Board of Commissioners - Board of Commissioners Meeting

CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS : : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED REGULAR MEETING : _ : PROCEEDINGS Bruce D. Walter Recreation Center 507 West Street Union City, New Jersey Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Commencing at 7:01 p.m. M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: BRIAN P. STACK, MAYOR LUCIO P. FERNANDEZ, COMMISSIONER MARYURY A. MARTINETTI, COMMISSIONER CELIN J. VALDIVIA, COMMISSIONER TILO E. RIVAS, COMMISSIONER M E M B E R S A B S E N T: A L S O P R E S E N T: DOMINICK CANTATORE, ACTING CITY CLERK SCARINCI HOLLENBECK BY: KRYSTLE NOVA, ESQ. Corporation Counsel GREGORY T. FARMER, ESQ. Attorney for the Union City Alcohol Beverage Control Commission  2 I N D E X PAGE CALL TO ORDER 3 SALUTE TO FLAG 3 ROLL CALL 4 ORDINANCE FOR HEARING AND ADOPTION 4 CONSENT AGENDA 7 OPPORTUNITY FOR CITIZENS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD 15 LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION 19 LIQUOR LICENSE DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS 24 Dolores Castro t/a Uno Bar 40 2216 Bergenline Avenue LLC t/a Centro Bar 47 El Chapin Corp t/a El Rincon Chapin (El Cuscatleco) 50 JRV Restaurant Inc. t/a El Papaturro 52 Bambinas Bar & Restaurant t/a Milagro Ecuatoriano Restaurant 58 ADJOURNMENT 59  3 1 ACTING CITY CLERK: This is a Public 2 Meeting of the Union City Board of Commissioner, 3 being held on Wednesday, -- 4 Sorry. 5 -- on Tuesday, November 17 at seven p.m., 6 at the Bruce D. Walter Recreation Center, 507 7 West Street, Union City, New Jersey. 8 Everyone please rise for the Pledge of 9 Allegiance. 10 11 (Whereupon the Pledge of Allegiance was 12 said.) 13 14 ACTING CITY CLERK: This meeting has been 15 called in accordance with Chapter 231, Public Law 16 of 1975, the Open Public Meeting Act. 17 Adequate notice of this meeting has been 18 provided as follows: 19 Notice of this meeting setting forth the 20 time, the date, location, and the agenda, to the 21 extent known, was forwarded to The Jersey 22 Journal, The Record, The Hudson Reporter, has 23 been posted on bulletin board in City Hall and 24 has been made available to the public in the 25 office of Municipal Clerk.  4 1 2 ROLL CALL: 3 4 ACTING CITY CLERK: Roll call. 5 Commissioner Fernandez? 6 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Here. 7 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 8 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Here. 9 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 10 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Here. 11 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 12 Martinetti? 13 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Here. 14 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 15 MAYOR STACK: Here. 16 17 ORDINANCES FOR HEARING AND ADOPTION 18 CONSIDERATION: 19 20 ( ) STATE FISCAL YEAR 2016 ORDINANCE TO EXCEED 21 THE MUNICIPAL BUDGET APPROPRIATION LIMITS AND TO 22 ESTABLISH A CAP BANK (N.J.S.A. 49A:4-45.14) 23 24 ACTING CITY CLERK: First item is Ordinance 25 for Hearing Adoption Consideration.  5 1 The Ordinance is State -- for the State 2 Fiscal Year 2016 Ordinance to Exceed the 3 Municipal Budget Appropriation Limits and to 4 Establish a Cap Bank, N.J.S.A. 49A:4-45.14. 5 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Motion. 6 MAYOR STACK: I’ll second. 7 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: You have to open 8 for public comment. 9 MAYOR STACK: I’m sorry. 10 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor, you want to 11 take -- 12 MAYOR STACK: Sure. 13 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Public comment. 14 ACTING CITY CLERK: -- public comment? 15 MAYOR STACK: Anyone wishing to comment at 16 this time, please step forward, state your name 17 and address for the record. 18 Seeing none. 19 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion by Commissioner 20 Valdivia. 21 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Second. 22 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second by Mayor Stack. 23 Roll call. 24 Commissioner Fernandez? 25 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes.  6 1 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 2 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes. 3 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 4 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 5 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 6 Martinetti? 7 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 8 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 9 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 10 ACTING CITY CLERK: Is there a motion to 11 adopt the Ordinance for the State Fiscal Year 12 2016 Ordinance to Exceed the Municipal Budget 13 Appropriation Limits and to Establish a Cap Bank, 14 N.J.S.A. 49A:4-45.14? 15 Is there a motion to adopt? 16 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 17 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Motion. 18 Second. 19 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion by Mayor Stack. 20 Second by Commissioner Martinetti. 21 Roll call. 22 Commissioner Fernandez? 23 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 24 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 25 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes.  7 1 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 2 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 3 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 4 Martinetti? 5 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 6 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 7 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 8 9 CONSENT AGENDA: 10 11 ( 1) Resolution Approving the Payment of Claims 12 ( 2) Resolution Approving the Payment of 13 Concurring Claims 14 ( 3) Resolution Approving the City Payroll for 15 the Period of October 31, 2015 through November 16 13, 2015 17 ( 4) Resolution Approving the Library Payroll 18 for the Period of October 31, 2015 through 19 November 13, 2015 20 ( 5) Resolution Designating Certain Properties 21 as a Non-Condemnation Redevelopment Area 22 ( 6) Resolution Approving Contract for 23 Installation of Basketball Backboards Hoops at 24 24th Street Park 25 ( 7) Resolution Authorizing Second One Year  8 1 Extension of Ambulance Billing Services Contract 2 with Intermedix 3 ( 8) Resolution Approving Shared Services 4 Agreement with the Union City Board of Education 5 for Crossing Guards Services for 2015-2016 6 ( 9) Resolution Approving Qualifications