Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is a meeting of the Chelsea Licensing Commission. Today is Thursday, August 14th, 2025. I'm joined this evening by my fellow commissioners, uh, Eno Lopez, Mike McAteer, Emily Churniaak, myself,
Marne McAlpine. Uh, we have our licensing clerk, uh, Naomi Libron. We also have Bee from the licensing department joining us this evening, and our assistant um, assistant city solicitor, uh, Peter Christopher um,
along with a couple of young members joining our board this evening. Um, and then we have Sergeant uh, Sergeant Chung from the Chelsea Police Department and Officer Santiago um, is also joining us
this evening. Before we kick things off, just a couple of housekeeping notes. Um, when you do step up to speak to us, please step up to the microphone, speak your name, your address, your reason before us clearly. If there are more
than one person speaking at the same time on a matter, please take turns going to the microphone. It helps us hear you better up here and it helps those in the community that are watching this either uh live online or later on
recordings uh hear the conversations that are taking place here as well. Um and I just want to remind my fellow commissioners to make sure that your mics are on uh before you go to speak as well. Uh, with that, if I can get an approval
of the minutes from the July 14th, 2025 meeting. A motion. And a second. Second. All in favor? I um Emily and Mike, your um mics are not on. We if we can get the motion again in
the motion. Thank you. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. That's okay. And next on the agenda, we have a clerk's update, Miss Naomi. So, I have I got an email from Nelson
Molina from Nocturna, and he wants to know uh if if since uh the dispensaries are asking for more time to open, he was wondering how can um he has can do the same for his establishment. uh he can
show a list of supporters if you need to and um many cities around he says East Boston and Rivera open until 2:00 a.m. and there's more competition built being built in the those cities and not to mention the construction that's being
done in downtown area. So, they're asking for um I guess a hearing or um to discuss the matter of opening restaurants and bars until 2:00 a.m. Um
I mean, I I I will say right off the bat, even though we have approved some later hours for our cannabis shops, those are still closing up earlier than all of our bars are. So, I don't know that we need to extend hours of bars until 2 am. And restaurants and so they want to do
restaurants, bars, and cannabis all at the same conversation. Restaurants and bars. This is saying if since the cannabis licenses Oh, he wants restaurants and bars for later hours. How do we go about getting our restaurants and bars to have later
hours? So, he's asking for 2 a.m. Whereas the cannabis shops, the latest anybody's asking on cannabis. so far is 12 a.m. The latest we've given is 11 p.m. U so I mean if you guys are open to a
discussion on it we could certainly um have a public hearing to discuss the matter. So so in the past it's it's been a police issue. The police have been very clear they they cannot they don't have the the means to deal with things that goes on at 2 in the morning. Also, don't you have to serve food to
No. No. So, bars can be open. It's up to us, but So, we decide. Mhm. What's the latest? But people are open till we have We have some places open until 1 2 a.m. on on New Year's. Yeah. But not 2 a.m. all the time.
No. Please. We don't have any anything that is open until 2 a.m. Yeah. So the latest that I heard before is 1 1 a.m. and never 2 am. So Boston probably does I I mean I
not in Chelsea. I never heard that before. I I understand places wanting to be able to get as much business as they can. Um I don't know that we necessarily are looking to be one of the places with the bars that are open the latest. Um nothing good happens
at those hours as they say. and not a lot of sales. Like I would be curious about the actual sales between 1 and 2 am at bars. Uh how do my commissioners, fellow commissioners feel about moving this to
a public hearing to permit? That's fine. I'm happy to have the debate if people want to feel heard. I mean, you can have your say. You can always have your way. So, sure. Yeah. I think I agree that uh should have a a and You can bring up their
I think you g false hopes we have a hearing. I really do. I don't see it ever happening in Chelsea. I mean I'm not inclined to to give my vote towards later hours. I think sometime Yeah, I agree. But I
think we can be upfront about that and have if they still want to do it and plead their case, that's fine. I don't think it's giving them hope. I think sometimes people want to just at least feel like they can plead their case and feel heard doesn't mean that they're getting their way. But I think as long as we're clear about that doesn't mean
because you're heard that it's going to be agreed upon and we are likely to say no and just be upfront about that. Not likely to be saying no. Yeah. I mean so that's their decision. If they want to organize and do it and come and like advocate knowing that it's highly likely going to be not changed,
that's fine. That's that's on them. We're happy. I mean, I think we're happy to hear it as like our duty to sort of be an o open community around it. I think we can be really upfront about that. That's a really tall order to make a case and a high bar. If there if they want to sort of do that and spend the energy, like
cool. Um, but understanding that it's a very high bar to change that. Uh, Alex, just to kind of bring you up to speed with where we are at, um, Naomi just shared with us the clerk's update of one of our
restaurant owners asking about, um, how do how do they go about requesting extending the restaurant and bar hours in the city? Um, and they reference how we have approved um some later hours for cannabis, but the restaurant is asking
to uh have us permit being open until 2:00 a.m. Um, which currently uh we do not permit in our city with the exception of New Year's Eve. So, we were just talking about whether or not we wanted to move this to a public hearing um just to give members of the community
a chance to speak on the matter. Um, but I have stated I'm not inclined to give my vote to um extending our hours past 1:00 a.m. except for New Year's Eve. Okay. Um,
does our license uh permit it to go to 2 a.m.? We It's up to us. It would require a change of hours um for some if we were going to approve it. um lences would have to come before
us and request that change individually for that. I'll be curious what the police department um input is this because it's really it's going to be on them to stay up to not stay up but monitor the crowd
or the activity once the restaurant and bars let out at 2 a.m. Yeah. I want to support the city in that aspect. I'm not opposed to it, but if there's a plan in place, then maybe. I have a question for Naomi. Um, how
many restaurants are they open to 1:00 a.m.? Quite a few. There are some restaurants that open up until 1:00 a.m. Yeah. He's asking if you know how many how many like because I know some restaurants they close at 11.
We we have 61. We got 64 liquor licenses. 17 of those or 18 of those are liquor stores. So there's 50 I want to say about maybe 30 might have until 1:00
certain days of the week. Uh Sergeant did uh you just want to kind of share your thoughts um while we decide if we're going to move this to a public hearing. Uh, I could tell you this, the chief's not interested in that
by any means. Um, that falls into our last half shift, which is, um, the lower of the minimum manning. Mhm. So, that's just something historically we're not interested in, but I'm happy to hear what the city has to say. I feel
like they're addressing this. The email is pretty valid because people do leave here and try to catch that last call elsewhere. Mhm. So they it may hit them a little bit. Um so if we were to even cross that bridge
if we have to I would limit it to the days. I certainly wouldn't do every day. Mhm. So that's our stance and I don't think it's going to change under any chief for this city cuz there's other members we have to protect in the community too.
Some of these bars are located at residential areas, so people got to sleep at some point. The later they go home, the more problems can stir up later into the night. So, agreed. That's our stance. Thank you.
Thank you. Yeah. I mean, we don't even allow dancing here, so the odds of like staying open till 2 a.m. is like slim to none in my opinion. We're like foot loose. But again, I'm for I'm for the debate them understanding situation here. Yeah. But for them, I mean, if I'm happy to
like have the conversation as long as people understand the expectations of being managed of like 90% chance of it not happening, but like you want to shoot your shot and debate it, cool. Like all for it. Sergeant Sean makes a excellent point because people do leave here to go
either another place to 2 am. So I'm wondering if the mindset is that they're losing business to other towns, surrounding towns because they close later. Um I'm more interested in the security and the management of it. Um so
since there is some pros and cons, I would be open to a public hearing. um hearing out the public and what their thoughts are. I mean, I can I mention one more thing? Yes. If it ever had to happen, I would prefer
it happen in some sort of process where it's like a one day thing and one day application. They go in front of the board like, "Hey, this particular day we'd like to be open to 2 a.m. Will you guys sanction that?" that then goes into a public hearing and then that
particular bar for that particular event goes to 2 am. If we were to ever do any sort of spin-off or that would be the trial I would suggest. Yeah. If that's the case, it's not even worth it because they would never get the word out to their patrons in time and
might as well just table it. Not going to work. Yeah. I just I think the the data is important. Like I think there's like a narrative of stories people tell themselves, like the owners being like, "Oh, all this money we're losing." And like, "How much actually is that are you
making in that hour?" Like when the car wash people came our way and they were like, " $1,000 between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m." And I was like, "That's a lot of money for a night." Like that to me was really important data. I promise it's not that much money. What I would
be inclined to say is rather than moving this to a public hearing, if there was anybody in the community that wanted to um discuss this, um I would u ask them to come to one of our future
meetings and when I ask if there's anybody from the public um that has other business that they they'd like to discuss, they can bring it up. Why can't they apply like like everyone else just to raise their hours? I mean, if you go to Rea might have one, maybe two. East Boston maybe two.
Everest got one. It's not like it's not like we can have 10 places that have two. There's usually like one place that will stay open. So, why doesn't if someone wants to put an application till two, we can deal with it when they apply? But then it's to be fair like what is what is the requirements in a
nonresidential area? Are they going to manage it? Yes. And if we give one, we're probably not going to be willing to give a second and a third and a fourth one. So if we have a meeting though, it's the same thing. I see what you're saying. So limiting the licensing numbers of number that go up to 2 a.m.
Every other town does. There's no not one town has it that Yeah. But there are also lots of towns that don't allow anybody to be open until true. But the ones that do. I think Rivier has one. I think I think East Boston has two. They don't It's not like every place is going to be. No, because there's not a lot of revenue either in that that final hour.
Not a lot of people out at two in the morning. No. Not Chelsea anyways. And like I said when we first started discussing this, nothing good happens at that hour. Uh, hi, I'm Gemini. We're about to go live explore complex. So I I would be inclined um just to um
just say thank you for sharing the uh comment and then you're welcome to apply. Welcome to either apply for a change um and certainly come before us. Um it it does not sound like uh we are really
kind of open to a 2 am sort of a thing. Um and the construction's not forever too. So this whole construction argument it's like this is not going to be for 10 years. Like it's done soon. So uh but at this point I'm not I'm not
necessarily inclined to open up for a big major discussion. Okay. But if somebody wants to come before us and have a conversation, then um we can certainly have a conversation. Yeah, I'm down. Perfect.
No motion. No, no motion for a public hearing. No. Was there anybody here this evening that wanted to speak um to us briefly on this? Uh certainly if you want to step up to the microphone. Yeah, I think that uh you're making
comparisons between apples and oranges that uh I live two doors down from the western front. There has never been any trouble there. This is not a restaurant. This is not a bar. I'm there all the time and you don't see people
congregating there. They go in, they make their purchase, and then they're out of there. Yeah. We're not talking We're talking about bars and restaurants only. Yeah. All right. I'm just I hear comparisons being made with bars and restaurants.
The comparison is purely from the member of our community that is saying we have permitted extended hours for cannabis. Why can't we also do it for our restaurants? And we're saying that it's not the same.
It's very different. And uh you know I mean let them come here and complain you know if they want to open their bar later or the restaurant but uh this is a you know a peaceful neighborhood. There's not people congregating around there. There are people conducting their
business and leaving and and also that there are there are some who want to uh go there later. Sir, we're not talking about Western Front yet. Um so it we will be getting to that. So, you're certainly welcome to speak about the Western Front location
if you would like. Um, but we're not on that subject quite yet. Um, anybody else that wanted to speak on the the request for the 2 a.m.? No. Okay. Seeing no one, uh, no motion. Moving on.
Uh the next item on our agenda is a continued disciplinary public hearing to consider revoking, suspending, or modifying the all alcoholic beverages on premise license and the amusement and entertainment license as to the non-compliance to the rules and
regulations numbers 2.04P, 2.08 P, 2.09B, C, E, 2.09 09A, 2.11 C, and 2.12 C of the City of
Chelsea Licensing Commission in regards to the police report number 25 uh 1431 F to Takaria Eucalyptto Corporation DBA Las Vegas restaurant at 388 Broadway Chelsea.
