[Robert Delafano]: This is the public meeting of the City of Medford Liquor License Commission for 12-18-24. It'll come to order and we have an agenda to follow. Daria, I didn't see any minutes. I didn't expect them because you've been slammed between the renewals and all the other year-end paperwork. I think we can push that off till next month. Mr. Commissioner Allen, You wanted to do that approval?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, let's take the first item on the agenda. I looked at it. It's the liquor license and the entertainment license. So I motion to approve the surrender of Chili Gardens liquor license and entertainment license, which was at 41 Riverside Avenue, Medford.
[Robert Delafano]: All righty.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I didn't see anything. I mean, was it just that they're just closing their doors? Is that what we sort of know?
[Daria Tejera]: From what I understand, yeah, somebody's taking over, but she didn't want to do a transfer from what I understood. Because I asked her a couple of times, are you doing a transfer? She said, no, we're closing our doors at the end of the month. And that was pretty much it. So somebody is going to be taking over, but I'm not sure on the details or any of that.
[Allan Martorana]: I was trying to go back and see when we issued that. Was that a year ago or 18 months ago? Do you remember when we issued that?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Something like that. Something like that, when it got taken over by a new, when it got bought. Yeah. Yes. But I guess there's no reason to not approve the surrender of that license. So I would just encourage whoever the new person is to to reapply as soon as possible. Yeah. Sounds fine. I second that.
[Robert Delafano]: All righty. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Seeing and hearing none. The ayes have it. Motion passed. It's good that in a way that they surrendered it so we don't run into the same problem that we did with the porch. No license on that address, so now there's no problem.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, they came to me and she did whatever I told her to do, so she was very good about it.
[Robert Delafano]: Good advice Daria, very good advice. Okay, all right, so why don't we get right over to Snappy Patty's. We have a representative, Adam, from Snappy Patty's and we, let's see, let me just get my stuff up here and all that. Okay, we're going for a application of additional forms of entertainment on their entertainment license. Adam, can you basically just give us a rundown of what we're trying to do here?
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure. So ultimately, some of our patrons have asked us to do like a trivia night. We might do one every two weeks. I'm not sure how that would play out here. From time to time, we have private parties, people want to have their uncle sing or do karaoke or something like that. Whatever, I'm just jumping through the hoop. I'm not interested in having a rock and roll band till 1am or any of that. a hoopla, we're a small family restaurant in the neighborhood. At best, maybe we would have a classical or some sort of folk night, or maybe a year-end poetry reading with the high school. I'm not sure, but this is not for a rock and roll license. It's for entertainment to go within the town. And again, what our space could possibly host would be trivia night. At best, maybe a comedian. or a small acoustical one-person ensemble. But that's it. And this is guest-driven. This is not anything that we're looking to mastermind.
[Robert Delafano]: Great. OK. Darrier had sent us over a copy of the application and I don't see really any issues with it. I know that the building department and the Board of Health hadn't signed off on it, but where you had, um by devices only before that was initially inspected by at least the building department so um if signatures are on the way that's fine um you also had a inspection from the building department for your section 12 license um before it was renewed so we know that um You know, your premise is okay, or especially by devices. So I'm not worried about those 2 signatures. I will get input from my fellow commissioners. The only thing I didn't say, and what we'd like you to do is just send us. A handwritten sketch, we don't want anything from an architect or anything, of just where the entertainment will be in your restaurant. A sketch of the floor plan, you know, this is the dining area, this is the bar area, and the entertainment is going to be here. That's all we need to know or see.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I will, I'll be happy to resubmit that.
[Robert Delafano]: If you can do that. I'm sure that if my both my fellow commissioners agree, we can pass it with a contingent upon Daria receiving that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I'll get it for sometime as soon as I possibly can.
[Robert Delafano]: Alrighty, Alan and Ben, you have any input on on this particular entertainment license? Alan, you've got more experience with this. It's it's, I know, that one of the licenses needed to be inspected by the building department if there was entertainment. And since they already were when they originally got their entertainment and they were just inspected by fire and building, it's kind of a moot point.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, Bobby, your logic is sound, absolutely sound. We know Adam, we know the establishment. I'm fine with it too. I mean, just as long as we get those, what the, uh, building department and board of health, I think those were the last two signatures. So I don't, I don't have a problem making a conditioned upon, uh, those two signatures and police needed.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, exactly. Police and fire were already signed off on it, which is the important thing. Um, and, um, yeah, no, it's a Ben. How about yourself? I think we might have lost Ben. Okay, well, you and I are in agreement.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah. I'll conditionally make a motion to approve the entertainment license for Snappy Patties in West Medford, of course, subject to those two final signatures if necessary. in the sketches, what I was looking for. In the sketches. I think Adam provided one before, but it wouldn't hurt to, since he's kind of broadening the establishment, it wouldn't hurt to get an updated version. Yeah, just to make sure. OK with you, Adam?
[SPEAKER_01]: Happy to get a sketch, and I have no worries.
[Robert Delafano]: All right, cool. All right. As long as we can see it's not in front of a fire exit or something like that. Yeah. Um, okay. Um, so you made the motion now and I'll second it.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: I, I, I was opposed here. And hey, we got a new member hearing. You guys have it. Um, motions passed Adam. As soon as we received that, you're good to go, buddy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. Have a good day. All right. You too. That's the block.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. All right. Done with that. Uh, Have we seen Mr. Arraso? Not yet. See him? No. Okay. Lieutenant Lockowitz, Officer Smith, do you think we should move forward with this or do we want to wait a little longer for Mr. Arraso and we'll go on to... Masuba, I've got a couple of things that I'm going to be discussing with Masuba, so I didn't know what your time frame was for you fellas.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I'm happy to discuss the incident that I wrote about for Razzos.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I don't, obviously Mr. Razzo has every right to weigh in, but I Given what I wrote in my conclusions, I don't believe it would be crucial whether or not he's here.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Well, we are received it as well. You sent it to Darrier. I had a chance to review it. I'm sure my fellow commissioners also reviewed it in detail. So we, the three of us know what's in the report. So you can, you know, whatever you're going to explain about it, we should understand it because we've already reviewed it as well.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I can give a brief overview of it. Sure. The night before Thanksgiving on November 27th, Rosso's Bar and Grill operates a Thanksgiving Eve gathering that's usually a little bit larger than their normal bar crowd. This year, like years in the past, they hired a police detail, a uniformed officer. Around 9.40 p.m., a person from the city of Woburn entered the premise, walked around the establishment for about 20 minutes. Video evidence that I was able to obtain confirmed that he had never purchased or consumed any alcohol on the premise. And about 20, 25 minutes after he entered the premise, he grabbed two women patrons of the establishment. The women reported it to the officer that was on duty. The person was removed from the establishment and subsequently arrested a little while later. My findings of the incident were that Razzos was properly staffed, that they did have that uniformed officer on duty as a paid detail. And the fact that this seemingly random person who came in by themselves never consumed any alcohol on the premise, I came to the conclusion that Mr. Arrazzo and his establishment While an illegality did take place on the premise, I believe that they took the reasonable steps to prevent as well as interfere and end the situation that was presented before them. I can go on and on if you'd like me to. But that's pretty much all I have.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I kind of think that you put the nuts and bolts of it in there. You know, I'd like to get the opinion from the fellow commissioners, how they felt about, you know, after reading the report, if there were any chapter 138 violations in their opinion. And then, you know, I can make a final comment at that point, you know, Alan. I think we lost Ben.
