[Allan Martorana]: 105 meeting has begun. Brian, before we get to you, we just need to do a little housekeeping. I see the minutes. Thank you, Daria, for putting the minutes together. I was not at the last meeting, so I'll have to step back and not render any opinion or vote on it. But Bobby and Ben, if you don't mind, just kind of reviewing the minutes and make a motion to approve. And one of you second it so we can get this off the table.
[Robert Delafano]: I already did read through it, Mr. Chairman, and it all looked fine to me. Ben, if it's okay with you, I'll make a motion to approve it if it's okay.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I looked at him too, so sounds good.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Okay, good. All right. Well, then, I guess I could thank you for the motion. All in favor, accepting the minutes of the January 17th meeting, say aye. Aye. Aye. Very good. That's set, so we can take that off the table. Thank you for doing that. And the both of you, thank you for stepping in while I was in cold Florida. And it was 54 degrees when I was down there. So I know exactly what Cheryl was talking about. So let's start. We've knocked off review and approve the minutes. Brian, we see that you have two events. Do you mind just giving us a little overview of both events?
[Bryan MacAuslan]: So we can weigh in. Absolutely. So on Saturday, March 2nd, it will be the second Friends of Medford Family Networks event here for a local organization that support local families. We did it about, I think, about a month ago and it was great. They sold out and they had a bunch of families and kids and they played games and did crafts and dance party. And it was great. So we're looking to do the second event in collaboration with them for that, basically a copy and paste of the last one. And then the second one, we've been doing some different types of gaming events here over the past. We've done board game ones, but we've gotten into video game ones. And there's been a big interest in like, sports gaming stuff. And we have like PlayStation 5s and different stuff. So we've focused on FIFA as being a game of interest for a lot of people. And so basically we've done, I think five of them now, but we haven't done alcohol, but there has been an ask if we could, because most of, I'd say pretty much everybody's 21 and older. But yeah, so basically it's just FIFA, PlayStation 5 gaming with you know, food, snacks, and, you know, mini bar, but just beer and wine.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Very ingenious. I just had a quick question. Brian, of course, we're very familiar with you and Aventem, and you guys run a great enterprise, and there hasn't been any incidents, any problems, so I applaud whatever management you guys are taking with steps. But tell me the, I know you have estimated guests of 50, and I think, what's this, the third one that you're doing or the fourth one that you're doing for this? I guess what I'm driving at is out of 50, were there 50 guests or were there less than 50 guests? For which event? The first one, the March 2nd one.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: Well, it was, they did it in two different parts. So there was actually two events. Well, it's one event. They did it, you would buy tickets for either the three to five, time frame or the five to seven time frame. So, you know, I basically, just right before five o'clock, it would clear out, we'd kind of clean up, make sure, you know, everything was reset and then it would happen again. So, yeah, just strategically set because again, it's, it's an all ages event, but it's also a chance for a lot of the, you know, parents and families in the area to kind of be able to do something different and keep their kids occupied, you know, because we have some staff and, The organization has people here, too, helping with crafts and doing things. So, you know, parents can kind of talk and have a drink and kind of hang out, too. So, they really seem to like it. We're going to be sitting, I guess, for a little bit, I guess, is kind of part of it.
[Allan Martorana]: We babysit and show. Yeah. Ben and Bob, any questions about both events?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: No, I can tell you as somebody with little kids that events are, those are nice. Yeah. I only had one, just one comment you kind of touched on it but the video game event is, I was just wondering yeah yeah kind of the, the demographic. And maybe it's not, it's just maybe a comment. It's just to be more aware that, you know, it's a video game event. And so that, you know, the, the carding is, is tight. Whereas maybe it's just a little bit of a different crowd than, you know, an obvious, you know, adults and kids kind of crowd. Yeah.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: We found, honestly, I don't think this four or five times we haven't done alcohol to the state. I think there's only been maybe one or two people under age of 21. Um, they say we have an online community, um, that connects pretty much all the players that we've done in the past. So again, I think this is, it's been an ask, so we have to treat it differently if we do have it, you know? Um, so again, we would just go through the normal procedures, carding when people come in and then they get carded a second time. We do bracelets. So we kind of have the multi-level thing. Yeah. I just, yeah, that's good. I just, yeah, I don't know. I don't care if they had to pull out their ID twice. So what?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so what? You're letting them come in and play video games. Exactly. Yeah, it'll be fun. They'll do it. Yeah, okay. That's all I had.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I mean, it looks good to me too, Brian. You know, every time you come before this commission, you know, all your stuff's in order. We know you have your insurance on file and drawings. We know what the setup is over there. And like the chairman said, never any problems. So it's all good with me. Yeah, we focus.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: So Bobby, Ben, one of you want to make a motion to move this along?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I can do that. So I'm going to make a motion for both of these events, Mr. Chair. Sure. OK, so I will make a motion to approve the one day liquor license for the March 2nd event with the Friends of Bedford Family Network at Event Them from 3 to 7 p.m. I will also make a motion to accept the one-day license for Sunday, March 3rd, which is the FIFA video game event we just talked about from 2 to 8 p.m. at Event Them. We have everything here on file, so that's the motion.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. I second the motion. Very good. Thank you for the motion. Thank you for the second. All in favor of approving the both one-day licenses for event them, say aye. Aye. Aye. Very good. Brian, you're all set. Thank you. Good luck with the events. I hope they're very successful, and keep up the good work.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: Thanks. Hope to see you all down here sometime soon. All right. All right. Ciao. The doors are always open. Have a great afternoon. Thank you. Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Thanks, Brian.