We did that. And step up to the microphone, please state your name. I'm attorney Sam Vitali. My office is in Lyn at 161 Liberty Street. Let me introduce these folks. Thank you. Um
the owner and lency Rahul Sanchez. His daughter Elena Flores who will act as an interpreter. I I I'd say uh their English is better than my Spanish, but uh do she's assisted me and I hope she can assist the members. There is also an
interpreter here um if you need them. And this uh is Yazu uh Sanchez who's the uh manager of record. Um by way of uh explanation and not
excuse, let me just say to you that this sort of represents uh the solution and the problem. Um there are uh a police report by the sergeant uh and what she observed and let me just add if you've looked at that report there are two
other individuals who are paramount in that report um and one is Maria who is the former wife of Raul and one is Louise who is the stepson of Raul. So,
this is a family operation. Um, I don't think we can, can we? Yeah, we unfortunat we can't shut that door. Uh, it's a it's a public hearing, so the door has to stay open. Open like that. Like that.
Sorry. We can certainly do that. Apologies, folks. We can keep going. Okay. Thank you. Uh I also want to thank uh we and the board. Originally this was scheduled in July and then you moved the
meeting to a Monday night and that created a conflict for me. And the other issue was that and this part of the what the problem that brings us here is that uh YU was absent in a way. Uh so let me go back to the beginning. Um there was
an altercation outside the premises and I'm familiar and I know the police are with a concept called curdilage that comes back from the old English days about the mode around the castle. So obviously if you're a licency you are responsible for the area outside and
around and uh the city of Chelsea has such a rule. Um the altercation occurred outside. So one of the issues in the initial report was uh why weren't the police called but the police were there. I don't know whether they were the root police but
they were going by. The security officer had observed this, came back into the bar, spoke with Louise and Luis locked the door for the sa and as the police report reflects, he thought he was doing the right thing because it was the safety of the patrons inside and it was
nearly closing time. Uh that's also as I understand it a violation of your rules. U but what this is and I don't want to make it sound like the Jerry Springer show, but this is they're all related. Okay. So, Louise, who's acting as the
manager because Yu was away and he asked a family member who was Louise uh to work that night. Okay. Um his mother is Maria who's in the police report as well. And uh these people are here to
tell you that he was away and we understand that it should have been Raul. Uh subsequent councelor before we go through the whole night and your version of it can we have the police department present everything to us.
Yeah. Well and then you can counter with any questioning what Sergeant Chang observes or situations. Right. But prior to going through the whole night and why the answers to all of those things, if we as as a commission can hear from the police department with their version of the
events and then have you um have a rebuttal for anything that um there was a reason for why that took place, that would be more beneficial to us than running through it from your side first. She want you to change first. Okay.
Yes. Thank you, Sergeant. Thank you, council. Thank you, Madame Commissioner. Uh, this is stemming from a call um actually and the flag down on May 18th, 2025 at approximately uh 12:46
in the morning at the Las Vegas restaurant and Bar out of 388 Broadway. Um officers were driving by and were flagged down by um just a passer by buyer that stated there was an array in
public, which is a pretty much a fight in public, a group fight in public. Um officers did stop, engaged situation, made a few arrests, and uh learned that these were patrons from the Las Vegas bar. Uh I was street supervisor that
night. So, as a result, I anything that happens at a bar um as a part of, you know, the representative from the PD um with this commission, I entered the establishment uh cuz I observe the officer speaking to uh Luis who
identified himself as the manager on duty. Um we entered um the establishment. I another person engaged me and that was Maria. Um, she was ve evidently intoxicated. She was
slurred in her speech. I could smell alcohol on her. Um, and who identified herself as owner. So now I'm concerned cuz you have an intoxicated owner. You have a manager on duty um that I've been informed have locked the door. So now I'm just going through the
administrative inspection. Um, I didn't see an updated license on the wall. So I inquired with Maria. um took her a while to kind of come to and give me the right folder. She gave me like the the food license at first and um it was just kind
of going back and forth. This is all captured on body one camera. Uh from there uh inquired with what transpired. Um asked them why they didn't call the police. Um Louise stated that he wasn't responsible for the areas outside of the bar. Um denied that it even happened or
stemmed in the bar. So um after all that we I requested video uh from there video was obtained. Um once video was obtained I signed the the case to uh officer Santiago uh in which
he watched the video and observe some more violations which I'm going to have him take over and speak upon. So uh so before we show that video, counselor, are you okay with us uh submitting that video as exhibit A? I' I've spoken with the attorney. Yes.
Thank you. I have a problem. We We provided the video at the request of the police. Thank you. Appreciate that. Good evening. Officer Joe Santiago with the Chelsea Police Department. assigned to the traffic unit. Also assigned to the licensing unit under Sergeant Star
Chung. Uh tonight I'm just going to go over briefly of when the sergeant assigned me to the case. Uh she spoke of the case involving everything that happened. I'm going to speak on my supplemental report of what I observed
on the video and I also spoke with the owner uh what I saw on the video not too long ago. actually two on two occasion. One was yesterday as well. So there's no surprises here. Just bear with me. Okay. Um so here
we're watching it's in black and white. U you'll see a a server, a bartender behind the bar. You'll see a DJ there. Um, and you'll see everyone just drinking here. Uh, as the video goes on, I'm going to play clips because if not,
we'll be here for hours watching the same thing over and over and over. Like Sergeant Chong said, she observed multiple violations watching the video. As you can see, the server is actually dancing with the mail party there several times. Um, you can see the
bartender in the back. She's pouring shots within seconds. She she's also taking shots. Um the server again picks up a beer. She starts drinking as well throughout the video.
The DJ also starts drinking as well. I'll let it play for a little bit. There's the shot. She does this multiple times in the evening. Like I said, we'll be here all night. I believe she's taking about four or five shots, but just to shorten the
video. This is one of three shots that we have. The shots, put it down. The second DJ takes a drink. She cheers with everybody again. Soft shot.
Let's go around. DJ also start drinking again. Is that her second or her third? That's her third. So now we're going to pay attention here to the two gentlemen by the DJ. So we see the security there on black not wearing a red shirt. These two gentlemen
had some type of words that started inside. Security sees for a little bit. He does his job. He intervenes. breaks up the guys, tells them to move away. So, pay attention to that. Don't know what caused the issue, but um
the female that's walking with the Adidas shirt, that's also that's the bartender there. So, altercation at the door, he picks up a chair, goes after somebody at the door. security attempts to grab him, goes outside,
and I believe that's when our Chelsea's finest comes by and sees what's going on. So, with that said, there's multiple violations here between the dancing and the drinking, not calling the police. Um, Sergeant Chun uh
went into depth with her first initial, what she observed and everything. Again, this is what we had on the video. I didn't speak with the Yeah. Um, also there's under the license there's nothing here for a DJ.
That was going to be my question. So, and I know they need at least uh a one day permit. If they want to have a DJ, they have to apply for it, I believe, for one day, unless they did. Any questions? Um, with the altercation that took place
up in the front, um, was the gentleman in the blue shirt one of those individuals? They were all under arrest. Correct. I'm sorry for the mic. They were all under arrest. Correct. The three of them.
uh initial oh well uh feedback from uh yourself counselor on what we saw in in those items. I don't have any questions for the officers everybody watched and observed uh as I said it at the outset not by way
of excuse by way of explanation. The first notice with respect to the uh various rules uh the deficiency is that Louise was not familiar and in fact was the report of Sergeant Chang reflects.
He calls uh uh Raul who tells him yeah this is where they are this is where you can find them and subsequently yu told me that he he always kept them wherever but I think the more serious things are the subsequent events which are noted in
I think the second notice uh and as I understand it as it's been explained to me um it was the waitress's birthday one of the waitress's birthday and so they engaged in a birthday party essentially.
Um, so you have uh two events. The police take note because the altercation is the I think it's the root police driving by. The door gets locked because Luis thinks that's the right thing to do. Um, and then Sergeant Chang makes
observations that go to uh the color of his shirt, which is not in accord with the the rules that you have. So let let me deal with the where did the security person come from? He works for a security company that they hired called Guardians.
And our understanding is we hired them to produce people who comply with the rules. Uh we've subsequently learned that that may not be the case. So we've severed the relationship with Guardians who we understand work at other clubs in the city or other
restaurants in the city. Likewise, the DJ was somebody that we got from he plays in other establishments that have it on their license. Those were mistakes in judgment. Those people are gone. So are the weight staff
who uh engaged in what we think were the violations. Even though it was one of their birthdays, they ought not to have done that. And so uh what I wanted to do is with respect to the people who were
involved, they're all related and sometimes you know familiarity is not the best thing in terms of running a business especially a regulated business. the business has been there I think more than 10 years and I don't
think they've been before you or or any other board perhaps but one prior time maybe several eight years ago. Um and so with respect to the events that occurred that night, it was because the
individual filling in who was his stepson um was not recognized because he hasn't, you know, been approved as a manager. the approved manager. Yu was away. He actually picked Louise to be the manager. The woman who says she's
the owner is the formal wife, but they had separated long before he got licensed. She has no interest in the license. She's not the owner. Uh and then with respect to the uh events that occurred, Luis was wrong because he
didn't understand the obligation of the rules and the concept of the environs outside. Uh but when I met with Louise uh and I asked him, well, why weren't the police called? He said, they came they were there. The security guard came
back in and I locked the door. So that I think if you look at the totality of the experience and the event and the incident um it's we can't put the genie back on the bottle. They there were mistakes and judgment that were made but
going forward I I note you are holding a seminar or a training which I think is a great idea for all licences. Um but it's no good unless you pay attention to what you present. Uh and so I when after I I
spoke with him and I tried to determine because I there was no change in manager that they had informed me about there was no change in ownership but I don't I think the more serious events are the ones that this officer pointed out uh
and as to that the steps that were taken were to sever the relationship with the uh security company that provided the individual who didn't satisfy your regulations to terminate the waitresses who violated uh again the rules in terms
of and to not engage that individual who was the DJ uh who also violated the rules. Uh but you but you hired the DJ like the DJ is not like a fake person that just
popped up a DJ table like you hired a DJ to DJ and you don't have a license for that. There was there was no license and the all all of the reasons you've already stated that you've been in business for x number of years. When did you get when was the liquor
license given? Years ago. A long time. Less than 10 though. I don't think they had it originally. Yeah. So the the fact that you've had this license for years. These rules and regulations are not new. Part of having a license is knowing and understanding
and following the city's rules and regulations. So, if you're going to have somebody that is overseeing the business one night, because obviously a manager on record can't necessarily needs to understand the rules and rec
the rules and regulations because otherwise you are messing up as an owner. and a l eee and not doing your due diligence. Um, so no matter what, it always goes back up to the owner and you have to
make sure that you always are leaving people responsible for your business that understand the rules and regulations and follow those rules and regulations because these these items, yes, they were found because there was an incident outside um of a fight that
brought them inside, but as we've stated with numerous other cases that have come before us, us. A lot of these times, these things that we are are watching, this isn't a one-off. These things happen more often and they're just not
seen on camera because there wasn't a fight outside the establishment that night. Um, so the I don't like the argument that it was this young man just trying to do his best. That that falls back on the
manager. that falls back on the owners for not making sure that who they left in charge knew the rules and followed the rules. Um, comments from my fellow commissioners. I have a couple of questions if that's
okay. Um, was the manager on duty tip certified? Yes. Okay. Have to step up to the microphone, please. Anyone who's going to speak, he's the interpreter. Yes, I do.
Okay. So, my observations is that the part and and I just need you to just um share your name so we know exactly. Jesus Santos. You're Jesus. But you weren't on property that night. Correct. I was in Barces for that. You were on vacation. Yes.
