Licensing Board

CITY OF LACONIA SPECIAL EVENTS/LICENSING NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING JULY 1, 2015 12 NOON CONFERENCE ROOM 200A APPROVED MEMETING OF AUGUST 5, 2015 Jim Rogato called the Licensing portion of the meeting to order at 12 pm. Present: Jim Rogato, Chairman; Matt Canfield, LPD Absent: Ken Erickson, LFD LICENSING: Licensing Review: ENTERTAINMENT: 1. Sal’s Pizza; General Entertainment June 25, 2015- September 25, 2015 Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. ITINERANT VENDORS: 2. Sans Souci, LLC- Renewal until September 30, 2015: Messer, extending. Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. RAFFLE: 3. Laconia Kiwanis Charities Fund; Prize: Two night stay at Mills Falls; Draw date: 8/30/2015 4. Happy Tails Dog Park of Lakes Region; Prize: Cash 50/50; Draw Dates: 6/20, 9/19,12/19 Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. TAXI DRIVERS: 5. Mr. C’s Taxi: Mark Beauchemin & Michael Dame M. Canfield said he had checked out the applications ahead of time and had no issues with either driver. Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. MCWK- VENDOR APPLICATIONS: See Attached: 136 Applications: J. Rogato said there were 136 applications that came in after the Licensing meeting of June 3 and they would all be voted upon together. All were paid in full. Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. Licensing Regular: ITINERANT VENDOR: 6. Fourth of July at Opechee Vendors Mike’s Eats and Treats- Food & Beverage Caren’s Ice Cream- Ice Cream, Shakes, Root Beer Floats, Cold Drinks Brad’s Concessions- Fried Dough, Cold Drinks Hibbert Eat (2) - Toys, Balloons, Novelties, Glow products, Light up toys Chesley’s Food Concessions-French Fries, Lemonade, Cold Drinks Laconia Multicultural Festival –Glow Sticks New applications that came in were for A&A Concessions, (2 booths), Cormier’s Sugar House, and Dudley’s Ice Cream (3 booths) Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. 7. Caren’s Ice Cream- 45 Endicott St N (2 Stands) for month of July-Ice Cream, Lobster Rolls, Onion Rings, Fried Dough, French Fries USH-Use of Street/Highway IV-Itinerant Vendor RAF – Raffle OLS – Outdoor Loudspeaker ENT – Entertainment Page 1 of 5  8. Brad’s Concessions- 45 Endicott St N for month of July- T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Hats S. Saunders asked about these and was told they are both under the same ownership. Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. OUTDOOR LOUDSPEAKER: 9. Laconia Police Department; August 4th 4-8pm at Leavitt Park for National Night Out This was continued until the August 4th meeting as M. Canfield had to recuse himself and there was not a quorum. Licensing New Business: MCWK- REFUND REQUEST; Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists & Walter Dyer Leather H. Young said that there was one more that came in, A&A Concessions. J. Rogato asked the reasons. Advanced Orthopedic Specialists had a family issue. Walter Dyer Leather had 2 locations but decided not to utilize the Drive In after the questions at that property. They did use their other site. A&A Concessions paid to use 38 Endicott St but did not get the approval from the property owner. Motion: M. Canfield moved to approve with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. Licensing Old Business: None Licensing Minutes: Motion: The motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting of June 3, 2015 was made by M. Canfield, with the second by J. Rogato. The vote was 2-0 in favor. H. Young said she had two questions for the committee. She had a question from an Avon representative who wants to toss her magazines into people’s drives. She said she has seen others do this and wondered if there was a license required. M. Canfield said he doesn’t feel that is permitted and J. Rogato agreed but said he didn’t know what to cite. H. Young questioned if this would be littering; J. Rogato suggested that the Avon representative check with the post office before even putting them on people’s mail boxes. H. Young will contact her. She also took a phone call from the Veterans Association and they asked what they need to do if they walk the downtown area and ask for donations. This is similar to what the Salvation Army does, only they are stationery. J. Rogato said to tell them to come in and fill out the application; this has to be non-profit. Licensing Adjournment: M. Canfield moved to adjourn the Licensing portion of the meeting with J. Rogato making the second. The vote was 2-0 in favor of adjournment and the Licensing portion of the meeting adjourned as 12:10 pm. SPECIAL EVENTS: Present: Shanna Saunders, Planning, Chairman; Hilary Young, Licensing; Kevin Dunleavy, Parks & Rec; Charlie Roffo, LFD; Matt Canfield, LPD; B. Swan, DPW; S. McCusker, Code Absent: S. Nuttleman, Water 1) Application # 2015-0081, City Wide (continued) New: Pumpkin Festival S. Saunders let the committee know that the Pumpkin Fest asked to be continued until the August meeting. She said if there was no other Special Event business