[Allan Martorana]: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Lieutenant Lockowitz. I did read your report, very thorough. I thank you. You've covered all the details as far as I'm concerned. To me, it looks like Rosso's did everything right. There wasn't anything in there that I thought might have been an infraction or they did something wrong. I applaud him for doing his job, for all you guys doing your job, and the fact that he did have a uniform detail on premises, which was smart because, you know, around the holidays, you have quite a few people coming in. And I just found it odd that out of the blue, someone from Woburn would just kind of walk around, almost like they were looking for somebody or looking for a girlfriend. I'm speculating. I don't know. just really damn odd. That's all. That's about all I could come up with on that. But no, Mr. Chairman, I'm I'm fine with it. We just you know, in my my thinking is we put it in the file and and we just write good job and leave it be. So, Ben, what were your thoughts? And if we lose Ben again, he might be having Wi-Fi issues.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I don't see Ben, but I can I can throw my thoughts out there and yeah. The basically, yeah, I mean, since we were both in agreement that there were no violations as far as Chapter 138 goes, this is strictly a police matter. And, you know, it's what Lieutenant Lockowitz had mentioned is, you know, he could go on and on and on. What he didn't state that I got out of that report that I thought was, you know, it was very good was that this person was told by the uniformed officer and Mr. Razo to to take an Uber when he left and he didn't heed that warning. So that's where the detail officer was able to radio ahead, and they were able to get this individual before he possibly killed somebody on the road driving himself. And you know, Tabu, he, I believe, Lieutenant Lockwood, he had a firearm on him as well. So, I mean, that was good police work. And, you know, Mr. Razzo, he was being vigilant, providing additional staff, as well as hiring the uniformed police officer on historically one of the busiest nights of the year. And, you know, and it shows this commission that he not only cares about his business, but the safety of his patrons and the public. And, you know, he should just be looked at for that, which It'd be great if everybody could do that. But Ben, I just commented, Alan just commented, if you have any input on the police report when you received it, it looks like you're having a little bit of issues with your Wi-Fi or whatever, but we both feel pretty comfortable with this. Can you hear us?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I can. Sorry, I'm having some internet issues, as you might be able to see. I did hear about the comments about Rassos, and I didn't have any concerns with how they handled it well. Everybody limited the possibility that that could have been worse.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, so Alan suggested for Daria just to put it in their file, and we'll be good to go with that. And just thank God nothing happened and everything was good.
[Robert Delafano]: All righty.
[Allan Martorana]: Good. Okay. We're all set with that?
[Robert Delafano]: All righty. Okay, let's move on. Lieutenant Lockowitz, thank you very much. Officer Smith, thank you very much. You guys are welcome. You're welcome to stay. Officer Smith, do you have anything you'd like to comment on? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to omit you here, but if you guys are leaving, both of you have a very merry Christmas and happy holidays, and hopefully we'll see you sometime after the new year.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Excellent. Thank you. Happy holidays.
[Robert Delafano]: All right, guys. Thank you.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, guys. Merry Christmas.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, moving on. Next item on the agenda is Mitsuba. We have, I see possibly two representatives from Mitsuba?
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, and you are, name and address for the record, please.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yes, my name is Mei-Hui Hu. I'm with the Hu Law Office, PC 251 Harvard Street, Street 3, Brookline Mass, 02446. Okay. And we have Ms.
[Robert Delafano]: Chen, correct? Yes. Okay, Miss Jen, and you are currently a 40% or we're currently a 40% owner of Masuba. All righty. Um, um, Would you be able to tell us why you're here and exactly what's before us? I know that there's a couple of things, multiple amendments to the changes. I just got to get up my. file on this?
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yes I'd be happy to go over what we are seeking to amend. Currently they are for shareholders As the Commissioner pointed out, prior to these two amendments, Ms. Chain was the 40% shareholder. And there are two shareholders, each holding 20%, so together 40%. of the shareholder are selling their shares to Ms. Chen. So after this amendment, Ms. Chen will hold 80% together with a remaining shareholder with the 20%. So there are no shareholder added, just that the existing two shareholders are moving on to other ventures. with no change to the operation, no change to the manager.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. I did notice that there were no changes to the manager and I believe it's Ms., hang on one second, Ms., did we say Lee? L-E-I is Lee? Um, she's still going to be the, uh, let's say hang on. Secretary director director and secretary. Correct. Yeah. Okay. Um, okay. I. have a couple of questions on it. Alan, Ben, do you guys, would you like me to state what I found or is there something you guys?
[Allan Martorana]: I went through it too. I had some questions, but I don't want to repeat your question. So why don't you lead it off and if there's something in there that you didn't cover, I can cover over or come back to it. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: All right. That sounds good. Let's see. Put this over here. All right. Okay, one of the questions I had was on page one of the actual forms. I'll tell you what page it is on the email. Let's see. It's page one, but it is page five on the email, on the electronic file that we received. It's under block number one, business entity information. It says transfer 20% of the ownership. That should be, in my opinion, 40% of the ownership because we're getting 20% from two people.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Absolutely, that's a typo, it's supposed to be 40%.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, if you could correct that, that would be one of the items that I looked into. The vote of the entity, I was looking at, there might have been two boxes that should have been checked, but there's no need to check change of offices or directors, because they're going to stay the same. The other two folks were just assistant secretaries, I believe. The third thing I found was there's no, hold on a second. There's no business structure documents from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Articles of Organization. It's supposed to have the new officers on there, and that's something that you get, I guess, from the Secretary of the Commonwealth. That is missing, and that will have to be sent to DARIA.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: So I will make sure that one copy is downloaded and submitted to the licensing board to complete. And also make that one correction on the percentage, supposed to be 40% that we are seeking amendment on.