So, who was the manager on duty that night? That's what I'm asking. His stepson that night I took the my brother stepson took. So, is he tip certified? No. Okay. So, the manager on duty that night
was not tip certified. Correct. No, but the rest uh the rest of the staff is certified. His tip certified. Yeah. Well, it would help if he was. What What about the servers and bartenders in the restaurant? Are they tip certified?
Yes. So my observations is that the bartender who was drinking shots did not notice the patron who look took at least a minute or so to button his shirt. So he shouldn't have been served any longer. Yeah. So this is, you know, it's
just an observation. So if she was tip certified, she wouldn't be drinking, you know, while working. and she had not overs served that patron who could have been over served and been in danger to himself and to others. I assume that happened because they knew
I was away and they have a birthday party. So unfortunate I don't I don't have nothing to say. Yeah. No, I know. But if the manager on duty was tip certified, he would have managed the weight staff. So that that was just my point on regards of that.
But they don't longer be working with us. So we take it away from the business. Okay. And then DJ, I think um Officer Santiago already answered that question.
It's not on the license. Correct. Yes. So it's not a recurring thing for one day. Okay. That was it. And so the other piece that she was just referencing was in having the DJ. In order to have a DJ in your establishment, you have to have the
approval from the board to have it on your entertainment license. We have the karaoke approval from That's not karaoke. And in order to have a karaoke, we has to have a TDA. That way they can
do. Do they really have some karaoke though? Do is there karaoke on there? I see karaoke on the entertainment license. Uh, from what we could see, it's TV jukebox. Karaoke radio.
No dish jockey. That looks like turntables to me. That's like turntable. Yeah. So, you have to in order to have an actual DJ in your establishment like that, that has to also be on your license.
Close. Can I speak? Yes. Just state your name first, please. Yes. When we interview the waitress to see what happened there than I, they explained that because it was someone's
waitress birthday, they hired the DJ. And when they saw the license of entertainment, they assumed that because there was karaoke there, it was okay for them to bring that DJ that night. But that that was the story that they
came up with them. But of course, they they are fired. They no longer work there. But that was the story we got from the waitress whose birthday was that day that they were celebrating. So when you're normally doing karaoke, how are you doing it? Oh, they they just
put a microphone. Well, that's that's the days that I can speak. Yes. And just your name, please. How we going to do karaoke without DJ? I don't understand. There there's karaoke machines. You don't need to have a full DJ setup.
It's a machine. Yes. For karaoke. Okay. Yeah. So if if you want to have it like like we saw there and you have a DJ setup in the space that is on your entertainment license, you have to um
you'd have to request a a change to your entertainment license and um so that would come back before the board a request a change to your entertainment license to add a DJ and then we would
review that and decide whether or not we were going to allow the addition of a DJ. Um, but it has to actually be done through an application if I can. So, just to go back to this is again
waitresses taking it on themselves to think like, oh, okay, we could hire a DJ. This falls under the owner Rahul. Okay, so we haven't had any issues with Las Vegas. I say since 2021,
since he took over, there hasn't been no issues. There hasn't been anything. Prior to that, we had some issues, but on his staff came over, cleaned it all up, new staff and everything. Like I explained to him, the the one day that you're not paying attention is when everything just rolled downhill. You had
people in there who weren't supposed to be in there, giving Sergeant Chung a hard time about who's in charge, what's what. Um then you had u staff members dancing and drinking. I don't care whose birthday it is. You don't take it upon yourself. So to say
like h this is a mistake and everything. You guys know the rules and regulations. You guys know this and you guys understand this. See I was going to say that we like I said we haven't had any issues but the one day you got to get your house back in order. Get your house back in order
again because what's going to happen is you're going to the snowball effect. It's going to get bigger and bigger and we're going to go back to the way it was. Guys did so good for so many years. All signed as one person. So you have to I know you have another business in re
and Daisy runs that one. Daisy did a fantastic job here. So you know you have the right staff. You just got to keep control. Going away on vacation, not calling the owner. There's really no excuse. Somebody's always in charge. Someone's a phone call away. Yeah.
As for the security, he actually did his job, prevented something, right? He went out. I mean, I don't think I think he was a little skeptical. He didn't want to get in trouble, hesitate. He didn't want to get hurt. Um, I think he did his job. Uh, the only thing he didn't want, everyone has to
wear a red shirt. I don't care what security company he worked for has to have security on it. That's for us. When we come in, we know who security is. But as for him doing, he actually did his job in the video. He broke it up not once but twice. You know, contact everybody outside,
pulled the guy back in, and then that's it. 911 should have been called right away regardless. Okay, if you watch the video, there's more to the video. This actually extended a little bit more in the back, which we can't see with the camera angle. It's either that or they didn't provide it.
But this started with this gentleman and somebody else in the back that it trickled to the to the Thank you, Officer Peter. I would just like to add for the edification of the board that the the
issue with the um with the DJ wasn't noticed for the purposes of this hearing. It's fine to go back and forth about proper procedure and and letting everybody know that that's something that should have happened um because we
we see it on the video. But I I just would caution the board against um taking that into consideration in um the development of any discipline that you might um that that you that may come of this.
Thank you, Peter. Um Commissioner um I just have one question. Has anything been rectified since the incident? There's a note here saying that it w the license wasn't posted or visible in rules or
regulation. Has anything been rectified since May? Um can you speak to whether or not the license proper up-to-date licenses are currently posted in a visible location? Yes. In fact, um my practice is and uh
is that when an employee gets hired to to be given a a copy of your rules and that they have read the rules. The problem is they couldn't find them. Uh but I talked uh with Yu and uh Louise called Raul and they
ultimately came up with a folder that had that. But subsequent to that, I I've asked them to post one because they couldn't find it because it was in a drawer in a kitchen. And if you don't know that, so can you just tell us what is has something been rectified? Are they posted? Like has this been addressed?
So, so there's two different things. Is the liquor license posted in a clear visible location? Entertainment license posted clear visible location. Rules and regulations in an area that are known by your team
for easy access. Yes. Can I just get somebody to say yes on the microphone? Yes. Being posted in the world, I'm pretty sure. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions for my fellow
commissioners? Yes, Daniel. I have a question for the manager. On that day of the incident, you said uh you were on vacation, right? Uh when you were are not on vacation, what are the hours do you work there? You work seven
days a week. How many hours a day? I work seven days a week and um approximately um I spend there like between 8 to 10 hours a day. And when you leave, who is in charge
after that? My brother, which is my boss, the one. Okay. Other questions from my comm fellow commissioners? No. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on this matter?
I just think with respect to the I see no one going forward um as I think was recognized uh mistakes were made but they've been in business a long time. Uh and in terms of it was it was sort of
the perfect storm. He was the way he picked someone that he thought was a family member that would understand what to do. that individual when confronted with the questions called the owner who was available who led them to where they were. But it's I think it's the
subsequent events after we turned in the tape that that gave us cause for concern as well as you. Uh but I do think that in terms of uh considering what is appropriate. I think it ought to also consider the fact that they haven't been
before you. And as I say, there's a good thing in having a family business and there might be some other things that aren't so good in a family business. And I and I think you saw both of those elements in this incident. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Um, recommend Mike thanks to roll back hours. Um, what were the current hours till 1:00 a.m.? Um, oh, no. Uh,
Thursday, Friday, Thursday to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. And then Wednesday, Sunday to Wednesday, 11:00 p.m. For how long? We haven't We haven't even talked about what, you know, they didn't have red
outfits. That's one thing. Yep. There were like eight violations on that thing. So, so tell me the violations that you are in that that you are finding um they violated.
All right, the violations it's on the sheet. Let's see. Let's go from here. So, the first one, the availability of rules and regulations. Uh and then the omission of premises where they lock the door. Um
the licenses. Um the owner though the the manager was like the stepson. Security p personnel not wearing a red shirt which I'm people in front of the bar. There's a
fight. You guys are now talking way too fast for me to be able to write them all down. Sure. Sure. I have I have the availability of the rules and regs, the locked door, the right there. Okay, Madam Chair. Yes.
I would just It doesn't sound to me like she has it. I give her there's a dispute in regards to any of the alleged violations, at least factually, if the board unless there was a anything that the board really thought that
um hadn't been found for. We could just say all all the allegations we found sufficient facts for. The only thing I don't understand what happened when these people fought outside that it kind of ended like they got thrown outside. There was a fight going on outside. They said they were
police weren't called. Police came right away. So there was no need to make a phone call or they should have been called. They didn't call the police. But how were you guys there? You were just you happen to be there. So the conflict occurred in the bar, right? Prior to that.
Yeah. Yeah. And it occur And it occurred twice in the bar and then it wasn't until they got into each other's face like about to fight that they were slowly escorted out and finally es allowed to argue and then finally escorted out when a chair was picked up.
No, but how did you were the So when they went outside and fought a passer buyer, flagged officers down driving by the square. They pulled over immediately, observed the fight still going on and that's when
they interveneed and locked everybody up for a frey in officer's presence. I mean, when that chair got picked up, police should have been called. Yeah, there's no no doubt. When the chair gets picked up, you call the police. There was time Prior to that,
the first arguments mean sometimes you have a little bit of an argument and the security disperses it. It it deescalates. You don't necessarily uh have to call the police every time somebody has an argument in your bar. But somebody picks up a chair in your
bar or physically goes after someone, that's when you protect yourself and your business and you call our police department. Like like I said earlier, there's a lot to this video. We had to cut it down just for time sake. But there was a some type of argument
prior to that then moved over to the DJ where the the security guard interveneed. They were still going back and forth still. So somewhere some dead something was escalating. So he made the judgment call. They made the judge not to do
anything until he went in the video with the chair. I think Peter was trying to say that we could just say there there's nothing in this list that you guys are disputing are in disagreement with.
Yeah, she has it. She has a copy. I have it now. They g they passed me the copy of it. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Okay, so um can I get a motion?
um to find that they are in violation of um all to Yeah. I I I would I would encourage the board to um make a motion that you
found sufficient facts to find violations on each of the counts that were noted in Sergeant Chung's uh narrative uh reference 2514
31. Um so that's that's how I would how I would proceed to find sufficient facts for all of the counts in the police report. Can I get a motion to find u that we have found sufficient
facts with what was presented before us this evening to find Takaria Eucalyptto Corporation DBA Las Vegas restaurant at 388 Broadway Chelsea in violation of all the rules and
regulations that were stipulated in Sergeant Chung's police report this evening. Motion and a second. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. U moving on from that. Um in terms of a disciplinary
matters. Um Emily, you mentioned doing a uh roll back of hours. Thoughts from fellow commissioners? So you can only roll back to 11. Yeah, I I would like to put a time period on it because this is their first violation. But however, I want to see if
they are going to renew their tip certification. I want some training involved. You know, I understand that they let go the weight staff, but there's nothing they haven't talked about how they're going to go forward. Um, and then maybe a weekend suspension
with the rollout hours or a month suspension. But I want to see the training involved going forward, like what they're going to do going forward. If I may speak, if I may speak, there is going to be a ABC mandatory meeting
at the end of the month. It's going to be in August, liketh next week. Oh, yeah. Two weeks. Yeah. You got the email. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think it's I think it's training. I also think it's it's a management issue because they were all
trained and certified. I think it's about what are the regulations and rules that you're holding accountable of your staff in a in a bar. Yeah. Um but I agree. So what do you think uh a weekend? What what are your time
frame? What do you think? What what are you what would either of you like to see for disciplinary more important? I think the rollback's more that's more important than the weekend. If you want to do both, that's fine. Well, I don't want it to be for rolling back, not for forever.
Yeah. So, how long would you recommend rolling back? You want to say just for a while? Oh, wow. Six months. I would recommend a month if we were to roll back hours. What do you think, Daniel?
Mandatory training for sure. I I think that if uh we penalize for the weekend, I think that's where they make their money. And um I think I agree with it.
My mate uh roll out back the hours to right now they have to one, right? So roll back to 11. For how long? At least for a month. I would recommend a month. That would be my suggestion.