at this time she would open up the meeting to the general public for Motorcycle Week comments. (12:15 pm) Bob Wilson, Faro Italian Grill: They had the Flaunt Girls at girls at Road House, who did a fire dance with batons. He said the Charlie Roffo said this was not permitted. B. Wilson said that C. Roffo told a security guard if this continued he would close it down. He did not tell the manager, the owner, etc. about the issue and if that guard had left they would not have known. C. Roffo said he has a point, but that this was a conversation in passing, not enforcement, and not exactly as stated but that he agrees that he should have followed up. B. Wilson said this was mid-week, and they had already been doing this through the week, so they didn’t know. He contacted Chris Wyman, at the State Fire Marshall’s office, who let them know there was a lot to go through, and suggested that they maybe do this next year when they had time to do the required paperwork. USH-Use of Street/Highway IV-Itinerant Vendor RAF – Raffle OLS – Outdoor Loudspeaker ENT – Entertainment Page 2 of 5  B. Wilson said if there are any problems they should go to someone in charge. C. Roffo apologized and said he made the comments in passing but that he should have followed up. B. Wilson said that they were generally happy with the event this year. S. Saunders asked C. Roffo if they want this vendor to return next year what do they do and he said this needs to be permitted with the State. They have talked with Bob Wilson and Richard Ray already so they are aware of what needs to be done. It really was not possible this year because of the timing but permits need to be done for next year. Stanley White, owner of Dr Buckle & Mr Hyde: He said that he wrote a letter to Charlie St Clair a year ago because of declining reports from Bike Week vendors and the year round businesses. At that time he suggested hiring someone with marketing expertise to plan motorcycle week. The letter was never acknowledged, and nothing was done in that area. He said this event needs a professional accredited marketing agent. The people here have their heart in it but do not have the expertise to perform the duties. He said he got a large response this year due to the state police. These were activities that normally don’t take place in Laconia, like muffler stops, high handle bar stops, speed and liquor stops, weigh stations for trucks for food going into the Weirs. These things happened a lot this year. He said he would like to have someone from the state police get in touch with him, so he could ask their duties and what were they charged to do during Bike Week. From his point of view, this was not saying welcome – these were just stops. This is not a positive direction in lessening the blow for less activities and less people attending. He said we are going to lose this event – it is on the way. He said that he doesn’t have the right to ask for this but would like to ask for the resignation of Charlie St Clair from running the Association. Larry Zelonis, Spinnaker Cove, stated that he had a complaint about the vendor located across the street at HK Powersports. This is a dyno-tuner and they had a noise issue with this. For the past few years it has been somewhat of an annoyance. Last year someone filed a complaint and he was asked to park out back. They are asking for some consideration on that. This was excessive noise. An e-mail was sent by someone in the City who said they agreed. Spinnaker Cove called the police, who noted that he did not shut down until 9:20 one evening. He said that he knows this is a good location for him for visibility but there is just too much noise for them. Michelle Tyo-Watson, Loony Bin: She said she has been here now for 10 years, and did have a successful year but she doesn’t think the future is positive for the event. She said she reached out on her Facebook page and got a lot of response, most of which we cannot fix. We have no control over what vendors decide to return or what entertainment is hired. She said she has hope for the Rally for the next coming years. She is investing her time and money into the city and the business. People come for the summer, and she wants to see them return. She asked how we can help this event grow. She realizes that it can’t be like it was 20 years ago, but we need to know how do to put life back into this. S. Saunders asked here if they were less busy than in the past years and Michelle said yes, this year they only had a day and a half of back up. In the past traffic was backed up in this area all of the time. There was no traffic after 10 pm, including Friday and Saturday evenings. There was no transportation this year for people wanting to make that loop. S. Saunders said we will look at her Facebook page to get feedback. She doesn’t think many people felt “welcomed” this year. She will invest more time into helping making this grow. Charlie St Clair: He said that the biggest bane of his existence is the lack of events here. Laconia has lost a lot of things that used to