[Allan Martorana]: Let's see, number two, do we have, let me see, from Mary Queen Peace Paris, St. Francis? Elena, okay, there you are, sorry. No, don't be sorry. Yeah. Hi, how are you? Good to see you.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: Good to see you too.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I grew up up to height, so St. Francis was our church all the time.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: I grew up on Summer Street, so I'm more of a St. Joseph's.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, you're St. Joseph's, yeah.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: But I like that church. Don't tell Father Peter, but I like that church a little better. It's pretty.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Tell us a little about the event if you don't mind, please.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so we're the young adults group based out of Medford. We, I guess it existed prior to the pandemic, but it fell apart. So now we are reinvigorating it and. As our group is growing, we started out with just like four of us in a room. And now there's probably about like 50 people on our email list. So as we're getting larger, we need to raise a little bit of money to support our group, especially because we wanna be able to do like community barbecues that are free for all to attend and things like that. So this is our first fundraiser that we've ever run for the young adults group. in Medford and it'll be in the gymnasium at St. Joseph's. And it will be, we will, as he had mentioned in his thing, we'll have bracelets to mark 21 plus. I also separately own my own business and I'm TIP certified. We do a lot of events through our business. We're a fresh mixer brand. So I'm fully accustomed to the bar and things like that. and all the licensing that goes with it. And so we plan to, it's called Sunday Funday Cornhole Tournament, so there'll be about 32 teams participating in a tournament. It's a daytime thing, it'll happen, we're positioning doors to open at 11.30 right after morning mass at St. Joseph's, and then it'll run until about like 3.30, 4.30. And we should be cleaned up and out of there by 6.30 at the latest was my goal. So yeah, really just like a fun day out for the young adult, like there's very few events for the young adult demographic with the church. So really trying to draw them in and make them part of our community.
[Allan Martorana]: Nice. Smart that you're doing it inside, because rather than cold outside, then you're at the mercy of the weather. I do not. I refuse.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: People have asked me, and I can, like, I absolutely refuse to plan an outdoor event.
[Allan Martorana]: I will not do that. Yeah. By then, the socks are plain, but it's always freezing by then, so. I know. Yeah. And Daria, do we have insurance? She requested it.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: I just forwarded you Daria Quest that we put through. There's a confirmation for our request. They just haven't sent us the actual insurance document yet. But we should have it by the end of the week for you.
[Daria Tejera]: Gotcha. Yeah, as long as I have it and I can send it to the commissioners, it's fine. Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: Elena, we're these three men, you know, men are always visual. You know, we're visual. And we always like, you know, when we see events, we always like to know, like, the lay of the land, like where is everything going to be? Because we're always concerned about where the barren line is going to be. I mean, all alcohol is going to be positioned like where? Is there a way that you could put together something for us, some kind of drawing? It doesn't have to be by an engineer or an architect, but you could do your best to give us a lay of the land. That would probably be one of the things.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: I sent it this morning to Daria, so it might have sent it late. Sorry, Daria, I didn't get it to you before today. It doesn't allow me to share my screen. If it did, I could share it with you right now. But maybe, Daria, you could forward it to them at some point?
[Daria Tejera]: Yes, I'll forward it. Yes, I'm looking at it now, and I was going to say I'll forward it to you guys.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry for getting that over to you at the last minute.
[Allan Martorana]: OK. That's all right. I don't have any. Ben, Bobby, any questions, concerns?
[Robert Delafano]: No, I noticed it's all alcohol, but being a nonprofit, they are allowed to have all alcohol. So that's not really a concern. And as long as we get the insurance document, the binder before, well, hopefully as soon as they can send it over to Daria once they receive it, I'm good with the rest of it.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good with it. And I think it sounds great. And having a young adult program at the church seems like an awesome idea. I'm glad it's growing. I want it to grow. And having the diagram is awesome. Somebody once had a cornhole tournament. I don't know why I'm even saying this, because I know this is not going to apply. But then they advertised it on Facebook after we gave them it. And they were kind of like, yeah, it'll be like, drinking games and stuff. Now, I know you guys are right after service on a never in St. Joe's, but I can't help but remember this guy doing it and that's going like, what are you doing? Yeah, the fact. So just because there's like games and stuff like that, I mean, I know you'll be responsible with that, but that's like something that obviously like, you know, we want it to be a fun event, but not be like crazy thing. And I guess it would be. Um, but no other, otherwise I think, yeah, like when you do come, hopefully you'll do more events. And then if you sort of have like this basic diagram, you can, you know, show us. And then sometimes people I'll even give you like bring in like a med for brewing sometimes to like, just set it up.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: I emailed them. I haven't heard from them, but I would love for them to be a part of it. That would be so awesome. I should probably call them. That's what I should do.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah, sometimes and sometimes we see Winter Hill too. We oh, that's yeah, yeah, we those seem to be the two more popular ones that we see all the time. I think so, yeah, yeah, those seem to be the two popular ones.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that's that would be. I didn't think of that. That was good idea.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Thank you. Then they kind of handle that part and we're you know we're very familiar with them too. So yeah, but no, I think that's it. So I'm. Hope it's a good event, and I'm good with it. I have no more questions. OK.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, me neither. If you want to make a motion, and Daria, can you send us the insurance and the diagram so we can kind of look at it when you get a chance?
