Mansfield Getting Tough on Restaurants' Managers of Record

The Mansfield Board of Selectmen said that they want to make sure that restaurants have a manager of record slated with the town.

The issue came up when recent manager applicants told selectmen that there had been no manager of record at their restaurants in some cases for months.

Selectmen agreed that having no manager of record puts the town and the restaurant into liability issues that could be serious problems in the future.

"I saw this was coming in and I asked Karen to check into our restaurant licensees," town manager William Ross said. "She asked for the manager and see what the results are."

Ross said that out of 27 restaurants called, only one did not have a manager, but selectmen have seen just this year three restaurant manager hearings where the establishments did not have managers at that time.

Selectman chair Olivier Kozlowski said that managers come and go and the restaurants do not let the town know. 

"It comes from some of the problems we’ve been having over alcohol license managers who leave and we have months that go by without alcohol managers," he said. 

Selectman Jess Aptowitz suggested that policy needed to be put in place to penalize restaurants when it is discovered that they do not have a manager working. He said that temporarily revoking their alcohol license should be a good place to start.

"Let them take care of their own house," Aptowitz said.