LEWISTON – A potential new owner of Rock’n Robin’s nightclub will go back to the drawing board after being turned down for new operating permits Tuesday.

Paul Downing of Biddeford told Lewiston city councilors he and a partner hope to buy the club from current owner Mike Berube and make it safer.

But councilors pointed to his partner, Rock’n Robin’s bouncer Mike Oden, as the problem. The pair’s liquor license application lists Oden as majority owner. It also fails to note that Oden has twice been charged with assault.

“If you really want this license, find a way to make yourself the majority owner and demonstrate that you are serious about these changes,” City Administrator Jim Bennett told Downing.

Councilors began considering putting the club and owner Berube on a three-month probation in September, citing several weeks’ worth of rowdy Thursday-night crowds. There were 106 calls for police service at the bar during the past year, according to Police Chief William Welch. The worst occurred on Aug. 27, when a brawl there ended with an officer being assaulted.

City staff worked with Berube to create a formal agreement spelling out changes to make the bar safer. Berube would offer comedy shows at the bar three nights a week and rent his room out for weddings. Music and dancing at the nightclub would be out.

But Tuesday, Berube sent the city a letter saying he planned on closing the nightclub and opening something else there. Councilors voted once and for all to do away with his special use permit, which let him have comedy acts.

Downing said he hoped to purchase the club from Berube, once he had obtained a new liquor license and a new special use permit. Then, he said he planned to hire 10 professional bouncers, install a closed-circuit television cameras inside and out of the club, and begin charging a cover charge to get in after 11 p.m.

“Basically, I want to keep out the hotheads, the ones that cause all the problems,” he said.

Councilors said they needed some proof that Downing was serious and the transaction was not just a way for Berube and his management team to stay involved at the club. They voted to deny both a new liquor license and a special use permit.

“How many times do we need to do this?” Councilor Renee Bernier asked. “We’ve been around and around and around with this place and it’s been nothing but a problem for us.”

Bennett said he would bring the issue before councilors one last time at their next meeting and ask them to confirm their decision to deny the permits.