Providence Board of Licenses Shake-Up - Serena Conley Out
GoLocalProv News Team
Providence Board of Licenses Shake-Up - Serena Conley Out
Conley, a former Providence school principal, had served in the License Enforcement Unit dating back to Mayor David Cicilline’s administration, under then-Board Chair Andrew Annaldo.
The move comes following the replacement of Board Member Johanna Harris with Dylan Conley — and following the scathing report issued by former Attorney General Jeffery Pine this summer, who slammed the Board for the record keeping system not being up to date, and repeatendly violating the Open Meetings Act with regard to “proper notice details in the agenda, and timely and accurate posting of the minutes of the Board."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“It's a great loss for the city and for the board, and for that department,” Board Chair Juan Pichardo told GoLocal. “I said to her, we need to make sure there's a good transition. She's got a lot of institutional knowledge that needs to be passed along.”
“It’s an opportunity to transition and move forward with the city and the department and continue to innovate, including putting applications online and making sure people feel Providence is open for business and they can reach out to the director and me and the board,” said Pichardo. “It’s a bittersweet process -- the job will be posted, there's still some time.”
Controversy
Conley’s role with the Board came under fire by critics when a shooting occurred outside a club owned by Cicilline’s brother on Federal Hill. As GoLocal reported in June:
As a result of the shooting, The Vault Lounge is being hauled in front of the City of Providence's licensing board.
According to Providence realtor Sharon Steele, who attended a meeting of the Board of Licenses on Thursday in which Vault was not on the agenda, but came up as part of an emergency hearing, there were a number of discrepancies at the meeting.
"Now what's interesting is when the subject of Vault's 'history' came up, they said there was none. Meanwhile, I have notes from when there had been a stabbing. I have a police blotter with numerous complaints. If you ask anyone from Federal Hill, they'd ask why there wasn't a history [for Vault] provided," said Steele in an interview with GoLocal.
"Serena Conley is responsible for attaching the history to a show-cause hearing. There's no testimony allowed except for the witnesses, so I for example couldn't submit what I had," said Steele. Conley served on now-Congressman Cicilline's staff when he was Mayor of Providence. She was his scheduler for many years and worked in his Office of Community Relations.
SLIDES:
Providence Clubs and Reports of Crime and Violence - 2016
August 20
Van Gogh Nightclub
The Providence Board of Licenses voted on Saturday at an emergency hearing to shutter the Harris Avenue establishment for 72 hours, after a man was taken to the hospital with stab wounds following a fight in the vicinity of the club in the early hours of Saturday morning.
"When folks started calling me, I thought they were reaching out about Tel Aviv -- I had no idea yet another incident had occurred," said Providence Board of Licenses member Johanna Harris, of hearing from people on what she thought was the separate incident that occurred at another Providence club just the night before (see next slide).
August 19
Tel-Aviv
The South Water Street establishment was raided by Providence Police on Friday night, following a weeks-long narcotics investigation.
WPRI.com reported that two men were arrested - Theo Spyridis, 39, the bar’s manager, and Antonio Reverdes, 47, a customer -- and according to police, with a "good amount of cocaine and significant amount of cash."
Tel Aviv will now go before the city’s Board of Licenses at an upcoming meeting.
August 15
Aqua
Providence’s Board of Licenses ordered Aqua Hookah Lounge to temporarily close following a violent incident earlier in August - marking the second instance of an issue violence at the establishment.
Providence police told WPRI.com a passing officer heard a gunshot and saw people running from the establishment on Broad Street.
Police said a bullet grazed a man in his arm, but the wound was not serious. The Board decided to close the club for 72 hours -- and revisit the issue.
August 8
Flow
The police report for the August 8 incident at FLOW nightclub at Cranston Street and Potters Avenue -- that included four stabbing victims -- described victims as saying they were leaving the club at the time the altercation took place.
The club was closed for three days, and at the August 16 Board of Licenses' continuation of the show-cause hearing, the club entered into a deal with the City that would include police detail during a 45 day review period -- but that the stabbings would not go on Flow's record.
"The biggest travesty is they took a witness who'd been subpoenaed -- and appeared -- and they released him," said Jewelry District Association President Sharon Steele, who attends nearly all Board of License hearings. "Then the city and the club came together on a "recommendation" out in the hall. No witness, no detective testimony, and [the city] allowed them to say it was purely a disturbance of the public but it wasn't a stabbing at the club."
June 21
Vault Nightclub
The Providence Board of Licenses voted on July 21 to close The Vault nightclub on Federal Hill for an additional five days following a shooting outside the club - after a bouncer admitted to lying to police about the shooter having been inside, saying he was told by club management to lie.
The embroiled Providence hotspot, which is in a building formerly co-owned by Congressman David Cicilline and now solely owned by his brother John, was slated to have a ruling made ten days following a July 15 meeting, but the city unexpectedly moved it up earlier.
On Thursday, the Board of Licenses voted to shut Vault for five days, from July 27 to 31, reduce the weekend closing time from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. for 60 days -- and required the club to increase security, and pay up $2000 fine.