[Robert Delafano]: That's correct. But the, you know, the, that other document, the Articles of Organization, that's going to have to be to Daria within, I would say, seven days. We can pass this on a contingent basis if you're able to take care of these issues within seven days. If not, it's gonna have to go till next month because that's important.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yes, definitely take care of that within seven days.
[Robert Delafano]: It'll never get by the ABCC, that's why. The last question I believe I had was, the numbers don't add up for me as far as the financing goes. Let's see where I am with that. On page 8 of the PDF, which is page 4 of the application, source of cash contribution. It says Ms. Chen, $90,000. And seller financing was 27,000 from, I believe it's Ms. Z, excite me. And then there's a show Kong Lee for 70,000. Right. Is Shokun Lee a private personal loan? Is that what that is? That was one of my questions.
[Allan Martorana]: In a relationship, that was gonna be one of my questions. Okay.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: That's Ms. Chen's husband.
[Allan Martorana]: Ah, okay.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Is a personal loan and Shokun, Xiaochen Lei, Xiaochen, Xiaochen Lei has no shareholder interest in Mazuba.
[Allan Martorana]: I did review the promissory note and there was no language in there. I was just wondering what that personal loan was secured upon because there's no pledge of stock or anything like that. Yeah, so if I can just jump in a bit, if I can see what's happening is the 70,000 person alone. So I see that it's due on it before 12, 31, 28. But there's another promissory note that's due for 27,000. That's due the end of January of next year. Am I reading that right? It says 1-31-25. Correct. So that's due in 40-something days?
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Allan Martorana]: OK.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: And none of these lenders are seeking pledge. I think the words on this chain is good as gold.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. So the numbers still, to me, don't add up. I mean the 90,000, whether you're looking at 70,000, is coming from Shoukang Li. And Shoukang Li has to show either three months bank statements or a note from his bank stating that that money is in the account.
[Allan Martorana]: Well, I think what you're driving is it looks like we're about $20,000 short. Yes. Right. Because of the 47, 27 of it is a promissory note. So there's 20 missing there.
[Robert Delafano]: Right. And where I was going after the loan from Shokun Lee is that Ms. Chen is going to, if that missing $20,000 is in her account, she has to show three months of that money being in her account. We have to account for the whole 90,000, which we're not doing because we don't have any documents here for that.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah. That's absolutely right. Ms. Chain is using 20,000 of her personal fund to purchase. And with the rest of the money is financing through the seller or financing through her husband.
[Allan Martorana]: Correct. Makes sense. So add that to the shopping list articles and three month bank statements showing the 20,000 is liquid and where it's coming from.
[Robert Delafano]: And also either the three months bank statement from Shokong Lee or a note from his bank on their letterhead stating that that money is in his account.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yep. That he has 7,000. Yep.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Just one question. So the 20%, that was supposed to be 40%, but the 90%, 90,000 is supposed to be 90,000, is that right? Right, because the 10 is 43,000 and Z is 47,000. That's where the 90 is coming from. Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: Well, yeah, I was just asking them just because it's not supposed to be 180,000, okay.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, I think it's not presented accurately. I think in the course of cash contribution, we should have written down shell chain, miss chain, put down 20,000 cash. And then you can add the financing of 27 and a 70. The number would add up.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, math, you can arrive at the answer in 100 different ways and still get to the right answer. But for clarity, yeah, I think, attorney, counsel, I think you're right, just for clarity. Right.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: So we'll make that correction, just make it easier to read.
[Robert Delafano]: Correct. OK.
[Allan Martorana]: Mr. Chairman, I have no other questions or so. I'm good. Councilor understands our concerns and she'll make the corrections and the updates.
[Robert Delafano]: Same here. Like I said, we can conditionally approve this. And it will have to be corrected within seven days. If it's diarrhea doesn't have it within seven days, it will automatically be disapproved and it'll go with no action. And she'll have to wait until next month's meeting to do the whole thing over again.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, we'll do our best, but should be easy to supplement the answers, the documentation to answer your questions.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, you may want to take a little closer look at that page for where it's a source of cash contribution, because I just looking at that, I don't know if that's even filled out correctly. It says, you know, Ms. Chen for 90,000, total 90,000, but she might. I don't have time to look into it too deep right now, but source of funding, she might have to be in there for 27,000, 20,000 to make that. No, I'm not.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, I think make it easier to read. Exactly. Councilor, you've probably done enough purchase and sales agreements where everything's broken down. down payment, you know, good faith money. And I think in that section there, if you just kind of break it down like 20, 20, you know, and explain it all, and then it all adds up to 90,000, just like a residential purchase and sales agreement, you're probably seeing plenty of those.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Sure, I can definitely do that.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, very good. Ben, you all set? Yep, I'm good too. Okay. Well, if any of you gentlemen want to make a motion.
[Daria Tejera]: Can I just add one thing?
[Robert Delafano]: Oh, sure. I'm sorry, Dari.
[Daria Tejera]: No, no, it's okay. I just thought of this. So when you add the paperwork in, just make sure you resend me the whole application because it's going to take me a little while to like cut out whatever is incorrect, put it in. So if you could just resend it to me, that would be great.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, we'll send it in one. Yes.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, that's fine, just as long as everything is in there. So it's just easier for me to submit to the commissioners, and then I can submit to ABCCA right after, whenever they approve it. Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: No, it makes sense, Daria. It's crazy to try to stitch the pages together. It's crazy.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Shame on me, Daria, because I was supposed to have that in my notes as well. Oh, no, no, you're fine. Just to let them know that that's the way we like to receive it back. But that's good. OK. Alan events.
