more movement for two firsts, slowly

Nothing like the holidays to slow things down.

Hopefully, action will occur next week on items that need done.

 

Attendance was pretty good, with two people there that had not been.

Those were Byron Stevens and Dan Cook.

Doug Anderson was there with his dog, Sam.

Savanna Newcome was accompanied by her little girl.

The others present were Joe Cetti, John Parker, Eddie Patterson, Brenda Pough, Sabrina Scales, and myself.

I made sure to thank Sabrina in person for her decorating skills that made the USO Christmas event a success.

Nice that the space still smelled of fresh pine trees! 

Then Brenda led off with an agenda set from the last two meetings.

 

Joe Cetti is still in process of attaining a 40-foot trailer to hold the items from our storage container, as well as extra chairs and tables for events.

Because of the holidays, no one has called him back.

Savanna brought up that the fee for the storage container is now 3 months past due, as she has been waiting for us to decide where to move all the contents.

Joe will definitely move on that this week.

Good!

 

John Parker has still not heard back from Pat Harris of the neighborhood association regarding her concerns with the the Two Firsts Club being a bar.

Two members had comments about her being a gadfly to the City Council.

I spoke up and reassured all that she is trying to make sure the area will not be overrun by drunk and noisy young men coming from here.

I also emphasized that we cannot tell her and the City Council that we're opening a restaurant that has a bar, if what we really open is a bar with a few food items. 

Two Firsts has a church leasing space in this same building, so we cannot have just a bar, as it would be too close to the church and violate rules.

John Parker said he will find out when the neighborhood association next meets so he can attend that meeting and speak with them of our plans.

Good!

 

After a good bit of rambling again about whether to lease the kitchen to a caterer or handle ourselves, two items are to be acted upon.

First, Eddie Patterson will speak with Post 135 to better understand how they handle the division of works with Betty Bombers.

Second, Savanna suggested we hire a general manager to handle all of that so we don't have to, using perhaps Indeed or some other source.

Sabrina will use the qualities outlined at earlier meeting and post the job request this week.

Good!

 

The business license is still needed before Two Firsts can obtain a liquor license.

I reminded all of the punch list that Larry had given out two weeks ago.

One of the items on that list had been making peace with the neighborhood group.

We now have the Certificate of Occupancy, so that's good.

The hours of operation need to be determined and those of us at the last meeting had already set those.

For a partial week running Thursday through Sunday, the hours would be 11 AM to 2 AM, mindful that Thursday and Sunday would not need to be as late.

General agreement was attained and Brenda made the note to pass the information along to Larry for the license.

Good!

 

That raised the point of Two Firsts needing a cash basis for the salary of whoever will be selected for the general manager.

Private events, such as oyster roasts, steak nights, Super Bowl party, and such will certainly help with fundraising.

Sabrina brought up the 500 Club that Post 500 has used in the past, wherein all who donate at least $500 dollars will have their name on a plaque.

Sabrina and Brenda will compose a letter to send to all members of American Legion Posts 36 and 500 to generate funds.

Good!

 

One thing to note for the future: training will need to be done.

All bar staff will have to undergo "Safe Serve" training, which has classes beginning next week.

All bar staff as well as anyone handling money will need training on the TOAST operating system, bearing in mind that TOAST will only hold one training session.

I brought up that several of us should undergo that training so we can train the bar staff or others.

Ideally, we hire people already well-versed in that technology.

Good.

Now, my Old Timers burger has arrived and I'm starving.

I can't hardly believe I'm eating a burger!!!

But that's what I want after this afternoon of mental gymnastics.

Thanks, Chili's, for doing the cooking for me... 

and thanks, Chase, for the gift card!