Another round for Lynn bar rollback; third public hearing set for tonight

LYNN-The third public hearing in the battle of the bar hour rollback will take place at 6 p.m. tonight at City Hall. The hearing will allow residents to weigh in on whether a rollback from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. is justified.The second court-ordered hearing was held on Nov. 28 to correct technical errors during the first hearing on Oct. 2 at which the Licensing Board unanimously approved the rollback.Previously recorded votes to institute the rollback were rescinded and the hearing was ordered recessed until tonight so attorneys could review roughly 91 incident reports supplied by the Licensing Board.Licensing Board Commissioner Dick Coppinger said he anticipates a vote will be taken at tonight?s hearing, where additional testimony would be heard from the public and attorneys representing bar owners in the city.In order to be proactive, the city requested a motion for a protective order in Salem Superior Court Monday to make sure tonight?s hearing would proceed.Coppinger said the basis for the motion was because attorney Frederick Riley, who is representing the proprietors, recently sent a letter to Police Chief John Suslak requesting additional materials to support his claim that a rollback would be in the best interest of public safety.In the letter, Riley sought answers to roughly 21 questions and requested a copy of the police contract and other materials aside from the 251 police reports already supplied to Riley as evidence.?So city attorney Vincent Phelan basically went to court to prevent them from preventing us from going forward,” he said. “It?s all a chess game at this point.”Phelan said the city was very specific with the court and the city is pleased with the ruling made by Judge Maureen Hogan to continue.?The city wants these hearings to be totally open to the public,” he said. “No decision has been made up to this point and we just want finality one way or another.”In addition, Phelan said Riley?s requests in the letter were vague.?He was basically asking us to create statistics, but they have to be documented or in existence first for us to send them,” he said. “As it is, the city lost out on about $700 sending the 251 reports to the plaintiffs and we sent the collective bargaining material to them.”Riley, who represents proprietors Patricia Aldred, Rocco DiFillipo, George Chakoutis and Rafael Echavarria, said he is still waiting for the requested materials.?We haven?t really gotten a response yet from Suslak,” he said. “I sent the letter to Suslak instead of the Licensing Board because I think he would be able to best answer the questions.”In the meantime, Riley previously asked the board for a six-month grace period for attorneys representing the licensees to work with the board, Lynn Police, city solicitor, Mayor Edward J. Clancy, Jr., and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC).In October, a Salem Superior Court Judge ordered the Licensing Board to hold the second hearing after the judge determined that the board had violated the state open meeting law when it held a closed door executive session to discussing rolling back bar hours from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m.At the last meeting, Coppinger said the board made the mistake of not taking a roll call to adjourn.