total time: 2.26 minutes
total words: 243
[Robert Delafano]: I guess we're all set to get started. Public meeting of the City of Medford License Commission for August 21st, which was originally an unscheduled meeting, will come to order. We do have an agenda for this meeting. I believe the minutes were held up. So we weren't able to review them. That's the 1st item on the agenda. Um, is this, um, is this correct? If so, uh, I can make a motion to, um, waive the minutes until the next meeting.
[Daria Tejera]: Yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Um, I'll make a motion to waive the minutes of the unscheduled July meeting, um, for, until the September meeting. Alan, you want to second that?
[Allan Martorana]: I second the motion to waive the minutes of the July 17, and we'll review them in September when we meet.
[Robert Delafano]: Sounds good.
[Allan Martorana]: All those in favor? Now when we come back. and our normal meetings. Sure, I'll second the motion. Okay. All those in favor?
[Robert Delafano]: Aye. All those opposed? Aye. Yep. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the motion passes. Helen, you're coming up broken up again. I don't know if it's the same issue we might've had last month. You're freezing, or freezing up. But just so you're aware. Okay, let's see what the next item. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. We'll see what the next item on the agenda is. Blue Fuji. Do we have a representative from Blue Fuji? Yes. Okay. Could you kindly state your name and address for the record, please?
[Ziye OuYang]: My name is Ziyi Ouyang. I'm the assistant manager in Blue Fuji, Manfred.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. All righty. Um, what we're here for today, sir, is the, uh, an issue of compliance issue. Um, there was a, um, a compliance check done at your establishment. Um, let me just open up my file. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. on June 20th of 2024. And you folks attempted to, or did sell alcohol to a minor. The city of Medford, with the police department, the Board of Health, was doing a compliance check that evening as part of all of the restaurants and package stores in the city. You were sent an original notice to appear before this board in July. Is there a reason why you didn't attend, sir?
[Ziye OuYang]: I think in July 17th, we didn't receive the envelope on time. That's why we missed the scheduled meeting.
[Robert Delafano]: It was a scheduled meeting. Is there a reason why you didn't attend?
[Ziye OuYang]: Yeah, we didn't receive the envelope. That's why.
[Robert Delafano]: You didn't receive the information? Okay, would you be able to I heard that you didn't receive the information because we sent it regular mail and email. So, would you kindly just email a secretary area. Your current information, your email address. Postal address any the managerial license the owner would just send her so we know that we're reaching the right person when we send you a notice. No problem.
[Blue Fuji]: Yeah, can I say something? Absolutely. Yeah, I'm in China and the blue email and I cannot open in China, so I didn't see any messages from, you know, cannot see any, you know, email. And the letter you mailed to us, we didn't get it. That's why we missed the first meeting. And the email I cannot open in China, so I don't know.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, okay, so the mail, I'm sorry, Mr. chair. So, what it's my understanding that you didn't get the mail. So we sent it by mail, which you didn't get. And then you didn't open the email address that we sent from the city of Medford.
[Blue Fuji]: Yeah, email is because I'm in vacation. I'm in China. In China, I cannot go and open the Google. So also my email address is bluefujibosney at gmail.com. So I cannot open. I also didn't check. uh didn't China cannot open so that's why I cannot check when I go back to China when I go back to here and I see the email so I open the mailbox but it's already go because that's why and I we call the city hall immediately and ask and request can we give another choice to and have another meeting that's why I say
[Allan Martorana]: Daria, if you don't mind, can you kind of explain the procedure when we do want to see some of the merchants come before the commission? How much leeway do we give them? Do we give them three days? Do we give them two weeks? What's the procedure to notify the merchants that we'd like to speak with them before the commission when they get caught up in a control compliance check?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, this went out July 11th, so July 11th.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, and we were asking for them to appear on the 17th, so that's a week.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, according to chapter 138, I don't know the section, but it's either 14 or 10 days, Commissioner, that we have to notify them, and it can't be, it's got to be within the 14, so it could be a day before, two days before, 10 days before, 14 days before, whatever it's stated in 138. And we kind of try to follow that rule to give everybody ample time, but apparently there's some kind of an issue with your email and maybe going out of the country or something. Do you have a personal email address that you just have here that, you know, if this commission wants to send you something, we can get you immediately?
[Ziye OuYang]: We have two Gmail addresses. They're both owned by my manager here. So I think I briefed both of them at gmail.com.
[Robert Delafano]: You don't have to give it over the air or over the meeting. You can just email it right to Daria from that email, okay? So that way she'll have that email and we have to notify you in the future.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah. In case you're wondering, you know, why we're asking questions about this legally, we could have suspended your license but not appearing before the commission. So we said, well, maybe there's something here that we don't understand, or maybe they didn't get it. Is it just something? So we've always prided ourselves on working with the community, the merchants, giving you the benefit of the doubt. When we see things, we don't immediately jump to the letter of the law, so to speak, because there's always two sides to every story. So that's kind of why we were wondering, you know, why we didn't see you on the 17th. So just keep that in mind that we need to get, we need to lock down how to get in touch with you if this ever occurs again. Because, you know, maybe next time we won't be as understanding. Put it that way.
[Blue Fuji]: Okay. Yeah. next time and we will not be having like this one. Even if I go back to China, I will give my email and give it to another manager. Because this time I didn't give the password when I go back and I didn't give him password. That's why we cannot open. But the next time I will, I will give him before I go back. But normally I will not go back to them. Yeah, sorry for that.