[Allan Martorana]: You can make a motion or you want me to do it. Alan, you can make the motion. Get my internet back here. Sure. I motion to approve conditionally upon receiving the articles of organization and three-month bank statements and a little more detailed as to how the $90,000 is being put together for, what was the address here? 30, sorry. uh, for 38 Riverside Ave, Matsuba, uh, is Sakaya, uh, doing business as Matsuba Sakaya Sushi Bar and Grill. Yeah, and also the transfer of 40 percent ownership. And the transfer of- of the funds, right. So, uh, motion for a change of officers and the transfer of stock. Right. And excuse me for, uh, butchering the la- the names. I apologize. Okay, Ben, you want to second?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I'll second the motion made by Commissioner Maturana.
[Robert Delafano]: All righty. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. Motion passed as long as Derry receives those documents.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Thank you very much.
[Robert Delafano]: Very good.
[Allan Martorana]: Thank you, Councilor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Chen. You as well.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Bye-bye, Ms. Chen. Okay. Well, that was interesting. I spoke with Ralph earlier today, and that's kind of where I came from with the seven day thing. Ralph was the one that suggested you can grant the contingent upon blah, blah, blah, but only give them seven days. And he says, And also, I've never heard of the other thing, but where it was a personal loan, the person could either get three months statements from their bank or just a letter from the bank. I don't ever recall doing that before, but supposedly where they're not a financial institution, just a letter would be okay, I guess. But yeah, that's kind of what he commented on it. And yeah, that was about it on that one.
[Allan Martorana]: So yeah, almost like a source of funds, a source of funds, you know.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. That's seventy thousand. He says they basically just want to make sure there's money there before the license is granted. I always kind of thought for some reason, I don't know why it was to possibly prevent money laundering of some sort. But I don't know.
[Allan Martorana]: There's either $70,000 or there isn't $70,000. And if there isn't, then this whole thing falls apart.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I mean, the husband thing and everything kind of makes sense, where it's a four-year thing with no interest.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I always wonder, why are we checking the financials, though?
[Robert Delafano]: I don't know, probably because we got a bank VP on the commission. I don't know. Retired.
[Allan Martorana]: It's always good to know the source of funds, whether they have the money. And it goes back to the chairman's thought. You wonder sometimes if money could be laundered. At least it's in the bank, and we know that it's all straightforward, the transaction at inception. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt.
[Robert Delafano]: No, it doesn't hurt. Yeah. And I, you know, I mean, it's difficult enough trying to decipher it, you know, with a lot of these, you know, names that you don't recognize too, or that I don't recognize. And it kind of, you know, it was for the quarries. I didn't know if these folks were male or female.
[Allan Martorana]: That's correct. But, you know, when I read through the promissory note, it kept using the, it kept referring to the personal pronoun, her. So I immediately thought that the holders of the notes were female, but she said husband. Because when you look at the promissory note, it says to surrender her at the office or on her before. So I guess that's just the pronoun they decided to use.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I think the attorney there too was, um, might have needed a little more polish with these applications because there was stuff there that she should have known better that should have been here. You know, especially the, um, the articles and all that stuff. I mean, that's, that's, that's, you know, amateur stuff for her, supposedly.
[Allan Martorana]: But this is a checklist. There's a checklist right on ABCC. I mean, all you do is follow the checklist. They submitted it.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. They submitted it right here with all of that. That's right. And everything was on it, except that's how I found out the stuff wasn't on there. But other than that, they did a good job. Like you say, I don't think this other company, these current owners had it for a while. Probably a year, two years tops. Because I vaguely remember us doing something there. And I says, geez, I never eaten in there before. And my wife was away on vacation for some, I don't know, it's her sister's place or whatever. I went in and grabbed something to eat. The food was good. There wasn't many customers in the restaurant.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Just you and some goldfish.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. I say, you've been in there.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I'm the pickup boy from the house. But it's too bad, because we would order from there, yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, the food's good. And Vita Insurance across the street's my insurance agent, Frank Vita. He's holding an IM, and he's eating. Yeah, yeah, Mr. Vita. The food's pretty good. But yeah, so we're past that. We did okay.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: Hang on a second.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I'm sorry. By the way, sorry, my office lost internet. I had to run outside to try to get something. So that was the problem. Yeah, we saw that. I thought you were on a job. I was going into the workshop. I was everywhere trying to see if it worked.
[Robert Delafano]: That's all right. It worked. Yeah. Yeah. OK. All right. Should we go ahead and approve those other items? Let's see what's on that next. Oh. Well, I guess we don't have to do it in order for other business. But when I was talking with Ralph, I kind of told him what was going on with Razzos today. And I told him the way we normally do it is if there's an incident at a place, the police send us a copy of the report. We each individually read it. And we each individually emailed Daria back with our opinion. And if two out of the three feel as though it's a police matter, we just say to put it in the file. And he said, that's OK. He says, but you should be doing it the way you're doing it now. He says with Razzos, he says you want to send them a letter. How do you read it? In the future, send them a letter to appear for possible over-serve and disturbance. Even though you know it wasn't a fact because of the police report, they have to be notified just in case something happens or something comes out of it, it covers the city. He said, and when they get there, you have the police there. You have it just like the hearing. You have the police read the report. And then at that point, you can either vote to see if there were any violations or no violations, or in my opinion, the best thing to say is we'll take this under advisement and notify you by mail. And that way there, it kind of gives us a chance to hash it out. We can hash it out amongst ourselves because we're taking it under advisement. It doesn't have to be hashed out just like the last violation. We were in our own room. We talked about it. We felt what was the resolution that we had to come up with. But he said if it's something that More than two of you, or all of you, agree on that there in fact was something like what was at Razzos. It's okay to put it right out there, right then and there, that you felt as though, like we did today, there were no violations. And he says, Praise them, he says, because they did something that could have saved lives, he said. And, you know, and that's good for other licenses to hear, especially even if, you know, something like this goes, whatever it goes on the city recording or whatever, or anybody's watching the meeting. It doesn't hurt. And other licenses know that we're looking for stuff like this. If there's other licensees, like on this meeting, and they're saying, wow, OK, well, yeah, they hired a police detail because it was very busy. And jeez, they checked all the video cameras in the place to make sure this guy didn't get a drink, because now there could have been violations at that point. And he says it just covers everybody. you know, the days I says, well, I told him what we normally do is just throw it in a file and not even bring it. He says, no, you've got to bring it up before a meeting. It doesn't have to be a special meeting or a hearing. Just have them appear on the regular monthly meeting and do exactly what we did today, which makes sense. Yeah. Because Richie didn't come. Now, you know, which which was fine. He wasn't required to. It wasn't a hearing.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: But, you know, in the future, we'll send them a letter and they will be required to because it will be like a hearing.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. You called it an over-serving disturbance.
