The Select Board will hold a public hearing next Thursday (Sept. 4) to consider its options regarding the common victualer’s license for Hillers Pizza.
The board is set to meet at the Hopkinton High School auditorium at 6 p.m. to review the issue before the public. According to the meeting agenda packet posted on the town website, the Select Board will consider two options for remedying the issue.
The first option involves revoking or suspending the victualer’s license for Hillers Pizza, or issuing a fine in accordance with Massachusetts General Law. Under Chapter 140 Section 9, a licensing authority is allowed to revoke or suspend a common victualer’s license if the licensee “at any time conducts his licensed business in an improper manner.”
The improper conduct that could jeopardize Hillers Pizza’s license relates to the conviction of owner Petros “Peter” Sismanis on charges of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age and two counts of witness intimidation. Sismanis was accused of hugging and kissing a 16-year-old employee in the restaurant’s basement and later blocked the victim and her mother from leaving the plaza at 77 West Main Street until police arrived.
The incident occurred in January 2023, and Sismanis was found guilty this past June. He is serving six months of a total 2 1/2-year sentence in prison, with the remaining time suspended.
An alternate option the Select Board will consider is modifying the common victualer’s license to substitute Eleni Sismanis, wife of Peter Sismanis, as the manager of Hillers Pizza.
According to the agenda packet, Eleni Sismanis submitted a general license application to the Select Board in early August. Town Manager Elaine Lazarus also stated in a Select Board meeting on Aug. 6 that ownership of the business was transferred to Eleni Sismanis in July, though at that point the license still was in Peter Sismanis’ name.
A note in the agenda packet states that the Select Board “may choose to table or otherwise defer or dispose of” the option to modify the existing license depending on deliberations and other actions taken.
The hearing on Hillers Pizza’s license is a response to calls from some residents to pull the license. During the public comment period of the Aug. 6 Select Board meeting, residents advocated for immediate action to correct “years of dangerous inaction.”
Individuals also have taken to protesting outside the business, calling for the license to be revoked.
This was ‘tabled’ in 2018. Look what happens when the Select Board chooses to do nothing. It happened again in 2023 and the SB STILL gave them their license in 2024.
They should not get the license. Just because it is in her name doesn’t count. He will still reap the benefit s of the income generated. A crime was committed and the statute states you can revoke the license. Do the laws only apply to some people
You should look at the contributions from SIsmanis family to the right wing politicians in town. They will try to influence the vote to get the license transferred.
Hopkinton Resident- done.
Lisences definitely need to be revoked. This man is a repeat offender, and a simple google search of his name can verify that. It’s a local pizza shop that hires minors. This man isnt allowed to be unsupervised around minors (if i understood the articles correctly). Who is supervising him if he and his wife are the owners? As a parent of children in the town, he needs to be out. It’s not safe to allow them to hire monirs. Again, REPEAT OFFENDER!