High Street.
[SPEAKER_16]: Okay, so on June 26, at approximately 7.40 PM, Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 entered Rail Gusto, which is located at 24 High Street. Approximately five minutes after Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 entered Rail Gusto, Ms. Dingro received a text from Juvenile 4 that Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 had just been served above light. At that time, I exited my unmarked police unit and entered real gusto. Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 were seated in a table in the far back right corner of the store. In front of both Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 were an unopened can of Bud Light beer. Um, I asked juvenile three and juvenile four to describe the person who served them. And they stated a young male with black hair, six feet tall, and then turn around and saw a male matching that description pointed to him and asked juvenile three and juvenile four. That was a male and they both stated yes. I then informed Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 that they could leave the store and go back to the unmarked police vehicle with Ms. Stingra. I then walked up to the mail and identified myself as a Medford police officer with my Medford police badge clearly displayed and informed them that I was doing an alcohol compliance check throughout the city and that they had just sold alcohol to a 16, 17-year-old juvenile. I asked the mail party for his ID, which he identified himself as Nathan McCarthy. I asked him if the owner stated no, but he did prov The only phone number on the card was the restaurant number, so I was unable to speak with Mr. Ranzio. I informed Real Gusto that I've been documenting the incident and to let the owner know. It should be noted that I was told later on by Juvenile 3 and Juvenile 4 that Mr. McCarthy did ask them for an ID, and they answered honestly that they did not have one. Mr. McCarthy said, well, you look like you're my age, which was 21. So he served them anyway.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you, officer. Do we have a representative from Rio Gusto? If so, could you kindly state your name and business address for the record, please?
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_03]: Okay. Hello, this is Matteo Ranzio. I'm the owner. I live with my wife. She's the owner of Rialto 24 High Street Medical. So we are truly sorry for what happened. I mean, this is the first time we can do. We were not there. We are running also another business. So that night we were not in the business. And so we were called by our manager like, 20 minutes after the officer went out of the restaurant, because we were not able to answer the phone. We were working. And honestly, I mean, I'm still shocked about it, because it's nine years that we have the business over there. We were working every day. Now with two businesses, it's really difficult to be there and here. And I mean, I don't have, let's say, words to apologize for this situation. The only thing I can tell, that night, the server was on training, and he would be being shadowed by the experienced server that usually work with us. Unfortunately, she called him sick. So that night, we had working just this guy and the manager at the bar. So it's not, I mean, doesn't mean nothing. It's just a situation I would like to explain. And usually what we do, starting from the hostess, we don't check the idea of your station, but usually what we ask the hostess, you know, don't bring the wine and beer list, if you are not sure about the age. So that night, we made many mistakes, and we are sorry for it. And so for sure, we need all the people with the TIP certificate and we are going to do that. The guy was on training and honestly, for this reason, we didn't hire him. In my opinion, a huge mistake. Now, I didn't know that he asked for ID. This is something that my manager told me. But whatever, if they don't have an ID, honestly, I'm a professional bartender. I don't serve alcohol. I'm not sure about it, so it's totally wrong. Now the thing is... we are pushing, I mean, before this meeting, we already talked to the manager to have the people, I mean, the staff in the dining room and the bar, I'm not talking about the kitchen, I don't think it's, the kitchen guys need to be tip certificate, but if you need it, we do also for the kitchen guys, but I don't know, I mean, just asking for this thing.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I think just the people handling the alcohol. And if that's, and I think if I may speak, I just think if you're, you know, we understand the sincerity there and that this was an inexperienced server and that, you know, it happened. So, you know, as long as the, in my opinion, as long as, you know, the reaction from the ownership is the right, is the way you're saying it is and you're getting everybody certified, I think that's taking the right steps so that this doesn't happen again.
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, for sure. I mean, we do our best to make some procedures that make us, let's say, on the safe situation. Now we are printing a new, also just to let you know, a new wine and beer and legal manual in order to avoid to give everything together. I mean, I know that is not, let's say, the best solution, but I want all the process, starting from your station to Seating the people has to be checked from all the people involved. So the server, the manager, because if we don't do this, there is always a risk of mistakes. And in nine years, we didn't do that. So now I'm afraid because these mistakes, I don't accept this kind of thing. So I'm trying to be tough on this.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, Ellen, would you like? Yeah, I know.
[Allan Martorana]: Mateo and Francesca, have you guys been with us, what, 10 years now?