happen. The hill climb is now 35 miles away, which is not that far, but people don’t go. The business owners lost that surge of business when people were leaving Gunstock and coming back to the Weirs. The mission of the Association was to grow Motorcycle Week into a state wide event. At a tourism event this morning, they were told that is successful. This has become more of a state wide event. But Lakeside Avenue is still the center of activities. Unfortunately it isn’t what people are looking for. There is mostly vendors. They come to look at the bikes. In Daytona and Sturgis there are more entertainment venues. We have some good ones here during the week. Competition is tough around the country and for the local businesses. He does hear complaints that it isn’t the way it used to be. There is a lot of competition nationwide. Some people think businesses don’t do as well as they can, but that is not their job. The Association’s job is to get people here, then the businesses must get people in. USH-Use of Street/Highway IV-Itinerant Vendor RAF – Raffle OLS – Outdoor Loudspeaker ENT – Entertainment Page 3 of 5  He said he knows that everyone worked hard on doing the Drive-In. There was a lot of work done, and they did it in a short time. The promoter is working on that; if they don’t get it together, he has others who will step in and pick it up. There was no transportation provided this year as Distinctive Transportation had an illness. That is wide open, the opportunity is here for someone to do this. Maybe some of the property owners could get together a rent a bus. He had a lot of calls on this. The train provides a good service, too. S. Saunders asked who people would contact on these support services and C. St. Clair said him or anyone else on the board. His number is 387-5944. He said he feels that the big thing are the events. The track had an outside company come in, and that went well. That took away from Funspot so they decided not to do anything this year. Funspot left a big hole, and people questioned what was going on. They felt since Funspot did not participate that meant there was an issue with Bike Week in general. Boot Hill didn’t open this year. M. Canfield said she got burnt a few years ago, and she decided not to re-open. She could have rented it out, as she had offers, but she decided not to rent it. C. St. Clair said he would like to see something at Gunstock again. He had someone mention investing in putting a short track on Rt 106, which would be a great venue all year long. Be open for ideas as the competition is fierce out there. J. Rogato said he thinks the Association has been very successful in making this a state wide event. They have spread to Conway, and other areas. People are staying in other areas, and coming here just for a day. C. St Clair said there were complaints on the state police again this year. They are just standing there, in the rotary, and seem to pick and choose who to write tickets for. People get a bad perception. They should go to more outlying areas where the speed can become a factor. That is a concern but they do tend to stay in the rotary area and write a ticket. He feels this is ill advised, and it is not received well by the visitors. That is the image they take home with them. Maybe they aren’t looking at the same things our police are looking at. Jennifer Anderson, Director of Motorcycle week Association: She said there are a few things she wants to clarify. Sometimes there is a misconception on their role in the Association and what they have control over. She said it is very fruitful having people reach out to them. The Association serves as an information center for the bikers coming here, to let them know why they should. She said that they don’t own property, cannot host events, and have no say on public safety or law enforcement, or liquor or state enforcement. They serve as a liaison all year round, and their mission statement is to get people to come here for the rally and other times of the year to the state, and to our area. With the help of everyone they have been successful. If someone wanted to do a shuttle service, she said they can supply them the needed information but they cannot provide it. Before complaining to other people, please give them an opportunity to clarify things. The Association is in the thick of things from all sides of this. They understand the history, the present context, and the future direction. Jay Lewis, Hilliard Road: He said that we no longer have bike week, it’s cop week. They are stationed at every bar. He said that bikers must be at bottom of the barrel, there are so many police watching. The state police here in force, and he asked why there are so many in the Weirs. He has a house in Daytona where they hold 2 events every year and there are a lot less cops. People spend money there twice a year. He tells people to come to Laconia, and they say there are too many cops. They are all going to Ohio. He asked if there will there be as many cops for the Pumpkin Fest; what about large craft fairs. Bikers