[Daria Tejera]: Yes, I forward to you guys the diagram. I just don't have the insurance. But once I get that, I'll send it over. OK.
[Allan Martorana]: So Bobby, Ben, one of you want to make a motion?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I can make the motion if you like. I'll make a motion to grant the one-day license for Mary Queen of Peace Parish at 118 High Street, Medford for April 28th from 11 AM to 6 PM for a fundraiser. with the stipulation that we receive the insurance binder and we already have the drawing that we approve it. That ought to do it.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Sounds good. Yeah. I'll second it. Thank you, Ben. All in favor of approving the one-day license of Mary Queen of Peace, Paris for their event, say aye. Aye. Very good. Your one day license request is approved, Elena. Best of luck. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you for the diagram. You can see it here? Absolutely. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. All right.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: Awesome. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. OK.
[Allan Martorana]: Good luck. Good luck.
[MCM00001706_SPEAKER_04]: Have a good rest of your day.
[Allan Martorana]: All right. Let's see, Medford Historical Society, that's Miss Anderson I saw. Is he with us or no?
[Daria Tejera]: No, he was the one, the email that I forwarded earlier, said that there was a medical emergency that came up.
[Allan Martorana]: That's right. That's right. So that is April 25th. We have lots of time. Do you want to table that so he can come before us again before the event? Or how do you guys want to do that? Or do you want to just take care of it? We're very familiar with Mr. Anderson. We're very familiar with the Historical Society. I don't know. How do you want to do it?
[Robert Delafano]: Where he's having some medical issues, Mr. Chairman, he's always been great. We've got his insurance on file. We've got his drawings on file. There's never any issues there. I don't have a problem with approving both applications today. You know, it's up to, I don't know how you feel about it, Ben and Alan, but, you know, I think the guy seems to have enough problems. We should just get this off of his plate, you know, where he's an upstanding person of the community and we've issued him one day licenses before.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more. And he's using Medford Brewing. We're familiar with them. Yeah, that's a good. The liability insurance is valid. There's ample coverage. Bobby, I couldn't agree more with your thinking.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm good with that. Same exact thought. I totally agree. I think it's good as is. And I don't think he used Medford Brewing before, right?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I don't know if that I don't remember.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So that's good. Yeah, it always makes you feel good when those guys are setting it up.
[Allan Martorana]: And yeah, yeah, we're comfortable with them. Both of the method brewing in went to hell. We're both. Yeah, we're very comfortable with both of those companies. All right.
[Robert Delafano]: Keeping it in a community to which is nice. Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I don't want to make a motion here. Yeah. I feel like it's easier for them because like it takes that whole thing off their plate, like to have somebody else just set up the who's already knows how to do it.
[Allan Martorana]: Right. And they're TIP certified and they're insured. You're absolutely right. Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Well, let's make a motion. OK. I will make a motion then. And I'll make a motion to approve both of these one day licenses. The first one day license is for April 4th from 6.30 to 8.30 PM. And that's the poetry reading. at Medford Historical Society. I'll make a motion to approve the second one day, and that is for April 25th from 630 to 830 p.m., which is also poetry reading at the Medford Historical Society.
[Robert Delafano]: Very good. I'll second the motion.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Thank you. All in favor of approving both one day licenses for the Medford Historical Society for April 4th and April 25th, say aye. Aye. Very good. Then it passes, Daria, where you could reach out to Mr. Anderson and let him know that both one day licenses have been approved. Thank you. OK, good. I'll let him know. I think that was the last one, correct?
[Robert Delafano]: We should have that to you.
[Allan Martorana]: Oh, you're right. The recommendation of the investigation is that the investigator. Oh, that's right.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Yeah. Ocean state. Ocean state. Yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: Yep. He never actually got back to me. Yeah, right. He never got back to you there? Nope. I called him, left him a voicemail. I think it might have been Friday or Thursday. Did not hear back. I think it was Friday.
[Robert Delafano]: Do we have the valid DUA certificate?
[Daria Tejera]: No, he never gave it to me. He just was asking me the question. That's why. Yeah. So I don't have, he didn't even email me. He called me. Um, so if I would have had his email, I would have emailed him. But the only person that I have was Nicole from like a year ago. And I think she doesn't work there anymore or something in that sense or something like that.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. So there's not much we can do with that today.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no, we'd have to table it. Yeah. Okay. You with me? Yeah, yeah, well, then I'll make the motion that the table, the updated DUA for the next meeting. Hopefully he'll respond to your emails, and we'll have the necessary paperwork to review and make a decision. All in favor say aye. Aye. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Aye.
[Allan Martorana]: Aye. Good. Good. Last, any and all other business. Derry, anything on your mind? Anything? that we should be concerned?
