ORDER-2015-118 : Petition to the Great and General Court to enact a Special Act to authorize the City of Melrose, acting through its Liquor License Commission, to issue licenses to table-service restaurants and function rooms with minimum seating capacities.

Transcript (~22 min @ 13:40)

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▶ 13:39 Speaker 5: Order 2015-118, petition to the Great and General Court to enact a special act to authorize the City of Melrose, acting through its Liquor License Commission, to issue licenses to table service restaurants and function rooms with minimum seating capacities.

▶ 13:55 Speaker 1: This order comes to the Board with a recommendation for passage as amended.

▶ 14:00 Peter D. Mortimer: I make a motion for passage as amended. Second. Mr. President.

▶ 14:03 Speaker 1: Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of this order as amended. The motion is seconded by Alderman Lemmerman. Discussion relative to this order. We have Alderman Boycelle, then Alderman Lemmerman.

▶ 14:16 Speaker 6: Her first.

▶ 14:18 Speaker 1: Okay, I have Alderman Lemmerman, then Alderman Boycelle.

▶ 14:20 Speaker 6: She had her hand up before I did.

▶ 14:21 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to note for the public that today the board did receive a letter from City Solicitor Van Kampen at the request of the president from our last meeting, stating his legal interpretation of the motion as amended to reduce the number of liquor licenses to 12 for all forms of alcoholic beverages and codifying really the wines and malt beverages to six. And in his opinion, this is legal for the board to do and that it would replace the current license quota.

▶ 15:01 Speaker 1: and he also conveniently uh put the amended language of the uh the special act in the letter

▶ 15:11 Speaker 1: and codified it you still have the floor that's all for me thank you alderman Boisselle uh mr

▶ 15:13 Robert A. Boisselle: chairman i'd like to suspend the rules and have some of the members come up here who are involved with this uh document at this this order at this time second the motion to suspend the rules well

▶ 15:23 Speaker 1: Alderman Boisselle moves to suspend the rules to hear from the Liquor Commission and City Solicitor VanCampen. The motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer on the motion. All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Rules are suspended. The order is before you.

▶ 15:39 Robert A. Boisselle: Thank you, gentlemen, for coming. Just out of curiosity, you had a special meeting today of the Liquor Commission, and you had all the vendors come in. could you give us a little background of what happened at that meeting sure thank

▶ 15:57 Speaker 1: you could you give us a very little information this is not really germane

▶ 16:03 Speaker 7: to the order but go ahead certainly we invited in all them all the license holders to come in and be briefed and to go through and answer any questions with regard to the new regular liquor licensing regulations so we had decent attendance not fully represented but half about half the establishments were there so we what we want to do what we explained what we wanted to do through the new requirements was to really create consistency in implementation and execution and enforcement. And we wanted to make sure everyone understood the new regulations. With that said, I think that we had, there were very specific questions, very good questions, and so we're gonna be getting back to them in a couple of areas on private clubs, on entertainment, and things of that nature, so.

▶ 17:06 Robert A. Boisselle: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 17:08 Speaker 1: Thank you. Alderman Medeiros.

▶ 17:11 Monica C. Medeiros: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to also mention that I did receive a list from the city clerk's office, which has been added into IQM2 so that both all of us and the public can see this list. it's actually a list of restaurants that currently have 20 plus seating capacity

▶ 17:35 Monica C. Medeiros: when we first discussed we kind of got the list of 25 seats and there was a question on a couple of them and so I'm very glad that the city clerk's offices put together the list of 20 plus so this would hopefully give some people an idea of the kinds of locations some of these places for instance ocean sushi spice of Melrose are on the list they already have a beer and wine license under our our rules I had just give you a brief idea of what's here Brugger's Bagels, 100 seats, Kappa's Trackside, 35, Casa Mia, 25, Camela's, 20, Dimitri's, 24, Dunkin' Donuts on the Fellsway, 41,

▶ 18:29 Monica C. Medeiros: Dunkin' Donuts on Main Street, 52, Ernie's Lunch, 23, Jerry's Pizza, 28, Heavenly Licks, 100, Jitters Cafe, 30, Liberty Bell, 60, Melrose Diner, 48,

▶ 18:44 Speaker 2: Melrose-Wakefield Hospital Cafeteria, 88. Melrose House of Pizza, 24.

▶ 18:49 Monica C. Medeiros: Ocean Sushi, again, is there, 50. Papagino's, 70. Spice of Melrose, 50.

▶ 18:55 Speaker 4: Starbucks, 35.

▶ 18:59 Monica C. Medeiros: Whole Foods, 32. So you can see with some of these restaurants, I really am glad to have this list. I'm a little bit surprised that I guess we didn't have this earlier in the process.

