Protection & License Committee — 2026-06-29
Attendance
Agenda
Minutes
Protection & License Committee Monday, June 29, 2026, 7:00 PM City Council Chamber, 1st Floor 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Jason Chen Vice Chair Elizabeth Kowal John Obremski Devin Romanul William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Officio Member Cal Finocchiaro Chair Meeting was called to order by Chair Finocchiaro at 7:00 PM Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Jason Chen Vice Chair Present-remote attendance Elizabeth Kowal At-Large Absent John Obremski Ward 2 Present Devin Romanul Ward 7 Present William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Present Officio Member Cal Finocchiaro Chair Present Non-voting member Councilor Karamcheti was also in attendance. II. MINUTES APPROVAL Protection & License Committee Meeting May 4, 2026 6:50 PM Motion to approve the minutes by unanimous consent made by Chair Finocchiaro RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, John Obremski, Devin Romanul, Bradley Freeman III. PUBLIC COMMENT Hybrid 1 When: Jun 29, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Protection & License Committee Meeting Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://cityofmelrose- org.zoom.us/j/93435010319?pwd=Eo7cTpbzou5P1GRT3ypOQTY7oBE4ck.1 Passcode:693773 Webinar ID: 934 3501 0319 Motion to Open public comment made by Councilor Romanul at 7:02 PM Seconded by President Freeman All were in favor and motion passed RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, John Obremski, Devin Romanul, Bradley Freeman There were no comments on the floor or via Zoom Motion to Close public comment made by Councilor Romanul at 7:02 PM Seconded by President Freeman All were in favor and motion passed RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, John Obremski, Devin Romanul, Bradley Freeman IV. LICENSES
A. (ID # 2026-1336): New Common Victualler License for Shawbak Lebanese Eatery and Bakery Maya Jamaleddine of 10 Melrose Street presented her family-owned business proposal, which will operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. serving Lebanese food and bakery items made from scratch. Motion to Recommend made by President Freeman Seconded by Councilor Romanul All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, John Obremski, Devin Romanul, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None ABSENT: Elizabeth Kowal Maya thanked city hall staff and especially City Clerk Cifuni for their help in navigating the process of 2 establishing the new business and obtaining a common vic license. V. ADJOURNMENT The City of Melrose does not discriminate based on disability and is committed to hosting accessible meetings and events. Individuals with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures, in order to access the programs and activities of the City of Melrose or to attend meetings, should contactthe City’s ADA Coordinator, Polina Latta platta@cityofmelrose.org. Motion to Adjourn made by Councilor Romanul at 7:14 PM Seconded by President Freeman All were in favor and meeting was adjourned RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, John Obremski, Devin Romanul, Bradley Freeman 3
Transcript
▶ 0:01 Cal Finocchiaro: Welcome and good evening. The time is 7:00 PM on Monday, June 29th. This is a meeting of the Protection License Committee. I'm Councilor Finocchiaro, the chair. Joining me tonight are voting members Councilor Romanul, Councilor Abramsky, President Freeman, and non-voting members, Councilor Karamcheti. This takes the place of an attendance roll call and provides notice of the quorum for the record. In accordance with the open meeting law, this meeting is being recorded and broadcasted on our local cable access channel, MMTV, as well as live-streamed on MMTV's website. It'll be available for future viewing through the City of Melrose website meeting portal. At this time, if there are no objections, and with unanimous consent, I will
▶ 0:44 Cal Finocchiaro: approve the minutes from our last meeting on May 4th, 2026. Seeing no objections, those minutes are approved. We are moving on to the public comment portion of the meeting. Kam, just mention that Jason's remote, he's on. Oh, forgive me. Councilor Chen is joining us remotely. Hi, Councilor Chen. So we are moving on to public comment portion of the meeting. This is the time where any member of the public may speak in person or remotely. At this time, if there are no objections, with unanimous consent, I will open the floor for public comment. Point of order. Because Councilor Chen is remote, we need to take everything via roll call. Yes, you are correct. Do you put a mo- Motion to- What's the... What's the-
▶ 1:33 Cal Finocchiaro: Motion to approve public comment. Or motion to open public comment. Second. Motion to open public comment by Councilor Romanul, seconded by President Freeman. And we have to do roll call? Yep. Hold on. Make sure Councilor Chen up. Okay. Councilor Chen? Yes. Here, Councilor Abramsky? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Finocchiaro? Yes. That motion passes. Okay, great. At this time, if there are no objections, I will open the floor to public comment. Do we have anyone here to speak? We do not. Anybody online? Nobody online. All right. At this time- Motion to close public comment. Thank you. Second. Motion to close public comment by Councilor Romanul, seconded by President Freeman.
▶ 2:30 Cal Finocchiaro: Councilor Chen? I have to do a roll call on this. Yes. Okay. Councilor Abramsky? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Finocchiaro? Yes. Okay, that motion passes. Okay, so if we don't have anyone here to speak, a motion to close public comment. Did I just do that? Yes. Mm-hmm. You just did that. I am jumping around here. All right. We have one item on the agenda tonight. The first item is ID 2026-1336, new common victualler license for Shabak Lebanese Eatery & Bakery. Would you like to come up and speak? Good evening. Good evening. My name is Maya Jamaldin. I'm a Melrose resident. I live on 10 Melrose Street. I'm joined by my family. We are opening a family-owned business, small business in Melrose.
▶ 3:30 Maya Jamaleddine: I'm a Lebanese immigrant and I'm bringing my culture and my home culture to a community that I chose to be and to call it my home. We will be open seven days a week from 7:00 to 5:00, and we will have all Lebanese food and bakery, and it's all made from scratch. And I hope to see you all there. Great. Are there any questions on discussion? President Freeman? I just want to say, one, I'm thrilled you're opening this restaurant. I look forward to visiting with my family. And with that, I will make a motion to recommend. Second. Motion to recommend by President Freeman, seconded by Councilor Romanul. And that's a roll call, right? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Abramsky? Yes. Councilor Romanul?
▶ 4:36 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Finocchiaro? Yes. That motion passes. Woo-hoo. I just want to say- ... congratulations, and we're all looking forward to- Thank you ... eating there and seeing what your family's put together. Thank you. And I just want to thank all the City Hall workers and especially our city clerk, for helping me throughout this process. It's not easy to navigate the system, and she made it very smooth. So I appreciate your help. Great. Thanks. Thank you. We look forward to going. And with that, is our last agenda item of the evening. Do we have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. All right. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Abramsky? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. President Freeman?