[Allan Martorana]: We, we, we understand. Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Um, well at this time, what I'm going to do is turn this, um, this hearing, uh, for this particular case over to Lieutenant Lockowitz, Medford Police Department. And he can, um, he can address, um, you folks and, and we'll go from there. We'll give you an opportunity to respond to Lieutenant Lockowitz and, um, and, uh, Officer Smith as well. Um, Lieutenant?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Thank you commissioners and everybody else. Good afternoon. This violation occurred on June 20th as part of one of two days in which we conducted citywide compliance checks. Um, being that there's just this one, we did all the other ones prior. Um, I figured I'll, I'll turn it over to officer Smith, um, because the entire report is, is written from him. Uh, if that's okay, I'll just turn it to officer Smith. Sure.
[Patrick Smith]: Hello, everyone. On Thursday, June 20th, myself and Ms. Dhingra, who is the City of Medford's Prevention and Outreach Manager, conducted compliance checks with two 17-year-old juveniles in the City of Medford. At approximately 6.20 p.m., I parked on Ashland Street. I was in an unmarked vehicle with Ms. Dhingra and the two 17-year-olds. The two 17-year-olds were instructed to enter Blue Fuji and attempt to purchase alcohol. They were instructed to purchase Bud Light if possible. They were not trying to deceive anyone. If they were asked their age, they were told to say that they were 17 years old. They had no form of identification on their person before entering. and the two 17-year-olds entered Blue Fuji. Approximately five minutes later, Ms. Dingor received a text from the juveniles and stated that they had been served alcohol, at which time I entered Blue Fuji and observed the two juveniles sitting at a booth in front of them with two Bud Light bottles. which is an alcoholic beverage. I approached the juveniles. I asked them what had transpired. They said that they had ordered Bud Lights and they were not asked for identification. They were not asked how old they were, and they were served the alcohol. I asked them who served them alcohol, and they pointed to the server who was later identified as Ms. Ziyi Ouyang. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly. The gentleman's before the commission today. I did not know that he was the assistant manager. He told me that he was a server and he'd only worked there a couple months. The juveniles then returned to Ms. Dhingra, and I spoke to Mr. Ouyang, and I asked him, you know, I explained that he had served alcohol to two juveniles that was 17 years old. He said that he apologized. He said that he thought they were tough students and that he usually does not card anybody if they look over the age of 30. These were two 17-year-olds that looked nowhere close to 30. I asked for the manager and I learned that the manager was on vacation. I informed Mr. Yang that this would be documented and submitted to this commission. Those are essentially the facts.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Thank you, Officer Smith. Thank you, Officer Smith. Yeah. Ms. Dinger, would you care to comment?
[Catherine Dhingra]: I have no additional comments. That was very accurate as to what happened.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, great. Sir, would you like to say anything in your defense? Would you like to speak about the matter of Blue Fuji?
[Ziye OuYang]: I did it by mistake.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so it was a mistake, it was, okay. Mr. Commissioner Allen, would you like to comment?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, you know, these control compliance checks, we take them very seriously. I guess I'll just flip the cards and say, thank goodness, These two were served, and they were double served and triple served, and then they got in the car and they hit somebody or they were wrapped in the car around a tree. Because ultimately, that's the whole purpose of this. I'm just glad it was a controlled compliance check. As I read through the report, it sounded like they were the only two there. I don't know. Is some business better than no business? I'm not quite sure what Blue Fuji's philosophy is. We are a little disappointed. Actually, to be honest with you, we're disappointed with everybody because in this last round of checks, it seemed like we snagged a lot. So I don't know if it's a function of everybody's getting too lax or everyone's just damn grateful that people are coming in and spending money. I'm not sure what it is. Nevertheless, we thank the city for doing these control compliance checks. At some point, we'll get back to zero rather than whatever the last number was. Mr. Chair and Mr. Delfano, I just, what irks me the most is the phrase about, I thought they were tough students. I'm not quite sure what that means. Does that mean that if you're a tough student, you just get a free ticket to come and drink at Blue Fuji? I'm not quite sure what that sentence means, or maybe I'm reading into it. Can one of the two of you kind of explain what exactly does that mean, we thought they were tough students?
[Ziye OuYang]: Actually, at the time, I saw they were above 21 years old. That's what I mean. Sorry about that, making any confusion.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so you know that if a tough student comes in and they just show you a student ID, it's not okay to serve them, correct? That's not acceptable. You need a driver's license or passport or something of that nature. So as long as we're clear on that from this point forward. Is anyone else on the call that would like to speak on behalf of this? Okay, well, you know, what we feel as though on the first time, it's like my predecessor Alan said, we give everybody one bite of the apple. And you just had your bite of the apple because you didn't show up last month, okay? And the people that did show up, they got a year probation and it was put into their file that if there were any incidences, we'd have to go to the next step. So we're going to go right to the next step today, because you didn't show up the first time. And when you didn't show up the first time, I could have ordered Lieutenant Larkowitz to go right to your establishment, take the license off the wall, and you wouldn't have been able to sell any liquor for these 30 days between the two meetings. And if we didn't have a meeting today, you wouldn't have been able to sell until a scheduled meeting in September. That's how serious this is. Okay. And I just want you to understand that. And so the next step is what we're going to do is we're going to give you a one day suspension, but we're going to hold it in abidance. What that means is if you don't have any issues like this for the next year, you're all set. You don't have to worry. If you do have an issue, then we suspend your license, okay?