of 7 Emergency Snow Plowing Contractor to Persistent 8 Construction Co. 9 (10) Resolution Approving List of Emergency 10 Electrical Repair Contractors to (Tabit Co, 11 K Hanranrahan Enterprises, Inc., and Redmann 12 Electric & Communication Co.) 13 (11) Resolution Approving Disciplinary 14 Proceedings Against El Trebol t/a Mayem (sic) 15 Corp, Located at 416-418 43rd Street, Liquor 16 License No. 0910-33-190-008 17 (12) Resolution Approving Disciplinary 18 Proceedings Against Angelo’s Café t/a El Idolo, 19 LLC, Located at 4215 Park Avenue, Liquor License 20 No. 0910-33-111-006 21 (13) Resolution Approving the Renewal of Vanessa 22 Café Corp., Located at 120 43 rd Street, Liquor 23 License No. 0910-33-029-008 24 (14) Resolution Appointing Lauren Sosa-Herrera 25 to the Union City Library’s Board of Trustees  9 1 (15) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of 2 Redemption Monies to Outside Lienholders 3 (16) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of 4 Premium Monies Collected at the Tax Sale 5 (17) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of a 6 Duplicate Payment Made on Block 202, Lot 5 C012B 7 Also Known as 3312 Hudson Avenue 8 (18) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of an 9 Overpayment for 2015 Taxes on Block 22, Lot 1.01 10 C0709 Also Known as 500 Central Avenue 11 (19) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of an 12 Overpayment on Block 168.02 Also Known as 3100 13 Bergenline Avenue 14 (20) Any other matter of City business that may 15 arise 16 17 ACTING CITY CLERK: Next item is the 18 Consent Agenda. 19 First item is Resolution Approving the 20 Payments of Claim. 21 Item 2. 22 Resolution Approving the Payment of 23 Concurring Claims. 24 Item 3. 25 Resolution Approving the City Payroll for  10 1 the Period of October 31st, 2015 through November 2 13, 2015. 3 Item 4. 4 Resolution Approving the Library Payroll 5 for the Period of October 31st, 2015 through 6 November 13, 2015. 7 Item 5. 8 Resolution Designating Certain Properties 9 as a Non-Contamination (sic) Redevelopment Area. 10 Item 6. 11 Resolution Approving Contract for 12 Installation of Basketball Backboards Hoops at 13 24th Street Park. 14 Item 7. 15 Resolution Authorizing Second One Year 16 Extension of Ambulance Billing Services Contract 17 with Intermedix. 18 Item 8. 19 Resolution Approving Shared Service 20 Agreement with the Union City Board of Education 21 for Crossing Guards Services for 2015-2016. 22 Item 9. 23 Resolution Approving Qualification of 24 Emergency Snow Plowing Contract to Persistent 25 Construction Corporation.  11 1 Item 10. 2 Resolution Approving List of Emergency 3 Electrical Repair Contractor to Tabit 4 Corporation, K. Hanranrahan Enterprises, Inc., 5 and Redmann Electric and Communication 6 Corporation. 7 Item 11. 8 Resolution Approving Disciplinary 9 Proceeding Against El Trebol, also known as Mayen 10 Corporation, Located at 416-418 43rd Street, 11 Liquor License number 0910-33-190-008. 12 Item 12. 13 Resolution Approving Disciplinary 14 Proceeding Against Angelo’s Café, also known as 15 El Idolo, LLC, Located at 4215 Park Avenue, 16 Liquor License number 0910-33-111-006. 17 Item 13. 18 Resolution Approving the Renewal of Vanessa 19 Café Corporation, Located at 120 43rd Street, 20 Liquor License number 0910-33-029-008. 21 Item 14. 22 Resolution Appointing Lauren Sosa-Herrera 23 to the Union City Library Board of Trustee. 24 Item 15. 25 Resolution Authorizing the Refund of  12 1 Redemption Money to Outside Lienholders. 2 Item 16. 3 Resolution Authorizing the Refund of 4 Premium Monies Collected at the Tax Sale. 5 Item 17. 6 Resolution Authorizing the Refund of a 7 Duplicate Payment Made on Block 202, Lot 5 C0112 8 (sic) 012B, also known as 3312 Hudson Avenue. 9 Item 18. 10 Resolution Authorizing the Refund of 11 Overpayment for 2015 Tax -- Taxes on Block 22, 12 Lot 1.01 C0709 also known as 500 Central Avenue. 13 Item 19. 14 Resolution Authorizing the Refund of 15 Overpayment on Block 168.02, also known as 3100 16 Bergenline Avenue. 17 Mayor, do you wish to take public comment 18 on any item on the Consent Agenda at this time? 19 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 20 Anyone wishing to comment on the Consent 21 Agenda, please step forward, state your name and 22 address for the record. 23 Seeing none. 24 ACTING CITY CLERK: Is there a motion to 25 close public comment?  13 1 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 2 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion by Mayor Stack. 3 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Second. 4 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second -- 5 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Second. 6 ACTING CITY CLERK: -- by Commissioner 7 Rivas. 8 Roll call. 9 Commissioner Ferna -- 10 MS. NOVA: For the record, on item number 8 11 for the Consent Agenda, Commissioner Fernandez 12 and Commissioner Martinetti, Commissioner 13 Valdivia would normally recuse. 14 Commissioner Valdivia will be voting on 15 this based on the doctrine of necessity. 16 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: And I move it. 17 ACTING CITY CLERK: So, Commissioner 18 Fernandez -- 19 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: We’re just voting 20 on closing the public comment. 21 MS. NOVA: Correct. 22 ACTING CITY CLERK: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Okay. 24 MAYOR STACK: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes.  14 1 ACTING CITY CLERK: We -- I think I 2 finished all that, right? 3 MS. NOVA: Yes. 4 ACTING CITY CLERK: The first step? 5 Is there -- is there a motion to approve 6 all -- 7 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 8 ACTING CITY CLERK: -- all items on the 9 Consent Agenda? 10 Motion by Mayor Stack. 11 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: I’ll second it. 12 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second by Commissioner 13 Rivas. 14 Roll call. 15 Commissioner Fernandez? 16 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes with the 17 exception on number 8 as stated by the counsel. 18 Commissioner Rivas? 19 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes. 20 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 21 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 22 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 23 Martinetti? 24 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: I’m recusing on 25 item 1, any payment to Adolfo Lopez and any items  15 1 pertaining to the Union City Construction Code; 2 and number 8. 