[Robert Delafano]: That's what he said. Yeah. It's a possible over-serving disturbance because that's why the police was called. The police were called to the establishment because there was a disturbance. When the police got there, if the disturbance proved to be an over serve, then that's something we'd look at a little different. You know, after reviewing the video, after reviewing, interviewing the owner, bartender, whatever, which makes sense. Which makes sense. And you know, like Rory said, the guy walked around for 20 minutes. He didn't drink. He, you know, he never ordered a drink in the place. So that kind of gets, Razzles off the hook, um, because there was no, it came in like that.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Are we determining, are we determining the criteria for, for it? I mean, it, it seems like there's been incidences that, uh, other places will say the great Medford beer hall, um, But they weren't at any fault of the establishment, and we didn't have them in before. Is that any time there's some kind of incident, we should have the establishment in? Any time we receive a police report.
[Allan Martorana]: OK, that's exactly. Ben, you must have been reading my mind. I was. So the fact that there's two things. What Lieutenant Lockowitz sent us It was a narrative of what transpired that night. But in his narrative, he says that he's withholding the police report because of the two individuals who were you know, attack. Maybe that's too strong of a word. Oh, assault and battery. So what Officer Lockowitz sent us, that's not the police report? The official police report is something different?
[Robert Delafano]: Yes. Okay, probably got another report just for the assault and he might have even a 3rd report for the arrest and carrying a firearm firearm while you're intoxicated. You can't you can't I've got a license to carry and I very rarely carry, but if I'm going out to dinner and I'm going to have a drink, I cannot have a weapon on me. That's that's. way it is. So you can't drink and carry a firearm. There's no way you're supposed to do that. So that's probably a separate charge. The driving while under another separate charge, because he was over the legal limit. And then assaulting the two women was another charge. So none of that's got to do with us.
[Allan Martorana]: No, no, I know that. But to Ben's question, because it was mine too, is So what we received from Lieutenant Lockowitz, that's not the police report. That's just an outline or a narrative telling us what transpired that night. But the official police report is somewhere else. Is that? Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. Because they've got to have a different police report to charge this guy.
[Allan Martorana]: OK. So we're acting upon the narrative the narrative that Lieutenant Lockowitz submitted to us?
[Robert Delafano]: Yes, for facts that were on that premise. The facts were that this gentleman went into a Section 12 license, which comes under our jurisdiction, and they determined, after watching the video and everything else, that he apparently came in already intoxicated. He ordered no drinks from the bar or any waitresses, never had a sip of alcohol while he was in there because they had him on surveillance the whole time. And then he was going over and he's grabbing the two women, one of them that happened to be a police officer, which Lieutenant Lockowitz put in his report because it was not our establishment, but a Section 12 establishment. And then as they told this gentleman in this Section 12 establishment, no driving, you got to take an Uber. And then he's seen getting in his car, leaving the Section 12 establishment. And that's where it ended. Police officer radioed ahead. They grabbed him. They arrested him for driving while under and also carrying a loaded firearm. And that's where it ends with us. everything else is police. So, I mean, if he went in and he had a couple of drinks, then it's like, okay, now, you know, this guy drunk, he's so drunk, he's leaving, then it's a whole different story. So, I think it's fair to just bring them in for possible overserve and disturbance, because that could really be the only two things they could do in there. Overserve, but start a fight, pick a fight with somebody, you know, I don't know, destruction of property, I don't know. But, you know, all we're concerned about is the overserve, you know.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I'm just, I'm just looking back. So this, this letter Rory wrote is not a police report. It's a little bit different because it doesn't have the sort of incident number or whatever. No. And right in this narrative, he says that, you know, he'll submit a police report. It does refer to the incident number, but it's like a. All right, well, I guess if something is, it's probably gonna be rare that it's just an incident report rather than, or sorry, yeah, incident report rather than a police report, but. I don't know what to call this narrative that we got from Lieutenant Lockwood, so. So, okay, so I, so, cause we don't talk when we get those reports from Daria, do individually sort of speak back to Daria. So I think you sort of saying the protocol Bob would be, if it is an incident that's, you know, we should err on the side of bringing in that establishment so that we can do things right, clear the air or whatever.
[Allan Martorana]: Ask the team what happened and see if there's any infractions to 138, like the chairman was saying, and then we go from there. Does that sound right, Bobby?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Anything that involves the police at this point, according to Ralph, because I told him the way we used to do it. He says, well, he says, you can get away with it, he says, but it can come back and bite you later. He says, okay. He says, anything that comes from the police, you want to treat it as a hearing and you can call in the owner a letter. Yeah, the next meeting.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So, if Mr. Russell came into this last meeting, we just had, we would just have let Rory explain. It was okay. This is likely what we would have done and said, thank you. Mr. So you handled it. To the best of your ability, we don't have any further questions. We're good.
[Robert Delafano]: Right. Exactly. And that's kind of what I was planning on doing. I wasn't going to ask Mr. Razzo to speak or offer him any time to speak only because all three of us knew that it was a police matter. So why bother putting your foot in your mouth? You know what I mean? Yeah. Kind of like it. But if there was a little more to it and we wanted to turn it into a hearing, which basically it is a hearing if we send them a letter to appear that there's been an incident reported by the police, blah, blah, blah. Then we have to treat it as a hearing just like we did with this last hearing. Maybe not as crazy, and if we feel as though there's going to be charges, I mean, it's it's kind of like, OK, we'll take this under advisement. You know, it's kind of like I watched a bunch of the Boston videos and stuff. And, you know, that's kind of they never give anybody a verdict at that point. It's always we take it under advisement. Right. And come back. Sure. They have their own little meeting in private and then they send them a written notice of what it is. And from that date of the notice, they've got five days, I guess, to appeal it to the ABCC.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, so this is a precedent then from to Ben's point going forward. Now, if we, if we get something from great American bear hall or something else, then we fire off this over serving disturbance slaughter and and we have them come in and then we talk to them. Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. I mean, unless it's something more focused like property damage or, you know, over serving property damage. Yeah. That's why the damage in the property, if they were over, you know what I mean?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: So it's kind of an assault, an over-serving assault or whatever. I think disturbance is the best.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, well, that's what he said. You said over-serving disturbance. So in the disturbance part, you're right. I always think of that commercial, stay in your lane, bro. So that's nothing with us. But the over-serve, that could come under our jurisdiction.