[Blue Fuji]: So, excuse me, can I say something? I work for Blue Fuji already for almost 10 years. Most of the time, I do all the job by myself. Because this month, it's in June, I go back to China. So I hire this person, Tesla, for I think one and a half months. And I tell them, and a check ID or something, a check ID must do your service at home. I tell them. And so, but maybe, and he is new. work for this position and have experience is not too many. Also, their day is nearly close, maybe he be busy to closing something. don't check the ID. He told me he thinks he's a top student and more than 21. He thinks about that, so he forgot to check. This is his mistake. I told him he must check, but he didn't do it. Most of the time, I think in the day, you do, right? He stays close to something that we forgot to check it. It's his mistake. But most of the time, I do. I'm not on vacation all the time. I work every day. Okay. I check every time. You can see when I think you not check only one time. I think you check many times. But we didn't make a mistake because I always check ID. Even I look at he is a little older. The one time I check the customer, can I use your ID? He say, I'm older. I'm 37. I say, for me, I see you are younger. That's why I check ID. Really, I promise you, I check every time, even when he looks a little older. When I wonder, I must check the ID immediately. And then I show it, and he will give me the key. But because I hire this person in just a short time, and it's just one and a half months, because I go back to China. Really, really so sorry. I hope you give us a chance.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Well, you know, we've got a solution for that because the other part of this is from this point forward, any employees that you hire are going to be required to be TIP certified. Do you know what TIP certified is?
[Blue Fuji]: Yeah. It's called T-I-P-S. I have it.
[Robert Delafano]: You have that? Yeah. Okay. From this point forward, any waiter, waitress, attender, anybody that works in there that's going to handle alcohol will need to be TIP certified. Now, what we're requiring you to do is when you hire a new employee, they have 30 days to get their certification. And when they do, You take that copy of that certification and you keep it in your file. But your current employees, starting today, are going to need to be TIP certified. And you're going to have 90 days for them to do it, which is three months. And we're going to require you to send those certifications to Daria at the Liquor Commission. to prove that they're all TIP certified. You have three months to do that, okay? From that point on, anybody that comes in that's hired, you have them TIP certified and you keep it in your own file. We don't need a copy. But just your current employees, we're gonna need a copy, okay? So that's all part of this. So you're gonna have the one day suspension held in abidance. you're going to require all of your employees to be TIP certified. And we will verify in 90 days. And we'll verify in 90 days that they are. Does that sound OK to you, Mr. Commissioner? Because it's a little more stringent.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no. I think it's fair because of the severity of the incident. We could be a lot harsher because if you go by the rules that have been written by our predecessors, they're a little more harsh. So I think we're fair in working. We understand this was a one-time because Blue Fuji, I was very surprised to see you all on the list, honestly, because you guys have always been good. But I think we're being fair. So Daria, if you don't mind, I will second the motion that Chairman Delafano has just laid out. So I do second the motion.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. All those in favor, aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. Motion passed. Okay, so you folks, you have any questions? You're all set? Okay, very good. All right. Good luck. Thank you for coming. Thank you for attending.
[Blue Fuji]: Bye-bye.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you. Okay. We are next on the agenda. Cuisine and local at 344 Salem Street. Are you guys still on the call?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, did I see Brian? I thought I saw Brian earlier.
[Robert Delafano]: Is that his dapper picture on the right corner there?
[Allan Martorana]: Oh, yes, yes, yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: Brian, you here? I am. This is muting. Can you hear me now? I can hear you now. Gosh, what is going on here?
[Robert Delafano]: Zoom is not... Hang on one second. Hang on one second, Brian. Lieutenant Lockowitz, I'm sorry. We're all set. If you and Officer Smith would like to leave, you can. If you're not, you're more than welcome to stay on. We've got a few things going on today, as you can see, and trying to keep you in the loop at the same time, but totally up to you, sir. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, General. And same with you, Mr. Griffin, as well. Okay. Thank you. OK, so Brian, you're up next.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: Good afternoon, everybody.
[Robert Delafano]: Good afternoon.
[Allan Martorana]: So I guess, Brian, tell us a little about the event.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: So it's similar to any of the other performance events that we've had here. Basically, it's a local showcase to some music. It's a collaboration that we've done with JJ and Cuisine on Locale. Yeah, beer and wine and then food available for service. Yeah, just featuring some local musicians.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Brian, you always do a good job. We never have any issues with you. Yeah. Daria has your insurance on file and we kind of know the layout there. So this all looks good as usual. I don't have an issue with any of it. I checked it over. Alan, do you?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, I agree. Mr. Chairman, I looked at it too, and you're absolutely right. Brian runs a good shop. You must have a huge bouncer. Is that what it is? Is that the secret? Not yet. You have a big bouncer? Not yet. Just joking. But you're right. We do have the insurance on file, and you could have a great track record. So Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, I'm just going to make a motion to approve the one-day license for event them for Thursday, August 22nd on Salem Street.
[Robert Delafano]: Very good. I will second that motion. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it, motion is passed. You're all set, pal.
[Bryan MacAuslan]: All right, Brian, you're all set. Good luck. Thank you, everyone. Take care now.
[Robert Delafano]: You're welcome. Okay, next item on the agenda. It's Nick, I believe, right? Let me take a look. Nick, yes, you're up next.