3 And aye on the rest. 4 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 5 MAYOR STACK: Yes on all. 6 I just wanted to thank the Commissioners 7 for improving the basketball backboards at 24 th 8 Street Park. Specifically thank Commissioner 9 Valdivia for his work in the parks. We’re 10 constantly rehabbing our parks. 11 Also on the emergency snow plowing, that 12 would just be for major snowstorms. If the City 13 wasn’t able to handle it we would utilize their 14 service. 15 Yes -- yes on all. 16 ACTING CITY CLERK: Next item is a Liquor 17 License Transfer Application. 18 MAYOR STACK: Let’s take any comments right 19 now first -- 20 ACTING CITY CLERK: Okay. 21 MAYOR STACK: -- before we go to liquor 22 license. 23 24 OPPORTUNITY FOR CITIZENS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD: 25  16 1 MAYOR STACK: Anyone wishing to comment on 2 any matter concerning municipal government in the 3 City of Union City, please step forward. 4 Seeing none. 5 I’ll just make a motion. 6 I would just like to thank those members of 7 the public that are here this evening for 8 official meeting of the Board of Commissioners in 9 the City of Union City. 10 We move the meetings throughout the entire 11 community every two weeks or whenever we have a 12 regular scheduled Commission meeting. A hundred 13 percent of our meetings are in the evening hours 14 and -- unless it’s a special or an emergency 15 meeting. And we move them throughout the 16 community every -- each Commission meeting is 17 held in a different location when we hold them so 18 we give all the public the right to come out and 19 comment on municipal government, which is the 20 most important layer of government I feel in a 21 resident’s life. 22 So we thank you for coming. 23 The portion of the meeting that we’ll go in 24 to right now everyone’s welcome to stay for if 25 you’d like. This is liquor license disciplinary  17 1 hearings. 2 And thank you again everyone for coming out 3 this evening. 4 ACTING CITY CLERK: Next item is a liquor 5 license transfer application. 6 MAYOR STACK: I think we need to close the 7 -- the public portion. 8 ACTING CITY CLERK: Oh, you’re right. I’m 9 sorry, Mayor. 10 MR. DIAZ: If I may -- 11 MAYOR STACK: Just one second, Mr. Diaz. 12 Let’s just close the public portion. 13 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion -- is there a 14 motion to close the -- the comment portion of -- 15 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Motion. 16 ACTING CITY CLERK: -- this meeting? 17 Motion by -- 18 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Second. 19 ACTING CITY CLERK: -- Commissioner Rivas. 20 Second by Commissioner Valdivia. 21 Roll call. 22 Commissioner Fernandez? 23 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 24 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 25 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes.  18 1 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 2 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 3 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 4 Martinetti? 5 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 6 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 7 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 8 9 * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  19 1 LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION: 2 3 APPLICATION REGARDING LIQUOR LICENSE # 4 0910-43-203-004 FOR A PERSON TO PERSON TRANSFER 5 (FROM LA ESPERANZA GROCERY STORE, INC. TO 6 SHRIJI11, LLC) LOCATED AT 800 NEW YORK AVENUE 7 8 MR. DIAZ: Mayor, if I may, I was speaking 9 with Mr. Farmer -- maybe I did not hear. I have 10 transfer, person to person. 11 MS. NOVA: Yes. 12 MR. DIAZ: Has that come up yet? Or -- 13 MS. NOVA: That’s the one -- 14 ACTING CITY CLERK: That’s next. 15 MS. NOVA: -- we’re going to do right now. 16 MR. DIAZ: Oh, I’m sorry. 17 MAYOR STACK: Right now. Yeah. 18 MR. DIAZ: I apologize. 19 MAYOR STACK: Yeah, right now. 20 No problem. 21 MR. DIAZ: I didn’t know -- 22 ACTING CITY CLERK: Next item is a liquor 23 license transfer application. 24 Application Regarding Liquor License Number 25 0910-43-203-004 for a Person to Person Transfer  20 1 from La Esperanza Grocery Store, Inc. to Shriji, 2 LLC, Located at 800 New York Avenue. 3 MR. DIAZ: Good evening, Board Members. 4 Good evening, Board Members. 5 Luis Diaz for the applicant. 6 We have provide -- we have provided all the 7 paperwork to the -- to the municipality. We have 8 done the publication. 9 And, again, this is a person to person 10 transfer and the license will stay at the same 11 location. 12 Mr. Kapur (phonetic) is the principal of 13 the entity that is the receipt -- receipt of the 14 transfer, transferee. Mr. Kapur has had 15 experience in the grocery store business and the 16 sale of warm beer, which is what this license is 17 about. 18 MAYOR STACK: Sure. 19 I would just ask that you take precaution 20 and make sure we proof everyone that comes in 21 before we sell any type of beer to them. We’re 22 working very hard to better the neighborhood, 23 especially for the children and the residents who 24 live there to make it a better neighborhood for 25 them.  21 1 Any cooperation that you could give we 2 greatly appreciate that. 3 Thank you. 4 Any other questions from the Commissioners? 5 Any member of the public have any comment 6 on this matter at 800 New York Avenue, grocery 7 store/warm beer license? 8 It’s a transfer from the previous owner to 9 this gentleman who just purchased it recently. 10 Seeing no further, -- 11 MS. NOVA: Mayor, -- 12 MAYOR STACK: -- I’ll make a motion to 13 approve. 14 MS. NOVA: Mayor, for the record, I did 15 speak to Sergeant Ocasio at the Police Department 16 and no objections were brought -- 17 MAYOR STACK: All right. 18 MS. NOVA: -- forward. 19 MAYOR STACK: What time do you close your 20 business, sir? 21 MR. KAPUR: Twelve o’clock. 22 MAYOR STACK: Twelve o’clock. 23 Very good. 24 Okay. 25 I’ll make a motion to approve.  22 1 MR. DIAZ: But his intention is not to sell 2 beer after 10, 10:30. 3 MAYOR STACK: That would be great. We 4 would appreciate that. 5 MR. DIAZ: It only brings trouble. 6 MAYOR STACK: We would appreciate that. 7 Thank you very much. 8 MR. KAPUR: No problem. 9 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion made by Mayor 10 Stack. 11 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 12 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second by Commissioner 13 Fernandez. 14 Roll call. 15 Commissioner Fernandez? 