I got away with that. I don't feel strongly about it. Month, two months, few months. Uh, thoughts from the police department. Like I said, they haven't been in trouble in a while, but this is not their first time.
Yeah. So, they got caught. I I agree. Definitely would throw a birthday party without your Not the first time, roll back the hours. I would suggest maybe four months. Hold on. And then to get the house in order for Monday night,
go back and reins. Make sure everything is all proper. May happened in May. Y. Uh, also I wasn't impressed with the camera placement. So, um, I'd like you guys to go back and take a look at that. Um, sorry.
Because it doesn't appear to be a 360 for me. None of the video submitted showed me your rear door. So, we will take a look at that post. I have another question. Yes.
For them. Um, since uh we saw the bartenders and the service drinking, do you guys explain them they should not been doing that while they're working? Remember to step up to the microphone. You fired them, correct? You fired them. up to the microphone,
please. Sorry, I got the microphone. Yes, they were fired. Yes. But what about everybody else that works there? So the So you you fire the individuals that we saw on camera, but what about the rest of your team? Was this addressed with them?
Yes. In fact, I made a sheet like when we met with him and explained the whole case and he recommended which we didn't have. We did have all the regulations and everything in embeder which Louise wasn't familiar with that which it was
there but he recommended a refresher and we made like all the trainings like I went over the rules that we violated and they signed a sheet like yes they understood they were very ashamed and
however we decided to let go the ones that were in charge of the birthday Sorry. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Yep. What do you want to do, Marty? You're the president. I I would be inclined
rather than a suspension. I do agree with the roll back in ours. I would be more so inclined to do a roll back for three months and then have them come uh back before us um with a or not necessarily have to come back before us
if we get an update from the police department that everything is in order. I would like to see tips, certification from everybody who is handling alcohol servers, bartenders, anybody working in
any sort of a supervisory or management role. Um, so I would like to see that presented as well. And um if the if everything went well for those 3 months, we had no
issues and the police department came back before us, um I would be inclined to um having the hours readjust back to their standard hours after that three-month period pending um no
incidents and a positive update from our police department um after those three months. That makes sense. So, you're suggesting three months roll um roll down the hours to 11:00 p.m.
They and then a police checkup to modify the cameras and a 360 view especially showing the rear view and then also to show that the manager on duty uh tip certified as well as their staff.
I would agree to that. And what I would say is um uh Peter, in terms of timing, would would you say like a September 1st would be an appropriate
time for the roll back or that right away? Would we start? No, there is an appeal period. So it needs for roll back. I don't believe there is. I don't believe they can appeal a roll back. I'm pretty sure they can. I don't think they can.
Well, I'm gonna talk with Peter. Yeah, Mike's gonna uh show you his law degree, his JD. Um yeah, so I would recommend putting it out. September sounds like a good enough time. It's a fiveday appeal period. So, um I would recommend September 1st.
I I'll be able to get the decision out by then. Okay. Yes. Also, uh security. Did you have a new security? Who do Who do you have security? microphone, please. And Saturday, sorry.
So, let me reiterate. What days do you have security there? Right. Right now, I don't have nobody. No. Okay. Who you plan to hire? Are they certified security company? And if so, I don't care who they work for, they need to have a red shirt. That is in the rules,
right? So, whoever you hire, not a tactical shirt that says security with all the stuff. Only thing that's going to be on them is their ID, a flashlight, a cell phone to call police. Okay. And a red shirt that says security in the front and security in back. We need
to identify and if you could reach out to me, who's the security company that you're hiring? Okay. I let you know. Thank you. let you know that that's very important to me because I want to know you have a legit security, not some guy that you find off
the Facebook that everybody uses. Okay. Okay. I let you know. Thank you. I I think also it's worth mentioning that you guys could always call the police department to make sure you're up to date. Be proactive. You know, if you already have adjusted the
cameras and you have higher security team, ask questions. It doesn't hurt. Okay. So, can I get a motion to approve a roll back of the hours Thursday
through Saturday? Um, from the current 1:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. 11 p.m. Uh, I'm sorry. I apologize. from from 1:00 am to 11 p.m. effective for three
months beginning September 1st and pending those three months moving with no incidents. Um and our police department doing a check to make sure everything is in line
and um they have no concerns. We can return the hours back to 1:00 am for the Thursday through Saturday. I have a motion. How about Sunday? I think Sunday is at 11 p.m. It's already
Sunday's not 1:00 a.m. You made a motion. Motion. Yes. And a second. Second. All in favor? I I Thank you. Thank you. We We appreciate that you hadn't been in any trouble. We we hope that we don't
have any more trouble. Um but these are very important things and particularly when you do have something like a fight taking place, it's important for the safety of the other customers, the safety of the residents outside of your business, um your employees, and then
obviously your business. U so uh we hope you understand our decision and that in three months everything is just back to normal and we're good to go. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
Guys, are you guys coming to the uh training Las Vegas? They are. They said they were. They are. Okay. And hopefully we we're seeing you at the mandatory training on the 25th, 10:00, the hotel. Perfect. Thank you. I'm not here. Uh, next on the agenda,
item number two, a public hearing to consider a cannabis license change of hours from 9:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. requesting to change to 800 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. midnight for Western Front LLC DBA Western Front at 121 Webster A.
I like these guys. Yeah, they're they are why? I don't know. They're not making enough money. Yeah, it's too bad. Good evening, Madam Chair. Good evening, commissioners. Hi. How are you?
Uh, if you could state your names and reason. Um, sure. My name is Dennis Benzen, 99 Bailey Road, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472. I am the CEO uh of Western Front. I'm also the LLC manager, and we are here uh
for an extension of ours operation. Thank you. Uh James McMahon, uh council for Janet Devco, who's next up on the list assisting Mr. Benson with the transaction. Perfect. Thank you so much. Um just started.
So, um in the interest of trying to Yes, sir. If you could just step all the way up to the microphone. Thank you. My name is Anthony Bonjavani. I'm a resident of Chelsea for 50 something
years. I am a 41 year old home and right next to the canopy according to the agenda that you have right now. Yeah. This one is out of order because Weston is trying to give his
license to a on the third Janet Janet. It's not out of order. This is their I I understand your order you have. How can we vote on something that he's not going to be on it?
So I would say let's move number three to approve. Sir, if you if you gave me a second change, sir, if you gave me a second to continue speaking, I was actually going to start discussing both of them at the same time because we what we trying to vote now is sir for the
sir. I appreciate that, but I have not opened this up for public speaking yet and I am about to ask for both of those items. Okay. So, I'm just telling I appreciate that. If you wouldn't mind taking a seat so we can continue this meeting, I would appreciate that. Thank you.
Uh fellow commissioners, um as I was about to start saying, uh since item number three on the agenda also has to do with the same establishment, um if we can um discuss both of them
simultaneously. Yep. Is is that an agreement for you guys? I agree. Um so we will also be discussing the um item number three on the agenda of the public hearing to consider a transfer of a cannabis license application from Western Front
LLC DBA Western Front to Janet Devco LLC DBA Chelsea Cannabis Disciplinary at 121 Webster AB Chelsea Mass. Um so if everyone that is now up here can that did not already introduce themselves can also introduce themselves that would be
appreciated. Hi, I'm Hi, I'm Janet from I'm Janet Aronov from Defco LLC. Thank you, Caitlyn Woodward Samson, Gold Standard Consulting. Thank you very much.
Okay. So, um, as was pointed out by one of our residents, um, you're coming before us, uh, a Western Front representative asking to change hours, but then we're also talking about a
transfer of a license. Um, so why are you asking for a change in hours when you're um, essentially looking to transfer the business? Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, I've been involved with the Western Front. I'm one of the founding
members, and we go back to 2019. Um, one of the one of the uh uh one of the biggest issues with the cannabis world is the length of time that it takes to complete any type of transaction and all the
regulations. And so while we are here before today to have you guys approve a transfer of a license, um there's still an extensive part of that process that needs to be completed and has to go before the CCC. So in the meantime, um the cannabis world is a very very
competitive world. Um, one of the, um, I would say the best and the most fulfilling aspects of being involved in the cannabis world is that we were able to hire a number of folks who live in Chelsea that are still our employees that we've we've placed them in management positions and they're working for us. The other piece to that is that
it's become incredibly competitive to stay afloat. And aside from that, um, you know, I have two children, twins, that just went off to college. I've been involved for six years now plus um when we opened our
doors in November of 2020 and I believe that you gentlemen um many of you were with us when we opened our doors I ended up in a hospital for three weeks co pneumonia because we opened up in the middle of CO and we've been um uh part
of an environment that is is is hard to operate in. And so in order for us to extend our life, if you want to call it that, we're asking to extend the hours while we complete this transaction. Uh and at the same time um you know we're
we're doing this because we are uh permitting somebody to come in uh that we've had somewhat of a long-standing relationship with the company that has really helped us uh in the past to come in and continue the work that the Western Front has done um with
additional capital and all the things that are necessary to do that. You know, one of the uh I would say the cons of being an economic empowerment um operator like we are is that uh it is very hard to go out and raise money because of all the restrictions and all the regulations. And so, you know, the city has been incredibly supportive of
us. The police department has been great uh since we opened our doors. The council, the uh uh as well as the um uh the building department, the licensing commission. I mean, you've all been very very supportive, but the time has come for us um to, you know, pass it on to
another company that can help continue uh the work that we that we started. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um so, exactly as Mr. Benson said, um was talking to the Cannabis Control Commission today about the license transfer process. It's there's a
municipal level to it. There's also the state level license. They move on independent timelines. um we're looking at about regardless of what happens this evening about another four to six months of the cannabis control commission processing that license renewal. So
that's where uh while these two go hand in hand we are asking just as Mr. Benson said to have those extended hours during that time period where we're in this sort of um two-track system. They're apparently also a show
according to the Boston Globe article today. So, I don't envy you and um I'm sorry that it's been a nightmare. They are a pleasure to work with and we wish them well. Very good answer. Um
first, uh over to the police department. any um thoughts on the or or any incidents over in that location um or concerns with an adjustment in
hours over on that location or other feedback in general from the police? Yep. So, we went out and conducted a walkth through uh because we learned via email that there was going to be a transfer of ownership. Um we conducted
that on July 23rd. Uh it was a great visit um meeting with their council and representative. Um we did address a few things and we wanted to um just follow
up on that. James, absolutely. So um there were a few items that were raised on the visit. I agree it was a fantastic visit. It was really great to be welcomed into the community like that and get a feel for all the things that we don't know not having the
same institutional knowledge um that has been built up. Um one of the items that needed to be addressed, there was a camera on the outside perimeter of the building that was nonfunctional. We reached out to our security contractor to replace it. Uh the company that
manufactures those cameras has gone out of business. We had to upgrade the system to get a compatible camera. That install should be completed this weekend. Are you still with Axon? Uh, we are moving to I think it's Brevo, right? Yeah, we're moving to a Brevo system, but so that there's no functionality
that goes down. We do have to kind of do it in stages so that way we can upgrade the system in conjunction to keeping the operating system so that we have no lost footage. The cameras are obsolete at that point. So, those exterior cameras do need to be put on a new system that will all get upgraded and new wiring
needs to be run. The wiring's been ordered. It should be delivered this weekend. The cameras should be trickling in after that because they're pretty expensive and they had to be shipped from overseas. Um, that does take some time. So, I am anticipating by Tuesday the entire work should be done, but I don't want to misspeak in case there's
any wiring challenges pulling it through that. It's a very large building. Will it uh continue retaining footage for 90 days rolling? Absolutely. That's part of the regulation. So, we like to maintain longer than that, but um that's the bare minimum that we'll maintain.