[Nick Bolitho]: Sorry, my apologies. I might have made a slight error in my application form. I know Daria sent me a new one. whinging in Alan's ear early about traveling a lot. And I think I said I was a non-profit. So I will click and make sure I didn't do that incorrectly. And I'll send this to Daria. I couldn't do it speedily enough to correct my fat finger clicking the wrong thing. So my apologies for... Yeah, not a problem.
[Robert Delafano]: The other thing I noticed too, Nick, was under the full description, On page 2, you wrote the alcohol will only be served in and it stopped there. I didn't know where you were going with that. Or if you picked that up and maybe corrected it on the new application that you sent the dairy. I don't know.
[Nick Bolitho]: Okay, I better correct that as well.
[Robert Delafano]: No, no, just check it out. Tell us a little bit about what's going on. What kind of event is it?
[Nick Bolitho]: So this is basically in West Medford, in the car park behind Snappy Patty's. It's in collaboration with the Medford Chamber of Commerce and the West Medford Chapter. And basically, it's a celebration. They used to do a thing, I think, a while back for Halloween. And then that ended. And I was chatting with them. They're trying to revitalize some fun in West Bedford. So I got together with the chamber. And basically, it's a food tasting, music, and beer event, which will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sort of very family-friendly. We've got two bands playing, all local people. And then the Chamber is in charge of getting various food vendors who are all from all around the world. I think Paul Revere Cafe is going to be doing some stuff. I'm assuming Simple Fare, Snappy Patty. So again, it's just a very sort of community-ized event. And that's about it.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Do they still have that container out back there? It was like a small container that goes on the back of a tractor trailer that the side was cut out that Nick can make like a little area.
[Nick Bolitho]: Yeah, I think that's probably Snappy Patty says that.
[Robert Delafano]: Oh, is it? Okay. I didn't know that was theirs. I saw it there.
[Nick Bolitho]: Yeah, I think it's their sort of outdoor dining experience. Gotcha.
[Allan Martorana]: I've always liked that spot for events because it's only three points to get in. There's only three ways you can get in and out of that whole area. So it's very easy to control, you know. Two of them you can enter by car and then there's that alley in between. We have Pompeo insurances and I forget the other. But that's a great place. Again, Mr. Chairman, I don't have any questions. Nick is right. They used to do the Halloween one there, and then it kind of stopped. I don't know if If COVID put the kibosh on it, I'm just not sure. But I'm glad that an outdoor event has been resurrected to be held there in the municipal parking lot, right? Because I kept seeing Karpack. I'm like, he's up the heights? Because when I see Karpack, I immediately think North Medford. But let me start my babbling here and let me make a motion to approve the one day license for the event of September 14th in West Medford in the municipal parking lot behind 465 High Street.
[Robert Delafano]: I'll second that motion. If we could just add to it to make sure that we have the updated application as well beforehand. Good point. I'll second the motion. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the motion passes. You're all set, Nick.
[Allan Martorana]: Great, thank you very much, and I'll get that off to you. It's not going to rain that day, so you're going to be good. Excellent, thank you. Good luck with the event.
[Robert Delafano]: Cheers, have a good one. Bye-bye now. OK, next on the agenda, deep cuts. We have Jeff here. I thought I saw Jeff earlier, didn't I?
[Daria Tejera]: I don't know. I was wondering the same thing, but I sent him the Zoom link, so I don't know.
[Robert Delafano]: All right, you know what we can do, Dario? We'll move him down to the end so we don't tie people up.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. Yeah, I'll put him down the back here, and we'll go from there.
[Allan Martorana]: Maybe he'll circle back. Yeah. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. Next on the agenda is D1 Soccer. I see Mr. Georges here. Good afternoon, Mrs. Georges. How are you? Good afternoon.
[Unidentified]: I'm well.
[Robert Delafano]: Good, good. We have a couple of applications for one day licenses. I'm going to let you tell us about the event in a minute, if you don't mind. I'm assuming it's the same as the other ones you brought before the commission. What I just did notice is that I see One day license for the 24th of August and another one for the 25th of August. Are you having two events or just one of the days?
[Paul Georges]: Yeah, so I had to resubmit the application. So it's the 25th that I need, not the 24th.
[Robert Delafano]: So it is the 25th. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's okay. So that's the 1 that just came over to us. That was corrected. Okay.
[Allan Martorana]: So the 2nd, 1 of September 15th, that's the 2nd, 1, right? Exactly. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: OK, you can go ahead and tell us a little bit about what's going on with it and give us a little insight, and we should be good.
[Paul Georges]: Sure. So it's a lot of the same from last time. I think it's the same people that are here. So we're a semi-pro soccer league. We try to create an atmosphere for semi-pro players to play. Well, we bring the fans over and have a little festivity. We like the fans to have an opportunity to enjoy the game, and sometimes a beer and wine helps. We are requesting a DJ because we were told we can't do DJs, and we try to respect the city, the people living in the area. So on certain days, especially like the playoffs, it would be nice to be able to entertain the fans.
[Robert Delafano]: Great. That's awesome. Good for you. And you put the, on the new applications that you were in, in fact, having a entertainment, correct? Yes. So the applications. Yep. Yeah. DJ's music. Okay, great. Mr. Commissioner, you have any questions?
[Allan Martorana]: No, I do not. Um, I've reviewed it. I understand what's going on, what he's asking for. So no, I don't. Other than the bigger question, how are you doing with your Fans, how's all that going? Any incidents, anything? Because I know you're very smart, Mr. Georges. I know you know that you got to do the balance. You got to make everybody happy, including the city. So how are you doing with that?