16 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 17 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 18 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes. 19 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 20 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 21 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 22 Martinetti? 23 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 24 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 25 MAYOR STACK: Yes.  23 1 ACTING CITY CLERK: Next item is -- 2 MR. DIAZ: Thank you very much. Good 3 night. 4 MAYOR STACK: Thank you, Mr. Diaz. 5 6 * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  24 1 LIQUOR LICENSE DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS: 2 3 1. Dolores Castro t/a Uno Bar, 3607 New York 4 Avenue, Liquor License No. 0910-33-108-004 5 2. 2216 Bergenline Avenue LLC t/a Centro Bar, 6 2216 Bergenline Avenue, Liquor License No. 7 01910-33-166-004 (sic) 8 3. El Chapin Corp t/a El Rincon Chapin (El 9 Cuscatleco), 2218 (sic) Bergenline Avenue, Liquor 10 License No. 0190-33-075-010 (sic) 11 4. JRV Restaurant Inc. t/a El Papaturro, 1018 12 Summit Avenue, Liquor License No. 0910-33-137-005 13 5. Bambinas Bar & Restaurant t/a Milagro 14 Ecuatoriano Restaurant, 2906 Bergenline Avenue, 15 Liquor License No. 0910-33-040-009 16 17 ACTING CITY CLERK: Liquor License 18 Disciplinary Proceeding. 19 Mr. Farmer? 20 MR. FARMER: Yes. 21 Good evening, members of the Board. 22 On your agenda is a couple of things. But 23 really before we get started, I have Detective 24 Dunlay here. And what I’d like him to do is is 25 give you some comments, information concerning  25 1 some bars in -- in Union City, which were the 2 subject of a dual investigation, raid, whatever 3 you want to say, with the Union City Police 4 Department, as well as the New Jersey Alcohol 5 Beverage Control Commission, the State Agency. 6 They went to a couple of places; one of 7 which is Therapy Lounge. He’ll give you a little 8 bit more detail. But the sexy part of the 9 Therapy Lounge thing is that when they went in 10 there they found cash on the premises to the tune 11 of $700,000.00. 12 So, that’s something that the State is 13 pursuing, along with some -- a couple of other 14 bars, Bambinas and another one that Detective 15 Dunlay will talk about. And we’re cooperating 16 and working together with the State and as usual 17 the State, when they impose penalties, tend to 18 let the person buyout of that penalty. 19 Detective Dunlay’s been working closely 20 with the people who are in the positions of 21 responsibility and they had indicated that if 22 they got a letter from the Board, which would be 23 consistent with our past history, that we would 24 prefer -- and our philosophy is that the 25 disciplinary proceedings work better when there  26 1 is a suspension of the bar, -- 2 MAYOR STACK: Absolutely. 3 MR. FARMER: -- rather than -- 4 MAYOR STACK: Absolutely. 5 MR. FARMER: -- just a fine. 6 MAYOR STACK: We’ve never -- 7 MR. FARMER: So, -- 8 MAYOR STACK: -- in the history of this 9 Board we’ve never done fines. 10 MR. FARMER: We have never done that. 11 MAYOR STACK: Never. 12 MR. FARMER: So, we can work on drafting a 13 letter that will go down and take care of that. 14 And the other one is that the State is -- 15 MAYOR STACK: You’ll work on that letter, 16 Mr. Farmer? 17 MR. FARMER: Yeah. Yeah. We’ll -- 18 MAYOR STACK: Okay. Good. 19 MR. FARMER: -- we’ll get -- 20 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 21 MR. FARMER: The other one is -- well, 22 we’ll talk about Uno Bar but -- 23 MAYOR STACK: Just if you could just keep 24 your voice up. 25 MR. FARMER: Yeah.  27 1 Why -- why don’t you come up here for a 2 second. 3 El Cuco. Which was a third one that they 4 investigated and raided or whatever you want to 5 call it. And they found that there was a 6 substantial amount of purchases by El Cuco from 7 unauthorized source; BJ’s -- that kind of stuff. 8 So there seems to be three heavy 9 investigations by the State as a result of raids 10 conducted with the Union City Police Department. 11 And that -- we’re in touch with them, so I just 12 wanted to let you know. And if Detective Dunlay 13 can give you the details on it. 14 Why don’t you just tell -- 15 He doesn’t have to be sworn. 16 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: I’m sorry, Mr. 17 Farmer, I’m having a real hard time hearing you. 18 MR. FARMER: What? 19 Oh, you’re having a hard time hearing me? 20 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yeah. 21 MR. FARMER: I apologize. I apologize. 22 All right, why don’t you keep your voice up 23 and tell the -- 24 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Good evening, 25 ladies and gentlemen.  28 1 I just wanted to just give you a quick 2 brief on the -- the investigation that’s going on 3 -- 4 MR. DILLON: Sir, do you -- 5 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: -- with the 6 Police Department. 7 MR. DILLON: -- want me to swear him in? 8 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: No. 9 MR. FARMER: No. 10 MR. DILLON: Okay. 11 MAYOR STACK: Why don’t you just state -- 12 why don’t you just -- 13 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Sure. I’m 14 sorry. 15 MAYOR STACK: -- go on the record; state 16 your -- 17 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: I’m Sergeant 18 David Dunlay with the Union City Police 19 Department. 20 MAYOR STACK: Does he have to be sworn? 21 MR. FARMER: No. 22 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 23 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Pretty much 24 just a quick synopsis of the investigation that 25 went on.  29 1 The State contacted the Union City Police 2 about a month or two ago regarding -- they were 3 doing a big investigation regarding prohibited 4 sources -- purchases of alcohol. 5 Normally the bars have to -- bars, liquor 6 stores, everybody else has to buy it from an 7 authorized distributor for tax purposes. And 8 then from there they would -- so they could keep 9 a record. 10 Well, El Cuco was actually ranked number 11 one in the State in the last three years, 12 purchasing $700,000.00 worth of alcohol from BJ’s 13 in East Rutherford. 14 That went -- caught the attention of the 15 State. The State conducted their investigation 16 and they’re actually proceeding with some type of 17 filing by the end of the month -- I’m sorry, in 18 the beginning of December. 19 They’re looking at approximately 600 day 20 suspension, in addition to whatever else we can 21 possibly get. But that’s -- the importance is 22 that the Board write a letter to the -- actually 23 the ABC Board before this time comes up, before 24 the beginning of the month and advising them that 25 how we would prefer to proceed. Instead of just  30 1 a fine, we would actually like the time served. 