Pepperell Selectmen Suspend VFW Liquor License for Four Days Over Compliance Failures

PEPPERELL — September 23, 2019 — Pepperell selectmen suspended the VFW Post 3291 liquor license for four days and placed six articles on an October 21 special town meeting warrant. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to ban all alcohol sales and consumption at the post September 30 through October 3, following a review finding that the post had not held a required bartender training meeting and that its sign-in book policy was still not consistently enforced two weeks after an initial hearing into an August 17 outdoor alcohol service incident. Selectman Margaret Garza warned that three additional suspended days remain on the table if the post fails to produce signed compliance acknowledgments from all board members and bartenders, a standard operating procedure, and TIP certifications for all staff by the October 7 selectmen meeting. On the town meeting warrant, the board advanced a borrowing increase from $8 million to $8.5 million for a water treatment plant upgrade — the awarded bid came in at approximately $7.85 million — and a request to draw up to $125,000 from general stabilization funds to repair a failed embedded pipe system at the Peter Fitzpatrick school property, a cost Town Administrator Andrew McLean called "low six figures" and described as entirely unbudgeted.