[Paul Georges]: So that's gone well. So we've, we've seen, we've had more police activity in terms of calling for the police detail that showed up. We've managed to get the fans out in a decent amount of time. I mean, we have open communication with Kevin and the other staff with the city. Whenever there's something that they don't, that happened that they might have some issue with, they contact us right away and we find ways to correct it. We kind of give them, okay, thank you for letting us know. Here's an update of what we're doing. This is what we can do to manage the situation.
[Allan Martorana]: Perfect. Good. We want you to be successful. The city wants you to be successful. We love it that you chose the Metfit venue. Let's just keep evolving and growing. Whatever bugs there are, we'll get through them so we can have a lot of great years going forward. Yes. Um, Mr. Chairman, I don't I don't have any other questions or concerns.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, great. Um, well, if is there anybody else here that would like to speak on behalf of these dis license being issued? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, I'll make a motion to grant two one-day licenses to D1 Soccer for events being held from 5 to 9 p.m. at Hormel Stadium, one on August 25th of 2024 and one on September 15th of 2024.
[Allan Martorana]: Very good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I second that motion to grant both licenses on the August 25th and September 15th.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, all those in favor. Aye. Aye. All those opposed. Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. Mr. George is both your license granted.
[Paul Georges]: Thank you. Good luck. I have one more question. So we were approved on the, for the 31st. Is it possible to change the dates around or is that in stone?
[Robert Delafano]: It's up to the secretary, Terry. I don't think there's a problem with that, right? The one on the 31st. Because I know you're trying to do this like in playoffs or something, right?
[Paul Georges]: Yeah, yeah. We're juggling a couple of things around. So we're looking to move the 31st into September 8th to do more like a fan appreciation type of day and not do the DJs instead of the live band, which would be less noise. Okay.
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Chairman, let me make a motion. I motion that we extend the license for August and move it to September 8th for an appreciation day.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Thank you. I'll second that motion. All those in favor, aye. All those opposed. Hearing and seeing none. The ayes have it. Motion passed. You're all set.
[Paul Georges]: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
[Robert Delafano]: All right, cool. Before you go away, Daria, is that OK? You got it all, Daria? Oh, yeah, that's fine. It's up to you guys, not up to me. No, no, Alan had to take the lead on that one, because that was a new one for me. Thank you, Mr. Georges. Good luck with your events. Thank you. Have a good day. OK, bye-bye. I'm kind of thinking possibly just go a little out of order if Cordova is here. It's just a license surrender. That would be real quick, and we won't have to tie them up. Is there any representatives from Cordova?
[Daria Tejera]: No, we told them, Bobby, we just told them that, yeah, they need to appear. Yeah, no.
[Robert Delafano]: Because we received the license. We don't have to do anything.
[Daria Tejera]: We have to do a surrender.
[Allan Martorana]: I would have asked why, you know.
[Daria Tejera]: I had the email, but pretty much they just had to surrender. We were going to time record it, and then once it gets approved by you guys, I just send it us to the state that it was surrendered. That's all.
[Robert Delafano]: So we should make a motion to approve the surrender?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[Allan Martorana]: I'll make a motion. I motion to accept the surrender of the Q Dahlberg liquor license that we have in our possession.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, I'll second that motion all those in favor I. Liquor and entertainment sorry guys entertainment, yes, just modify. All those in favor I yeah. All those opposed Aaron and saying none guys have it and the motion passes Okay, so we got that now we can go on to. Brian. I believe, at Great American Bale Hall.
[Zac Bears]: Hey, Alan. Hey. How are you? Bob, how are you? Nice. Good. Good. Good. Driven by recently, but- Oh, yes.
[Allan Martorana]: I go by real slow and look and look and go. I'm even tempted to put my hot helmet on and go wander around and see how far I can get.
[Zac Bears]: We could use the help.
[Robert Delafano]: Uh, yeah, I wanted to tell us a little about what's going on and what's been happening in a perfect world.
[Zac Bears]: We would be open by now. Uh, but I, I am going to ask Kyle on the call. He's part of our team to give an update. He's got a background in construction and can do a better job than I can. So. I just give an update. Sure. My name is Kyle Harnish. I'm part of the ownership team of the Great American Beer Hall, and I'm a builder developer by trade, so I have a little bit of experience in this. We've experienced some slight delays here towards the end, and basically we have met with our general contractor and have outlined the following dates for our final inspections and getting our CO. Our biggest concern here is we are just within a few days of receiving our CO, but don't want to have to wait another month to come before you guys if there's some way to work something out. I wanted to lay out those timelines for you more specifically. It starts with tomorrow. Tomorrow will be our final plumbing inspection. On Friday, we will have our final electrical inspection. On Monday, we will have our final building inspection. And on Tuesday, we will have our life safety inspection. And we expect the issuance of the full certificate of occupancy by Tuesday afternoon. And we should be able to pick it up Wednesday morning. That is, we're having preliminary tests over the next few days in preparation for those final tests to make sure that we do pass. And that includes having the fire department out as early as tomorrow just to do an initial run test. So all that being said, I understand that you guys meet, you know, once a month. So, you know, assuming that we fulfill all these conditions over the next few days and get all our final sign-offs, we are asking upon final occupancy certificate being issued next Wednesday, a full liquor license so that we can operate for the Labor Day weekend.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Let me ask you a couple of questions. The We gave you a list of things, occupancy permit number one. And what I understand that you're saying is you're going to be doing a full occupancy, not a partial, correct? That is correct. Okay. And with that occupancy, you're going to have the fire safety. You said they're coming out tomorrow. You're going to get, you do have your liability insurance for your insurance company.