2 Also we did a -- two weeks ago we did a 3 couple of -- 4 MAYOR STACK: That $700,000.00 of purchases 5 was done in what period of time? 6 I’m just curious? 7 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: In three years. 8 I’m sorry. 9 MAYOR STACK: Wow. 10 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Yeah. 11 So, I -- usually at a three to 400 percent 12 markup you could just imagine the money that -- 13 MAYOR STACK: Yeah, you’d have to sell some 14 amount of liquor to -- to make that back. Yeah. 15 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: And then now 16 last -- about two weeks ago we did -- we checked 17 about four or five bars with the State ABC. 18 Their main purpose, when they came up here, 19 was to look for underage drinkers -- underage -- 20 I’m sorry. 21 -- sale to underage persons. 22 They looked at a couple of liquor stores 23 and stuff like that. They really couldn’t find 24 much. 25 We have a pending case I believe with Los  31 1 Laureles, that you’ll get, 47 th and Broadway. It 2 should be coming up to you guys shortly. 3 But actually -- 4 MR. FARMER: What about Bambinas? 5 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: And we did a 6 couple of tavern checks and they checked 7 Bambinas. Bambinas was found to be -- also, same 8 thing, purchasing alcohol from undistributed 9 sources, which totaled -- 10 I couldn’t give you a dollar amount but 11 when I could tell you it was a tableful of 12 liquor. You know, every time they made them dump 13 it all out at that point. And their matter is 14 also pending. 15 The hygiene of the place was very -- in 16 very poor condition. It also serves as a 17 restaurant. So I believe Lieutenant Loaces made 18 it a point to notify the Health Department to see 19 if they can actually go out there and conduct 20 their own check on them. 21 But that matter’s pending. 22 Another check that they did was -- 23 MAYOR STACK: Just make sure we’re 24 following that with the Health Department to make 25 sure that they’re following up on that.  32 1 Okay. 2 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Another major 3 one was Therapy Lounge. 4 MAYOR STACK: Bambinas has come before us 5 quite a bit. 6 Right? 7 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Yes. 8 MAYOR STACK: We’ve always issued days and 9 everything else. 10 MR. FARMER: With respect to Bambinas, 11 since we’ve -- we’ve brought that up, -- 12 MAYOR STACK: Right. 13 MR. FARMER: -- that’s on for -- that’s on 14 for December 4th. 15 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 16 MR. FARMER: And, basically, it’s a 17 situation which is really going to be hard to 18 prove. 19 Two people come in, they go to the bathroom 20 and apparently one person assaults the other 21 person. 22 I don’t see how the licensee could know 23 that or prevent it. But that’s not the point. 24 The point is that the licensee or this 25 license has been before you and indeed during  33 1 this year they’ve been suspended 27 days. 2 So I think we want to bring the woman in 3 and talk to her as -- because it seems that she 4 doesn’t have control of the place really. 5 MAYOR STACK: Bad management -- 6 MR. FARMER: And then we have -- 7 MAYOR STACK: -- there. 8 MR. FARMER: Yes. 9 MAYOR STACK: And we -- we saw that in the 10 last few hearings we had -- 11 MR. FARMER: Yeah. 12 MAYOR STACK: -- with this establishment. 13 MR. FARMER: So that’s on for December 4th 14 and -- and we’ll deal with that. 15 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 16 MR. FARMER: But Bambinas, El Cuco, 17 Therapy; those are pretty serious investigations 18 going on by the State and we’re going along with 19 them and keeping in touch with them and reporting 20 back to you as to what the progress is. 21 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Okay, regarding 22 Therapy, one of their -- the last -- that was 23 actually the final check we did. When they did 24 their actual -- their check of the place they’re 25 -- just like the Union City Police Department,  34 1 we’re authorized to check the entire 2 establishment, you know, from top to bottom. 3 We usually aren’t the experts in it. So we 4 kind of like when somebody else comes from an 5 outside source and actually shows us exactly this 6 is how we do it, this is exactly what needs to be 7 done. You can ask them to open this door, this 8 drawer, open the safe; and they did. 9 And in opening drawers and closets and 10 everything else they found bags of money and 11 things in the excess of about close to seven -- 12 they counted that day, it wasn’t a real count, it 13 was mostly a count on what the baggie said, was 14 approximately $700,000.00. 15 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Wow. 16 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: In cash? 17 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: In cash. 18 Further on that, today actually the State 19 secured a search warrant and actually seized the 20 money. 21 So by night -- by tonight I’ll actually 22 give you a real count on exactly how much money 23 was -- was found down there. 24 MR. FARMER: I think the concern has to be 25 where did that money come from?  35 1 MAYOR STACK: Exactly. 2 MR. FARMER: Is there drugs involved or 3 anything like that? 4 Apparently if there was a search, they 5 haven’t found any contraband. But nevertheless 6 they seem to be pursuing this vigorously and 7 we’re going to send them a letter tell -- 8 MAYOR STACK: We need -- we need to do the 9 same thing at this level; seek the maximum 10 penalties against all these establishments. 11 Absolutely. 12 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Yeah. That’s 13 not to mention the other violations that they 14 found. You know? No books of accounts. The 15 inference that there’s people -- women dancing 16 for money and -- 17 MAYOR STACK: Exactly. Which -- 18 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: -- buying 19 people drinks for money. 20 MAYOR STACK: -- has been our battle for a 21 long time. 22 MR. FARMER: Absolutely. 23 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Correct. 24 And that’s -- 25 MAYOR STACK: We need --  36 1 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: -- that’s one 2 of the -- 3 MAYOR STACK: I mean we’ve done a good job 4 at the municipal level under -- under Lieutenant 5 Loaces’ leadership and yours, Sergeant. And I 6 appreciate when outside agencies come in like 7 that to help us with this. 8 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: And hopefully 9 we can continue with that -- 10 MAYOR STACK: Exactly right. 