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_03]: Nine years, yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: You've had a clean record and I appreciate what you're telling us and you will take the necessary steps that this doesn't happen again. Mr. Chairman, I don't have anything else.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, great. Mateo and Francesca presented very well. And like you say, Mr. Commissioner Allen and Ben, I think they kind of get the picture here. So my recommendation is to also give Mateo and Francesca one bite of the apple, they can share that bite. And they need to get everybody that's handling the alcohol TIP certified, same as the others, within 90 days, please have copies of the TIP certification forwarded to Daria, and we'll go from there. And you know, Mateo, you got the right idea, no license, no alcohol, Obviously, if someone comes in that looks as old as I do, it's okay.
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, what I understand is, you know, sometimes I'm 50 years old, if I shave my beard, sometimes they ask me the idea, I'm fine. I mean, for me, it's good, because it's still, you know, better safe than sorry. That's the thing.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, we understand. We understand where you are and it should have never happened. And yeah, that's a good thing. So we all learned from this.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. One of the commissioners want to make a motion, please.
[Allan Martorana]: I'll do it. I motion that we put Gusto on probation for a year as long as there's no infractions. We don't have to dig out the penalty section of the city ordinances and also make sure all individuals who serve alcohol, whether at the tables or behind the bar counter, of course, be CHIP certified within 90 days.
[Robert Delafano]: Very good. I second that. All right. Very good. All those in favor?
[John Curley]: Aye.
[Robert Delafano]: All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. The motion has been passed. Thank you very much.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Lieutenant. Last but not least, we have Officer Smith and Deep Cuts 21 Main Street.
[Patrick Smith]: Hello, everyone. Officer Smith again. June 26th, with the assistance of Ms. Greenbaum and the 16-year-old and 17-year-old juvenile females, we conducted a compliance check at Deep Cuts, 21 Main Street. The two juveniles were instructed to enter the premise and order a Truly Hot Salsa. They went into deep cuts and a few moments later they notified Ms. Greenbaum that they had been served an alcoholic beverage, at which time I entered the establishment and located the juveniles sitting at the bar. In front of them were two glass bottles that read Topo Chico. I'm not familiar with Topo Chico, and I asked them what they had ordered, and they said that they did not have the truly hard seltzers, and that that's what was recommended to them as a comparison. They used $30 in marked bills to pay for these beverages, and were given $2 and change. So I looked up at the board to see what they had ordered, and they had ordered a beverage called Dude Ranch Water. Each one of them is sold for $14, and it consists of Topo Chico, tequila, and lime. I asked them who had served them, and they pointed to a female bartender. I thanked them and they went back out to the car. The female bartender approached me, identified myself, and she was subsequently identified as Miss Brittany Falgione. I explained to her that she had served two juveniles and she was very apologetic. She had believed that they had been codded at the door that night, and that's why she served them. I then met with Ms. Falgione and the manager, Mr. Ian McGregor. I explained to him what had transpired. He also was very apologetic. He explains to me that the typical process for deep cuts is when they have a show, everybody is codded at the door. They had a show scheduled for that evening, but it had not yet started. He said, when they don't have shows, then it's on the bartenders and the servers to check IDs. Both were very apologetic. And that was the summary of that one.
[Robert Delafano]: Great. Thank you, Officer Schmidt. And we have a representative from the Deep Cuts. Jeff, could you state your name and business name for the record, please?
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: Hi, this is Ian McGregor, co-owner of Deep Cuts. I'm very sorry this has happened. All of our bartenders should know better. We've also had them all renew or get TIP certified. Um, and also what Smith said, we typically have events and the door person is supposed to ID. We have shows that are 18 and up and you get different color wristbands. And if there is not a show, obviously then it's all up to the bartenders. And we had a talk with all the bartenders, especially Brittany. And they all understand what they, especially her, what she did wrong. I'm very sorry about this. It's not something that we want happening in our city or our business. But you take it there.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I appreciate that Mr. Wetzel. I'm a little confused by about the carding at the door. Do I understand this? On the evenings that there is an event or a band, you card at the door and if there's no event or show, it's up to the service of the bartender to card? Is that what you're saying? Yes. We have ticketed events.
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: Um, so, uh, basically if you're coming into the show and if you don't have a ticket, you're gonna, the door person can, you can purchase a ticket through the door person. Um, and then they, you have to be 18 or older to go to this event. So then we give different color wristbands for each and everybody is informed what color wristband is 21 and up and which one is 18. Um, so if there's no event at all, we're just open normal, like restaurant hours, then it's just a bartender. There's no door person.
