The Fall River Licensing Board convened on Wednesday, July 18th, 2018, with all board members present. The meeting primarily focused on approving various one-day alcoholic beverage permits and addressing licensing matters. Permits were granted to the Fall River Historical Society for its concert series on August 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th, with rain dates on the following Sundays. Academica received permits for the Great Feast for the Holy Ghost on August 24th, 25th, and 26th, and St. Michael's Feast was granted permits for August 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Bristol Community College also secured a one-day all-alcohol license for a Bristol Chamber after-hours event on July 25th. Additionally, a common victualler license was approved for Texera Restaurants Inc. d/b/a Famous Shiraz Korea at 144 Rodman Street, which is transitioning to a Portuguese restaurant.
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i'd like to call to order the meeting of the forum licensing board today is wednesday july 18th for the record all members of the board of president pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or
0:27unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible when your name is called please come down first items on the agendas on the agenda are one day permits former historical society 451 rock street michael martens we have dates of august 4th august 11th august 18th and august 25th good evening good evening did you just state your name and address for the record please michael martins of
0:58451 rock street fallen from massachusetts this has become an annual sum up event it's a concert series correct yes this will be our sixth year the event is held in conjunction with greater fall for recreation okay and it's a request for all alcoholic beverage licenses uh for those dates from 6 30 to 8 30 pm those are all saturdays correct yes we do have rain dates the following day okay so the 5th the 12th the
1:2919th and the 26th okay and the the concert is from 8 30 i'm sorry 6 30 to 8 30 they're requesting the licenses from 5 to 8 30 so that the time people can gather beforehand like i said there is the one day and the proceeds from this do benefit the historical society correct yes and all the uh all the bartenders are volunteers and they're all tip certified okay yeah we usually do all alcohol okay
2:01okay any questions from the members of the board no questions is there anyone else in favor is there anyone opposed a motion i'll make a motion that we grant the one day's permits for august 4th august 11th august 18th and august 25th with rain dates on august 5th august 12th august 19th and august 20th and i'll second that motion it's a motion made and seconded anyone else here in favor anyone opposed all in
2:29favor hi good thank you very much thank you appreciate it have a good night me too academica 627 south main street junior parquet this is august 24th august 25th august 26th start your name and address for the training podcast 627 south main street fall river okay so these are three licenses i would imagine that's the great feast for the holy ghost correct yes sir that weekend yes
2:58um in the friday they're looking for 11 a.m to 12 a.m p.m that would be no 8 00 a.m yes all right yeah right ahead of me yeah midnight that's right over an hour i know that's right sorry about that we got to work for an hour all right and that's beer and wine they're all beer and wine that's correct all right so the friday night is 11 in the morning to midnight
3:26saturday the same thing sunday 11 a.m to 10 p.m and this is in the parking lot that is correct correct you you did this the same thing two years two years in a row already this we got third okay and it's very mine serving food as well obviously okay any questions from the members of the board no questions how do you guys make it out over there closer to opening up
4:00we have a little minor setback with us the architect but we're moving forward the roof is going to get done and moving forward i know it wasn't an easy project yeah you guys were trying your hardest though perfect let us know if you can do any help thank you okay is there a motion i'll make a motion that we grant the one day commits for august 24th august 25th and august 26th i'll second
4:23that motion there's a motion made and seconded to grant anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor all right thank you thank you thank you for coming say michael's feast 189 essex street michael aguiar august 3rd august 4th and august 5th you just state your name and address for the record please michaela 189 essex street okay and this is again is an annual uh request for the saint michael's feast correct um
4:57friday eight to twelve august third is eight to twelve eight pm to twelve a.m august fourth eight pm to twelve a.m and august fifth 6 p.m to 10 p.m um beer only correct correct yes okay and benefits the church correcting the holy ghost actually the feast church the feast correctly all right again annual event any questions questions is there anyone else in favor is there anyone opposed is there a motion