11 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: -- that 12 partnership. 13 MAYOR STACK: Exactly right. 14 MR. FARMER: Yeah. 15 MAYOR STACK: That’s long overdue. 16 MR. FARMER: One -- 17 MAYOR STACK: Just if we can get that 18 letter out as -- 19 MR. FARMER: Yeah. 20 MAYOR STACK: -- soon as possible, so no 21 decision is made in the meantime. 22 MR. FARMER: It’s going to -- 23 MAYOR STACK: If we can get them -- 24 MR. FARMER: -- take them a while. 25 MAYOR STACK: Yeah.  37 1 That would make the Police Department’s job 2 a lot easier, too. 3 MR. FARMER: The -- one other thing that I 4 want to report on. I had gotten a writ of 5 execution -- I don’t know where it’s going to go, 6 on this Mayembre (phonetic). It’s a discothèque 7 on I think about 45th and Bergenline. Apparently 8 they owe taxes. And I’m going to explore, 9 although I doubt it -- we can’t bid on it at the 10 auction because we can’t bid on it. That’s the 11 law. 12 But I’m going to try to pursue to see 13 whether or not they’ll retire the license. 14 MAYOR STACK: That will be great. 15 MR. FARMER: Yeah but -- 16 MAYOR STACK: Where are they located? 17 MR. FARMER: 45th and Bergenline. Kind of 18 where -- 19 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Mayembre’s 20 across the street from -- 21 MAYOR STACK: Do they trade as -- 22 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: -- Don Ramon. 23 MAYOR STACK: Is it another name that 24 they’re under besides that name? 25 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: It’s under --  38 1 it’s across the street from Don Ramon. I believe 2 it’s -- 3 MAYOR STACK: What on the second floor? 4 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: I know where it 6 is. That little place. Yeah. 7 MAYOR STACK: See if they’ll sell their 8 license back. 9 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Il Paradiso. 10 That’s the name. 11 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Oh, okay. 12 MAYOR STACK: That should never -- I don’t 13 know any place on the second floor was ever 14 approved. 15 I mean we saw what happened in the New 16 York. 17 MR. FARMER: Yup. 18 MAYOR STACK: Happy Land. Yup. Many, many 19 years ago. 20 MR. FARMER: Okay. 21 Louie? Come on up here. 22 MAYOR STACK: I don’t know how that was 23 approved. 24 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yeah, right? 25 MR. FARMER: Stay here.  39 1 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: No problem. 2 MAYOR STACK: That goes back to like the 3 eighties. 4 5 * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  40 1 DOLORES CASTRO t/a UNO BAR, 3607 New York Avenue 2 Liquor License No. 0910-33-108-004: 3 4 MR. FARMER: Also, I want to report back to 5 you on Uno Bar. 6 Uno Bar is closed; is staying closed. 7 Mr. Diaz, who is now representing Uno Bar, 8 has produced this evening an awful lot of 9 paperwork that the Police have been asking for 10 for a long time. 11 So Detective Dunlay is taking that, going 12 through to see how that -- how that complies with 13 everything. 14 In the meantime we’ve made an agreement 15 that the place will stay closed. Okay? And as a 16 matter of fact they have to go through some 17 procedural stuff. 18 And, number one, somebody’s got to be 19 appointed the executor or administrator of the 20 estate; that’s got to take a while. Then whoever 21 that person is has got to file an application for 22 a transfer; fill out a 12-page application, get 23 fingerprinted, have that come back to Washington 24 -- from Washington. 25 So as you can see the place is going to be  41 1 closed for a good period of time because -- 2 MAYOR STACK: Mr. Diaz, you represent them? 3 MR. DIAZ: Yes I do. 4 And I have here Mr. Izquierdo, who is the 5 son of the license holder -- the deceased license 6 holder. The son and the only heir. 7 MAYOR STACK: Maybe he needs a -- do you 8 need a translator, sir? 9 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: You need a 10 translator or no? 11 No. 12 MAYOR STACK: No. 13 MR. IZQUIERDO: No, no. No. 14 MR. FARMER: We have one. 15 MR. DIAZ: No. 16 No he’s a licensed plumber. He understands 17 English. 18 Mr. Izquierdo has no interest whatsoever, 19 he expressed that to me very firmly, in ever 20 having this license open at that location. 21 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 22 MR. DIAZ: So he has no intention of having 23 this license at that location again. 24 He has cut all ties with the employees that 25 were there at the establishment. The individual  42 1 that was here last time being one of them. 2 He would like to bring the license -- 3 revive the license and would like to keep it as a 4 pocket license until he decides what to do with 5 it. 6 There is an offer from the City. He’s 7 entertaining that. But during -- as previously 8 expressed, during the foreseeable future the 9 license will stay either closed because of the 10 paperwork or as a pocket license not being 11 operated. 12 MAYOR STACK: The concern that I have is on 13 the security of the place right now; other people 14 having access in there. 15 Is there anyone else that has keys to this 16 establishment from the older -- from the -- from 17 the old management of the establishment? 18 MR. IZQUIERDO: No. No, they -- 19 MAYOR STACK: They don’t have keys? 20 MR. IZQUIERDO: They don’t have any key. 21 MAYOR STACK: Okay. Just make sure because 22 -- make sure it’s secured, make sure that there’s 23 -- the rear of the building is -- 24 It runs through the rear, right, John? It 25 runs to the --  43 1 MR. DIAZ: But, Mayor, -- 2 MAYOR STACK: -- is there a backyard in 3 this establishment? 4 If -- just -- 5 MR. IZQUIERDO: No, no. 6 MR. DIAZ: No? 7 But, Mayor, if I may? He has cut all 8 ties -- 9 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 10 MR. DIAZ: -- with the location. 11 MAYOR STACK: No, I understand. 12 MR. DIAZ: So, he’s not going back in there 13 for any purpose. 14 MAYOR STACK: No, no, I understand. 15 MR. DIAZ: Whatever he had to get out he 16 took out -- 17 MAYOR STACK: Right. 18 MR. DIAZ: -- and he has closed -- closed 19 his ties with it. 20 MAYOR STACK: Right. 21 Mr. Diaz, I’m just going in another 22 direction. 23 I just want to play, you know, play it safe 24 on a public safety issue. 25 I just want to make sure that nobody else  44 1 has access to that place that can get inside 2 because it’s on a very congested block, -- 3 MR. DIAZ: Um-hum. 4 MAYOR STACK: -- it’s an attached 5 structure. 6 MR. DIAZ: Understood. 