[Allan Martorana]: OK, so there was no door person, no gatekeeper, so to speak. And then there were no ribbons or ties. And yet no one still, it's almost like your system just fell in the face. Okay. I think I understand. I just, I'm wondering what, what else has to be done. You know, I mean, you have safeguards built in, but it seems like I, it seems like they all failed from this incident. Yeah.
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah. And we, like we said, we've made sure to talk to everybody, but no matter what, even if it's a show with wristbands, if they're not wearing one, they need to check their ID no matter what look or not.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you guys are the new kids on the block. What about two years, three years? How long have you been?
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: We were in West Hufford for one, two years, and then this space for a year.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Ben, any- Yeah, I think, I mean, I hear what you're saying. I think their safeguards, you know, just didn't hold up now. But I mean, I can imagine people are coming in. She thinks somebody's got a wristband on and they don't. It's a mistake. It's a bad mistake. Good thing it wasn't just a, you know, a compliance check. It wasn't really real underage. So I think they understand. And, you know, and if we were to give them the same, you know, same thing as what the other violators have done, I think that would go a long way with these guys. I know that they did not want it happening in their business, so.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, that's my thought. Yeah. Mr. Chairman, what are your thoughts?
[Robert Delafano]: You know, after hearing Mr. McGregor, it seems to me like it was just a mistake that was overlooked. And it sounds like since then, they've changed the policy that the bartenders must see a wristband if there's entertainment that night, whether it's started or not. And if there's no wristband, then they have to check an ID. Pretty simple. So from this point forward, let's hope we don't have this mistake again. What we'd like to do, what I'd recommend my fellow commissioners is to put it in the form of a motion. that all the employees handling alcohol over at the Deep Cuts be TIP certified, sending Daria a copy of the certifications. And you'll also be on, it'll be a one bite of the apple, as everybody says, and you'll be, it's a warning, you're gonna be on a probation for one year. And let's hope it doesn't happen again.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I just wanted to say to Mr. McGregor, I'm aware many nightclubs utilize a wristband or a bracelet, and it is convenient. I just think it should be stressed upon the bartending staff. that even if somebody has a bracelet, if they look like they're 16, 17 years old, they got a bracelet on, it's still on them to say, hey, hey, sir, ma'am, I know you got a bracelet on, but I can't believe you're 21. You look so young. I got to see your ID. It's always going to fall on the person that serves that alcohol. So, you know, it's great for Chairperson made a joke about if you see us coming in there, I got a bracelet on. No problem. Everything's quick and easy. But for those couple people, like I would have hoped that the 16 and 17 year olds that came in, one of them could have passed for 50. If they came in and they had a bracelet, I hope they're getting carded. You know what I mean?
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: Totally. I had a chance to see them, but I totally understand. And should not.
[Allan Martorana]: Absolutely. Brittany still wish she put on, you heard Hyatt. Hyatt's pretty tough. They put their employee on final warning. Has any discipline action given to Brittany as a result of this?
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: Yes, so we had to sit down with her and basically add a warning to her. Basically, kind of like most restaurants, Depending how places you work at get like three kind of warnings, you have to write them down, log them. Then we kind of did that with her and made sure she was TIP certified and anybody else that wasn't to renew theirs or get one.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: That was a good point, Lieutenant Lockwood, and it didn't even dawn on me, and yeah, it's just common sense. If the person doesn't meet their age, don't be afraid to ask for the ID, even though they got the bracelet on. Okay, if there's nothing else, one of you gentlemen would like to make that in the form of a motion?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I can. So I'll make a motion to give Deep Cuts the one-year warning based on its violation, and that they will send all of the TIP certifications that their employees have over to Daria at Medford City Hall. So that we have those on file, and they'll send that to us within the next three months.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good, Ben. I second the motion.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, all those in favor, aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ian. Appreciate you coming and I'm sure things will be moving forward in a better direction from this point on.
[bJDrOFPloZA_SPEAKER_17]: Take care.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, you too. Okay, well, been a little extended. We're gonna have to put everybody in for overtime. Although I think the police gotta go at another half hour to an hour before overtime kicks in. I'm not sure. Oh no, we're on overtime the second we show up.
[Rory Lockowitz]: If you're not working. Officer Sebastian's on shift. I don't know if Daria, you can hear me or not. Well, maybe I should probably say Daria, can you hear me?
[SPEAKER_18]: I'm here, I can hear you.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Okay. I know this is the first time we've done the sort of summonsing process in a while. Yep. So the chief reached out to me yesterday and basically said, you can just send me an email saying you want Officer Sebastian or Smith or myself and we'll make that happen. We really no reason to bother him to request our presence. So that'll make things streamline. One less email the chief has to read every month.