[Robert Delafano]: Right, exactly. So I think it's just good practice in the future. And, you know, it's kind of flattering when I talked to Ralph today, he says, Bobby, he says, call me anytime, blah, blah, blah. He says, I use Medford in my presentations all the time. There's four cities, Medford, Cambridge, and he nicknamed two more. I didn't know the other two. But he says, they're really proactive, they're doing a great job, they're doing this, they're doing that. And he's actually going to use the RAZO thing without RAZOs as an example of something that, you know, a way to handle it. If you get any reports from the police, blah, blah, blah, this is the way Medford handles it. And, you know, and let's see. He says that, he says, you know, basically all the questions you asked me, he says, were right on as far as the 40% thing goes and the money thing that we all found. He says, yeah, he says, that's, he says, all that's, you're right on with all that stuff. You guys are doing a great job there and anytime, any questions. So they're really happy with us. And the nice thing about that is like when this new owner of the, what does he call it? The establishment, the old porch. Ralph said for me to tell Daria on the 2nd or 3rd, whenever you're back to work, just make sure that gets submitted right away with a letter. I wrote down what he wanted in the letter here somewhere. Either on the 2nd or the 3rd, forward the application, put letter with stating did not renew. uh, meaning that license did not renew. And, um, I guess you must resubmit the application at that time for the establishment. So just, um, make sure you state in it there that they, um, that they did not renew the license. So that opens up that address. bar a new license, which we already approved, or it was either a, no, it was a new license, it wasn't a transfer, so it was a new license, and that opens up that address. But that's the good thing about it is, you know, Ralph's where we're proactive with the ABCC, the ABCC is gonna be proactive, not necessarily do us favors or anything or vote in our favor if we find things, that's not the case. But when somebody like this gentleman who's been trying in an unforeseen type of thing and something needs to just be pushed up the list a little higher, cut through a little red tape and get it out as far as, because it's already been approved. He says the whole thing's already been approved. It's just that they needed the new license. They couldn't give it to that same address. So we got the new license now. It went good? Good. Good. Sounds good. So that kind of works for us a little bit too. Yeah. Dario, I'm sorry. What's your buddy's name? Is it a he or a she? No, it's a she. Best friend in the whole world. Work from home calling. Is she a mouser? Does she get mice? They're all mouses. Cats are great mouses. We've got rats the size of squirrels from Tufts, right, when they put up these new buildings. And there was a cat about that side, came running down my driveway with a rat in his mouth. I don't know how he was carrying it. It was like the size of a squirrel. I'm saying, I hope he's not taking it home to show his masters his build with it. Yeah, it's terrible. But anyways, okay, shall we move on? Yeah, yeah. We should have brought refreshments and cookies and we could have our own little Christmas party at the same time. Right. What am I doing with my papers?
[Allan Martorana]: Where'd my agenda go? I dropped it on the floor?
[Robert Delafano]: Here it is. Put it under the computer so I wouldn't lose it. We got to approve a list of the 2025 liquor license renewals.
[Allan Martorana]: How do you want to do it? Do you want to do it because it's clubbed and there's alcohol and there's beer and wine? just pick one.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, you guys are a little more experienced at it than me. I did notice one thing though, Darrier, with the beer and wine or The place on Mystic Avenue, the hell's the name of them, that we just granted an all-alcohol to?
[Unidentified]: Avelinos.
[Robert Delafano]: Avelinos. It wasn't signed because it was a beer and wine. So one of my questions was, did Peter not sign that because it was beer and wine only? And then I looked for all-alcohol, and there wasn't even one in there for him for all-alcohol. So I don't know how Unless I missed it on the all alcohol. I know we just approved it.
[Daria Tejera]: You just approved it. So if you think about it, the sheets went out in September. So it's whatever your status was at that point. So if he was, but I'm surprised. Why? How did I miss that? He didn't sign that.
[Robert Delafano]: I'm almost positive he didn't. If we look under the beer and wine, wine and malt rather, with cordials. I think he was the last one on it, if I'm not mistaken.
[Daria Tejera]: He's not with Cordials, though. He's regular. Just wine and malt, I believe.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Yeah, down the bottom. He's got an X on the signature, but he printed Peter DeSista. I mean, is an X considered a signature? I don't know. He's the last one on that file.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry, I was skipping around.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, it's on page 8.
[Robert Delafano]: It's the Sisto Enterprises Inc.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, it's page 8 on wine and malt.
[Daria Tejera]: It's like he forgot to sign my... I don't think he forgot. I think you're right. I think because he did the... changeover, he probably just thought, I don't know, I didn't catch it.
[Robert Delafano]: I bet you I know what it is. I bet you that's his wife that filled it out and put an extension. He doesn't write that neat. I know he wouldn't write that. That's women's handwriting right there. Yeah, no, you're right. Just speculation.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: I'll ask them to sign it. It's the same thing with 85, 95. He gave me two 95s and he's like, I'm pretty sure I brought it to you in November. I was like, no, no, no. I have two, 95 and 95, not 95 and 85. I was like, just date in November because he technically did give it to me. You just gave me the wrong one, the wrong one twice.
[Robert Delafano]: And this was technically sent in and paid and everything?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, yeah. No, they did everything they needed to do.
[Robert Delafano]: It's just having them sign it. Now, when you issue a license, you're going to be issuing them a full liquor? Is that how it goes?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, because they just got approved. a couple of days ago for the all-alcohol license. So, technically, they would be for whatever they got approved. As of January 1st, they can, well, as of now, they are allowed to serve all alcohol.
[Robert Delafano]: So, now, well, now, that had to be approved by ABCC. So, you're just saying that got approved the last couple of days?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, yeah, by the state, yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. So, who actually prints the actual license, you or them?