7 MAYOR STACK: I just want to make sure the 8 rear is secure, all the windows are secure; the 9 building is totally secure -- 10 MR. DIAZ: Um-hum. 11 MAYOR STACK: -- with the establishment -- 12 the bar that used to be there. 13 MR. DIAZ: So, Mr. Izquierdo, if you can -- 14 MAYOR STACK: And if he could change the 15 locks -- if he could change the locks on the 16 establishment, just to be certain nobody made 17 copies of keys. And God forbid that we’re 18 arriving there and something happens in that 19 establishment. 20 MR. DIAZ: And hand it over to the owner of 21 the property and -- 22 MAYOR STACK: John, have them check the 23 rear tonight? 24 LIEUTENANT LOACES: Absolutely, sir. 25 MAYOR STACK: All right?  45 1 MR. DIAZ: Understood. 2 MR. FARMER: Okay. 3 MAYOR STACK: All right? 4 Just, please, if you could get that done? 5 Make sure the windows are secure in the 6 rear; everything is tight, secure. 7 Thank you. 8 MR. FARMER: All right. That’s it. 9 MR. DIAZ: Okay. 10 MR. FARMER: Okay. 11 MAYOR STACK: Thank you very much. 12 MR. DIAZ: Thank you. Have a good night. 13 MAYOR STACK: Thank you. 14 MR. FARMER: All right. 15 16 * * * 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  46 1 MR. FARMER: Finally, just as -- from a 2 reporting point of view, you know we’ve talked 3 about an ordinance restricting the sale and 4 service of bottled beer. We tried to do this on 5 a voluntary basis but the only one who ever 6 really participated was El Papaturro on a 7 voluntary basis. 8 But just to report the progress. Counsel 9 and myself and Mr. Sapienza spoke to an expert in 10 the field who apparently worked for some 11 professional teams and this, that or the other 12 thing. And he -- he was kind of optimistic that 13 this could be done with some modifications. But 14 it had to deal with, first of all, getting the 15 raw material as far as the bottles to injuries to 16 liquor license and -- and all of that. And the 17 Police are doing that and assembling that. 18 But I just wanted to keep you up-to-date on 19 the progress of that. 20 MAYOR STACK: Great. 21 MR. FARMER: Okay? 22 Now, if we go back to the agenda, we can 23 maybe go through this pretty quickly. 24 We just went through number one, Uno Bar. 25 * * *  47 1 2216 BERGENLINE AVENUE LLC t/a CENTRO BAR, 2216 2 Bergenline Avenue 3 Liquor License No. 01910-33-166-004 (sic): 4 5 MR. FARMER: Number two, this is Centro 6 Bar. 7 This is a situation where somebody from -- 8 came up to a police car and said there’s a fight 9 over at Centro Bar. Cops got there; no one was 10 there. No victim. No assailant. Nothing. And 11 the people indicated that -- people indicated 12 that no fight took place. 13 So, consequently, you’re not going to be 14 able to prove that. 15 Detective Dunlay and I have talked about 16 the case and gone over it and he’s of the same 17 frame of mind as I am that the case should be 18 dismissed because nothing really happened and we 19 can’t prove that -- 20 MAYOR STACK: Where are they located, 21 Centro Bar? 22 MR. FARMER: They are 2216 Bergenline 23 Avenue. 24 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: 23 rd and 25 Bergenline, sir.  48 1 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 2 Okay, so this is going to be dismissed? 3 MR. FARMER: Yes. 4 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 5 Okay. 6 MR. FARMER: Okay. 7 Is there a motion? 8 MAYOR STACK: Motion -- motion on Mr. 9 Farmer’s recommendation and Sergeant Dunlay to 10 dismiss. 11 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion by Mayor Stack. 12 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Second. 13 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second by Commissioner 14 Valdivia. 15 Roll call. 16 Commissioner Fernandez? 17 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 18 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 19 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes. 20 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 21 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 22 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 23 Martinetti? 24 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 25 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack?  49 1 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 2 (Whereupon, there was a pause in the 3 proceedings.) 4 5 * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  50 1 EL CHAPIN CORP t/a EL RINCON CHAPIN (EL 2 CUSCATLECO), 2218 (sic) Bergenline Avenue 3 Liquor License No. 01910-33-075-010 (sic): 4 5 MR. FARMER: All right, the other one is El 6 Chapin. And although the licensee is here, he 7 advises me that he is represented by Luis Alum. 8 I haven’t heard from Mr. Alum but I -- I accept 9 what the gentleman told me. 10 So, consequently, we’re going to put that 11 on for the Special Meeting of December 4th. 12 MAYOR STACK: What’s the location of 13 El Chapin? Where is that? 14 MR. FARMER: 2118 Bergenline Avenue. 15 MAYOR STACK: Okay, we just have a mistake 16 on the agenda. That’s why I’m asking. 17 MR. FARMER: Okay. Yes. 18 MAYOR STACK: If we could just change -- 19 MR. FARMER: We change -- 20 MAYOR STACK: -- that from -- yeah, -- 21 MR. FARMER: -- it from 2218 -- 22 MAYOR STACK: Good. 23 MR. FARMER: -- to 2118. 24 MAYOR STACK: That’s fine. 25 MR. FARMER: Okay?  51 1 MAYOR STACK: Okay. Great. 2 MR. FARMER: All right. 3 So, have the lawyer call me. All right? 4 A VOICE: Um-hum. 5 MR. FARMER: Okay, you -- you can go. 6 A VOICE: Thanks. 7 MAYOR STACK: Thank you very much. Thank 8 you. 9 MR. FARMER: All right. 10 11 * * * 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  52 1 JRV RESTAURANT INC. t/a EL PAPATURRO, 2 1018 Summit Avenue 3 Liquor License No. 0910-33-137-005: 4 5 MR. FARMER: The next one is El Papaturro. 6 El Papaturro, the licensee is here. And 7 this is a incident for all intents and purposes a 8 fight. Really wasn’t much of a fight. 9 I’ve spoken to the licensee. We’ve agreed 10 on a five day suspension with the dates being 11 December 21st to December 25th. 12 And that’s okay with Sergeant Dunlay. 13 Parenthetically, it should be pointed out that 14 this is the only bar -- 15 And he candidly indicated to me he doesn’t 16 know whether or not he can continue -- 17 -- the only bar that when we approached him 18 to restrict the sale of beer by bottle, he’s the 19 only one who agreed to do that. 20 And he had indicated to me that he may not 21 be able to continue it because apparently if you 22 see beer not in bottles but in cups it cuts down 23 on your business. And -- 24 MAYOR STACK: If you sell it in cups, as 25 opposed to selling it in a bottle, --  53 1 MR. FARMER: Yeah. 2 MAYOR STACK: -- people don’t want it? 3 MR. FARMER: Yeah. Yeah. That’s what 4 he -- 5 MR. CLAROS: Yeah, plus they have the 6 freedom to say, okay, it seems like I was the 7 only one doing it. And I said, oh, somebody else 8 is doing it in bottle and it’s -- it seems like 9 it’s psychological thing. But maybe if it was -- 10 if it was for like a lot of other places, -- 11 MAYOR STACK: Yeah, everybody. 