Liquor Licensee Limbo For Pittsfield's Polish Club
 The Polish Community Club has been told it must find a manager for its bar. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Who will take the responsibility of management at the Polish Community Club's bar remained unclear following a meeting of the city's Licensing Board on Monday.
Club representatives said their intention had been to a appoint one officer to hold the license while others would manage the bar's operations, a plan that was flatly rejected by the board.
"The Polish Community Club has a tradition that the president has always been in charge of the bar" according to Vice President Mark Kueppers.
However, the board recently decided that the club's sergeant at arms, John H. Barrett would become the manager of license for the establishment, replacing longtime member Stella Spence, who passed away in July at age 93. Absence of an official manager of the low traffic, semi-private venue was discovered in August, when local police responded to a minor disturbance at the Linden Street club.
Barrett said the club's board had indicated that he would have no real involvement in managing any aspect of the operation.
"Basically, they just want me to come to the [Licensing Board] meetings," said Barrett. "I have no say in the hiring, firing, I don't do any other ordering, nothing."
The club has seen a thin volume of patronage in recent years, and described as "struggling" by its Treasurer last month.
"We usually close the bar early because there's no one there," Kueppers told the board on Monday.
The board was nonetheless emphatic that the person taking on the role of manager for the club's alcohol serving license could not be a figurehead.
"This is a very serious thing," said Chairman Carmen Massimiano. "It's really a very important position and there can be great liability involved."
Board member Richard Stockwell agreed, stressing that whoever is listed as the manager be the actual party responsible for managing the bar.
"He or she is making the decisions day to day on how the bar is run," Stockwell told them. "There has to be one person we can go to find out what is going on in the club."
Kueppers said he would relay that information to the club's president and board of directors. The Licensing Board agreed to table the transfer of license to its next meeting, and urged the club to come forward at that time with a final determination on who will be the all-around manager in charge of the bar.
"We want the Polish Community Club to be open and be a viable club to its members," said Massimiano.
Tags: alcohol license, license board, private club,
