Framingham Selectmen Unhappy with Sheraton Management

Framingham Selectmen held a public hearing last week to approve a change of management at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center.

Typically, these alcohol license change hearings take less than five minutes, with little discussion; but there was lots of discussion during the Sheraton hearing.

Selectmen were to approve Brian Smith as the new general manager, on the alcohol license, from Thomas McKenney.

The issue is that Smith who has been general manager at the Sheraton Hotel since early 2014, only filed his paperwork in 2015.

When Selectmen approved alcohol license renewals in Dec. 2014, McKenney was on that Sheraton paperwork.

You have been “manager for a year. And you are just coming in now to change the license?” asked Selectmen Chair Charles Sisitsky. “Is that good practice?”

Smith answered “no.”

“This is an embarrassment,” said Selectman Jason Smith, who added a “year is too long to wait” to file the paperwork.

Selectman Michael Bower and Smith both suggested the matter be investigated further by the Selectmen policy sub committee, to see if a license suspension could be warranted. Bower said he was open to leveling a suspension if paperwork is not in order. “The message is not getting out there,” said Bower.

Sheraton manager Smith said he works 50 hours a week on site at the Sheraton and apologized more than once for not filing timely paperwork.

Selectmen unanimously approved the management change on the license.

The Sheraton’s manager also told Selectmen soon they will be seeing paperwork to approve the hotel’s assistant manager, who also has been on the job in Framingham, for a while.

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Photos: Patch file photos