[Daria Tejera]: Well, he wasn't here, so I was like, chief, just to ask you. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: There you go. cornered them in the office.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Catherine and Sophie, I'd like to thank both of you for attending. You guys did a great job. You know, it's it's working with off of Lieutenant Lockowitz is, it's not an easy task. But, you know, you guys did great. Sorry. Yeah, and I just wanted to thank you for attending and doing such a good job with this. I think we're a good team.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes. And thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.
[Robert Delafano]: My pleasure.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Alrighty. Um, so that kind of ends this portion of the meeting. Um, anything you think we should have done different, uh, Rory or Catherine or Sophie, uh, Did we handle it properly? I mean, I'm kind of new in the chair and this is my first time even sitting in a violation type of a, you know, compliance violation. So I'm not sure whether we were on target, whether we're just, any comments, good, bad? I think everything went fine.
[Rory Lockowitz]: We ran a little long, but everybody, you know, everybody should be afforded the right to hear the report and be given the opportunity to respond. So there's really no way. I don't see anything we could have done that would have cut more than a minute or two out of this.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: And speaking of responding, do you think that what we're setting for Blue Fuji is appropriate? Or do you think we should act on something like that now? You know, I mean, light a fire under them, something like, we're going to suspend your license, blah, blah, blah, unless you get back to us immediately, fail to attend the required meeting. I mean, I don't really see. I don't know if I'm looking at it too deep or not, but I can't say that I don't see it's anything of that nature that we have to suspend their license, but it is because they serve the miners. So what's the stopping from serving miners between now and September?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Yeah, I agree with you. I would, in my world of, in my thought process, I would wanna make sure that they did in fact receive that letter before I went and took an action such as suspending a license. I think the next letter should say, you did not show up to the hearing. You will be suspended if you're not at the next one. But yeah, I would want to know why they weren't there. If they got the letter and just crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can, that would be egregious. But knowing that they've been in this city for 15 years, I would be surprised if they just ignored the summons.
[Daria Tejera]: Well, plus they were emailed. So like I did it two ways. I emailed that day and I send the letter. So like you could blame the letter coming in late, but an email, it comes right away. You know what I mean? So maybe that person is out. I don't know. It's not just specific person. I think it's just their email.
[Robert Delafano]: um the blue foot gmail so i don't know did you they were they were four one uh daria put it in bold red letters right at the bottom failure to attend the hearing could face indefinite license suspension until the matter is resolved and that came right from ralph sacramony at the abcc so um technically But now, Ralph, their license is suspended as of right now. It could be if we decided that, but I don't, I think that's going to be a little overboard. I think we just got to kind of look at this, maybe suggestions from all you folks, Ben, Al, and Rory. We can hand deliver that next message. With the hand deliver what?
[Rory Lockowitz]: The next letter. The next letter. I mean, you send it to myself or Officer Smith will print it out and walk it in, get the name of the person we handed it to.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. I think that'd be a good start.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. I like Officer Lockowitz's idea. I just think it's incumbent upon us, to have a big memory, you know what I mean? Because these six, you know, what we should be doing is make sure we have a file on these six. Hey, you know, they were caught up in this control compliance check this time. And, you know, is our goal still to try this every six months or every 12 months? Do we know what the schedule is for control compliance checks or is it once a year?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Turn that over to Sophie.
[Allan Martorana]: Sophie.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Oh, the pressure is on. What is what's happening now?
[SPEAKER_01]: OK, but no, so we can do this every six months or every year we would like. This is one of our initiatives through the grant that I coordinate. That's called Mass Call 3B and one of the initiatives is to make sure that we do have consistent compliance checks across our region. So we're happy to support that from a grant perspective on whatever you feel like is the most appropriate for Medford.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. Through the chair, I would like to see this done again in six months and see if these six entities learned anything.
[Daria Tejera]: I'm sorry, just keep in mind that this is a public meeting, so you might not want to tell them exactly when it's going to happen again. No.
[Allan Martorana]: I see what you're saying. Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll leave that. up to the control. Yeah. Yeah.
[Rory Lockowitz]: It's not a big secret that we do compliance checks matter of fact, even before this round, we we publicize that we will be doing it. Yeah, that's true.
