Rum Bay fined $5,000 for serving intoxicated patrons

Rum Bay, the largest and one of the most popular nightclubs in Colorado Springs, was fined $5,000 Friday for serving alcohol to visibly intoxicated customers March 18.

The City Attorney's Office signed off on a deal allowing the nightclub at 20 N. Tejon St. to pay the fine instead of having its liquor license suspended for five days.

Michelle Keller, a prosecuting attorney, told the Liquor and Beer Licensing Board at Rum Bay's suspension and revocation hearing that such an agreement was out of the norm.

While other governments agree to a fine in lieu of suspension on a regular basis, Colorado Springs hasn't approved one "in a long time," Keller said afterward.

What changed?

Rum Bay "asked (for a fine in lieu of suspension), and we took a close look at it to determine if there was any reason not to and if it was appropriate under the circumstances, and we decided that it was," she said.

One of the factors that prosecutors took into consideration was that police observed some bar employees doing a "very positive job" that night, she said.

In addition, Rum Bay has agreed to do "some kind of training" of its employees, she said.
Rum Bay didn't get off easy, Keller said

"I think the penalty is appropriate," she said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have agreed to it."

The nightclub, part of a cluster of bars in the heart of downtown, was initially charged with three counts of selling alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person and one count of allowing the removal of alcohol from its premises.

But in the deal with the City Attorney's Office, Rum Bay pleaded guilty to two counts of serving alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person, while the two other counts were dropped.

"That's part of the give-and-take," Keller said.

"You plead guilty to some things and we get rid of some others, and that's what we did here," she said. "It's just part of our negotiation."

The agreement, unanimously approved by the five-member liquor board, called for a 10-day suspension, with five days held in abeyance, and Rum Bay agreeing to pay a $5,000 fine in lieu of having its liquor license suspended for the other five days.

The club had to go before the liquor board for a license and revocation hearing last year, too. It was accused of "activity offensive to the senses of the average citizen" stemming from two separate fights between bouncers and patrons.

The board cleared the club of any wrongdoing after a 12-hour hearing last year.
Friday's hearing took about five minutes.

Vince Linden, an attorney for the owners of Rum Bay, told the board he didn't think the club was guilty of the most recent charges but that the agreement was a "fair disposition."
Rum Bay is owned by Tejon Street Partners.

Kathleen "Kathy" Guadagnoli is named as the managing member of the company in documents filed with the City Clerk's Office.
Guadagnoli purchased the membership interests in the company from her nephew, Chuck Schafer, for $1.3 million in November, the documents state.

The $5,000 fine that Rum Bay agreed to pay will be deposited in the city's general fund, Keller said.

"We look at every case individually when it comes in, and both parties felt that (the agreement between the city and Rum Bay) was appropriate under the circumstances of this case," she said.

"There are all kinds of things that we look at: the seriousness of the violations, the number of violations, any mitigating factors such as things that the bar was doing very well that night, and all those things came together for us to decide that this was appropriate for this set of penalties," she said.

In March, the liquor board hit 13 Pure nightclub on East Pikes Peak Avenue with a 10-day suspension after "Girls Gone Wild" crews filmed several women exposing their breasts. Photos of the Aug. 13 incident, which are located in 13 Pure's file at the City Clerk's Office, show that at least one woman's breasts were fondled, which the city's liquor ordinance prohibits.