[Daria Tejera]: Um, no, that was it for this month.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. You know, can I, um, uh, the last bullet on the, um, the minutes that I'm, I'm the last meeting I missed the, the, um, what was the general thought process As we're now getting sick, we're going to be 65,000. Another license may become available because it's one for every 5,000. What was the thought process there? I mean, I can read what you guys wrote, but was there any other conversation that went along with that? Do we know for a fact that we are going to be 65,000? Wasn't that supposed to be not until July or something like that?
[Robert Delafano]: I kind of reached out to Ralph about that. There was a couple of three things that I thought we needed to reach out to him for. And one of them was that certification from the DUA on whether we just submit it right to him, have Darius submit it right to him, or if it needs to be put to a vote. And he explained that it needs to be approved by the local licensing authority on a new certification form. and actually touch base with Daria that he said, just make sure that she checks the little box on the top right corner for reconsideration. Just approve that, have her send it to us along with the copy of the updated form, and it'll be all good. It'll make it easier for them at the ABCC when they see the little box check that it's a reconsideration thing, they put their hands on it a little quicker.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, that makes sense.
[Robert Delafano]: Very good. Thank you for doing that, Bobby. Well, that's okay. And while talking to him about Ocean State job lot, um, I mentioned, I said, you know, they just, they, they don't, they have a liquor licenses, a section 15 license, um, uh, yeah, section 15 license. And, you know, they don't sell liquor and they don't sell beer or anything. They just sell bottles of wine. And he said, um, You know, what you can do, well, let me back up just a little bit to answer your first question about an additional chapter 15 license for liquor stores. That was one of the things that I brought up to him. He said that he looked up Medford, he looked up our numbers. He says, you can only do that once every 10 years. He says, Medford's not available, even though you might have the numbers. You can't do it until 2030. Oh, wow. Oh. And to further go for my 3rd question was, okay, say we do, and this is discussed last week, last month, Ben is how would we determine who would get that license? If 1 does come available. and he says basically any way the local licensing authority wants to handle it. If there's a license available, if you wanted to put some paper, the local paper that there's one available, people can submit applications, you guys review the applications, and whoever you feel is best to receive that license, that's who you give it to. He says some cities and towns, it's the 1st person that applies. We'll get it. You know, he said it would make sense to me about it is, you know, if we get 234 applications, we can look at it and see, you know, who's most qualified to. To handle it, and he. also stated that why does Ocean State have a Section 15 all-liquor license if they don't sell liquor? He said the city of Medford has got Section 15 beer and wines. You have, I believe he said, 11 of them. And he says, you've never issued one. He says, now the reason, couple of things, you might have never issued one is because the city or town doesn't allow it. He says, you'd have to check with your city solicitor to see if there's anything that has ever come up that they don't allow beer and wine. Not only does it Ocean State job lots, it could be a gas station that wants to sell beer and wine. It could be Alexander's or La Casha, any of those that want to sell just a little beer and wine. We have 11 licenses available. Now, if you drop Ocean State job lot from a full liquor to that, He says, it can all be done in one transaction, one meeting. He says, we'll approve it immediately. The license, as long as you guys approve it, we'll approve it immediately and he'll surrender the full liquor license and that'll free one up. He says, because they're worth a lot of money in your town. He can sell that for a lot of money if he finds a buyer and the local licensing authority approves the buyer. The guy can, Ocean State Job Lots can make a lot of dough and the whole transaction can be done in one day. They don't have to stop selling any beer or wine and the new person, you know, and then surrender their full license at the same time. So it opens it up for a person who wants to sell it. Like a liquor store could buy it? A liquor store could do it? Well, I think that's what happened with Wegmans, if I'm not mistaking. I wasn't on the commission then, but I guess that Lion Lick is in West Medford that never really did much business. He was right between Giles and Bargainspot in West Medford. I guess Wegmans approached them and made them a very nice offer on his license, and he sold it to Wegmans, and it's very similar to that. It's kind of a waste of a license at Ocean State with them not selling any beer or liquor, you know?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. That's exactly what happened. Wegmans made a very nice offer. It made sense. But, you know, I'm just kind of wracking my brain as to how Ocean State received all alcohol and And if memory serves me right, I think what happened was when they first came, they had their own, I believe, like their own vodka and their own spirits other than wine. I think that's what happened. And then as the years went on, they must have sunset some of the products and now are only selling wine. But I think they had their own brand of spirits, I believe. And I think that's how it happened. I don't know, Ben, do you remember any of this? It's kind of foggy.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: It was so long ago. I remember them coming for some other stuff, Alan, but it wasn't They already had it by the time I got there.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. Okay. Yeah. And I think when they. Yeah, I think that's what it was, but, but you're right. I mean, I'm fascinated with the. With the. ABCC's suggestion about how to weigh up who should get that liquor license when it becomes available, that'll be interesting. I don't like first come, first serve because that to me doesn't seem to be the best methodology.
