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DENNIS PORT – The owner of a Dennis Port club that promises “the ultimate in night life” has been called before selectmen for a number of liquor license infractions, including several connected to a Labor Day bash celebrating the end of the summer season.
The board will hold a disciplinary hearing at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9, at town hall, and could decide to suspend or revoke the Improper Bostonian’s liquor license, or order the club to cut off the service of alcohol earlier in the evening. The bar currently serves until 1 a.m.
“We’ll see what the police and owners have to say,” Selectman Alan Tuttle said. “Everything is on the table. “
Police have gone to the nightclub 45 times this year during the bar’s short season, which runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day, according to police logs.
In a letter to club owner Christopher Grimaldi, selectmen say there have been numerous complaints “of fighting and other disturbances taking place in and around the parking lot.”
There is also an allegation that a bouncer was involved in a fight with a customer on Labor Day weekend.
Grimaldi could not be reached for comment.
The club, which goes back 60 years, operates in a century-old barn. It takes up the main level and basement area and has four full bars.
This isn’t the first time the Improper Bostonian has had to answer to the board.
In 2010, the club’s hours for both entertainment and alcohol service were dramatically rolled back for the season, according to minutes of a disciplinary hearing called to address complaints from neighbors about live music and the rowdy exodus of patrons at closing time.
Alcohol service was rolled back from 1 a.m. to 11 p.m. Entertainment had to stop at 10:30 p.m., the time most nightclub entertainment gets rolling.
In 2012, a beach volleyball fundraiser on Labor Day weekend went awry, resulting in a disciplinary hearing and one-day liquor license suspension. Police found the bar overcrowded, area parking lots littered with beer cans and trash, people sleeping in their cars, patrons drinking outside, and a level of inebriation that indicated patrons had been over-served, according to the minutes from that hearing.
This year’s worst issues were also on Labor Day weekend.
“They make it through the summer then the wheels kind of come off for them at the end of the year,” Dennis police Officer Ryan Carr said. “Someone fell down the stairs and was taken away by ambulance.
A police officer was assaulted trying to break up a fight. Intoxicated people were driving. A kid fell asleep at a neighboring parking lot in his pickup truck and when we woke him, he thought he was in Boston.”
The upcoming hearing has been scheduled at the request of Police Chief Michael Whalen.
“When there are 500 people in a bar, it saps a lot of department resources,” Carr said. “The chief is tired of it.”
Selectmen met with Grimaldi prior to the start of the summer season and he pledged to work with local police. Since buying the operation in October 2012, he has made a number of improvements to the building, including the installation of additional soundproofing. He also brought in a new management team in 2013.
“They got off to a good start this summer then fell apart,” Selectman Wayne Bergeron said. “Police were there on the weekends. There were fights and a large amount of alcohol being consumed.”
The selectman said the town has tried hard to work with the night club.
“We’ve had more meetings with Improper than we’ve had with anybody else recently,” Bergeron said. “We can’t continue to babysit them.”
Follow Christine Legere on Twitter: @chrislegereCCT.