EASTHAMPTON — The Pulaski Club has to apply for a new liquor license, a fact that Candy Laflam, the club’s board president, says wasn’t communicated in recent months due to a misunderstanding between city leaders and state regulators.
The city’s Licensing Board in December had denied the club’s liquor license renewal because the club owed more than $36,000 in back property taxes.
While Mayor Salem Derby previously suggested a late renewal was possible, Licensing Board members clarified on Monday that the club must start the application process from scratch — a setback Laflam calls “disappointing” following her own $5,000 personal investment to save the business.
Laflam said the club has paid the necessary taxes owed that would have allowed the club to renew its license at the Licensing Board’s March 2 meeting. However, the club can only obtain a liquor license through a new application process and not renewal, according to city officials.
The club has paid taxes owed from fiscal year 2024, amounting to nearly $10,000 paid by Laflam and another board member in personal savings. This satisfies the city requirement to obtain a license application this year, but approximately $26,000 from fiscal years 2025 and 2026 is still owed.
“I want to see the club survive and the first step to survival is getting this license back,” she said.
Laflam expressed disappointment that the city could not renew the license despite hearing that was still a possibility at a prior meeting and investing personal savings to do so. Instead, the club must now navigate the more difficult process of applying for a new one.
At the Licensing Board’s Jan. 6 meeting, Mayor Salem Derby said he had met with Pulaski Club representatives and wanted to help them.
Derby spoke with the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) and said he was told that applying for a late license renewal was possible through a late renewal process. In order to do so, the Pulaski Club would have to set up a payment plan with the city to pay off the taxes.
However, the Licensing Board clarified at the March 2 meeting that was not a possibility, since renewal cannot be applied for after Nov. 30 without an appeal and must be treated as a new license.
“At the time, he [a member of the ABCC] seemed to think we were in the time frame to do a late [renewal] application but when we reviewed the regulations on our end it became clear that wasn’t possible,” Derby said in an interview with the Gazette.
“I’m sorry we didn’t have clarity on that,” Licensing Board member Rebecca Bell said to Laflam at the meeting. “But we started off going down the wrong path.”
Bell said she had called the ABCC and clarified that the five-day appeal deadline had passed after the license renewal was rejected at the Dec. 9 meeting and a new application needed to be submitted.
“At first we thought that we could have them do a payment plan,” Licensing Board Chair Stephen Desaulniers said in an interview. “That first meeting we denied their license, (then) we were told incorrectly that they could do a payment plan with the treasurer’s office,” to renew the license.
Both Desaulniers and Licensing Board member Anthony Karella said in interviews that the Pulaski Club leadership did not attend the Dec. 9 meeting when their license was denied renewal, so the Licensing Board could not inform them of next steps.
Laflam said at a January shareholders meeting, the club’s board of seven members all stepped down except for one member and now there are currently five members. Laflam and the other new board members were appointed after the Jan. 6 meeting. She said the new board members learned about the club’s license situation only after that meeting.
“I think they [the city] dropped the ball by not telling us and we [The Pulaski Club] also dropped the ball,” by not communicating more clearly, Laflam said.
Laflam first attended the Feb. 2 Licensing Board meeting where she said she was given the impression that the club could still renew its license, when that was not the case.
Desaulniers and Karella said they do not know if the Pulaski Club was contacted after the license was denied renewal to inform them they have a certain timeframe to make an appeal. According to the city’s website, the licensing board sends annual renewal information each October or November, allowing 30 days to be completed.
Licensing Board members said at the March 2 meeting if a new application is submitted, it will be reviewed at the board’s next meeting in a month but there is no guarantee that it will be accepted. The board will have to consider any other applications submitted since it is not a renewal.
If accepted by the board, the application will be sent to the state for review but the board said it is unclear how long that will take.
Laflam also questioned if she could get the money back that she used to pay the city for liquor licensing fees for the renewal.
Laflam started bartending at the Pulaski Club nearly two years ago. Driven by a love for the club’s people and atmosphere, Laflam said she donated her own savings to pay off the 2024 taxes, determined not to see the club fold.
Moving forward there are many steps to take but Laflam said she is optimistic that the club can reopen with a new business plan in place. She said the club has heard interest from a local business interested in investing.
“We have a tentative business plan of all the things that we’re going to do differently to be able to make it profitable,” Laflam said. “That is answering our phone and booking the hall, doing more fundraising for the hall, having pours on our liquor, having more accountability.”
She said they are working to keep the club afloat and things were on an upward trend before the license was not renewed.
Laflam said that the club’s debt really boils down to mismanagement. Leading up to the debt there were unnecessary costs and it got to the point where the club needed to decide whether to pay for workers’ salaries or start paying off taxes.
She said the current challenge is attempting to keep the gas and electricity on. The gas has been turned off but Laflam said the electricity is still on.
The Pulaski Club currently has a GoFundMe page seeking donations. Laflam said the funds help pay to keep the electricity on and any additional funds that come in will be used to help keep the club afloat, including paying off taxes. Laflam said anyone interested in reaching her about the club can write to candy.laflam@gmail.com.