[Robert Delafano]: Well, with Ocean State, I don't think that'll be the case because that license is very valuable that they have. Yeah. But the one we have to decide is back when it comes to 2030. Yeah. If we qualify for an additional license, that's when we'll get an additional license that's basically just for the $2,000 annual fee or whatever it is, $2,500. But we have to make the decision who gets the license if there are multiple applicants. It's going to be pretty transparent in my opinion, which is the right thing to do. We may want to talk. It may be one of our meetings somewhere down the line that there should be certain parameters. I don't know what,
[Allan Martorana]: But we obviously have time to think about it, right? Because it's not until 2030, right? Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, we got another six years.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: It sounds fun. Sounds interesting. Maybe at the time we could ask the mayor, I don't know if they have like a vision for, I don't know, Maybe, you know, a company that recycles better. I don't know. I was just something like, you know, that's. a good, someone who'll be a good citizen too.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. You know, we have plenty of time. Everything's constantly changing. You know, what we're thinking now might be completely different five years from now.
[Robert Delafano]: Who knows? We'll figure it out. Well, worst comes to worst. I mean, if they're all good candidates and we have trouble making a decision, you pick a name out of a hat. Could do that. Yeah. Fair way to do it.
[Allan Martorana]: No, you're right because you know I write mortgages and I remember Malden had a first-time homebuyer home available and there were 240 people, one in that house, and they put all the names in this big basket and they turned and turned and turned. They pulled one out. You know, so, you know, that was the only fair way to do it because, you know, when you looked at them all, three quarters of them were all good, worthy candidates, you know, which made the whole thing even again, you know? Yeah, exactly.
[Robert Delafano]: And you can make a fun event out of it. I mean, for that meeting, we could meet in City Hall and, you know, put the names right out on the table so everybody can see, all the candidates can be there. put them all in a hat and then have the mayor or one of the city celebrities or officials pick the name, you know, and it's fair. I mean, you know, you could look at, you know, the Patels that have a whole lot of experience and own a lot of liquor stores, but is it fair to, you know, okay, they've got the experience, but is it fair to give it to them versus someone who's you know, wants to start a business, wants to be an entrepreneur that's, you know, maybe their first time in the business. I don't know. It's a lot of pros and cons, but that's what came out of the conversation, Ralph. So I just wanted to, cause I know when Darius sent us those questions, I, You know, I said, you know, there's 2 or 3 things here. I says, I think I can bother Ralph for that 1. and when I did call him, he actually couldn't get back to me for a day or so, because he, I guess, there's something going on that the government is doing that's affecting the and there's been kind of a lot of. They've been kind of busy over there. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm not sure what it was. We didn't get into it. And I just like, yeah, no, no, no problem. No worries. You didn't call me back. You get more important things to do than talk to me. That's for sure. Yeah. You know, and he apologized, and he answered all the questions. Very nice, as usual. He also said, too, that we, he says, I want you to start talking about putting together another training seminar. He says, we, he says, I'd like to do another one. We can do them annually. He says, I got all brand new PowerPoint presentations. It's going to be good, so. I'll bring it up. All right.
[Allan Martorana]: Great resource. He's a fantastic resource. Yeah. Great. All right. Well, that was my only question regarding number five on the last minute. So I thank you for spending some time, Bobby, in explaining that. Daria, Ben, did you have a question?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So that was great, Bobby. Just to clarify that, so for Ocean State, are they going to come in on our next meeting, and then we're going to propose to them, like when are we gonna, or is it our duty to tell them, hey, you guys aren't using your full license, you should do this, or how are we gonna convey that to them?
[Robert Delafano]: Well, what we can do is they have to come before us for this DUA certificate. When they're before us, we make a motion to approve the new DUA certificate and for Daria to send it off to the ABCC. After we approve it, we can say, Mr. So-and-so, we'd just like to give you a little information, something you can bring back to the corporation, an option on your license. This is what you have. This is what's available. And if the corporation would like to sell the license, they'd have to find their own buyer. And it's worth probably a substantial amount of money to somebody who wants it in the city, because there's none available. And you can get a bar and wine at, you know, it's all one day transaction. I mean, if your buyer was approved by us, you know, we grant them that. And ABC say, yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So if they say no, we'll rather just hang on to our license. Perfectly fine. We have no issue with that.
[Robert Delafano]: No, we've got no restriction, but we got to make sure that it's not a city ordinance that yes, have a section 15 bear in mind because there are something about that's what I'm trying to say is that nobody has ever been issued that license.
[Daria Tejera]: So I'm pretty sure there's a reason for it. I don't know what the reason is, because when I told Bobby, when he touched on this, when I first met with somebody from ABCC, and I don't remember who it was, because that was four years ago, the guy said, don't look on that line in the quota. Like, we're not illegible, nothing like that. But obviously, before me, there was Ali. So it hasn't been touched by nobody within the city of Medford. So there has to be a reason. We just got to figure it out. Is there an actual reason? Or it was just like, I don't know. I don't know what it is. So that's a mystery that I have to resolve first and then go from there. Because I think before we open up a can of worms and say anything to anybody, we have to look into this first and figure out why it is the way it is.
[Allan Martorana]: Right. The way it's designated.
[Daria Tejera]: Sure. Exactly. Because we do have 11 of them available. But again, none of them has ever been dispersed. And this was even before me. They've been available for years, you know, so there has to be a reason on why we're not telling people about them. It's not hidden, it's there.