Thank you. How about the signage on the doors not accessible by the public? So, we've we've ordered that signage to be installed. Um we've spoken to the employees about uh not propping any interior doors. Um and we have a locksmith who's actually just down at
the end of Webster uh fixing the lock on that front door that was sticking. Um that interior sort of anti- room door. How about the security sweeps? Have you guys begun that? We are in the process of hiring additional staffing which will come at the conjunction of our hours of operation. They were very limited to
begin with, but with the additional manpower and that ability to maintain that swing shift, that will allow continuous parking lot sweeps, not only to maintain a clean and appropriate parking lot area, but also to allow us to engage with the public that may be loitering. Okay. And we we've already hired four new
staff members that have come on. We have more coming on board. One of the issues we face is from the day we have an offer accepted by a new hire, it still takes us about a week to 10 days to get their badge approved by the cannabis commission before they can actually come right
onto the premises. So there while we started hiring right away to, you know, as we discussed, have additional staff to be able to do those sweeps safely, um there's just a a lag time that's a little out of our hands to actually get those people into the building. Thank you. Um, I also, if we're going to
address the other, um, second topic here, I also did a Corey of the new owner. Um, it was all clear. So, welcome to our city. Um, the only thing is that you had presented in the paperwork a
Florida license, but you live in New York now. Can you step up to the microphone, please? Um, yeah, I had a uh I do have a Florida license for about like 10 years, but um
I could change that. Okay. Yeah. I mean, and once you move, that's usually um pretty standard nationwide. Okay. I I I would I would suggest that definitely. All right. Um cuz initially
we're just comparing addresses and stuff and I just want to maintain accuracy. All right. Um, one other thing to that end. If this is approved both here and by the cannabis commission, Miss Areronov will be moving to Chelsea with the RMV now as her neighbor. Uh, very easy to get that
license updated. We hope. Yes. sort of out of our hands, but uh before I open this up to my fellow commissioners, um for a question for the new owner or or via uh yourself,
counselor, um is uh do do you have prior experience running a cannabis uh entity or uh license or would this be the first um experience? So the the lawyerly
answer is yes to both. Um so Miss Areronov has been part of an entity called Green Gold Group. They are one of the largest cannabis verticals in Massachusetts. Uh 200 employees on a wholesale basis. They supply about 30% of the dispensaries in Massachusetts.
She has helped them open three retail locations, all of which are operating without any deficiency. Um it's herself and her two brothers. It's the largest family-owned vertical in the state. Her two brothers are looking to go in a different direction with the business and focus more on wholesale production
and B2B relations. Um, Miss Areronov's background, her expertise is in retail. She's worked in retail for 40 years, high-end gem, jewelry, um, and high-end retail. She has decided to uh, leave the company. It's a very amicable split and
she wants to focus solely on retail. Um, she's known Mr. Benzen and Western Front through Green Gold for quite some time. Um so as everyone was in this inflection point um it was a very natural uh step from one to the other. So this will be
Miss Areronov's first dispensary that she manages on her own but she has been managing uh three dispensaries and a 200 person cannabis company for the past 10 years. A and uh just to confirm not just an owner of
those other companies actually managing on-site correct she handles most of the retail operations. Um so her brothers focus on the business aspect of it in terms of B2B wholesale and delivery. Um Jan is focused on the retail the branding the
corporate culture um the customerf facing side of the business. Appreciate that. Thank you. Um, and is 50 more than 50% still going to be owned by people of color? Because are you still going to be an owner? Yeah. So, um, thank you for that question. I was actually, um, going to
be a little proactive about it. So, we still have, um, two other stores in Cambridge. And so, a lot of the, uh, the majority, actually, all of the employees that are here in Chelsea are going to be retained, um, by uh, the new company. Um, some of the Chelsea employees have
also moved over to our Cambridge stores. And as I mentioned earlier, um you know, many of the Chelsea residents that started with us that had no cannabis experience, we've groomed them into management positions and it's part of the positive impact plan that we have uh with the uh cannabis control commission. But I'm talking about ownership.
So we still Western Front, as I said, will continue to own two stores in Cambridge. Um we will not have any ownership stake in the new company. Um, this is this is a a a a full transfer of of license um of the of the store.
So, you're not then an empowerment license anymore? No, we will no longer be I I the new company is not an economic empowerment company. No, no, we will continue as Western Front. We will continue to um operate two stores as an economic
empowerment um operator. Um, however, uh, I will say this that part of the agreement, uh, was to make sure that the employees that have been hired by Western Front will continue to be employees, um, for the new company. That was part of the agreement. That was something that we fought for in the
agreement. Yeah. But owner owning is where the money is. And this isn't about it's not your battle to fight. I just want to say for the record, I'm seeing in Chelsea like the owners of color losing the businesses and it's just more white people are owning weed stores like in
general. Yeah. Well, the irony of all the whole reason for legalized marijuana was to try to like write a wrong of a generation of incarcerated black men and Yeah. So that's not your fault. It's a really complicated answer for that. I will say this that you mentioned
earlier that you read the paper today that the CCC is in like is is a mess. The entire industry has been a mess since day one. Yeah. Okay. We were the first one of the first um economic empowerments to open up in the entire state. We're one of the only
ones that really have three stores that are operational. Even with that, we are struggling. And so the idea that uh that there is going to be wealth is going to be transferred over to the people that are owners of the Western Front and we have about 40
different investors that you know are black and brown um that you know put their life savings into the company and quite frankly you know they may never be able to recover that right because this is an incredibly difficult industry which is why we decided to make this work um in order
for us to be able to save jobs number one and to save the investments of the people that um have been with us really since day one. Um and I think you know you guys know you guys would visit us all the time when we were in the middle of construction, right? And you guys know the hardship and how difficult this
was for us and this was not an easy decision for us to make. Um and I think that that you know this allows us to save um some of the wealth that people invested right some of the money that people invested in and save jobs. And that's really the point of of this transaction. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. And to to add to that, uh, Miss Areronov is a first generation immigrant to this country. She was born in Tashkent in Usbekiststan. Came over in her early childhood. Um, when she came over to this country, she got her start with her family at a very young age selling at
flea markets um, in the tri-state area um, selling goods there. That moved into regular pop-ups at jewelry stores. They were able to build that into storefront locations. And from there it's built up every step of the way. Um so this is not an instance of say generational wealth
coming in and displacing people from communities. This is a success story of someone who came from an extremely disadvantaged background who came to this country from the former Soviet Union as a religious refugee was able to build themselves up in this country and is now at the point where they are
looking to help others and lift others and follow um have others follow in their footsteps and be as successful as she has been. um due to the hard work of herself and her family. Yeah. I mean, thank you for sharing that. Appreciate that. Yeah. And I just I just want to add one thing that's really really important. The the company that um is the mother
company here, Green Gold, that has been working with us for, you know, several years. I I just want to point out that the the reason why we wanted to work with them is that they've been incredibly supportive of us as an economic empowerment company and, you know, finding money for product and
finding money for consultant. um support is very very difficult in this industry because we're already stretched, right? I mean, this is a very very regulated industry and regulations require capital for you to make sure that you have the cameras that are necessary for you to have security, pay your employees more
than a living wage. You know, all of our employees make pretty much more than $20 an hour, right? So, so in order to do that, you have to have capital. And so, this is a decision that we had to make. You know, we really have no choice, unfortunately. and and and I hope that
the other economic empowerment companies that are out there, whether they're here operating in Chelsea, that they're also able to survive. You know, I've been very active in lobbying the state for changes in and reforms in the law, um partly because, you know, we don't have the tools necessary to survive and that's really why we're doing this and
we picked this company because of their history of supporting companies like ours. Appreciate that. Thank you. Um initial thoughts from my fellow commissioners before I open it up for public? It sounds fine. Yeah, I don't have an issue.
Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on this matter? And if you could just stay here. You already met once. My name is Anthony Bonovan. Thank you very much, sir. I live in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Like somebody else said, it's a resident of
Chelsea. I am right next to the I have no problem of a transfer the title or the name from the west whisper whisperer to whoever it might be that is fine but
who is applying to change the time the company that is selling or the company that is buying and there is two companies on this two agendas that you have already address. Who are they? I think
they out of order. I think you should approve first who's going to be the new owner and if the new owner apply for the time change. So, so just so you understand um the Western Front is asking us to
change their hour. Hold on just one moment. Go ahead. So, they're asking for us to adjust their hours knowing that even if we approve the transfer of the license, that transfer doesn't actually take place for four to six months. So,
they're looking to be able to operate with those later hours up until that transfer takes place. That's why they're asking for that change now even though they are looking to sell the business and transfer it to somebody else. the
the stipulation that then falls in is if we do approve that, those hours then apply with that license moving forward, which is what would really be in question on our end. But the reason they're asking is because they still
have months of operating and owning the establishment as Western Front prior to any transfer happening because if we approve it, that's step one. And then the next step is the cannabis control commission at the state level has to
approve that transfer before anything can actually happen. So I would say wait until the transfer everything you want to apply then and they they lived for about three four years with this time is not going to
change and is not going to gain any business for two months or three months four months or six months as you say. And then second thing, I was just driving by this past week as may approach to you to
show you a video. Certainly, sir. May I? Yes. Um, do you want to show officer Santiago? Is it a picture? We can't hear him. So, if you can repeat what he's saying.
So, he's showing a photo, a still photo of a green gold recreational cannabis. Where where was this photo taken? Okay. All right. Okay.
So they've already stated that they work. They've stated that they work with that company. Say that again, sir. We can't hear you. Into the microphone, please. I am sorry. That's okay.
They whatever they selling in their tent, okay, is without a license and another name and no security or anything. Am I correct? Green. Green Gold currently owns it.
Uh, so I I should say just to clear things up, nothing's being sold in that tent. That's Green Gold Group is a cannabis brand. They're there doing a brand awareness event. They're handing out educational pamphlets. So Green Gold is a brand that Western Front sells,
carries. They're there doing a popup in the parking lot. Abs, as everyone knows, absolutely no cannabis can ever be sold outside of a building. They're there handing out stickers, um, you know, little trinkets, those types of things, just general brand awareness merchandise. Um, the CCC would be there
and put a chain across the doors if there was ever anything being sold outside of the building and that was conducted on private property. Correct. And and again, just just so everybody here understands, including our resident, Green Gold is a brand
that is being sold by Western Front. It's a type of cannabis, right? And and then and it's pretty it's pretty common for us to have other brands promote um their product and give out educational materials and obviously they we don't
sell any product on the sidewalk. All the products are sold inside the dispensary, but it's all about awareness and that's that's pretty much. And Green Gold has been uh very intentional about it, but we have other companies, Fern Way and many other companies that do the same thing. And we we should say as well
just for compliance with the regulations because I'm sure the CCC will be watching. No specific cannabis product is being advertised in that popup. It is solely brand awareness the same way we would do at any festival, the same way we would do at any event. Um it is strictly promoting the brand itself. It
is not promoting any individual cannabis product. There is no ability to purchase individual cannabis products at that booth. There is no ability to gain information about any specific cannabis product at that booth. Just a comment from the police department. Customer awareness is a part
of a rule and regulation under the CCC. So for educational purposes and awareness, that's actually a a bullet point. Thank you. But again, without security next to their tent that confirms that
nothing has been sold or anything because they do advertise and whatever they do, it should be be notified to the license board. It shouldn't be notified to the city. Uh they don't necessarily have to tell us anything that way. If they're just
advertising, okay, for a company out on the out in front of their shop, that is their property. They are welcome to advertise. Okay. But they should have a license. Correct. Because what I if I do advertise something on my property, I'll do need
to get a permit. They already have they already have the license to sell that product on that property so they can advertise the product that they sell on their property. Thank you for your comments. We hear it and it's for the record.