[Zac Bears]: I said that to Daria.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, and the common vigil is licensed. Did you obtain that from the city clerk?
[Zac Bears]: Not yet.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, that needs to be done before you can.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: before you can serve any alcohol because in the city of Medford, you can't serve alcohol unless there's food. And you can't have food without your common vigilance. That's right.
[Allan Martorana]: That's a no-brainer. Full license, you've got to serve food. So just kind of remember it that way.
[Robert Delafano]: And what goes with the common vigilance is the Board of Health approval.
[Zac Bears]: Yeah, that's the last thing. The last thing we're waiting for, uh, so we actually got the gas turned on today. So the hot water test, um, is all happening. And then, uh, the disease coming out tomorrow from the board of health.
[Robert Delafano]: So, okay, great. Um, I mean, as long as you have those, um, items in hand, And Mr. Commissioner, you can comment as well on this. But as long as you have those in hand, you can start serving at that point. All right? You have your license. And what we were concerned about is that you were only able to serve in Just certain areas of your building, because you were initially looking for partial occupancy. And if that was the case, it was still okay just to serve in those areas. Yeah, and just in those areas expanded, then it goes out, but. If this is it and everything's squared away and say, oh, geez, I don't know, the fire department couldn't get here, there's something wrong with the sprinkler system, we're gonna be delayed another, don't worry about it. when you get all of these documents to Daria, our secretary, that's the minute you can start serving.
[Allan Martorana]: And Mr. Chairman, it was always, Brian, you remember, John, we always said we'll keep moving forward, but we'll approve this. But it's always conditioned upon the city signing off on everything. So we liked what you were doing. We knew the state liked what you were doing. So the chairman is right. Once you got all the check marks, the green check marks.
[Robert Delafano]: Let's go. Yes. Well, the only thing I ask, if you don't mind, which I'm sure you won't, is that. Obviously, by our next meeting, which September 19th or something, just please appear before the commission again. Absolutely. We can finalize everything that you, in fact, did have all of this stuff done and we can put the rubber stamp on it, make it efficient.
[Allan Martorana]: September 18th would be the next. Meeting that's when we I'll be there.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, yeah, and I'm not you guys are kind of new to the game and method. But with us on the commission, we meet once a month. Yeah, and it's kind of like, you know, we, we try to be as accommodating as possible that we can give you a few days like we just did, or if something needs to be corrected, as you've seen in the past couple of licenses pending the corrections that the licenses are granted, we don't like. Alan said, we don't want to harm anybody or tie anybody up, but we just want you to know that no matter what the emergency is, from this point forward, we meet the third Wednesday every month at one o'clock. There's no, hey, Bobby, hey, Alan, I need a meeting tomorrow. I need to have the time. None of that.
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Chairman, it's a good point. Just so we all are on the same page, We've learned from past experience that everyone kind of shuts their brains off in July and August. Everyone's taking vacations. Everybody, all through City Hall, architects, lawyers, everyone wants to enjoy the summer. So we kind of adopted ages ago to be off on July and August, because it was very difficult to get anything done because everyone was either North or South. But Chairman Delafano said, let's have a meeting in August. Let's see if we can tie up some loose ends so we go into the September meeting fast. Thank you for this.
[Robert Delafano]: No, not a problem. Is there anyone else on the call that would like to speak in favor or against this particular license? I see the building commissioner and Green Lifetime and Lins S23 Ultra. I don't see anybody that wants to speak. I'm good with all of it. Alan, do you want to make a motion?
[Allan Martorana]: Or would you like me to make a motion? I make a motion that we allow GAB to go forward, providing they meet the city checkmarks and they meet all the compliance rules. Awesome. Perfect.
[Robert Delafano]: Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: I second that motion. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? And seeing none, the ayes have it, motion is passed. Best of luck with your new business, guys. Thank you.
[Allan Martorana]: Good luck. Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, what do we got next? I think it's just... What do we have left? Just deep cuts, right? No, it's the gym application too. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes, Jim. Do we have somebody from the gym present? There you go. Sorry about that. Please state your name and the gym's name for the record.
[Kiana Green]: I'm Kiana Green. I am the studio leader for Lifetime Medford at Station Landing. We also have Lynn here from Lifetime, the North Shore location.
[Robert Delafano]: Hi, how you doing? Tell us a little bit about what's going on, why you're coming before us today and what the plan is.
[Kiana Green]: So tomorrow we plan on doing a social event. It's going to be a class event for the members. It's a members only club. And then after that, we're going to have a social down in our lobby. We'll have a DJ. We'll have photo booth. We'll have some food like charcuterie board, avocado toast. And we also wanted to have beer and wine options as well.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. And this is a new gym that's coming into the city in that area?
[Kiana Green]: We've been here for two years now. OK.
[Robert Delafano]: Where were you exactly? You were where Boston Sports was?
[Kiana Green]: Yes. We're in the same building as Boston Sports Club.
[Robert Delafano]: I got you. OK.
[Allan Martorana]: Where were you two years ago to kick something like that off? Yeah.