[Allan Martorana]: But they're there, but they may not be available for whatever reason for actual use. Okay. So, so do you think it'd be prudent of us to wait till we get an opinion from Daria source before we interact with ocean state or. Absolutely, we know.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, yeah. I mean, if we can do it within the month. I mean, they might be back, they might have a representative here next month. It's like I say, just for informational purposes for them, if in fact those licenses are available. I know, Daria, if you have to bring it up to KP Law to investigate it, I'm not sure if the city clerk could have information on that. But if somebody is going to look into it legally and KP Law looks into it, something like that, they should be able to give us an answer on where to go to find it. The other thing that KP Law would put when they sent us the whole thing on the clubs, that any retail establishments, meaning restaurants, over 15,000 square feet. That's a lot of language there. Does that mean anything under 15,000? We can grant them a license for 1AM because they're under 15,000 square feet. If they're over 15,000 square feet, they gotta go before the council. I don't know. I don't know what the language is there. You know, that seemed to be what he said when he got back to us. So, you know, I don't want to go opening up a whole nother can of worms. Yeah, no, you're right. Everybody's nice, nice right now, the way it is. That's fine.
[Allan Martorana]: And I don't think we, other than what's coming online on Mr. Gabb, I don't think we have anything greater than 15,000 square feet.
[Robert Delafano]: I mean, I'm saying, you know, we, we, Are we letting the building commission or the code compliance officer kind of like, you know, tend to go where it's not his jurisdiction and it's ours? I mean, if you're talking to KP Law, let's let them look at that line in our rules and regulations and see. I mean, our newest rules and regulations say 1 a.m. Now, is it in from what I can say. I believe the city clerk issues. Common victim is license if a common victim licenses only. Issue till 11 0T PM. then we cannot allow them to serve until 1 a.m. because they cannot serve unless there's food available, a full meal available. So once the kitchen closes, the bar shuts down, that's true anyway. It's kind of a moot point type of thing. Yeah, yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: So, for example, Snappy Patties, right? With him, I already checked. He doesn't have Common Vic till 1. He only has it till 11. So, he was inquiring, you know, are we able to get full hours on our license till 1 a.m.? So, I think they were one of those licensees that were operating till 1 a.m. till they got their license, which says 11 p.m., because, again, I went off Common Vic list that city clerk's office provided to me. So with him, what should I get back to him with? Should I just say, no, you have to continue to operate till 11 p.m. unless you get a special permit from the clerk's office? Because they come and Vic says 11 p.m.
[Allan Martorana]: Well, wouldn't he have to go before city council before he can, wasn't that the first step? Don't they, after 11? Yeah, I don't know.
[Robert Delafano]: but he would have to go before the city clerk to have his common Vic extended to 1 a.m. to 1 a.m. yeah he goes to the same time that he goes to the council council for to ratify it or approve it yeah yeah the count the council can't approve a 1 a.m. liquor license yeah no no no it only says 11 go together yeah right food available and We probably should let them know that too, that are you prepared or willing to have your kitchen open until 1 a.m.? A lot of them aren't, because you've got a whole kitchen staff and everything else you've got to keep on for another couple of hours. And if there's not that much business in there... Right, yeah, some might not, yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: But David doesn't, you know, just say how it is and then if no go, then no go. But if there's a go, there's a go. I did have an interesting question I think it was after New Year's or before New Year's, kind of bouncing off that, like, restaurants, I know we don't give one day licenses to restaurants that only have a license, right? That want to have special hours during like New Year's or New Year's Eve, like they don't want to do it all year round. They want to do like special holidays, I guess, or whatever. So she was inquiring. The owner was inquiring if. we can do something like that where like I told her we don't have it but she was like can you just find out if that's something like a possibility specifically for like one day but for like New Year's Eve like stuff like stuff that's like you know like bigger holidays I guess that people want to be out longer yeah yeah
[Robert Delafano]: It's in Chapter 138. I think it might be in 33 or 33A, somewhere there about. And it specifically says New Year's extending the hours for the state. You know, the state license will extend it. I think it's till 2 a.m., but can we do it?
[Daria Tejera]: If I think that's more of a question, can we do it? Yeah, because again, the city council exactly the city council being involved. I don't know if they have to.
[Unidentified]: If they also have to approve it, yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: Exactly, because since the food doesn't go, like if their food is only till 11, can that get extended during how, so I feel like there's like, those two always go together, so I feel like we'll, I always forget that you cannot forget one about the other. It's really easy to like just focus on one, because we'll only handle liquor, but with food, I feel like that would require food, so like how would that, it's almost like how would that work? Right.
[Allan Martorana]: But Bobby's right. I mean, it's just, that's what they, it's the chop between keeping the kitchen open and staffed all the way to one o'clock. I mean, is it, is it worth it? You know, finance, does the numbers make sense? But yeah, it's, it's two pieces.