So, so there's no violations in that picture. Okay. So, but we do appreciate you presenting to us. Thank you. But again, on the other side of the parking where they have a parking space is not anything to do with the
transfer from one ownership to the other or from one company to the other, but they are uh some vehicles where people can be living there. I know. I understand that
is not their problem because if they live in there, they should be part of the city problem, but it's still in their property as a parking space. They should be addressed by the city before the police are here. So, we can certainly that is that is a matter that
it's in the parking space by u the parking lot. Yep. Yeah. So, so we we appreciate you speaking before us this evening. Um but we're going to keep this moving. um as we still have several other things on the agenda. Okay. So again, I I have no problem
transfer, but I think they should be come back. We appreciate your feedback. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else from the public that would like to speak on this matter? Seeing no one. No. No. You snooze or lose.
You snooze or you lose. Let's keep it moving. Okay. Um fellow commissioners uh thoughts I I mean I can tell you so the sale is a no-brainer right my personal feeling while I do feel for
the the process of how long it takes for the transfer of license um I'm inclined not to extend somebody's hours that is selling their business to uh to have the late hours for a brand
new license that that hasn't had it. That would be kind of my my initial thought. Um but I'm open to Well, it's I Well, we could also say that fine until once they can come back once it's like sold, transferred, and all set, they can come back and talk
about the hours. So, we can do a conditional hours to the the time requested and then once it actually happens six months from now, whenever. Yes. Yeah. So, I'm Caitlyn Samson. I am a
cannabis consultant. I've worked with both of these parties. Um, during this transition period, I've done a full market analysis to really explain to Dennis how much lost revenue he is losing by not extending his hours and us turning away the public at his current
operating hours, it's almost 50%. So, just to allow him to survive these next couple of months transitioning while we bring on new employees to get them trained and everything of that nature, like every store that we are next to, we're going to be matching their hours
and we want a little extension because there's employees there that may be consumers as well that don't have the opportunity to shop with us because of their work life and their balance. So that was my recommendation to him to come in because of how much loss revenue and that will allow us to bring in more
employees and do more things for the town. So that is why the hours of recommendations are now and not to wait because of how much money he is losing. So my thoughts are regarding the hours um to stay consistent. I no problem
extending it to 10 p.m. on certain days. Um, right now just looking at it, I think Harbor is the only one at 11 PM and I think it's because we decided it's on the truck route. Well, this one is also there's parking. It's in the Home Depot like parking lot area,
but across the street they're still residents. So, it's but Harbor has them behind them, too. We're having our debate now. I appreciate you, though. Yes. Um, do you know you know what I'm talking about? like there across the street there's the residence but that's my only that was my own
I hear you but there's I feel like it's just the parking lots there there's a lot of parking people are kind of in and out there's an issue with the parking lots why so we have a detail there morning and night um last last call 10:00 for our
officers at Home Depot I myself have caught multiple people smoking marijuana in the lot saying it came from them but we've come across people camping out. I've caughten maybe three or four people families living. Well, that's that whole I know that whole area is a hot mess with that
McDonald's marijuana outside the vehicles and stuff like that. So, I don't know if it's not from less than that's that's the issue that we're having we're starting to see. So, they're they're asking midnight. Um and I'm just thinking maybe up to 10
p.m. on certain days. Yeah, we could do 10, maybe 11 Friday, but I would I wouldn't agree till midnight. Yeah, that's fine. I might get down that hill. Oh, yeah. I'm going to 10 11. Um, I won't agree 8 in the morning
because that's the time all the kids are going to school. I always said that before and I'm going to be against that. And but you know, there everyone's in school at 8 a.m. 8 a.m. The parents school's already started. That's your opinion. That's my opinion. No, no, I know. I know.
My opinion is that AM I wouldn't agree. I think I said it before and I'm going to stick with it. And uh I can agree to extend it to 10:00 or maybe 11, but I'm not at 8 in the morning.
They're they're saying 9:00 a.m. They're they're asking for 9. No, no, no. They're asking they're asking Oh, sorry. You're right. Change. They're already They're already 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Yeah. And um did we not just approve? Um we did just approve for 8 a.m.
Yes, we just approved an 8 a.m. um at our last meeting. I'm fine with 8 a.m. I think the question is like because the conversation was even even if it there was school kids are in school at 8 a.m. Yeah. And by definition it's 500 yards away from school. I can't hear you, Mike.
By definition it's 500 yards away from a school. Yeah. It's not near. It's not that close to the school. So, I'm okay with 8:00 a.m. I guess the question is 10 p.m. versus 11 p.m. We could do 10 like PM and then maybe 11
on Friday, Saturday or I'll be agreeable to that. I I would say what do we do with Harbor? I don't remember. What do we say? Harbor is 11 p.m. 11. Well, that's on Friday.
Harbor is 900 a.m. because Somebody said something about school kids also when they were asking for 8 a.m. Yep. All right. Um the I I would be inclined then if that's the
direction that you guys are going of um since we did just approve an 8 a.m. I I would have no issues with the 8 a.m. Um, given the concerns of the parking lot, um, knowing um, that we're talking about a transfer of the license as well, I
would probably only look at, um, the the 10 p.m. Um, so so it gives them a little bit more wiggle room, but then once the new owner is in place, if they wanted um after showing us that they're a responsible business owner in our community and they want to come and ask
for 11 um then we could look at um whether or not we want to approve the later hours on the weekend nights. That's fair. How much how much revenue is between like 10 and 11? Like what's the data showing? Yeah. So, so you you know you you raised
a really important question. I think what's what's important here is that we're an economic empowerment operator. Yeah. We're not vertically integrated. Many of the other companies that are operating in and around Chelsea are vertically integrated. So, that gives
them enough capital to be able to operate and to be able to to to stay alive, right? Because what we're asking you guys for here is that we want to stay alive. 1 hour makes a significant difference particularly late at night. You know,
this is an area that, you know, this is a PUD, right? So, we cannot have any designated parking spots in that large lot, which actually could hold 135 cars, right? And this is separate from the lot that's where Home Depot is located. This
is the Dollar General lot. We cannot have any cars park over at the Merit parking lot because that we don't have an agreement with them. We've been operating now for five plus years. We haven't had any issues. Yeah. Right. And I think that when you're
making these types of decisions and you're, you know, you're you're weighing why we should make a decision, you've got to take into account the history and what we've tried to do as Western Front, right? And I think, you know, the least that we can ask is that you guys give us
some of the tools that are necessary for us to survive. And so we're not asking for an expansive number of, you know, uh, period of time. We're asking for one hour in the morning and basically one hour, hour and a half, two hours at night if possible. Um,
well, tech technically you're asking for three hours at night. Well, we based upon the request, we'll settle for Sundays, but on on Thursdays at 9:00, so we are asking for 11:00, it's a 2-hour difference, and that's a significant
amount of revenue. I mean, you're talking about tens of thousands of dollars on a monthly basis that helps us to pay the rent. I don't even want to tell you guys what we pay for rent there. Um, so, you know, please weigh that as you as you make this decision. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, I think does somebody have a
motion that they would like to make? I I like your idea. uh 10 p.m. and then when the new ownership comes up if they want to show us how long they've been running at 10 p.m. for those other establishments it has well we gave 10 p.m. The other establishments are 900 p.m. on
the other nights still correct what do we give to the um right now on Broadway rise is at Friday Saturday 1000 p.m. Harbor is till 11:00 p.m. Thursday to Saturday but they are at 9:00 a.m. uh 9 p.m. other nights.
9:00 p.m. on the other nights. Yes. Chad Bud was is at 10:00 p.m. So, what what was being requested here is seven days a week, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. What I would propose would be doing
seven days a week at 8 a.m. Yeah. And then maintaining 900 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday. Right. Right. my days, Sunday to Wednesday, and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10 p.m.
My only advocacy for 11 p.m. with these guys is we gave Chelsea bud till 10 p.m. and they're new and we these are my only reason of not saying 11 is because they're selling the business and we'd be giving we'd be giving the 11
p.m. hours to an incoming person that has not well they're well they can come back and like my my I think my thing is keep it as it is because until they change they can actually change like we're not the reason why they're changing I mean we can say yes as one of the 10 steps they have to do but until they actually
change I think they come back and say now we're officially but if we approve the change they don't have to come I think we can stipulate that is they have to come back once it's actually all approved and like and talk and then we can change the hours can Can we do that? Naomi,
what about Western Front though? I I still would like Western Front's been a very good No, so I'm saying while they're Western Front for 6 months, we say 11. So So if we say while in operation as Western Front, we permit a change in hours of 8:00 a.m. 7 days a week
and 11 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yes. But once they have to come back once a transfer took place which is a separate thing that we would have to make a motion on then they have to make their case there would they would have to come back
before us uh that the hours would we revert the hours back to the 9 to9 we could yeah I mean I think anything's on the table well I think the industry is going later and later just like just like liquor store it's going later I think it's just messy it's just
because you're saying that on their current license they could transfer to the new ownership with the same hours. But now we have to track the new ownership and tell them that no, you can no longer operate till 11 p.m. that you have to go back.
Well, this is what I'm saying. If we make a change, those hours kind of go to that unless we were putting I think it's less messy just to say 1000 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 7 days a week 8 a.m. and then they could come back and
the new ownership and request later hours. It's just less messier. I understand and I will I'm just This is where I'm going to push because I actually think an hour makes a difference here. They've been around for 5 years. We just gave Chelsea bud till 10 p.m. and they just opened.
Like I think we give them the 11 p.m. It's also in a different It's not right in the middle of the city. Like they have a parking lot. I think for three nights a week to do 11 p.m. is going to be a big difference to them. It's not a huge difference. Well, it's the same thing with Rise. Rise is up till 10 p.m. Friday, Saturday
as well. So I don't know. We gave Harbor 11. And I I believe I believe Harbor House only asked until 10. Yeah, they did. And we gave them 10. Yeah. Yeah. I'm in agreement with Emily. I think I
think they've been a very good partner. If if they're asking for our help, I'd like to help them if we could. So, again, does somebody want to make a motion? Well, because it sounds like I would like to make a motion and we can
vote on it, but I'd like to make a motion 8 am 7 days a week, 9:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 11:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I'll second that. Again, my vote is against 8:00 a.m. I
will go 9:00 a.m. to probably 11, but not that early, 8 in the morning. So, my vote will be 8 a.m. I will vote for 8 a.m. and then stay with 10 p.m.
We are all over the place, folks. What's more money for you? Because we can we can swing a vote here. So, do you want 9:00 a.m. to and you want 11 p.m. more than you want 8 a.m.? Um, I mean, uh, out of respect for, uh, uh, Council Lopez and and Commissioner Lopez, I I'd
like to maybe offer like a middle, uh, and say 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And, you know, so maybe instead of 8, let's open up at 8:30 because that that half hour makes up a difference. Hopefully, the, you know, kids get an opportunity for the kids to get into school. But, um, the
11:00 p.m. is super important for us. It's a lot more important for us than the 8 to 9. um because you know that's a heavily traveled area. Um and again look at our history. We've been operating there really without any any issues and
there's there's no debate that your history is a positive history. Sorry. But I think what a lot of times when these bodies when you weigh these types of issues, you look at history, right? Like how have we been operating? And I think that we haven't been before you to send an arm. That that is 100% true, sir. But we very rarely have somebody come before us that
is selling their business asking for something. That's that's where if if you were if you were still just going to be operating and being Western Front, I don't really think we'd be having a debate. uh because you are
100% true and and we have not had any issues. You've run a wonderful business in our community and we appreciate that you have run a great business, but that's not what we're talking about. Full disclosure, I'm also an attorney. So, I I I think there's a way to do this. Um, I was once a city councelor in
Cambridge and we went through similar issues. And I think what it sounds to me like you guys want to do is to make sure that you can assist us with this request, but at the same time make sure that the new folks are able to come back in once the transaction is complete with
the CCC and maybe either have you guys affirm the hours again or that they can explain, you know, how they're going to continue to operate. I think that's where you guys are at. But I think that that should not impact what we're requesting because what we're requesting is basically to save the business
and and we understand that sir that's why we're having a giant debate in this moment. So thank you. I should say just to the transfer end even though it takes that four to six months we'll have about 21 to 30 days notice of when that transfer is going to
take place. Um, there's a final process with the CCC of doing an interview and then you go on the next month's agenda. It's a minimum 21day lead time. Usually maxes out at about five weeks, six weeks. Um, so we'll know once we have that interview based off what the
calendar looks like for their hearing calendar um when that 21-day lead time falls. Are we on this month? Are we on next month? So we'd have that ability to come back and give the council a heads up um and say, "Hey, this is happening sooner than later." Yeah.