▶ 19:11 Monica C. Medeiros: But you can see the places like Whole Foods in the hospital cafeteria and Dunkin Donuts are probably never going to apply

▶ 19:22 Monica C. Medeiros: for liquor license probably but you know there are some places that are in the neighborhoods that are that are quite small and and may decide to look at this there are some inconsistencies and I've spoken with the clerk about this for

▶ 19:42 Monica C. Medeiros: instance I've been by Jerry's Pizza they certainly have 32 seats not 28 but it's

▶ 19:49 Speaker 1: a small difference and I think we had respectfully alderman I don't really think we should be discussing businesses who haven't applied for a license I understand that somehow the chart is part of the public record but I don't think we should speculate relative to business who may or may not apply for

▶ 20:06 Monica C. Medeiros: licenses in the future well the point I guess is that there are some inaccuracies as to what actually exists today on this list and that the clerk has informed me that that is because this is maybe what they their initial application came in

▶ 20:25 Monica C. Medeiros: with for a total number of seats I just might like to ask the city solicitor to comment on or the city clerk maybe can comment on the process of if a business along the way decides to change their number of seats at what point does the

▶ 20:56 Monica C. Medeiros: city get notified and then for the liquor license Commission if one of these businesses came forward to you to apply for a liquor license who maybe didn't have one before who wanted to upgrade from say a beer and wine only license to a full liquor license where would you get the number of seats from

▶ 21:15 Speaker 7: part of the requirements and submission that we have to send to the state requires a accurately drawn plan by an architect representing you know clear and accurate kind of layout on the space as well as egress and life safety so a

▶ 21:35 Monica C. Medeiros: new application would not necessarily be relying on this information for a city clerk they'd be submitting a new application that's good so I really I do appreciate everyone's time and I feel more comfortable seeing that there's you know fewer places that are in existence today that do qualify under the space requirement I do still have some concerns with this that being said and they're probably not going to completely go away some of them are relative to enforcement and to you know certainly I think I said a different meeting is we bring in and try to make the local neighborhoods more vibrant that does create more noise and other kinds of issues in the neighborhood so it's certainly a stress to you all that you know enforcement is is so key in this into making this work and I thank you I know it's it's sort of off topic but I know you handled the situation that was brought up before us at the most recent meeting and you know I have to say again enforcement is really important and I'm concerned about to some degree our ability to do this I do think we can go by you know down Main Street right now and maybe not right at this hour but you know on Saturday is out and there are several establishments that are not selling alcohol that have some seating outside on the sidewalk some selling some goods on the sidewalk I see this sidewalk sandwich board signs out there

▶ 23:27 Monica C. Medeiros: that are not in you know that don't go along with our sign ordinance and you know so small things like that are occurring and so it's less of an issue when alcohol is not involved but certainly if alcohol is going to be involved that you know it's very important that we're checking to make sure that we don't have minors receiving alcohol or you know or not have a handle on what's happening within the restaurant because even all of all the concerns that I do here are relative to let's make sure that we don't have bars where people just come just solely to get drunk and I feel much better about about the amendment made by alderman lemmerman and um i think i can go forward and support this just really urging strong enforcement thank you anyone else wish to be heard relative to this

▶ 24:27 Jaclyn L. Bird: order other bird thank you president khan i was just wondering if um the city solicitor wanted to give any updates from the concerns that the neighbors expressed last week on the issue that that I understand did not include a license holder I think it sort of speaks to our ability to enforce both those who have licenses and then those who are operating something that is not in cooperation with our regulation sure

▶ 24:48 Speaker 8: thank you just by way of update the city I presume every member of the board received a copy of a notice to cease and desist that was issued to that business entity by the building Commissioner on Friday afternoon I believe you folks received it today in an email so in terms of the issue that was discussed last week the city is aggressively dealing with the issues has identified a number of issues in the facility both as to the function hall use and some other uses of that building so we are dealing with those issues we're also dealing with an issue involving city-owned property behind the building and the encroachment on city property of certain personal belongings so all of those issues are being dealt with as aggressively as possible and as I've been speaking to the president and you and you as well about it happy to keep you updated as this thing unfolds excellent thank you and I appreciate

▶ 25:43 Jaclyn L. Bird: that the the meeting this afternoon that you had was slightly off of the topic of this order but when it comes to enforcement one of the things that I think would be key would be to make sure that restaurant owners upward and function hall owners and operators have information upfront on exactly what they can and can't do are we trying with this process to make sure that everyone's on the same page and that they all understand exactly what's expected of them and then what the consequences would be if they don't comply the that's

▶ 26:13 Speaker 7: correct I mean the goal is to have everybody understand them get on the same page that people from our community and from outside of our community can can come in and have a consistent experience with regards to liquor in our town. And not have various interpretations. And then, your second question, did I hit them both?

▶ 26:40 Jaclyn L. Bird: Second question, I think that was it. Are you, so are you taking other steps besides what you've done in the past as far as educating? You have today, you're going to be sending out information on the regulations as well?

▶ 26:52 Speaker 7: We have, the regulations are, I think, are pretty thorough. And we're updated very well by the committee that put them together. But I would say that we've made ourselves available to any business. We can interpret any questions they have, and we've expressed our desire to be very available. The goal also is to get every single dealing dealt with and make sure that we have all our ducks in order.

▶ 27:28 Speaker 1: Excellent, okay, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Alderman Inferno for the first time.