[Daria Tejera]: uh, the actual physical license, me.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Okay. And do you alter the hours on that if need be?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: The ability to, okay. Yeah. Because that's another thing I was going to run by you guys is, um, I already spoke to Daria about it. Uh, next year within the paperwork, we have to see if we can, um, well, we, we're going to request that we want a copy of the common vigilance license. And the reason being is, as I was telling Darrier, I went into the clerk's office and I talked to one of the clerks about six months ago or so. And it was something to do with hours and inspections when we're trying to get the building department with the fire department all together to get these done for renewals. And she pulled out a folder with a stack about an inch thick saying, these are all the ones that they never sent in, that are incomplete. And I kind of sat back and looked at her, and I says, really? And she says, yeah. She says, those are the ones they still haven't completed. And I'm like saying to myself, well, OK, in the city of Medford, in order to serve alcohol, you have to have a common vigilance license. So we should require a valid copy of a common vigilance license, even if it's for the existing year when they turn their paperwork in because they're not, their common vigilance license renewal is due by December 31st. So if we get just a copy of the prior one, it's still valid in November when Daria's doing our renewals, that's all we want. And on that common vigilance license, Daria will have it in hand and she could say, oh, yeah, this one here, they got the extension. They were open until 1 a.m. Monday through Friday or whatever, and put it on their license at that time. Now, we know that they're good. They're serving food. They're serving food till 1 a.m., if that's what their license says, and everybody's good. But we got no way of knowing that. And I brought it up to the city clerk, because, you know, we got discussing something else. And he said, he says, yeah, he says, listen, he says, I'm two people short here. He says, I'm trying to do the best I can. I says, I understand, sir. He says, it's nothing we're gonna do this year. He says, we're gonna get to it. I said, but, you know, we, we have to know that they've got a valid common vigilance license, or we can't grant them an alcohol license. It's that simple. So, you know, maybe in another month or two when things calm down, we'll send a little letter out stating spring reminder, blah, blah, blah, make sure this is up to date, this is up to date, common vigilance license. Note, we will be requiring a copy of a current common vigilance license for next year's renewals. It sent out a couple or three notices like that up until the renewals next year. Maybe one if we have another seminar, we'll send it out with that. One with something else prior to the summer break. Reminder, we're going to be not meeting in July and August. By the way, make sure you have a current common vigilance license to submit. And I think that'll do it.
[Allan Martorana]: It makes sense. Mr. Chairman, I'm looking at the license that was surrendered by Chili Garden, and the bottom left has their hours. It says the hours during which alcoholic beverage may be sold. It says 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. So it is in the bottom left of the actual license.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, but how do we know that's still their hours? I say, put that for hours, you know what I mean? Like what's his name? Snappy Patty's just had theirs moved up to 1 a.m. I say the certain days. Yeah. So it doesn't make sense to ask for a current vet. It makes sense. Yeah. And even if the hours stay the same, we have to know that they're serving food. Yeah. Hours. And if they're not serving food, if they don't have a current vet, say the kitchen closed, the Board of Health closed them down or whatever, they shouldn't be serving alcohol. There's only two in the city that can serve alcohol with no food, Medford Brewing and Chevalier. Chevalier's got a general section 12 license. They're not required to serve food. I mean, those are the only two.
[Allan Martorana]: Well, the other one, that's a farmer's brewer. That's totally different. That's a brewing license, yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Does this make the renewal process much more clunky? They have to send in a convict with the renewal?
[Robert Delafano]: No, because they have to supply the proof of insurance. They have to send in a form from the fire department, the building department, which they haven't been doing for years, until the last couple. They also have to send in their renewal paperwork. What else is there? I mean, it's just one more item that they have to submit along with their check to DARIA. And it's got to be in November 30th. I mean, how can we do that? Actually, I read that by Ralph today. And he says, you're right. He says, if the city requires that they have to have food, then they have to have a common vigilance license, a valid common vigilance license, so they can't serve food. That's right. So, I mean, it's not a big deal if they do the right thing. And we're not caring if they're next year's common vitilis license or whatever we care about from November 1st to November 30th. Do you have a common vitilis license to cover that period? Yes. Fine. So next year it'll be the same thing. You know you got it to cover that period even though you're getting a new one in a month you still got valid one. The current one. Yeah. Good. You've got a question, you've got hesitation about it, Ben. Do you think it's something that needs more discussion? No. No? Okay. You're thinking about Santa Claus, what Santa Claus is getting the kids?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: No, I'm just in my, I'm in my work day. So yeah, trying to keep it moving.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I gotcha. Let's do that. Let's do that. Okay, so did you want to, how do we do this, announce that we're going to take a look at, I think what is it, three items from Daria? and approve all at once type of thing? Let's see.
[Allan Martorana]: We certainly can. I mean, I can make a motion. There's four categories, right? There's club, there's farmer's brewery, there's all alcohol, and then there's wine and malt.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[Allan Martorana]: That sound right? Yeah. All right. I guess there would be a caveat because we now know that Mr. DeSisto is all alcohol, not just beer and wine, so we know that correction has to occur. But I motion to accept the renewals for the club renewals, the farmer's brewer renewals, all alcohol renewals, and then wine and malt with cordials renewals to be accepted for the upcoming year. Package stores as well. Oh, I'm sorry, in package stores. Yes. How can I miss that? In package stores also.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Did you say Farmer's Brewery too?
[Allan Martorana]: Yes.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Farmer's Brewery is one. With the exception that signature is on, what's his name? Avalinos?
[Allan Martorana]: Avalinos, right.
[Unidentified]: Right.
[Allan Martorana]: But remember that signature was for malt and wine only and now he's all alcohol. That's what he says. Okay. Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Daria will take care of that technical stuff. From what I understood that Daria said is that the ABCC will send it back the correct way, I guess, when it's approved.
[Allan Martorana]: I believe that's what I understood.
[Daria Tejera]: okay then we just got to get them to sign it then if they're going to kick it they'll send it back the right way exactly so i think so they have you signed for what it is at that point of your signature uh so it just got changed so they're not going to send us a brand they're not going to update it to all alcohol when it wasn't all alcohol at that point yeah Well, next year they will send it to us and obviously they've been approved, but you get approval based on what you were at that point.
[Allan Martorana]: And you said September is when they was the cut off on that.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, I would say, yeah, like, any transfers or, like, any changes majorly, they would have not accepted it past certain point because it's still a process. Okay. So I think we will be fine because they approved it. So we'll just send in the signature like that. And because of the time, that's what it was.