5:34okay i think the motion that we grant the one day permits made and seconded to grant anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor thank you have a good night good luck crystal community college 777 elsewhere street lieutenant matthew angstrom july 25th did you just state your name and address for the record please yes uh it's it's uh baxter smith okay this is um an all alcohol license for
6:09wednesday july 25th so one week from today five to seven pm and it's an after hours of the bristol county at the bristol chamber after hours yes yes um and it's five to seven pm all alcohol any questions obviously you know about the police um any questions no questions is there a motion i'll make a motion that we grant will be uh when they permit for july 25th i'll second that motion it's an
6:47emotion made and seconded to grant anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor you're all set thank you very much thank you so coming in common vitula license texera restaurants inc dva famous shiraz korea 144 rodman street louis texera yes
7:16state your name and address for the record uh louis texara 144 rodman street okay tell us what you're looking to do here uh we're changing it's a restaurant facility uh we're changing didn't do too well with the pizza rear so we changed it to a um more of a portuguese it's already a restaurant right right it's what's the name of it now it was byzonia okay so it's the same same building you're not changing
7:39anything and just the type of business yes changing the restaurant yeah changing that type of restaurant and how about your hours same same no renovations no okay any questions the seating is the same everything's exactly the same right yep okay okay any questions from the members of the board no questions so anyone else here in favor or anyone opposed is there a motion i'll make a motion
8:13that we grant the common pictures license i'll second that motion it's a motion made and seconded to grant anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor hi good luck thank you very much have a good night thank you old business new business the saint john's athletic club letter um we have a letter dated june 28th from dear city of harvard licensing licensing department this is to inform you that as of
8:45wednesday june 27th our bar manager chrissy medeiros no longer works for us at this time the board is seeking actively seeking a new bond manager but until we are able to secure a new manager club president frank almeida and board will be working as bond management is the zone managing well they quit or fire i don't really know that yeah yeah so that in the meantime they sent a letter just stating that they're doing
9:17their very best to get somebody on in the interim is gonna yeah i think we gotta get some data have to be on the next agenda with bob managing i think they're okay for a little bit because they've said that somebody's going to be the manager of record tentatively this gentleman okay so we would have to prove him well when things happen like this they usually give people just a cover-up
9:42right so that somebody so when's that august meeting the 15th so maybe at least getting that just because first is a wednesday it is the fifth right so if we had them come in for that meeting that's true so yeah at least maybe give us an update for that yeah if they could get them uh get us an update we would hope they'd have something on the agenda for september sounds great okay
10:08right is there a motion to that effect i'll make a motion that we um request an update for our next meeting from st john's and they'll thicken that motion motion made and seconded anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor the next one in conference with the police department let's do the open meeting law okay so we had we're supposed to read those correct the complaints yeah
10:52there were um there was an open meeting law complaint dated june 26 19 18 1918 2018 that was um filed against the board and it was filed specifically it's against all of the members of the board and the allegation is that the forward licensing board violated the open meeting law by holding their meeting at the forward government center knowing that richard branco could not attend this meeting under the threat of
11:21arrest for trespassing the city administrator cathy vavares issued a no trespass order to richard branco on april 26 2018 notifying him that his presence in government center would result in his arrest for trespassing the foreign licensing board knew or should have known that richard dranko was prohibited from attending and observing the fervor licensing board meeting under threat of arrest and
11:46should have moved their meeting to a location where all people including richard branco and any other persons who have been served with no trespass notices could attend if they desire to there's a reference to a herald news article on june 19th of 2018 where the the report was about the new trespassing quarter um and the request is that the board should move all meetings of the public bodies
12:12from government center to a location where no one is prevented from attending and observing the meeting meeting on the threat of trespassing and it's submitted by patrick higgins dated june 2018.
