Selectmen meeting and on to the next round

"The commercial vendor shall be offered the use of the Old Town Hall, at no charge, for hosting community events.  A further condition of payment beyond April 3, 2009, is that the commercial vendor, contact the TTCC to confirm the suitability of the Center's kitchen for fudge production, and if so, present a negotiated amount to the Selectmen for consideration in the decision to continue payments.  The Board of Selectmen direct that the aforementioned with respect to the forgoing payments on behalf of the residents and commercial vendor, be authorized and desire the Town Attorney, Adele Fulton, to communicate the terms of this motion to the recipients of public funds as soon as possible, by phone and in writing, on behalf of the Town of Bristol."

 In the light of the fact that we cannot have members of the public enter The Grill, we have very reluctantly and with great sadness, decided that we cannot open the Ice Cream Cafe until we get back into our own building. Above is an extract from the minutes of the selectmen meeting last Thursday. While it looks like there are some answers to at least part of  our situation, we have a way to go. We talked to TTCC and it is not an appropriate space for our Fudge Factory. They have many people using their space daily, and there is no place  for us to set, mold, pack and ship our fudge. That part of our operation requires a permanent set up which takes up a medium to large size room, next to a commercial kitchen. 

With regard to the Old Town Hall, it is a very generous offer and very tempting to take a place that is free, in order to save our music events. However, these events are not "Community Events" they are commercial. The musicians are given the cover charge and we sell our food. There is no kitchen in the Old Town Hall. If we go there, and it is not being ruled out, we have to work out the limitations of the place, or it will purely be to provide a concert for the community, and to honor the bookings with the musicians so they don't have vacant dates unfilled in their schedules. It will by no means keep us financially afloat.

We are in negotiation with another venue that does have a kitchen. I have also talked with the town code officer to be absolutely clear about what is legal in terms of food preparation and venues. We do not want to be moved again!