A controversial Bike Week 2002 wrapped up on Sunday and on Monday, Mayor Mark Fraser said he expects Bike Week 2003 to be a topic of discussion in council chambers soon.

Concerns over violence at Bike Week between rival motorcycle clubs led to the city Licensing Board’s rejecting the vending licenses of the Hells Angels — a decision which the New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned — and to the state Liquor Commission’s denial on the grounds of public safety the request of five businesses in The Weirs for Bike Week beer tents.

The commission reversed itself on four of the denials and may be facing a lawsuit from the lone unsuccessful applicant.

Fears of the Hells Angels brawling on the boardwalk with the Outlaws, Pagans or other clubs with whom they have tussled in the recent past, also prompted city officials to ask for and receive permission from Gov. Jeanne Shaheen to have the state National Guard available in a contingency.

Cumulatively, these factors, along with general criticism of the city’s vending and Bike Week site plan review processes, as well as the lack of a clear distinction of who controls Bike Week — the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association seems to believe it’s the city’s party, although the city isn’t convinced — should make for some interesting City Council deliberations in coming weeks and months.

"Are we going to see changes?" in how Bike Week is run, Fraser asked rhetorically, "I don’t know, but discussion, yes."

Fraser said the core issue is who is in charge of Bike Week.

"They (Rally and Race) say we own it, and if we do own it, we ought to be able to set the dates and have a lot more control over it," said Fraser. He noted that the association’s claims to city ownership lose validity given that its official Bike Week 2002 magazine already has listed the dates for Bike Weeks through 2007.

The mayor said he has written Rally and Race asking for a meeting to clear up some of the outstanding issues around Bike Week.

He also wants to take advantage of such a meeting to clear the air about the association’s using a "broad brush" to paint the city as anti-Bike Week.

The Liquor Commission’s initial denial of the beer tents was at the urging of state Attorney General Philip McLaughlin and Safety Commissioner Richard Flynn, not the city council’s, said Fraser, which, following the commission’s action came out publicly in favor of the beer tent licenses being approved.

The council didn’t even consider beer tents and their connection to public safety, because it didn’t believe one existed, Fraser said, but it did, however, focus very strongly on the potential for violence at Bike Week involving motorcycle clubs.

"I would not do anything different than what we did" to try to mitigate potential violence, said Fraser, "I think we acted appropriately."

Fraser praised Laconia Police Chief William Baker for striving to make Bike Week safe, and said, overall, "I just want to see that those who promote the event and are involved with the event want to work with the city to make it a valuable and safe event."

Ward 1 Councilor Paul Bordeau said Bike Week "should definitely continue, there’s no doubt about that. It’s certainly an important part of our summer economy."

Bordeau, however, would like to see "if there’s a better way of structuring it to avoid the kind of piecemeal planning and confusion and last-minute surprises that can crop up and pose problems to the city and participants."

He said he intends to ask the council to "proceed in some manner to have a forum by which we can discuss the structuring of Motorcycle Week in more detail, inviting participation from any and all parties interested, especially the business community."

Ward 3 Councilor Fred Toll agreed Bike Week should continue and does have a future in Laconia.

"I think this year was an unusual set of circumstances with the obvious feud going on between the bike clubs," which forced city officials to resort to "different measures than normal, but hopefully next year it’ll be back to where it should be," he said.

Despite a proverbial cloud hanging over this year’s Bike Week, the city still issued 351 vending licenses, which was slightly off from the 388 last year, and also approved about half a dozen more Bike Week site plans than in 2001, said Toll.

For 2003, there should be "better coordination" between the city and state on the granting of beer tent licenses, said Toll, who noted that the city was blamed for the Liquor Commission’s actions although it had nothing to do with them.

A veteran of many Bike Weeks, Toll said people drinking in the relatively controlled environment of a beer tent was better than their drinking in public.

Laconia should determine who "owns" Bike Week in terms of its associated costs, and if the event is the city’s, "then we have to, somehow or another, be able to raise revenue," possibly with an official city Bike Week T-shirt, said Toll.

For future Bike Weeks, Toll said he would like to see more local groups, like the Rotary Club, involved with fund raising at the event.

The fact that people came from far away to Bike Week means there will always be a Bike Week, said Ward 4 Councilor James Cowan.

Cowan spent last Saturday on the boardwalk in The Weirs taking to bikers, some of whom rode from Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Quebec, "and the fact they they’re willing to travel that far in that weather means Laconia is doing something right."

"Do we need to do anything different or better or enhance what we have, I don’t think so," said Cowan. "Bike Week is working and that’s my personal impression and from being upfront and personal and with the bikers themselves."

When someone reads about Bike Week or hears about it, "it’s totally different from when you are a part of Bike Week," said Cowan, "and it’s totally favorable."

Ward 2 Councilor Bob Luther and Ward 6 Councilor Armand Bolduc echoed their colleagues’ views of Bike Week.

"I think it was a fantastic Bike Week," said Luther, and it was a good one despite the raw weather through most of it, Bolduc added.

Both councilors expected that "refinements" would be made in the operation of Bike Week, but Bolduc said that no one on the council wanted to "do away it."

He later said he would contact state officials to ask that they make Bike Week a drill weekend for the National Guard so the city, as it will this year, won’t have to get stuck with paying a portion of its activation costs.

Luther said he would "like to see it (all Bike Week-related matters) ironed out by January. There oughtn’t be any surprises," he said.

Luther along with Bolduc and Toll — all of whom met Monday night as members of the council’s Government Operations and Ordinances Committee — gave Baker credit for what Luther said was "an excellent job" before and during Bike Week.

"He (Baker) was very right in advising what could happen," said Luther.

As the council’s representative to the Rally and Race Association, Ward 5 Councilor Rick Judkins, who was not contacted in time for this article, would probably heartily endorse his fellow councilors positive views of Bike Week, with which he has been associated for more than 30 years.