▶ 27:31 Gail Infurna: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Actually, Alderman Bird kind of was going where I was going, but I just want to ask one question, I guess, from that. And I certainly support this. I think it's an exciting thing for Melrose. I don't want to be anti-business or dampen anybody's business out there. But who would be the enforcer if an establishment that was serving liquor had tables outside? How would that be enforced, and who would be going about doing that?

▶ 28:01 Speaker 8: If they had an unapproved outdoor seating area, the enforcing agent would be the Liquor Commission. Under their rules, they would impose whatever level of discipline within their discretion they felt was appropriate. I think the other issue is, the reason for the meeting this afternoon is, do need some involvement from the community the business community the residents and the patrons that go to these restaurants if they see something that they feel is in violation of our local rules and regulations then bring it to the attention of the Liquor Commission so the Liquor Commission can can take enforcement action and you know as we go through this process the one thing that chairman Nevin hasn't said tonight but the Liquor Commission has zero tolerance for any violations of our rules and regulations because we understand how important enforcement of those rules consistently across the board is to making the implementation of this order tonight a success for the city so the Liquor Commission is the enforcing agent obviously our Health Department works in collaboration with the Liquor Commission to do server checks to make sure that underage individuals are not being served in our establishments the Melrose Police Department obviously is involved to the extent that violations are occurring the building commissioner as to the example we mentioned last week really brought it to a head with the Liquor Commission chairman Nevin is now considering what action if any the Liquor Commission can take so it's a collaborative process long answer to your question Alderman I apologize but we have zero tolerance right now for any violations thank you

▶ 29:37 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: very much thank you thank you that was actually I was going to ask about the communication between the different departments if for instance someone alerted the building inspector that there was seating outside then they would presumably there is a chain of command or a system that is being put in place to communicate between the different departments regarding any

▶ 29:58 Speaker 8: enforcement issues and there is you know there's you know agencies try to collaborate as much as possible it usually does start with the building commission or the fire department and then it trickles down from there I do

▶ 30:08 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: I do have one more question, Mr. President. If some board in the future were to want to increase the number of licenses that we are now going to be asking them to reduce, is it possible for them to go back again down the road if we saw more development or changes in the city and wanted to up that number again? you know maybe they've somebody wanted down the road more beer and wine licenses for instance is that would that be something that this board would be able to petition the legislature to do

▶ 30:45 Speaker 8: again you'd follow the same process to the extent you wanted to increase the the caps and it would be subject to the will of the future board and the legislature at that time thank you very much

▶ 30:55 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: i just wanted several people mentioned to me uh their concern about you know whether we were taking into consideration future development and I felt that this does a good job of it now and I was fairly certain that we could go back again if we needed to or wanted to thank you happily for future generations they can

▶ 31:15 Speaker 1: undo things that some of us have tried to do make all of them feel better down the road any further discussion relative to this order alderman Mortimer thank

▶ 31:27 Peter D. Mortimer: you very much mr. president I have not yet spoken on this order from the floor because I was chairing the two appropriations meeting at which we discussed it. And I'd just like to say I do represent the downtown area which is in Ward 6 and there are some residences. It was brought up that there was one establishment that did have on private property, on their own property, outdoor seating with the consumption of alcoholic beverages. I won't mention any names, which I think is a good idea by you, Mr. President. Very good idea. Thank you. Your ideas usually are, sir. And but that establishment has put a roof on their outside seating. And as Deputy Solicitor Lucas mentioned, the problem, the noise problem for the abutting neighbors has gone away. So that was a good thing. That's the only place that I know in Melrose that has outdoor seating and allows the service of adult beverages. A few other places have a little bit of outdoor seating legitimately because they have a little bit of private property adjacent to the sidewalk. But neither one of those seem to be candidates. They're both in Ward 6. Neither one of them seem to be candidates for the application for a liquor license. They're more like breakfast and brunch and early lunch type places, and a lot of baking. So I don't think there'll be a problem there. And I just want to point out to allay anyone's concerns, if they may still exist, that if some other places might put out a table and don't serve alcoholic beverages, that is illegal. So that's not as bad as if people are out there, but if people are out there drinking. But, and I'm sure the city solicitor can confirm this, and probably everyone in the room, attorneys and non-attorneys, public drinking is a crime in Massachusetts. You can't drink in public, period. You can drink on private property without your seating, but you cannot drink in public. This isn't New Orleans. So, if there is a problem, and somebody does put an outside seat out there, if they have an indoor license to serve adult beverages, and they throw a couple of tables out there on a warm summer night, the police can roll up, and having good sense, they'll probably tell the people, public drinking is illegal, get back inside. And if the people tend to give them a little attitude, I'm sure they'll suffer the consequences. which is probably getting arrested after maybe one more warning so i don't think that will be a problem i don't think the outdoor seating is something we're going to have to worry about in the near future this is good for business a lot of people have spoken in favor of it the vast majority of people who've spoken to me have been in favor of it so i'm glad that it looks like this order is about to move forward thank you very much anyone else before I

▶ 34:52 Speaker 1: call for the vote so shake could you call the roll please yes yes yes yes yes

▶ 35:04 Speaker 9: Yes.

▶ 35:07 Speaker 4: Yes. Yes.

▶ 35:08 Speaker 3: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.