And you are you okay with 8:30? That's enough time for everyone to be in school. Yeah, that's a little bit better. But 8:00 maybe that the one you guys approved I wasn't here that day. Mhm. And maybe that's why they got it because it was if I will be here that day wouldn't get it.
Okay. I will go against 8:30. I think it's fine. I do. Okay. That's fine. Which I get. But we did just approve somebody for 8 a.m. So, but he said he's okay for 8:30 for now. Here's what I think. I think we could do 8:30. Okay, here here's here's what I'm
proposing. I'm proposing that we stick with the 8 a.m. and um we we give them the 11 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And then in the second motion that we need to do where we
approve a transfer of the license in that transfer of the license as part of that approval of the transfer if we're going to be approving that u we make it a stipulation that uh the hours would roll back to 10 p.m. on those days
and they could revisit it after a year in business. Sounds good. Does that sound reasonable to everyone? That is fair. Okay. So, can I get a motion
um for the first for number two? We're looking for a motion to approve a change in the cannabis license hours for Western Front LLC DVA Western Front at 121 Western A to 8:00 a.m.
7 days a week and 11 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Uh can I get a motion for that? What about the other days? 10 10 p.m. Then Sunday to Wednesday still remains
9:00 p.m. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't give the end time on those other nights. Yeah. So, let me rephrase that. With the change in hours being Sunday through Wednesday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
What happened to 10 p.m. on those other days? Thought we agreed to that. No, all of the other establishments are open until 9 on those days. No one's at 10 p.m. No, no one is seven days a week. No. Yeah. Okay. Motion and a second.
I'll second. Okay. All in favor? I And any were you and I or opposed? Opposed. 8 a.m. morning. Yeah. Understood. Appreciate that. So then the
next item uh was number three and that was the transfer of the cannabis license application from Western Front um LLC DBA Western Front to Janet Devco LLC DBA Chelsea Cannabis Dispensary.
Can I get a motion to approve that transfer with the understanding that the hours on the license will go to Sunday through Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 1000 p.m. upon approval of the official transfer from the CCC. Yep. I will make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Great. Okay.
Thank you. Uh, were you opposed or in favor of that? Eno the transfer and um I'm in favor of the transfer and of the hours on that. I'm opposed that he's opposed to the hours. 8:30.
Thank you. She's just want making sure she notes that. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good luck to both groups. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next on the agenda tonight, we have a public hearing to
consider a cannabis license change of hours from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. requesting to change to 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. for DMS Trinity LLC DBA Trinity Naturals at 272nd Street in Chelsea. Hello, my name is Dennis. Um, address
144 Marble Street Eston. I'm the owner and manager of the store. Um, I never requested the extension of hours before because uh I didn't have enough staff and we opened a year and a half ago. So now I feel we're in a position to extend
the hours and a lot of the customers they also been asking. So I think that was the time for us. Thank you. Appreciate you coming before us. Uh first up uh from our police department, any feedback on the Trinity
Naturals location? Uh I conducted a inspection which I think twice already um once they first opened up and just recently just an annual. Uh you guys are rock stars, right on point with everything. Compliance with everything. I just uh the audio that's
about it. Just a sign that said that you're when you're first walking in. If you're going to be recording and audio, you must display it through the wall and stuff. Other than that, these guys are rock stars. Anything we need right on point. emails, phone calls,
he's always there on top of it. So, no complaints on it. Appreciate that. Be cognitive. Again, you got market basket, big parking lot. People sit in there and for some reason people think they could get behind the wheel and smoke. I don't I don't know. But I mean just be cognizant to your not is out of
your control. But I like to advise all the owners of that just because they leave the area with your product and it's sealed but once they get in the car and they open it up and also every every time I see anything on the parking lot if I see people smoke anything I go right away there it's not
allowed. So I'm on top of that as well. Appreciate that. Thank you. Um fellow commissioners initial thoughts. That's in a walking traffic area. I was looking at the
location which is Second Street, not the same. I'm looking at the agenda. Sorry. Yeah, there was a typo on the agenda. Naomi um addressed that. It's kind of in like a weird It's not really a residential area. It's like the market basket. No, it's not res weird. It's not really
a walking area, I would say. Um I mean, we can school right next to it. school down the street. The XL school right down the street area in the morning. The XL school. It's got to be fun. Right down the street. There's a hotel there. That's what I was saying. Walking area
related to that because of the school and the hotel. Don heavy traffic is in the morning. The kids are crossing there. Um you get your everyday traffic from everyone going in and out of Market Basket at Porto. That's the restaurant there. Yeah. Starbucks. So that is a heavy area for
um our residents to go shopping for food and stuff. As is for location, it's kind of actually secure like like private. You can't you you'll drive right by it. And he's got a sign is you know it's clearly labeled. But as for walk walk-in traffic, I don't think too many people will walk that
way. But by spruce second, that's the crossing area for all the kids. And it's so in the morning heavy, but not at night. Morning. Definitely heavy in the morning. Definitely heavy. It's a busy area. Trucks go by there. And also with the new construction, the apartments there, it's a little busy.
Yeah. All the heavy construction that's going on behind Veil Street and and all that stuff. But definitely in the morning, heavy heavy traffic with kids and now that we're coming into school season, it's going to be even more. You guys know how bad the traffic is already. Yeah. That's what I was thinking. So just morning heavy traffic. At night, not so
much because most of the places are closed. They're closed. Yeah. I mean, I think we do the same as we could do nine like Sunday through Wednesday 9 p.m. I don't think we have to extend it. You know, I'm sort of ambivalent about
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I don't know about the 8 a.m. or not. I don't have I'm not dying on a hill on it, but it sounds like it's a lot of traffic in the morning with those with schools. And so, I'm just thinking this maybe on the weekdays not to have 8:00 a.m. 9. Yeah, just to continue 9:00 a.m., but
I I have no problem 11:00 p.m. because There's nothing there at night, but then uh sorry, it's a little it's a little hard for me to compete with the other dispensaries if they're also open at 8. So, I want to be able to compete. The new dispenser just opened. They changed the hours.
Like, we've been there for a year and a half. So, we're just trying to also be able to compete with everybody. But that place isn't near really a school or But there all the a lot of the apartments there, it is a very residency area there. Yeah. people people walk Yeah. people
walk around there. It's easier. There's not I mean there's just there's people park there's no parking really for that place. Um I have no problem in the morning. I'm not dying on a hill on it. Yeah. I mean also Chelsea but is open at 8 a.m. and they're in a hightra area as
well too. So I'm I just wanted to make note of it, you know. And the other location that we have that goes until 11 p.m. is Harbor. Uh, Harbor is going to have non-residential. This is a non-residential area.
Yeah. So, I wouldn't I wouldn't be opposed to um permitting that 11 p.m. on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday um to follow consistency. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah. I don't really have any issues personally on the morning hours. I don't I don't necessarily think you're going to have some crazy amount of business that's coming in at 8 a.m. Uh that that's really going to be affecting Yeah.
Yeah. Parents are like dropping off their kids and they're like, I need to like buy some things. Which I understand. I don't see. I want to be open for that. I think it's honestly the whole 8 a.m. thing. Just my personal opinion. It's for after visiting all the marijuana
dispensaries. It's for them to get set up for the next day to get the operation going, deliveries, destroying um product and stuff like that. I don't think it's really consumers because I really don't see anybody. Not that early. About you know what I mean? So after
like 9:00. We get online orders and then it's like they come pick it up, leave, but uh it's just more like so we have extra time. Then now I have more staff too. So, we're growing. So, it's it's kind of time for us to grow with the growth. I'm okay. 8 a.m. 7 days a week, 11:00
p.m. Thursday till Saturday to stay consistent. Mike, same. Any outside of um I know you're in a position vote. Okay. I'm again against 8 a.m. Understood.
Um how do you feel about the 11 p.m. with that area being industrial? Okay. Um, everybody else was okay with the 8 am to be consistent. Yes. Um, so am I correct based upon what I'm hearing that
there's enough of the commissioners that would be looking to approve uh a change in hours for Sunday through Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. and Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8:00 a.m. to
11 p.m. Yes. All Correct. Does somebody want to make that motion? I'll make a motion. Does somebody want a second? I. All in favor? I opposed to 8 a.m., but I agree with the 11 p.m.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda, um, and I know it is late, but this already got pushed. So, um, let's see what we can accomplish tonight. Uh next on the agenda is a
discussion on progressive discipline policy. Um so um just as a matter of record um we have been trying to work um for months now on setting a uh progressive discipline plan in place. Uh
so that way when we have disciplinary procedures come before us we have something to go by. Um the lences also understand what rules are and what's going to happen if you break said rules.
Um and in our conversations with the ABCC um we have had um conversations that when uh cities have a set disciplinary plan in place and
they're following that when disciplinary matters occur it um really doesn't get turned over in the appeal process by the ABCC because we've made it very clear what we are um saying we're going to do and we are doing that.
Um and the ABCC um specifically re referenced the city of Framingham as having put this in place and having such success in cutting down on incidents uh particularly in their their bars um and uh really the bars bars and restaurants.
Um so the thought being in setting this plan into place is that we will start by formulating a progressive discipline plan for all of our liquor licences. And once we have that set into place, we will then work
to create a similar disciplinary plan for all of the various licenses in the city um to make it very clear to everyone. Here are the rules. you break the rules, here's what happens. Um so,
um we as a commission had had that training um that almost everybody was able to attend over at the ABCC back in May on May 1st if I remember correctly. Um and then we met as a commission, had a little meeting to kind of come up with
initial drafts of what we're trying to do um in terms of our um progressive discipline plan. Um and at that meeting I had asked um my fellow commissioners
to um take that initial draft and um put some thoughts on paper as to what you would like to see in our formulation. So does somebody want to share what they um what
they have done what their thoughts were? Anyone? anyone at all. So in the last nine years, everything I can remember, every violation, any bar we had, I thought of them all. I'll give you a list. My goodness.
Uh so in along that same line um so we had the kind of a draft that we had come up with and what we're looking at doing is creating a tiered violation system. Everybody still in agreement on that? Yeah. Yeah.
Um so we'll have um tiers involving level one being minor, level two moderate, level three significant, and level four severe. Everybody still in agreement on that? Yes. Um and then uh the question from there
is we look at what licensing violations fall into which bucket. everybody on the same page there? Yeah. Yeah. Um so
in terms of that um there are certain things that I think obviously um get bumped up that line. Uh Mike, thank you for kind of putting together this list of the typical infractions that we are are seeing come before us. Um
so the if we if we kind of run down this list order just to try to keep things um moving along. The purchase of alcohol from a location other than a distributor. Um apparently that's a big violation. That is a massive violation. Um because
that that goes against the state ABCC. Um so that's not even just a city infraction, that's a major infraction. So I would put that as a number four. Okay. Four being what? Uh four would be severe. So, one is
minor, two is moderate, three is significant, and four is severe. Okay? But the purchase of alcohol from something other than a a distributor, that is a violation of the ABCC. That's not even a city rule. That that goes all
the way up. What was three again, ma'am? Uh three is significant. So like underage serving, over capacity, failure to maintain surveillance and video disorderly conduct. Um so continuing down this list, um to
say in some sort of an order, security guard not in compliant red shirts. I would you well one or two? What do you think? I would as a first time infraction, I would lean towards a one.
Yeah, first time one. That makes sense. Security guard with weapons. That's happened. I think security guards with weapons would be a significant I would say that's a three or four for sure. Three or four. Lack of functioning cameras.