[Robert Delafano]: It's two pieces for all of them. Yeah. I mean, for a New Year's party, I could see, yeah, you're fine. I don't think there's an issue there. And most New Year's parties, too, there's always food on the table until the party's over. I mean, you have it in a restaurant, I don't know, is it a buffet, or are you sitting at a table ordering food and drink? At midnight, everybody's getting ready to pop the cork, but can you order some food to eat with the cocktails that you're going to have? If it's not the case, then they probably wouldn't allow it.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Or to your point, if it's a buffet style and all the food's still on top of Sterno and staying warm, that could be
[Robert Delafano]: uh, the way to do it. And I don't think the city, you know, council that have an issue with it while those particular dates, um, you know, and it's even like, if it falls on a Sunday or a Monday, I think that's where the hours are when it falls on a Sunday. Because when we're looking to extend the Sunday hours, it was in 33 a, I believe. But, um, It's, I don't think the council would have a problem on New Year's Eve knowing people celebrate at midnight. And, you know, yeah, put some language in there as long as there's food available. Once the food is taken off or shut down, then the bar closes. It's pretty simple.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Jared, do we actually have, did you say we have somebody inquiring about that for the next year or?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, it was, Pochellis. Okay. Pochellis. Okay. She stopped in for something, I don't remember what it was, and she just randomly asked me, and I was like, oh, I can find, like, I was like, no, we don't have anything like that, but I can find out.
[Allan Martorana]: I guess the Reader's Digest version of everything we're saying is as long as there's food available until everyone goes home, until midnight, I think that's the key, right? To make sure there's food available.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I discussed a couple of other things with Daria that we would just, I took up a little bit of her time, which I feel bad, because I know that she's not our secretary 100%, but this year, it was kind of like a test run, renewing the licenses with the proper inspections and paperwork and everything. What I suggested to Daria where I've got a little bit of time, what I'd like to do is go to the building department and say, I want to see what you folks fill out the annual, I think it's a non-occupancy permit, but I forget what the hell it's called, but it's a permit from an inspection that needs to be done annually. before they can get a CarmenVIC license. And I want to find out when they do that. And in Boston, I know there's no specific date. The CarmenVIC has a specific date, which I can't recall what date it is. But in order to get your CarmenVIC, you need to bring this permit from the building department showing that your building is safe. It's got the exit signs, the fire extinguishers, the this, the that. Supposed to be done annually, it's up to the licensee to do it. If the licensee doesn't do it and bring a valid permit, they don't get their common license. It's the same with the fire department. It's up to the licensee to contact the fire department. get the proper inspection forms, sprinklers, fire alarm system, hood planning, whatever. It's all part of the fire form. So I'd like to go to the building department to get that. I'd like to go to the fire department to get that. And I'd like to go to the clerk's office to see what a common VIC license requirements are and get a copy of a blank common VIC application, a renewal license form. And like I told Daria here in Boston, it's great. They mail it out like a month, month and a half before the common victims do. And it says, do not come to this office in bold letters unless you have building department occupancy inspection or whatever it is. And then it says a blue paper, and then it'll say annual health department inspection, white paper with gold ray seal. I mean, they go right down, All the documents and what they look like, and I've been in that office that people standing in line when I was renewing my daughters, people will come in with their papers. They'll look at it. Just hand the papers right back to the people. You don't have all your papers. Well, I don't know. By the building department, you've got to get inspected. You don't have all your papers. We're not even taking your papers unless it's all correct. So what that'll do is if I can get all that information, Daria can send out an email maybe sometime in the spring. notifying all the licensees that your common vic and liquor license, well, your liquor license is gonna be coming due for renewal. And if the requirements for the common vic are the building inspection, the fire inspection, the border health inspection, and if those are the only requirements, and they're renewing that before our November 1st time to renew the liquor licenses, all we need to see is a valid common VIC. We don't need to see those other papers because they weren't gonna get their common VIC unless they passed in all of this stuff. The only thing we need to see is a valid common VIC and their insurance. End of story. We send out two or three reminders, before the actual renewal, it'll make it so much easier for Daria and all of the departments will be on board with this. So it's not like November 1st, oh, geez, you don't have your inspection from the fire department. So now they're all flooding the fire department trying to get an inspection within the month, which is going to be difficult to do. And it's going to be the same thing with the building department.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Do they need their comment back renewed every year?
[Robert Delafano]: What's that?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Does a common Vick get renewed every year too?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. And that has their capacity, that has their hours of operation. That's the main license. And all these other licenses and permits and certificates have to be valid before they get a common Vick in Boston. And if they're not up to date or valid, They're not going to get it. They're not going to get it. They can do the fire certificate anytime. They can do it right now. for next year's license because it's valid. It'll be one year before December 31st. So anytime after the first of the year, they've got a valid certificate from the fire department or a valid certificate from the building department. And that could give them plenty of time because they're the ones that have to initiate it to get it. we they don't send the building department don't send out notices hey alan your restaurant you know don't forget you need to renew that no they don't do that it's up to you to do it and if you don't do it you don't get your common vic So it's kind of, we could streamline the whole process and make it just so much easier for Daria. So she's not pulling a hair out of her head and people are running around scrambling. I mean, there was a time there for a while that we weren't getting what we needed to get with these inspections. And they should have been done before a liquor license was issued. but it's not our responsibility to make sure that they're done. Unless November 1st and November 31st is when you do your Common Vic, then we'd also have to get all the paperwork from the building, from the fire, because it's going to be issued the same time as the Common Vic. But if the Common Vic is a little earlier, which I think it might be, I'm hoping it might be, then all we need to do is just see the Common Vic. So that's just a suggestion I kind of threw out there. And I've got the time to do a little running around just so I could see what the forms look like, what they entail to fill out, what the actual permit looks like that they issue. And just tell the fire department, hey, this is what we plan on doing. Tell the building department, this is what we plan on doing. And hopefully you're going to be getting your calls long before November 1st for their inspections. And City Clerk, basically, they just do their own thing anyways. Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. That's a direct question. Is that something that you can alert the department heads to know that Bobby would be looking into this? Or do we need to do that? Or will they just say, hey, we're too busy, get lost? Is there some protocol for that? How does that all work?
