Saugus selectmen sub-committee to revisit liquor rules, regulations

SAUGUS – The Selectmen will once again undertake the arduous process of reviewing the town’s liquor rules and regulations.Selectman Michael Kelleher initially asked his colleagues Tuesday to form a two-man subcommittee to revisit the regulations. His colleagues had other ideas.Selectman Peter Rossetti said he thought the scope of the work proposed would be fairly extreme and more than two could handle.”I think we should have a committee of the whole,” he said.Kelleher said his only thought of keeping the job under a subcommittee was that meetings wouldn’t have to be posted and the work could be done more quickly. He said he is looking at the changes as more of a fine tuning rather than an overhaul.Kelleher, along with Stephen Horlick, served on the board the last time the liquor rules were overhauled roughly four and half years ago.Horlick pointed out that when the board last tackled the job, former selectman Michael Serino spent untold hours going through the documentation and marking areas that needed attention. Horlick said he thought the process would go much faster with a committee of the whole.Kelleher said a committee of the whole was fine, but he suspected Chairman Donald Wong, who holds a liquor license, would have to sit out. However, Wong said as a business owner it would be ridiculous to dismiss him.”I simply won’t vote on it,” he said.Rossetti agreed.”I would think his input would be very valuable,” he said. “As long as he doesn’t vote it will be fine.”The board voted 4-0 to form the committee.Since then Kelleher said he would also like to seek input on the issue from the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, the Attorney General’s office, the police and fire chiefs, the building inspector and representatives from the Revere, Boston and Lynn licensing boards. He would also like to speak to license holders and local attorneys who work with alcohol permitting.Kelleher was spurred to action on the issue by what he views as an uptick in violent incidents at area nightclubs.Tabu Ultra Lounge and Nightclub picks up a show cause hearing Tuesday, while Jin Restaurant and Entertainment Complex will appear next week. Hooters has also been invited in to discuss an alleged underage drinking incident, and a fight in the parking lot at Maddy’s on Route 1 south has put that establishment on the board’s radar.Along with the subcommittee Kelleher also asked board members to agree to send a letter to all liquor license holders warning them that any infraction will be dealt with expeditiously and severely. He said the laissez faire attitude some think the board has had toward violators in the past must end.”That’s the attitude that got us where we are today,” he said.