[Allan Martorana]: We've done them for years, and these are all experienced. They know Don well. Even if they have establishments in other communities, they're well aware of controlled compliance checks. Like I said, we have to keep track of these six. Whenever the next round is, I'll be curious to see if we have a clean slate. We do have the entire city, correct? The entire city. You know, and I was saying earlier, you know, I remember we'd only we'd only snag maybe two, three at the most. And we used to pat ourselves on the back saying out of all the license holders, this is damn good. But six is a lot.
[Rory Lockowitz]: So when we first got started, I'm sorry to cut you off there.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no, I'm just saying that I'm sure we'll remember what we've done, because I think when we look at the scale, the penalties, first infraction, second infraction, I don't think they'd like, if we bag some of them again within a short period of time, I don't think they're going to like the fact that we could exercise the second tier of the infraction schedule.
[Robert Delafano]: When we first started doing these, seven, eight, and nine, you know, it could be, it doesn't have to be six months, it could be a little longer.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no, whenever. I take it back.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Okay, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Luke. I would definitely, I would, in my opinion, definitely do the next round sometime at the end of September, October, definitely before there's a chance of snow and extreme cold. There's nothing wrong with doing them back-to-back. We've done them week after week in the past when we needed to get them done. If you go a couple years without doing it, the numbers will go up, right? The management will change, the bartenders will change, attention to detail. When we first started doing this with Penny 14 years ago, I think the most we had was 11 violators in the same day. Oh yeah, it was wild. And then we kept doing checks, and then those numbers plummeted. And then we got down to zero or one, check after check after check. And then you stop doing it for a while, and this is what happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other thing I wanted to point out is that we are gonna send out something to everyone that did pass to kind of remind them that they did a good job and to keep up the good work. So we wanna reward those that did do what they were supposed to do.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Great idea. Yeah, very good.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: That's a good point. I was just about to ask that, were there a lot of other compliances that did pass on the same round?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Yeah, everyone that's not here.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[Rory Lockowitz]: All of all of the lights.
[Allan Martorana]: So the whole rest of the city. Yes. Yes, sir. But the follow up.
[Unidentified]: I didn't realize that.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. But the follow up and Ben's question, do they know that they would just checked? Do they know they would just tested the ones that did pass?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Maybe a couple of them, you know, figured it out because of the nature of somebody came in and then, oh, I don't have ID. And then they ran away. And the little light bulb goes off and says, yeah, they said, maybe we just, you know, yeah, every now and then the store owner will follow them out. and see them getting in the police car. I remember waving to a number of people like, yep, it's a compliance check. But to Ms. Zimmer's point, I think it's a great idea because A, you send them that piece of paper that says, hey, you did a great job. And B, it lets them know and reminds them we're out here checking.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Rory Lockowitz]: And we did check. And if they didn't know it, now they know. Yeah. We sent somebody in there.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, it's a smart idea. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: So I love it. Great job. Well, thank you very much. Thank you, all of you. We've got just, I think, one more thing on the agenda. You guys can take off if you want. It's just a matter of us talking about one of our applications that we're reviewing and redesigning, but you're free to go.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Very good. I will take off.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you all so much.
[Unidentified]: Good job, everybody.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you. Thank you again. Okay, Daria, you sent us the updated version, right, of that one-day license with the entertainment line in it?
[Daria Tejera]: Yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Yeah, that looked great to me, and that one could be filled out online too?
[Daria Tejera]: Once it's finalized, yeah. Yeah? Okay. Once we're good on this, it's gonna go online, yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, yeah, and that, make things a lot more legible too. I know we got our snappy patties and then this side looked like the kindergarten person filled it out and this side it was nice and tight so there we go.
[Daria Tejera]: I did the type side that's why.
[Robert Delafano]: But yeah it makes it more legible so if they could actually do it on the computer print it and send it to you that that would really work great. I just don't have the computer skills to design a form like that, but I can edit a little something. Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: No, I think the tweaks are perfect. These are the things we need to know immediately by looking at these applications. I think it was a great idea.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Also, it seems for some reason that I don't know, the police detail seemed to surprise a few people about that D1. Surprised Rory didn't even, you know, didn't know that right off the top of his head.
[Allan Martorana]: I thought it was any crowd over 250 people had to have a detail. That's what I always thought.
