License of Remedy’s Bar in Carson City suspended by Supervisors due to code violations
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Thu, 10/05/2023 - 10:14am
On Thursday, the Carson City Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to suspend the license of Remedy’s Bar LLC. after the business lapsed in having a registered liquor manager on staff since July 2023.
On Sept. 21, Carson City Supervisors ordered the owner of the bar, Michelle Rodriguez, to appear for a show cause hearing in two weeks to explain why the bar should not be shut down.
During the two week period, Rodriguez had the chance to complete applications for the new liquor manager, pay fees, and have background checks started, as was discussed during the prior meeting.
City staff began attempting to make contact with the owner several times, according to the September 21 meeting agenda, and on August 3, a woman named Mary Sellers came into the Business License Division identifying herself as the new owner of Remedy’s and obtained applications for the property. However, Sellers did not return to submit the applications.
During the Sept. 21 meeting, she told Supervisors she had been helping Rodriguez to manage the bar but had not yet purchased the business. She said she and Rodriguez had not understood the urgency of the situation.
However, even after the Sept. 21 meeting ordering Rodriguez to show cause, a representative of Remedy’s did not appear before the Planning Department for a week after the hearing, according to Carson City Community Development Director Hope Sullivan.
On Sept. 29, a change of liquor manager application was submitted on behalf of Remedy’s bar. However, the application was not complete, Sullivan said.
The owner again waited until Wednesday, Oct. 4, to provide the supplemental information and pay the fee. According to Sullivan, the application has now been deemed complete.
Once completed, it was sent to the Sheriff’s Office for a background check as required by law, and has yet to be processed.
According to Sullivan, background check processing can take anywhere from 30 days to 60 days or longer depending on the person’s background.
Attorney Justin Klouser appeared as the legal representative of Rodriguez, and told the board that she had become “overwhelmed.”
“She found out that being a bar owner and bar manager looks good on paper but in the implementation she just by her own acknowledgement didn’t have the skillset for doing everything that is necessary and required under city ordinances as well as state law. She started shutting down emotionally. That led to why we’re here today.”
Klouser said he recently drafted a purchase and sale agreement for Rodriguez to sell the bar to Sellers.
“Those wheels are already turning in the right direction,” Klouser said. “We would ask that the city acknowledge that, and that the application submitted has been deemed complete, and allow that to move forward so that Remedy’s can maintain its position here in the community as a local neighborhood bar.”
However, supervisors said that while they understood the difficulties, and they want to help support small businesses, there are consequences for not following code.
“We have to treat everyone as fairly as we can within the community, and there are codes and rules that apply,” Carson City Mayor Lori Bagwell said. “When you speed, you get a speeding ticket.”
Bagwell said that selling liquor in the city is a privilege, and one that needs to be treated as such to make sure alcohol is not being sold to minors, and that the people selling the alcohol are trained.
“I think we already showed grace to 13 businesses by saying ‘Get in here and get this done,’” Bagwell went on. “We already tried to do that (with Rodriguez).”
Supervisor Lisa Schuette said suspension of a license is not a punishment but a consequence.
Supervisor Stacey Giomi moved to suspend the business license for Remedy’s until a liquor manager is approved, which cannot happen until the background check of Sellers clears.
The vote to suspend was unanimous.
