For the past year, we have been keeping quiet about the struggles Kip’s Grill has had with The City Government of Creede. However, things have been pushed so far that now we believe the residents of Creede need to know what is actually going on. We are not going back a year, to when this all started, for fear of boring you all but we will present what has transpired over the last few months.
On April 4th, at the beginning of Covid-19 (you may have heard about the current pandemic), The City of Creede put a Stop Work Order on the front door and back door of Kip’s Grill (KG). It cited that KG had multiple building violations or that it might have multiple building violations. It was fairly unclear. The attorneys for KG asked Dan Naiman, the Building Inspector for Creede (he lives in Bayfield) to clarify for KG what exactly needed to be done to get rid of the stop work order and re-open our building. The Building Inspector for Creede admitted that it was confusing language and he couldn’t really give the attorneys a clear idea of what specifically needed to be done. About a week later, KG found out that the stop work order had been lifted. The City Building Official, Louis Fineberg, never communicated that to Kip’s Grill, we heard about it from other City employees.
On May 12th at the BOT meeting, there was discussion that The City of Creede was going to hire an outside attorney with a specialty in building code issues from The Law Firm Kutak Rok in Denver, Colorado. A member of the public asked what the cost was going to be. The City Attorney responded that this was a legal matter. The City was asked again what the cost would be. No one seemed to want to answer. Finally, after much pressing, Louis Fineberg told the public that the attorney would be about $400 an hour. The Mayor and The City Attorney, Ms. Karen Lintott, then told the public that they would not wind up having to pay these fees because CIRSA, The City’s insurance company would pay for them. That night, in Executive Session, The City moved forward and hired Tom Snyder from Kutak Rok. Tom Snyder is an excellent attorney from a highly esteemed law firm with tons of experience, but he doesn’t list building code issues as one of his areas of expertise on the firm’s website.
Soon after, The City of Creede sued Kip’s Grill on 6 different counts. Their goal was to seek an immediate injunction from The District Court Judge to shut down Kip’s Grill. The gist of their claims was that KG had several life-threatening safety issues that needed to be remedied in its building. This was not true. After two days of testimony, the Judge dismissed 5 out of the 6 counts against Kip’s Grill and did not order an injunction to shut down Kip’s Grill.
The 6th count has to do with an easement that was given to us by the City in 2013.
On September 1st, at the BOT meeting, multiple people asked questions of the City. The City’s website has a brand-new section called “Current Court Documents”. In court, Louis Fineberg testified that The City Council voted to add that section to the City’s website. As of yesterday, the only court documents that have ever been posted there are those from the lawsuit the City brought against Kip’s Grill. The court documents containing responses from Kip’s Grill about the lawsuit have never been posted. It has been two weeks since the case was almost wholly dismissed, nothing about that is posted either. In fact, almost a week after the case was dismissed, The Mayor and at least one trustee knew nothing about the dismissal.
The Public asked why no other court documents had been posted to update the public. There was no response.
The Public also asked why the City had spent so much money on a lawsuit that was basically frivolous? No response.
During the budgetary part of the meeting, the public also asked where the attorneys’ fees were listed. No one seemed to want to answer. The City was asked, “How much has been spent on attorneys’ fees to date regarding Kip’s Grill? The City Manager responded, “There have been no attorney fees to date regarding Kip’s Grill” Someone asked about Ms. Lintott’s attorney fees and Louis Fineberg admitted that they had been paying her. He was asked how much she had been paid and he said he could not recall.
The City Attorney bills $175 an hour and has been working on trying to shut down Kip’s Grill for a year. We imagine she has billed a lot of hours for a lot of money. It seems odd that someone would “not recall” what the sum is, even a ballpark number, with the budget sitting right in front of them. Kutak Rok has been working on prosecuting their lawsuit against Kip’s Grill at a minimum cost of $400 an hour since Mid – May. No attorney fees to date? The City put Kip’s Grill through two days of testifying before the case was dismissed. It has been reported The City of Creede has spent a minimum of $65,000 (Kutak Rok’s fees only) on this case against Kip’s Grill that was almost wholly dismissed. This is our taxpayer money and people are not being honest. This is not okay on any level.
On September 2nd, The City Manager, Louis Fineberg, directed one of his employees to put a notice on our building saying he was revoking our Certificate of Occupancy, again in an effort to shut us down. After 3 months of closure during a pandemic, with over 25 employees, Louis Fineberg appears to be trying to do anything he can think of to shut us down for LABOR DAY WEEKEND. This is absolutely unconscionable! As residents of Creede are aware, this is the last big money-making weekend of the year for most employees and businesses. We all work tirelessly in the Summer and save most of our money just to make it through the Winter months. The Judge has already ordered to dismiss The City’s attempt at getting an injunction. The City Manager now appears to be trying to circumvent the Judge’s ruling.
If the last year is any example, The City will keep spending our taxpayer money and keep trying to shut down Kip’s Grill. We feel this has become a personal vendetta and no longer has any rationale. Is this how you want your tax dollars to be spent? Reportedly $65,000 minimum has been spent on Kutak Rok’s attorney fees alone and that does not include the pay for Ms. Karen Lintott.
Going back to the May 12th mtg when the public was told The City of Creede wouldn’t have to pay the Attorney fees; that was simply not true. The City’s insurance company, CIRSA, was never going to pay the attorney fees for Kutak Rok. When the City Manager said at the meeting on September1st, “no attorney fees to date”, that also is simply not true. It is time for the people of Creede to start demanding the actual truth from our elected officials and speaking up about their actions. Our City Manager, City Attorney and Building Inspector do not call Creede home. We would urge The City Council to demand transparency and truth (whole truth) from these officials before things get any worse.
As of this writing, City Attorney Karen Lintott has been removed from our case by CIRSA, the City’s insurance company. Earlier this year, when The City decided to non-renew our liquor license, we were forced to appeal that decision. That case is currently moving through the court system. Karen Lintott was also removed from that case. Yet, somehow, she still has a job with our city.
If you have any questions, please feel free to message Kip’s Grill. We have put our heart and soul into this town, as have many of you. It’s time to speak up and take our town back!