12:26this has been an ongoing issue there again that's the same thing it's just one so what happened was um carrie filed a request to uh for extension of the time to respond to the complaint to the attorney general's office and by a letter dated july 3rd we did have that extension and we we it has to be filed by monday july 23rd so we did receive i don't know if everyone got that but has a board
13:10because it's copied to me from attorney macy his opinion that the no trespassing doesn't prohibit someone from coming to the board as long as they behave according to the rules of the board and that they are not prohibited from coming to a board meeting so we need to refer this back to the law department so they can respond accordingly and timely yeah so is there a motion i'll make the
13:37motion that we refer the meeting with the plane back to the law department and that's like in that motion it's a motion made and seconded to refer to the law department anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor all right we also have the minutes of the meeting from may 16th that need to be approved i think promotion that we approve the minutes of may 16th second emotion it's a motion made and
14:03seconded to approve anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor bye-bye knows since the other one's a selling conference i
14:21agenda is show course hearings um hot well quick stop is in conference nikki doyle's pub 380 rhode island avenue we're all set to proceed
14:40okay go ahead officer jamie will recuse himself from this hearing please remember thank you for your patience tonight no problem right there okay i'm off that's okay
15:05good evening members of the board for purposes of the record attorney peter solino representing uh the respondent sonny patel officer michael tetra with the fall road police department and attorney said you know why you're here tonight yes sir and you're you and your client willing to move forward yes we are okay and you have read the police report we've discussed the police reports yes and your client is aware
15:27that this matter could be either place on file for a warning or as much as a relocation yes and obviously ready to move forward i am okay so um we have the board has read the police report um would your client like to waive the reading of the report or is he disputing anything no i would like to apologize on behalf of uh the police department and everything that stated in the report we
15:56are making uh we are following the precautions and changing things on the property as we speak so yes we'll waive it what are you changing on the property we'll get to that oh okay there's a question on that question the question question on the floor is very broadly way of the reading yes okay officer is there anything you want to add regards to waving the reading you're okay with that yes i am all right so in
16:18regards to the matter what happened let's start off with what changes are you looking to make uh i'll let sunny expound on that in regards to changes we are definitely putting no warning signs around the building which we have already done uh we're definitely making rotations outside on a hourly basis trying to keep people from because we have the way the location's sitting they hide behind where the air
16:40machine is and they sit there and it's just a place for homeless people or people like just have nothing better to deal with their time then sit there and drink a canister or whatever they would like to do with their free time and we've had issues where we deny sale to a certain person but someone else comes in and buys for them so we can't control that but we do go outside and try to
17:05mitigate that but what i'm gonna be on site from open and close for the next month trying to mitigate the amount of people we have just sitting outside trying to be a problem to the police officers and the community um so this is my first um instance where this has happened on any on our license and uh truly sorry and uh yeah i do have other stores as well yes
17:33okay how many stores uh i have another at the moment another liquor license so too uh no not involved but have you had any problems i think oh no no no problems at all whatsoever it's been almost four years and this is my first instance where we've had any issues office tetrault are you aware of any of the instances of this facility outside of this one in question no i i i
17:54talk with uh sunny correct yes um sunny today and obviously we've get we get a lot of complaints it's a bad neighborhood um we do get a lot of complaints about people being intoxicated and stuff and i've talked to um his father bob a few times saying listen you know you if you notice you got to train your staff there people are intoxicated you can't sell them um on this occasion what happened and the
18:15reason for the write-up was i observe the gentleman go in there intoxicated he buys alcohol from the store comes out falls down and an ambulance had to be called at some points as many as three a day ambulances to that establishment um and like i explained to him is you know i think we've summoned seven people this month alone for open containers in the parking lot and like i said he just needs to address
18:38that more whether hire a security guard a police detail for a couple days something and you know it's like i said his responsibilities his property just to get people off there and we try to address it much as much as we can and we are busy like he brought to my attention sometimes they call and takes us a little while to get there but then they just think of other ways to address it
18:53because it's a constant problem with people drinking a lot yeah correct and if they're i mean if they're playing the games with you know joe's going in for mike i mean how much more can you police that inside and you know maybe it's something we've got to look at outside um he's always been cooperative with you correct yes and i like the fact that you said you know you're trying to address what's
19:13going on in your parking lot we had a license you just before you who at some time thought it was not a big deal what's going on inside the parking lot and at least you're acknowledging the fact that once that liquor leaves your your store it's still on our property yes yes you are correct in saying we haven't had any issues in the past with that being said i i think with some things