[Robert Delafano]: OK. I mean, yeah, that's not a problem.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: And then the last thing, just to add to that, is the seasonal population increase form ties with that. That's also in this packet.
[Robert Delafano]: Let's try it. Do we have to do that separate or can we patch it all together?
[Daria Tejera]: I think it can all go together.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay.
[Daria Tejera]: It's all the renewal paperwork, so I'm going to set it all together. That's the packet that I have to send out with the renewals. You also want to approve, there was one more paper in there, the porch, the ones that did not renew.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. That's right. That's right, I forgot about that one.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, so MOLA. Yeah, so that's the next door to the porch.
[Robert Delafano]: That was the porch, right? MOLA something or other?
[Daria Tejera]: Yes.
[Robert Delafano]: So we have to accept that they did not renew. That was the only one thing on that document.
[Daria Tejera]: Exactly, yep. Till the garden they surrounded. They didn't renew, but they surrender. So that's different.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: They didn't renew. You know how the porch next door to it has that bakery, has that grocery store? That's not MOLA, right? I don't believe so, no. I believe it's completely separate.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: OK.
[Allan Martorana]: So, Ben, you want to second my motion?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so I'll second the motion made by uh, Commissioner Maturana, um, for, uh, I'm just trying to say it right for the renewals of the club, uh, wine and malt farmers brewery, uh, package store and all alcohol as well as the seasonal population.
[Robert Delafano]: And yes, and there was one other one that one.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry, in the surrender of the portions.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. No, that was the non-renewal. I believe it wasn't a surrender.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, okay. I said it wrong. Non-renewal of the. Yep.
[Robert Delafano]: Package says rather than certification. Yeah, it was under renewal certification. Let me just open it up, see what it exactly says. Yeah, renewal certification 2025 licenses who fail to renew for 2025. It gives the license number and Mola Bakery and Cafe DBA the porch. Okay. So you seconded Ben, right?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Hearing and seeing none, the ayes have it. Motion passed.
[Allan Martorana]: The population is 58,744. Looks like it went down, right? Yeah, wasn't it ringing the bell at 60,000 and we were like, all right, we got another license. I was going to 65.
[Daria Tejera]: So you know what's interesting? So I was talking to our new elections manager, Danielle, and she was explaining to me, because I was like, the numbers don't add up. Because when I originally asked her for a number, she was like, it's 50,000. And I was like, that doesn't make sense. So she said that on a city level, we do the census, right? Which will be a lot less, because unless you register, you won't be counted. So she was like, the number that you want to go by is the federal census, which is the number where I got from the past couple of years. She kind of broke it down for me. She's like, that's more accurate. But they do it every five years. It kind of can go up and down. I feel like a little bit. So, I don't know why the state asks us to estimate because we can't really estimate. I just put in a number that it shows what it was as of July. 2023, because it might shift a little bit, but it's probably not going to be up to date for the next couple of years. Okay.
[Robert Delafano]: So, then they were every 5 years that's technically like 2028 when the next 1 is going to.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, yeah, the more accurate 1. yeah, that's when we'll get, like, the more accurate number.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay, I mean, I, I don't know how strict they are, but I kind of know somewhat remembering. that, hey, we're over 60, are we eligible for a new license? When I was talking about California, yeah, he said something about it's every 5,000 Iraq goes up, but I don't know, 60 or 65, but- And it had to be consistent for 10 years, I think he was saying, right?
[Daria Tejera]: Wasn't he saying that it has to be consistent for 10 years?
[Robert Delafano]: I don't know, I don't remember.
[Daria Tejera]: Something I know was a couple of years that it had to be consistent, so.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, it's very confusing, but like you say, how can you get an accurate number if it's, unless you take the inaccurate city number, which is going to be lower and we're probably going to be a lot lower.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah. Not everybody, a lot of students here and there's a lot of, I feel like just people moving in and out. So it's like, it's, I feel like it's very hard to. Yeah. Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. We just stick with the federal ones. And I mean, yeah.
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, that's what Danielle said. She's like, you should really look at the federal number versus the city, because city is just not accurate. It doesn't count everybody. It only counts the people that register, and that's not everybody.
[Robert Delafano]: I was presented with a question real quick coming out of church last week or a couple of weeks ago. One of the people that go there, and he says, hey, Bobby, let me ask you something. Medford doesn't have any beer and wine like in, you know, 7-Elevens and stores like that. He says, is it not allowed? I says, no, we have available licenses. We've got, I think, a dozen licenses or whatever. And he says, well, how come they don't have any? I says, we really don't need them. I says, look at all the liquor stores we got in the city of Medford. I mean, unless it's a hardship that there's none in the area, why would you want to take business away from an existing package store? And each package store is within a short distance from any residents in the city. I says the only area I know that doesn't have it is up the heights.
[Daria Tejera]: But I feel like there's a liquor store like. Every, like, every court, like, South Medford, West Medford, I feel like kind of everywhere.
[Robert Delafano]: The Heights, I can't think of, but like, he was mentioning, you know, like, around the Riverside area and I says, well, Riverside, you get. you know, uh, you got, you got cappies right down the street. I said, you got Wegmans right there.
[Allan Martorana]: I mean, the more you want there. Right. There's no way CBS is going to compete with Wegmans and total line over an Everett and cappies and Atlas. No way.
[Robert Delafano]: No way. It was kind of guaranteed was that little Christie's or whatever it is, you know, and it's kind of,
[Allan Martorana]: He wouldn't make any money down in Florida and the CBS is a section with is all wine and some of those bottles have been there for years.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So I don't even think down there. You can buy liquor anywhere in Florida. Really?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. But, I mean, you can get alcohol seven days a week. All package stores are open.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[Robert Delafano]: And it's, you know, it's kind of like a moot point. And, you know, I mean, unless it's a real hardship, why grant it, you know? Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I mean, you don't want the licenses that are there, so. Okay, did that take care of all our business? I believe so. Okay, somebody wanna make a motion to adjourn?
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Ben, you wanna? As to the year? Okay, all right. So make a motion to adjourn our meeting December 18th, 2024 at 2.23 p.m. Thanks, everybody. Yeah, I second the motion.
[Robert Delafano]: Yep, all those in favor, right? Aye. Yeah. All right, good. Very good. Everybody have a very Merry Christmas.
[Allan Martorana]: Merry Christmas, everyone. Good meeting.