[Robert Delafano]: I don't know. It's a good question. That's what they kind of told me last year, the building department. Yeah, don't worry about it. I already talked to the fire chief. We're going to be doing them. We're sending them out next week.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, I mean, that kind of brushed me off, too, once I inquired about it, too. I mean, I didn't really get answers until really Bobby stepped in. yeah which i didn't really know how it works to begin with so i didn't really push okay um but i told you i was like you know i told them i was like if you want we can do like we can do this together because i'm here obviously they know who i am um they know them the secretary of the legal commission so We could be both there. So that's where we can both get the information just confirm that this is the information that we're both understanding. And then just kind of do the process a lot easier because that's the one thing I've been saying is that I think we need to make the process more. just like streamline it because I have no idea when things are done. I can't require from people to give me a fire inspection when I have no idea what it looks like. Say we'll build an inspection. So, and plus we have a new building commissioner so I know he would be like Bill, of course, was good too. But once Bill talks to him and all that good stuff, he will know that this is what he has to do as well. And he will know that he will have to work with us together. So it's one of those things where I don't mind doing all that stuff work, but it helps out because then I have to, you know, it's two sets of years versus one. And then if they don't, you know, if they don't talk to Bobby, then I come down and be like, sorry guys, you guys have to talk to us.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. The only reason I asked that is because you know where Brookline is in three states and, you know, and if I need information or I need access to you know, somebody in Rhode Island or somebody in New York, you know, you got to go through the team leader, you know, that the team leader who's like the head of the department, you know, to let them know, hey, Al's going to be reaching out, you know, you know, don't brush them off, give them, you know, don't, you know, give them the time of the day. So I just didn't want, I was just wondering if it was the same protocol It's city hall, so I make sure that they'll cooperate with Bobby as he.
[Daria Tejera]: Is he research and Bobby can just let me know I'm playing to reach out to, you know, so and so tomorrow or Monday. Can you just let them know? Not a problem. You know, because again, like. And I could even just kind of include everybody. Whoever we want to include on this, I can just send like an email to all of them and just say, we're going to be reaching out. Can you just let us, you know, or pick a time that we can meet with you or whatever, you know, to kind of have everybody on the same page to make this streamlined. But I think, like I know clerk's office is all about, you know, streamlining it better as well. So like me and Annie Kelly over here have spoken about it. to just kind of come up with a process that better streamlines the whole thing. Because at the end of the day, CommonVid goes with liquor license, which is obviously, I feel like more obvious now than it was even a year ago. Learning new things here. So I think it would just be nice to get together with everyone and just streamline it better, that's all.
[Robert Delafano]: I think it'd be good because if if we can do this, then we can make an appointment. like you said, Daria, to meet with all the department heads, two o'clock some afternoon, whatever it is, and they're all in the meeting, all on the same page, and we can say, okay, this is our license that we need for occupancy inspection, this is our license that we need from FHIA, this is correct, right, FHIA, correct, building, yep, border health, this is what we need, yep, okay, clerk's office, crime and vigil, yep, okay. We just explain to them why we need to put it all together, what dates all of these things are due, and go from there. And hopefully it'll make Daria's job so much more easier come November 1st. And a couple of reminder emails. during the year to just say, hey, uh, keep in mind, uh, you know, uh, make sure fire inspections are done, building inspections done, border health, you know, looking licenses coming up for renewal November 1st, you know, something like that. And, uh, and people will say, Oh, geez. Yeah. I forgot. I got to call them type of thing and make it easier for the licensees as well. You know, but, um, It's something that I think might have been overlooked in the past because obviously manpower and things like that for different departments. But right now, it's the law, basically. It's got to be done. So God forbid you don't have the building department going in there and inspecting to make sure that this place is fire safe. And you got another, you know, you got a fire there. I was, I was on the fire department.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, okay. Okay. All right. Thanks.
[Robert Delafano]: I was on fire department when deepest qualities caught fire. He wouldn't let him out of the basement until they paid their bill. And it's kind of like, you don't want another thing like that. They can't get out. You know, there's a couple of back out of there. But you know, God forbid, and all it is is people are just following the law. They have to get their inspections done. You don't get the inspections done, you don't get your license. It's pretty simple. So.
[Allan Martorana]: No, but I think Gary hit it on the head. It's just streamlining the whole process. And once they know what's expected of them, then, you know, the efficiencies will kick in because they know what's expected of them. Sure. Absolutely. This is good. This is good diary. I see you've been taking notes. I can see your, you're writing a mile a minute. So this is good. So Bobby, as always, thank you very much. Uh, I'll motion to adjourn. It's a two Oh seven. Uh, Bobby second. Yeah. Uh, all in favor of adjourning say aye. All right, good. Daria, thank you so much for putting the package together and getting us everything out on a timely basis. Really appreciate it.
[Unidentified]: Not a problem.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Allan Martorana]: All right. Ciao.