19:34called multiple issues there i mean it's not just a one-time thing you've had a bunch of calls there are there any questions from the board no i don't um have any questions these you are gonna rectify yes do you have cameras outside there now we do have cameras on each angle at 4k so it's really good visibility in case do anything does happen and we've shared our footage with police on other occasions as well
20:02and it is good good quality but what happens is and the storefront we have cameras on both sides to protect our stations and both corners of the property where some of these guys are doing is they go into the outskirts on um very corner edge of the property and where the air machine is where it's like kind of tucked in away from it you can kind of see it on one side of
20:25the street but not as much as from the front but that's where we don't have the best visibility but we do have good cameras in case anything does happen for us to visually check at a later point in time so those cameras though are not you can't see from the inside of the store what's going on um the cameras can see but we just there's some blind spots and and some like by the air machines where
20:54these some of these guys just hang out where we just have to go out there uh what we can't see from like the counter like our staff anyone that's hanging out in front of the store we usually go out there like hey come on time to leave time to leave and they just kind of get up and then just go right to walgreens or the parking lot right next door
21:12yeah so if the corner stalls right here at the end of the table that the air machine's right over here on the side and then over a little bit farther is like uh they take the milk crates in the back they're sitting under the tree and drinking over there and that's the kind of blind spots he's talking about yeah are there other establishments that the city office you're aware of that hire
21:27security guards outside of selling there was a problem once with a store on pleasant street that did for a short period but nothing currently now because that could become a cost but if it's something that you're going to have to say concern yeah it doesn't look that way that's a big cost i don't have any additional questions i don't think there's anything in dispute you're not disputing anything
21:46like i said i want to say sorry and we're definitely trying to take steps to fix this you know if you need the help of the police officers too available yes you know to help you with getting your detail and the detail would be an expense that we probably have to work in the budget at some point in time but it is expensive but yeah even even i mentioned if it's
22:08an extra staff member or something you put on it can go outside more frequently you know like i said i'm cool for the next month i'm going to be on site till closing so i'm going to be there from my morning time till 11 o'clock at night so i am doing stuff for the next month to at least get rid of all the controls if there's somebody out there patrolling you know
22:28yeah your location they may you know lean and go on to the next one hopefully until they decide to make a uh return back to the property but which we do not want but still i i definitely will be on site for until closing officer anything else like that no that's it seriously i would just like to add that in light of the no prior record and the approach here that of being
22:49contrite and taking accountability that i would ask for no suspension in this instance um i don't i mean i know what you just saw and what you just heard and i would submit to you that this is very different than that okay um
23:14that we close the public hearing and i'll second that motion there's been a motion made in second anyone else here in favor anyone opposed all in favor aye i'll make a motion that we suspend the license for one day and that will be for august 12th which is a sunday um i appreciate the fact that you're working with the officers um i think we need to address this issue
23:41as quick as we can immediately as we can with some ideas maybe working with the police department i know you're doing were working with what you have now and we introduced another employee maybe a security guard um going back to just the last license we had in there and you've you've admitted you you are responsible what's going on in your parking lot a little um if take this time take that day
24:06maybe this sends a message to your you know that small bit of your clientele too that you know this isn't going to happen in my establishment and that will help bond with it too you do have the right to appeal this boston if you like um any further questions i do have a question uh in that this is a multi-purpose store and they sell liquor and other things what is the protocol
24:25relative to the shutting down of the liquor side of this so we can drape off the flicker okay and kind of did on yeah done it on time yeah so you can still stay open i'm not we're not requesting you shut down completely just and that will even you know like give a and send another message to those patrons uh that might frequently on a sunday and hang out back near the milk crate say
24:44hey this is why we're closed let your staff know you know those target customers that are issues you know this is why i can't sell liquor today it's because what's happened right in front of you i mean they're your customers let them know what's going on your establishment we don't want you to close up we don't want you to have to call the police because as we know there are a lot of big issues
25:02than what's happening in your establishment and some others but um anything that you can do any questions from us we can help out in any way and the officers were here to help okay thank you thank you appreciate it thank you for coming i'll second that motion for the one day so there's an emotion made in second anyone else here in favor anyone opposed all in favor aye
25:37good luck out there thank you thank you okay
25:55and i'll second that motions promotion made and seconded to adjourn anyone else in favor anyone opposed all in favor aye thank you