[Daria Tejera]: I think we should touch base with the chief, police chief, and just kind of Because I asked him before and he told me, this is why he has people reach out to the detail offices, that there's no specific rule. Like if there's 100 people, you don't get a detail. It depends case by case, you know what I mean? But in situations like that, I'm not sure how they decide. He said that it's not like a straight answer. So maybe that's something we should revisit with the police department and just see if people are actually, because I know like Circle the Square and stuff, I believe they do get a detail because it's a big, big event. Yeah, right. But I'm not sure like any, I mean, we do have a lot of indoors, like the library does it indoor, Taos does it indoor, so we don't have to worry about that. Or like when you do it a farmer's market, because it's all, you know, like kind of its own space. But things like that, I don't, I would assume that police would want to be there. I don't know.
[Robert Delafano]: I would say you hit the nail on the head. Let's, let's discuss it with the chief. And maybe we can even do it at our discretion, the type of event that it is in like this soccer event. especially where they've had issues in the past, then we can mandate them. I would imagine that, hey, you have to get a police detail. You're going to expect 600 people. You have to have at least three police officers there. And because of past incidents with the license on that location and that event. If it's a first timer, yeah, they say you need one, you get one. I mean, we say you need one. I don't know if we can dictate that though. I'm not really sure.
[Daria Tejera]: I don't think we can. I don't think we can, and that's kind of what I understood from the chief is that it's not really up to us.
[Allan Martorana]: We can strongly recommend it. Didn't we just strongly recommend it? Strongly recommend, yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: It might be going out of our lane a little bit, but, you know, yeah, it's, yeah, that's something we're gonna- Yeah, because if we say that they need it and then they call the police and the police says, no, you're fine, then that just creates- Yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: Conflict.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. And one other thing real quickly, because my mush mind sometimes forgets. I was asked about if I could attend a meeting tomorrow with the Chamber of Commerce and Daria, your Lisa, and the chief police chief of Afghanistan, the other thing.
[Daria Tejera]: Oh, wait, I'm there too, right?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, you're there tomorrow, I believe. It's 11 o'clock in the morning. And it's questions, I guess there's a new chamber president or something that they want questions about how they're going to handle this event, the Oktoberfest. And they're going to have two alcohol suppliers, one being Metfor Brewing, I believe, and the second one was, what's the second one?
[Daria Tejera]: Maybe deep. I don't think so. I feel like it was, maybe it's deep cuts, but I feel like it's Medford based.
[Robert Delafano]: Which one?
[Daria Tejera]: I think it's deep cuts and Medford brewing.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. But anyways, they asked how they're gonna handle that, because they're gonna have entertainment and alcohol. And at first I thought, I says, well, they're gonna have the alcohol. Why don't you just let Deep Cuts get their license and Medford Brewing get their license and let the chamber worry about their own entertainment. But it seems that entertainment's falling on us whenever alcohol's involved. So obviously that's why we're trying to build it into the application. But the thing is, is that, I spoke with Ralph about it when I was on the phone with him about these other things that we discussed today. And he said, Bobby, you can do it two ways. You can do it separate like that. He says, but I'd advise you to do it. Only one license. Have the chamber pull it. and list the two licensees that are going to be supplying the alcohol. That way there, it's much easier to cordon off. He said, if you don't do that, you're going to have to cordon off each section of where the alcohol is. But if you have the chamber do it, you can let somebody buys from one, they can walk over to the other side of the event and not have to worry about it. So he said that's the way he suggests it and that's what I'm going to present to the meeting tomorrow. Very good. Okay. Did we need the, we got to make a motion or something on that form or is it just good to go?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, well, I'll make a motion. I motion that we accept the new edits and changes to the one day application.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. And I can second. Oh, Ben, you're still there. I saw you, but I didn't see it.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. I can second it.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. All right. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, motion passes.
[SPEAKER_18]: Very good.
[Robert Delafano]: Barry, thank you very, very much. You did a great job.
[SPEAKER_18]: No, no, thank you guys.
[Robert Delafano]: You got all this stuff out. And I'll see you tomorrow on the meeting. And I think that ought to do it. Hopefully we won't have anything for August.
[SPEAKER_18]: Right.
[Robert Delafano]: And I got Alan as a backup chair, I think, because I'm having dental surgery the week before. And if I can't talk, I'll be sending you emails.
[Allan Martorana]: I'll be happy to step up. My pleasure.
[Robert Delafano]: I appreciate it. All right, guys. Thank you, everyone. Motion to adjourn. All right. Yes. Oh, gee, I forgot, wait a minute. This chair stuff ain't easy, you know. You're doing great, Bobby. You're doing great. Oh, please. Okay, I make a motion to adjourn. All those in favor?
[Unidentified]: I'll second that motion.
[Robert Delafano]: All right. Good to see you. Thank you. Good job, Bobby. Thank you, guys.