Remedy’s Bar owner Michelle Rodriguez, left, and attorney Justin Clouser at a show-cause hearing before the Carson City Board of Supervisors on Oct. 5, 2023.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
As Carson City Mayor Lori Bagwell described it, the Board of Supervisors tried to strike a balance between supporting small business and enforcing city laws at a business license hearing Thursday.
Supervisors voted unanimously to suspend the business license of Remedy’s Bar LLC, which operates Remedy’s on East William Street, until a liquor manager is approved by the city’s liquor hearings officer. The suspension is immediate upon Bagwell’s signing of the order, effectively closing the bar.
Saying everyone in the city needs to be treated fairly, Bagwell was sympathetic to the personal issues of business owner Michelle Rodriguez — issues described at the hearing by attorney Justin Clouser. However, Bagwell maintained businesses need to be held accountable for breaking the law.
“What do I do that continues to support small business in our community because I see divergent issues here, right?” she said. “But to me, I have to have something that is a solution or that she’s held accountable to it. And simply doing nothing has no accountability. I can’t support a zero, you know, a pass.”
In June and July, Carson City audited liquor licenses to verify liquor managers and found 13 businesses that needed to update their liquor manager filings. All did except for Remedy’s, Community Development Director Hope Sullivan told supervisors at a previous hearing.
Sullivan confirmed Thursday that Remedy’s Bar LLC submitted an application on Sept. 29 to make Mary Sellars the bar’s liquor manager. Sellars plans to purchase the bar and last month submitted separate applications under a different LLC for a business license and liquor license.
“In fact, I’ve just recently drafted a purchase and sale agreement for selling Remedy’s LLC to Mary Sellars under her limited liability company as well,” Clouser told supervisors.
Clouser discussed personal issues Rodriguez experienced that led to mismanagement of the liquor license. Rodriguez herself didn’t speak Thursday.
“Those wheels are already turning in the right direction,” Clouser said of the bar’s sale. “We would ask that the city acknowledge that, and that the application that has been submitted, that has been deemed completed at this point, be allowed to move forward, so that Remedy’s may maintain its position here in the community as a local neighborhood bar and that the city give that consideration in terms of the acknowledged failures on the part of Ms. Rodriguez and that we have taken steps to do everything that the city requires, that the city needs and that the law requires.”
Supervisors maintained a business license suspension was an appropriate measure compared to a harsher cancellation or revocation of the license.
“As much as I can appreciate struggles that people have, I just don’t know how we allow a business to operate without a liquor manager,” said Supervisor Stacey Giomi. “The implications to the community are too great, that’s my feeling. I just don’t know how we can do that.”
Bagwell said the board must send a consistent message to the community.
“It’s a privileged license to be able to sell liquor to make sure it’s not going to our youth and that people are properly trained. That’s the purpose. I just can’t let go of that,” she said.
Bagwell said the city showed businesses grace during the audit of the licenses by notifying them of lapses.
Supervisor Lisa Schuette added the city has an obligation to ensure that a bar is compliant with code.
“I also agree with the mayor that we want to be mindful; however, I don’t see a suspension and a revocation as a punishment, per se. I see it as a consequence of not following the code.”
Clouser later said he understood the board’s consensus:
“The suspension I understand is the consequence for the lack of diligence … for doing what was supposed to be done. It keeps the city consistent, and I understand that,” he said.
After the hearing, Sellars told the Appeal she was saddened by the outcome, saying honest mistakes were made.
“It just sucks. We got five employees that are going to be without a job,” she said.
Sullivan estimated the background check on the liquor manager application could take up to one to two months, depending on how much investigation is needed by the Carson City Sheriff’s Office. Community Development will work with CCSO to enforce the suspension, she said.
Sellars told the Appeal her intent is to purchase and reopen the bar.
• In other action, supervisors unanimously approved the consent agenda, which authorized the Carson City Clerk-Recorder’s Office to spend up to $217,199 on new equipment, system upgrades and video cameras in the elections room to prepare for the 2024 election cycle.
In approving the consent agenda, supervisors also ratified a $2.2 million grant submittal from CCSO to the Nevada Governor’s Finance Office. If awarded, federal funds would be used to remodel the Carson City Detention Center creating a mental health and medical unit with nine cells, according to a staff report.