[Darren]: We are now ready to go and get kicked. And I said, we need to reach out to Medford. We need to talk to all these people. Let's get it going. I just got into this position. My name is Darren. I am the assistant to Kiana when it comes to the classes in the club.
[Robert Delafano]: OK, great. Great. And now this particular event, it's a closed to the public open invitation only to your members, correct?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. And there's no charge for the alcohol? Or is there a charge for the alcohol? It doesn't make a difference.
[Kiana Green]: Yeah, we were thinking about just doing some drink tickets. We haven't fleshed that one out if we were going to charge or do drink tickets. We're more on the side of handing out drink tickets, maybe two drink tickets. They can get a glass of wine and a glass of beer and call it a day. But we haven't fleshed out if it was going to be for sale or not.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so that is the reason why you needed to apply for the one-day license. Yes. You know, if it was just a private, closed event by invitation only, that you're gonna serve a little food and alcoholic beverages in your own facility, there'd be no need for the one-day, but when it involves possibly selling tickets or whatever, this is the best way for you to go. And just do yourself a favor, Check with your insurance company to make sure you have liability insurance. God forbid one of your patrons leaves there and has an accident. kill somebody, whatever, God forbid, like I said. But you may want to just cover your own butts that way. And it's super cheap. You can get it for one day if they want to put a rider on it. And you can call them today and say, how much is it? Just put it on for tomorrow. That's 100% your decision. But it would be a wise thing to do.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, be safe and sorry. And your bartender, of course, will be TIP certified, or they'll be certified one way or another? Okay.
[Lynn]: I'm Lynn, I'm the North Shore leader, and we have 206, well, we have 70 clubs within the US that are certified to serve full liquor, beer, and wine license. Here at North Shore, we have a full license through Massachusetts under my name, so I'm the one who's gonna be serving. I'm TIP certified.
[Robert Delafano]: Cool, very good, very good. Awesome. Okay. Do we, did we get a sketch? Yes, we did. We got the sketch. Yep. And I can see where the alcohol is going to be served. And yeah, it's food table there. Everything looks good. Sounds like you folks have done this once or twice. So I'm sure.
[Allan Martorana]: Is that written on a napkin? Is that drawn on a napkin?
[Kiana Green]: I worked really hard on that one.
[Darren]: I told her I was not doing it, so she had to.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no. It's perfectly fine. It doesn't have to be from an architect or an engineer. Just give us a lay of the land, so to speak. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: We got them on pizza boxes before, too. Yeah. That was a classic.
[Allan Martorana]: That was great. You know what? I don't have any other questions, Mr. Chairman. Do you? No, not at all. Let me make a motion to accept a one-day license to be held August 22nd at 70 Station Landing.
[Robert Delafano]: I will second that motion. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none. Ayes have it. You guys are good to go. Good luck. Very good.
[Kiana Green]: Thank you.
[Robert Delafano]: Good luck. Thank you, Donald. Ciao. Bye-bye. Okay, so I guess the only one left is deep cuts, right? We haven't heard from him, Dara. No, I haven't. I called them too. I'm not sure. Can I ask you a question? I just noticed the address. It's 21 Main Street. That's not deep cuts premise, right?
[Daria Tejera]: No. What do you mean? That is their address. With an 810 Main? No, 21 Main Street. Yeah, because they can't have this on the 12th.
[Allan Martorana]: It's not day 12.
[Daria Tejera]: Uh, what do you mean, Bobby?
[Robert Delafano]: You mean what they put was event where event is taking place on page 221 Main Street.
[Daria Tejera]: Oh, I don't think that's correct. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: I get what you mean. 21 Main Street is their establishment. They cannot get a 1 day license.
[Daria Tejera]: No, I don't think that's correct because this is a city event from PDS, from what I understand.
[Robert Delafano]: It's a city event? Okay.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, it's Harvester Energy Fasting Lot. In the parking lot? Yeah. Let me just see.
[Robert Delafano]: Maybe in the bank parking lot there or something. I thought that would be a Riverside address.
[Allan Martorana]: Nevertheless, we should get to the bottom of the correct address.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, they're gonna do it at the, hold on, they're gonna do it at the McGlynn Middle School. So it's definitely not gonna be at that address, yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Not even close.
[Daria Tejera]: No, no. But I think he made a mistake on something else too, and he was like, oh, sorry. Yeah, it says it right here food vendors deep cuts will be holding pop up beer garden and selling sandwiches, hot dogs and more.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, and that's going to be 1019 when the next thing the next meeting is 918.
[Daria Tejera]: Oh, that's right. Yeah, I wonder why.
[Robert Delafano]: Let me just pull up my calendar.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, you know, I'm thinking we We pass on this and revisit it in September at the September meeting.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I would say we table it till then and you can have them correct all the mistakes on this as well as. Get us a diagram of the event and because we're going to have it at the school. It kind of like, and we've got to see the lay of the land and and stuff and I'm sure there's not going to be an issue. It's just that. You know, they can come the day before, but then again, you may need it for. You may need it for purchasing the alcohol.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. But Jeff knows. I mean, he's come before us before for these one-day license requests. So he knows the drill. Yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: Plus, he will have about a month. Because if we approve it in September, the event is not until October. That's right. Oh, it's October? Yeah. Yeah, October. That's what I thought, too. It threw me off a little bit because I thought the same thing. I'm like, wait. Yeah, no, we're good. So they got time, yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: So I would make a, I agree, let's make a motion to table this to the September 18th meeting. Right. And Dary, if you don't mind, just reach out to him and have him make changes or the tweaks.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, and include the sketch, and we should be good. Yeah. And I don't know with his insurance, he'd probably have to get a rider from his insurance company for one day, unless his- Yeah, for one day, yeah. Yeah. Other than that.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah. Yeah. A design, right? And insurance. Yeah. Okay.