12 MR. CLAROS: -- for them, then they 13 wouldn’t have the freedom, okay let’s go to that 14 place because he has bottles. 15 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: I would like 16 the Board to consider, you know, being the fact 17 that he has -- being the sole -- sole liquor 18 establishment that has actually taken this by 19 himself. He hasn’t been -- every other bar -- we 20 sat and spoke to I want to say nine or ten bars, 21 all brought them in, spoke to them, you know, 22 gave them the advantages, the disadvantages, but 23 asked them if they could do it on a voluntary 24 basis. The only bar in Union City that has done 25 this on a voluntary basis is El Papaturro.  54 1 Completely. 2 He’s taken his entire -- his entire liquor, 3 traded it back in to wherever he’s done with it, 4 I don’t know, but if you go into his bar, -- 5 MR. CLAROS: For six -- 6 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: -- it’s all 7 cans. 8 MR. CLAROS: Six months I’ve been -- I’ve 9 been doing it. 10 The first two month it didn’t hurt a lot. 11 But then -- then the -- the last three months I 12 have seen the -- the change monetary-wise. 13 MAYOR STACK: People are going to other 14 places -- 15 MR. CLAROS: Yeah -- 16 MAYOR STACK: -- because there’s bottles, 17 as opposed to -- 18 MR. CLAROS: Exactly. 19 MAYOR STACK: -- staying in yours because 20 of cups? 21 MR. CLAROS: Exactly. 22 I even look it up in the -- in the internet 23 where it is the taste. 24 It seems like if you put people to taste a 25 can beer versus a bottle beer, there’s no  55 1 difference. It seems it’s the container itself 2 on whatever -- 3 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Psychologically. 4 MR. CLAROS: Um-hum. 5 MAYOR STACK: Right. Right. 6 Okay, Mr. Farmer, so what is your 7 recommendation? 8 MR. FARMER: This my -- this is my 9 recommendation. 10 I’ve spoken to the gentleman and we had 11 agreed on a five day suspension from December 21 st 12 to December 25th. 13 If I could make a suggestion. My 14 suggestion is this. In light of his good faith 15 and participation, why don’t we do this. If it’s 16 -- obviously, if it’s okay with the Board. 17 Five days, suspend it; and in the event 18 that there’s a reoccurrence of a disciplinary 19 proceeding within the next six or nine months, 20 then the five days will be tacked on to whatever 21 violation of punishment the Board would give on a 22 new violation. 23 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 24 All right, I’ll go along with Mr. Farmer’s 25 recommendation due to Mr. -- due to Papaturro’s  56 1 cooperation with no bottles and using cups. 2 We’ll make -- as long as there’s no violation in 3 the next nine months. 4 MR. FARMER: Okay. 5 MAYOR STACK: I’ll make a motion. 6 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion by Mayor Stack. 7 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second. 8 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second by Commissioner 9 Martinetti. 10 Roll call. 11 Commissioner Fernandez? 12 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 13 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Rivas? 14 COMMISSIONER RIVAS: Yes. 15 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner Valdivia? 16 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 17 ACTING CITY CLERK: Commissioner 18 Martinetti? 19 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 20 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor Stack? 21 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 22 MR. FARMER: Just -- you’re pleading 23 guilty? 24 MR. CLAROS: Of course. 25 MR. FARMER: Yeah. Okay.  57 1 MR. CLAROS: Yes. 2 MAYOR STACK: All right. 3 Thank you very much. 4 MR. CLAROS: All right. 5 Thank you. 6 MAYOR STACK: Thank you, sir. Thank you. 7 MR. DILLON: This is Papaturro as well? 8 MR. FARMER: No. 9 Sir? 10 MR. DILLON: Yeah, I just -- 11 MR. FARMER: Just take a seat. Just take a 12 seat. 13 MR. DILLON: -- I just never got his name 14 on -- 15 DETECTIVE SERGEANT DUNLAY: Juan Claros. 16 MR. DILLON: Juan Claros? 17 18 * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  58 1 BAMBINAS BAR & RESTAURANT t/a MILAGRO ECUATORIANO 2 RESTAURANT, 2906 Bergenline Avenue 3 Liquor License No. 0910-33-040-009: 4 5 MR. FARMER: Bambinas. I have that on -- 6 that’s what’s one of the issues that Detective 7 Dunlay talked about. 8 We’re going to have it on for -- on 9 December 4th. As I indicated there’s not much 10 substance in the case against her. But again you 11 have the situation where she may not have real 12 control over the place because there’s been 27 13 days of suspension this past year. 14 And that’s it. 15 MAYOR STACK: Great. 16 MR. FARMER: Okay? 17 MAYOR STACK: Thank you, Mr. Farmer. 18 Thank you, Sergeant. 19 * * * 20 21 ADJOURNMENT: 22 23 ACTING CITY CLERK: Mayor, there are no 24 other items on the agenda tonight. 25 Is there a motion to adjourn?  59 1 MAYOR STACK: Yes. I make a motion to 2 adjourn. 3 I’d just thank all the members of the 4 public that are here this evening. 5 Thank you very much everyone for attending 6 the Commission meeting. 7 ACTING CITY CLERK: Motion by Mayor Stack. 8 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 9 ACTING CITY CLERK: Second by Commissioner 10 Fernandez. 11 All in favor? 12 13 (Whereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.) 14 15 (Whereupon, the proceedings were concluded 16 at 7:34 p.m.) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  60 1 ________________________ Brian P. Stack 2 ________________________ Lucio P. Fernandez 3 ________________________ Maryury A. Martinetti 4 ________________________ Celin J. Valdivia 5 ________________________ Tilo E. Rivas 6 Board of Commissioners 7 8 Attest: 9 Dominick Cantatore, 10 Acting City Clerk 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  61 1 STATE OF NEW JERSEY: 2 : 3 COUNTY OF ESSEX : 4 5 I, KAREN A. MARINO, assigned transcriber, 6 do hereby affirm that the foregoing is a true and 7 accurate transcript in the matter of the REGULAR 8 MEETING of the UNION CITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, 9 heard on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 and digitally 10 recorded. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Monitored by: Kevin Dillon, Jr. 25 Proofread by: Deborah Dillon