are not bums; if they have 20K for the bike, they are not a bum. It is up to us to decide if we want to change our ways. M. Canfield said that the policing levels have changed, and that they had 25% less this year than last year. If said if Jay feels he was mistreated to come down and file a complaint. Jay Lewis said he doesn’t go out anymore because of the cops. He said cops parked at the Broken Spoke so people feel uncomfortable. They park in front of hydrants, they don’t use blue lights. The track does things for less. People aren’t coming here. You should be able to enjoy yourself in a bar, or walk down the street. Don’t make them feel like they live in Russia. People are looking over their shoulder all the time. Daytona learned that 20 years ago. People are going to go away. They don’t want to come here anymore. Only the city can change that. The land and business owners can give their opinions but only the city can do anything. Bob Wilson asked if the dyno tuner that was mentioned was on their property and was told no, it is on Union Avenue. He said this was their biggest year, and that they are constantly trying to do different things. He said they could fill the property with t shirt vendors, but they don’t want to do that. They want to have other things. The track is becoming a destination. That might be taking away from the Weirs but it still brings in people. USH-Use of Street/Highway IV-Itinerant Vendor RAF – Raffle OLS – Outdoor Loudspeaker ENT – Entertainment Page 4 of 5 Tom Matthews, of TLC Jewelers, had a question on the start time of the meeting and S. Saunders said that it had been posted as 12 and 12:30. The Licensing portion began at noon, with the Special Events immediately after. It was about 12:15 when that started. Since there were people here she went ahead and began the meeting, leaving plenty of time for people who came in later to speak. Charlie St Clair spoke to what Jay Lewis mentioned. He said this is not a City thing. He feels that the liquor thing has been heavy handed. Tower Hill had 2 liquor enforcement people there and he heard one of them complain there were a lot of questionable people in the place. What does that mean? He got a bad attitude from them and feels that is something we should take up with them. The events were mentioned at their board meeting. That is under our control here. They like to see venues that want to do this, do things properly, safely, and have burn out pits. The Broken Spoke built one for that. Those are done nationwide. S. Saunders said the Broken Spoke structure is too close to the intersection, and there was a danger to traffic. Craig Finnerty, owns a local motorcycle shop, CFO Cycles in Meredith, said that they did a few burn out shows this year at the Broken Spoke. They were not open to the public. It was a vendor show, so basically vendors for vendors. If someone wants to do one for the public that would be good. There are many places that have burn out pits, and many are on major intersections. You can use fans to direct the smoke. This is heavy dense smoke which can be directed. There are solutions. He said he doesn’t think burn outs are the major issue, but would certainly add to the event. He said he feels it is mainly the State Police presence and the attitude. He got pulled over in his truck for having tinted windows. Their attitude was incredible. He said he has traveled around the country to different events. The largest Harley exhaust vendor would not come as they heard that anyone getting a new exhaust installed at Meredith Harley got pulled over immediately after leaving the site. He said he knows that is not true but that is what people are saying and they tell other people. S. Saunders said the property owners come in for their site approval and we aren’t even sure of what the vendors are. All we want to know before hand are the food vendors, dyno tuners, and burn out pits. C. Finnerty asked what the issue was on Union Ave with the dynotuner there and was told noise. S. Saunders said that we approved that one. This committee approves the property owner, but they pick the vendors. Craig Finnerty asked who is in charge of the state police presence. He said he was told it was Laconia that brings then in and M. Canfield said he is correct. Ann Saltmarsh explained the DPW recycling flyers. She explained where the bins are and what we expect. She said that we have mandatory recycling and to call her if any there are questions. S. Saunders said it is the property owners responsibility to get to a location, and not just leave things on sidewalks. SERC New Business: None SERC Old Business: None SERC Minutes: K. Dunleavy moved to approve the minutes from the June 3 meeting. C. Roffo seconded with all voting in favor, 5-0. SERC Adjournment: M. Canfield moved to adjourn the Special Events portion of the meeting, with C. Roffo making the second. All voted in favor, 5-0, and the meeting adjourned at 1 pm. USH-Use of Street/Highway IV-Itinerant Vendor RAF – Raffle OLS – Outdoor Loudspeaker ENT – Entertainment Page 5 of 5