Lack of functioning cameras I think is a severe. It's they say um failure to maintain required video surveillance is a three. I would say that's a three. Our policies we wrote the draft. Okay. I'm just reading what we the draft of
what we talked about. Well well right now just trying to run through this particular list. I think that's like a three. Which is a three? The lack of functioning the cameras significant. Uh selling of alcohol to underage.
That's a four. Four. Over serving. Three or four. I mean depends. Three. First offense three. Well, right now we're just running down. Give let me let me try to
I said yes in in general. Um failure to contact police during the occurrence of a violent or medical event. Two. I'd say that's a three. Three. I say three.
All right. Three. Unauthorized entertainment. One or two? Two. Okay. Two. Over capacity. Over capacity of occupancy. That's a danger. Fire hazard. Three. Yeah. Unreasonable noise violation.
Two. One or two. Violation of permitted hours. Three. Two. That's a three. Three. It's against a license. Uh failure to contact board for change in manager approval.
One or two. One or two. One or two. Employee consuming alcohol. That's a three or four. Signage violations. One or two. One. Yeah. One. Other criminal activity condoned.
Four. That's a four. That's a four. Four. Wage violations. That's a four. Four. Sale of alcohol for off-site consumption. Three. Three. Refusal to cooperate with police officer
direct fire. That's four. That's a That's a 10. That's a 10. We might be biased, but I think that's a 10. Improper handling of a physical altercation. That's a four. Four. Yeah.
Party operate operating the premise other than the owner. A subleas situation. I don't understand. That happens. They subleasase it out to people. We've caught people doing that. Yeah. It's got to be at least three. Three. Let's say threeish. That's a four
because if you're not the l eee, you shouldn't be that that's a that's a definitely jump your way up there. Criminal, right? Okay. So, that kind of bucketed us with those typical violations to be able to dump in. And then if we look at the draft
um that um had been shared and we look um through the examples that are listed inside of that initial draft. So underneath the level one minor, we said first time administrative error. I
agree that that should consist that should stay in the one. Um improper signage, which was also in this list. Yes. Lowisk non-compliance. That works. When we move down to
the moderate um operating outside of approved hours, did we match that with over here? Mhm. They're about They're about the same. Uh where was that one? I don't like two. I think two should be most more strict more strict.
Level two hours. We set a three. Um consequences. So consequences I don't like. We can change. Well, we're not we're not on consequences yet. We're just doing the what the tiers are. So trying to make this as efficient and quick as possible because of the hour.
Um, so the operating outside of approved hours, when we ran through this list, we said it was a three. On our initial draft, it was a two. I say that needs to move into three. I think that's right. I think three. Okay.
Um, minor disturbances, an employee without an ID badge. I don't even think that's maybe not relevant. I don't even know. It was AI. It's not always correct. Yeah. I I say we can cross out the
employee without an ID ID badge that doesn't need to be listed. Um failure to post a suspension the signage that a failure to post a suspension that would mean that we had suspended their license and they
shouldn't even be operating. Let's cross out the full I guess. Yeah. Again, it's not perfect. Yeah. The failure to to suspension I think is a severe violation. So alcohol that has to go all the way down to number four and that we said had to be a
three and then on the level three the underage service I think we moved it we put that on a four so that became a four. Um over capacity we left in the three so that was fine.
Failure to maintain the video we left at three so that's fine. Disorderly conduct I think that's fine at three. And then when we move down to severe we have drug activity violence fraud repeat underage
violations. Um actually we said well let's be clear about repeat like what's the first offense for underage violations. You said four for underage. So then we could take out drinking so repeat can come out and so it would just list underage
violations. Y um or second level three violation within 12 months. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay.
So, we we now kind of have um one of these. Oh, I had put a couple of notes on this before. Um did we have the sale to
intoxicated individuals in this list? Over serving was number three. Okay. So, I had added that in my notes. And I also added um hindering or delaying an investigation. We've had that happen at like the hotel people. I had put that in to significant.
Yeah. So this is already in there in our list, but this was added. So hindering or delaying an investigation is a significant offense. Okay. So we're good on
those as a kind of a baseline. Yes. Yes. Any uh there's one of them improper handling of physical altercation. That's a four we put them. But that could be minor. That one's kind of strange. If you let two people fight or if you it's a lot of
things into sometimes we had one where the guy got beaten with a with a with a weap. The security guard beat the guy split his head open with a weapon because he walked somewhere he wasn't supposed to. That's big. But then there's other times where they let two guys fight. That's not as big. Well, I think
you have the disorderly you have disorderly conduct which we have listed as a three and then a physical altercation. It's a big range, is a little different from a disorderly conduct. Disorderly conduct is a couple of guys having an argument in a bar.
Physical altercation is once Yeah. So I So I guess what Mike's trying to say there's a range of the gap there. I mean if two guys are arguing with each other they're arguing right. Well not doing anything when the two guys are fighting is one thing.
Beating a guy up when he over that's a whole different thing. Basically they lay lay hands on each other that's that's a four. Yeah. Yeah. What once once there's what if they don't do anything? What if what if the bouncer sits there and watches and doesn't handle a fight
correctly, that's still going to be a that's still going to be a flaw. The only thing he's got to do is call 911. He there's nothing that says that he has to engage it for himself. If he feels that the improper handling, it's his perspective. If he feels that if I get involved in these two guys, I might get beat up. I might get So, it still
falls on the and that's my point 911. But that's still a four, right? Absolutely. Yes. I think we're all in agreement. Okay. They don't call 911. They're not obligated to intervene, I guess, but they're obligated to call 911. That's the improper handling means you
didn't call 911 or you got involved and you threw hands. Now, now that's that would that would be throwing someone like those one one where they where they threw the guy out a little roughly. They pushed him out. It was, you know, he was whatever it was. That's different than the guy that beat the guy with a flash.
That's just kind This is giving us a guidance. we could that's where there's there's also um one of the things that I had liked um in when when we look in
where did I take this piece from? I think this was inside of the Framinghams section. Um there was a few things that I thought um were a positive. I like how they added
in the section and oh now I have to do numerical Roman numerals in my head. What is that? 14. Um so it's on page 14 of one of Framingham's things I believe um where
they said penalties, procedures, and structures for violations of the ordinance and regulations. A the purpose the purpose of this penalty structure is to improve the ability of the board to prevent alcohol abuse and violation of the laws. This article X uh will help to
achieve reasonable uniformity in the imposition of penalties and to avoid confusion in the minds of the public patrons and lenses due to lack of understanding of the consequences of violating the laws and license terms. This article X is intended to empower the board to consider the circumstances
of each case and provide a mechanism by which licenses can improve their compliance with the laws in the future. So, we'd start off our section with something along those lines and then they have a couple of notes
um under on page 16 where it goes into determination of penalties. Um penalties will be determined according to the following procedures. And I really liked numbers 2, three, and four. Uh number
two is adjustments according uh accordingly to the presence of factors that warrant an increase in the penalty described in the article section E aggravating effect aggravating factors or a decrease described um by mitigating
factors will be considered. So we're saying that once we get to the consequences we're saying these would be the consequences but we will consider aggravating factors and mitigating factors which could adjust which way we go. Number three, adjustments according
to the number of violations involved in the particular offense will be considered. And four, adjustments according to the offender's acceptance of responsibility will be considered. So we're saying whatever consequences we come up with,
this is our guide. But each time something happens, we are going to take into effect the full situation. how many violations occurred on this particular instance for how severe we go in said punishment. Does that make sense?
So even we're not saying that if if you did this it's 100% this this is our guide, right? And by having these other lines in our disciplinary plan, it gives us that wiggle room to
look at each situation as it's presented to us and adjust it as needed. Does that make sense? Yeah. Um and they they continue on page 17 of that they list out aggravating
factors. Um so these would be the the sorts of things that would um make your decision worse um in terms of the consequences. So things like they didn't request
proper ID from someone. Um somebody appeared to be young and they didn't ask for the ID. Um refusal to cooperate. U multiple sales on the same occasion. The number of beverages that were being sold, the
staff not being suitably trained. um underage servers, violations of laws such as the prostit prostitution, solicitation, drugs, gambling, disorderly conduct, cigarettes, well, cigarette sales to minor isn't even
really a thing um in our our locations, um concealing violations, um exceeding the lawful capacity of premises. So these things would make that decision worse and those would be
listed out as aggravating factors in our disciplinary plan. And then the mitigating factors um would be that like as a LE somebody presented you with an ID and you you trusted that that ID was accurate. Um um
public acknowledgement of the responsibility. Um agreement to participate in training programs. uh prompt notice of the decision not to contest the charge, an agreement to propose recommendation for the resolutions. Um so there's a whole
listing of of those um successful passing of alcohol compliance stings. I think we list out those factors um as well. And then um there was also a section on page 19
that uh Um towards the bottom of the page it says suspension of license for a stated number of days and specified dates. Lences are advised that the following chart only represents guidelines for uh used by the police and the board when making their respective
recommendations and decision in response to a license violation. The board in accordance with the mitigating and aggravating factors presented above retains the authority to deviate from these penalties from these penalty guidelines when the circumstances are appropriate.
I'm going be honest. I'm not retaining any of this information because I've been here forever and I have to get home because I have a million things to do with work. But what is I so I am all on board with it. I just like I Yes. So I think I don't I don't visually see it.
So that's why I'm just like, what's the best way to like be more efficient and move this along? I hear you and I want to do this. But it's been almost three hours that we've been here and I just I have a thousand things I have to do for work and I feel the same. But we meet we meet once a month and it keeps getting
postponed and we've been trying to get this done since last fall. Um, so I get it and I come to all the meetings and I come to the extra meetings and I'm just asking like we've had one we've had one extra meeting so it's We have not asked for a
lot. Um, so how do you propose that we get this done if we can't get everybody to sit and spend the time to go through it? I think that the the issue is not sitting down to get through it. I think it's the time limit for today. So I agree with Emily. I think I'm
shocked too. So I propose either we do another special meeting or we just introduce it again on the next month and we keep on doing it until it gets done. But I am also shocked for today. Well, and we could have a plan of what are we reviewing? So, we can all come to the table and just sort of make a
decision because I can't like we can we can read out loud a bunch of things, but also like what like I just want to it just this takes a this is a process takes a lot of time in general. So, I'm happy to like what is the actual prep work we need to do for this piece we want to approve? We can do it in
chunks or whatever. I like the draft that you had and I like that Mike um came up with this list of things and then also maybe we should just have a copy of the Framingham um listing which was sent out. Yeah, I saw that. It would be I'm a visual person so like I it would be nice
to this is why I have Naomi print out all the things because and I I really appreciate that. So maybe we could have, you know, the updated draft um and then the Framingham so we could see what you're reading off on and then we could start checking it off. I think that's
going to be a little bit more efficient. What do you think? And then we could just we could actually probably finalize it. We can certainly do that. I thought that was what the plan was for tonight, which is why I brought everything with me. Um so what I will do is I will go through that initial draft that we did and I
will make the adjustments that we talked to. uh we talked about tonight and I will get that sent over to you so that way you can get that sent over to u the rest of the commission if that works. That works. Fabulous.
And so far um you got to finish I know. Oh, it's just getting the paper. Um any other business tonight? words would be great, guys. No,
nothing. I was trying to think 25th. That's about it. Yes. Uh so, um everything's locked into place. I spoke with the manager, Haley Gomez over at the hotel, Per Street, 10:00 to 12. I try to push till 1 for some Q's and A's
and all that stuff. Um refreshments for the morning. I think I'm supposed to reach out to you, Naomi. Did somebody reach out to you? We'll talk off camera for what? For refreshments. Yeah. Coffee stuff to provide. Who's who's going to provide that?
We'll talk after. Okay. With that, uh, our next meeting is scheduled for September 11th, 2025. Meeting adjourned. Thanks. Thank you.