[Daria Tejera]: Sounds about it.
[Robert Delafano]: You made the motion. I'll second it out. Okay. All those in favor. So we'll revisit this. Yeah. Hearing and seeing none. Motion passes. Hey, I think. We pretty much wrapped it up. I made a couple of notes. Gary, it was a nice job on the one day license that you put up on the site. It's going to be so much easier for people to go online and just streamline everything, which is great. We were going to discuss tip certs. From other violators and stuff, but I don't know why I wrote that note, but it was maybe in the future. We can set up a some sort of a. rule, if we're going to require people to be TIP certified in all the establishments, or maybe just people that are violating. I'm not sure. Maybe we can have Ralph touch on that at the meeting on the 25th, I think it is. Yeah, at the compliance meeting, just to throw it out there and then kind of get people aware of it. And speaking of the compliance meeting, I'm going to probably go through some of last year's stuff. Maybe we can use a lot of it and just kind of edit the dates. And you and I can set something up, Daria, that maybe, you know, it's going to be like within another 30 days. So we'll get a letter out within a week or two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A week, yeah. And that way the Board of Health can get their letter out at the same time. No, I think they already did, because we didn't give them the date.
[Daria Tejera]: I think they did, yeah. I think we just had local for future.
[Robert Delafano]: And I think that it worked out really well. You saw as soon as we put in mandatory in red, they just skyrocketed for attendance. So I think to follow Ralph's cue on that was a good idea. And we got a great response. And what I'm trying to think of is see if we can do something that's gonna be easier for all of us when they come in. I mean, maybe they'll notice we can have them print it, sign it and hand it to us when they come in. And now we know who's there. Instead of me trying to read this micro little sheet there, checking them off and you know, blah, blah, blah. I mean, you just collect the sheets as they come in and then we tie them up later. We know who's there. You know, we might even be able to get a little, maybe I don't want to say vital information, but just say current manager on file. I think that's on the annual license renewal anyways, the form. But just so that we don't have any issues. You can't do that because you're not the person that's the license manager that's on file, that type of thing. It gets kicked back from the ABCC like it did at the Firefighters Club. So, um, you know, you may want to, uh, we may want to look into that, but I think that's about it. I mean, uh, um, unless you guys got anything else.
[Allan Martorana]: Um, one thing, Mr. Chairman, um, July 17th is when we had the hearings for the, um, The, the people, the merchants that fail to control compliance checks, right? Yes, October 17th is 90 days. So, okay, do we circle back to them? This is commercial circle back to them, or are you going to circle back to them? How do we. How do we address those seven? Was it seven or eight? I forgot.
[Robert Delafano]: It was six. Yeah, one of them came back, deep cuts. I was going to tell him, nice job. Yeah, he did it real quick, yeah. He got them all done. Did we get any response from the others? I don't know.
[Daria Tejera]: No, I just have deep cuts. I just put it actually in file yesterday because I was trying to plan out how to do it because it was due to violations. I'm thinking that I can send a reminder. I actually wanted to do a letter to begin with and I have it drafted saying this is what's going to happen, that there's going to be a new file, please send it to us within 90 days from this date. whatever this is like your first notice and then I can do in a couple of weeks second notice. Hopefully they've realized that we're not going to let it go. So they will stay on top of it. Right.
[Allan Martorana]: That's kind of what I was saying. October 17th will be 90 days. If you just go 17, 17, 17.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if it, you know, if we don't get much of a response, um, I don't know. Did you want to throw in something like we did to blue Fuji today? that we're going to hold a one-day suspension for you in abidance if you don't comply with the 90-day rule of the TIP certifications.
[Allan Martorana]: It's not a bad idea to add some teeth to it so they know we're serious and they understand the seriousness of what happens. Yeah. I guess we can discuss that.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. I mean, it's nothing that's going to harm them unless they don't do it. Unless they don't do it. Right. And, you know, to be honest with you, it's the honor system. I don't know how many people Al-Ahmad Iran has got working in his business that are serving alcohol. So if they send us six, that's how many? Six. And if they send us 19, there's 19.
[Allan Martorana]: It's kind of like... But they should live up to what we did, you know, what we asked of them.
[Robert Delafano]: So and we're hoping that they're honest enough to do that. And, you know, I mean, we're not going to police them and go in and look at their books and how many.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no, no, no. That's not.
[Robert Delafano]: No. You know, let's let's just let's be up front and hopefully they do the right thing. And right. And just kind of fire a shot across the bow, just in case they don't do the right thing, they're not going to say, hey, you know, it's just kind of. Whatever. Okay. Nothing else? No. I think that's it. Alan, you've been doing some traveling, I hope?
[Allan Martorana]: No. No, just back and forth. That's all. Just back and forth.
[Robert Delafano]: That's because the weather's too nice here. You got to wait until the cooler weather. Go to visit the little place in Florida there. Nice. Good for you. All right. All right, folks. All right, I motion to adjourn. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm supposed to do that. Yep. I second. All in favor. All right. Let me follow up.
[Allan Martorana]: Good to see everybody. Good to see you guys.
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