Carbondale trustees voted to renew the Black Nugget’s liquor license on Tuesday amid allegations from former employees about verbal abuse, hostile work environments and wage theft at the establishment.
Town lawyers said the trustees had limited grounds to reject the application and could not consider internal employment issues in their review.
Many of the complaints were directed at Jan “Hans” Balas whose family owns the Black Nugget.
Laura Wagner worked at the bar between 2021 and 2023 and gave the first statement.
“I was the victim of drunken verbal assaults by the owner, wage theft, antisemitism by a customer and close friend of the owner, which was dismissed,” said Wagner. “And I was also subjected to hearing transphobic statements made by the owner and worked in a general air of homophobia, racism and misogyny, among many other troubling situations involving discrimination, harassment, violence, drug use.”
Jesse Lee used to work security and maintenance at the Black Nugget and told trustees that Balas did not take physical assaults against patrons seriously.
“The worst was when I witnessed several physical assaults of women and reported them to Hans, and he decided to ignore these allegations,” Lee said. “He did nothing to help these women to get any kind of justice, even though he had physical evidence on his security cameras.”
Lee added that he had seen weapons on the premises.
Balas addressed the board later that evening and denied all of the allegations, telling the trustees that he does his best to make the bar a safe environment.
“Anyone can bring a weapon anywhere,” Balas said. “That’s uncontrollable for me. It's just like anybody can say anything. I can't put zippers on people's mouths. I can deal with the situation if they're being rude or vulgar or this or that. We can warn them or we kick them out. We don't want a toxic environment.”
Despite some trustees’ concerns, lawyers for the town said the board’s ability to reject the Black Nugget’s application is limited.
If the Carbondale Police Department had an open investigation into the Black Nugget, the town could select a hearing officer to make a judgment on any evidence they found. The trustees could then consider that judgment when reviewing the Black Nugget’s liquor license.
In a phone call with Aspen Public Radio, Chief of Police Kirk Wilson said he received written testimony from Lee prior to Tuesday’s meeting regarding these allegations, but his claims described civil, not criminal, allegations, and there was not sufficient evidence to open an investigation.
The board approved Balas’ liquor license renewal unanimously, but they included stipulations recommended by Chief Wilson.
Carbondale Mayor Ben Bohmfalk said he had never seen a liquor license renewal hearing become so contentious in his eight years on the board, and he warned Balas that the trustees still have the option of revoking his license at any time.
“There are a lot of things said that are very concerning to me,” Bohmfalk said. “I think our police will be checking in frequently, and I think that we'll see the applicant back here in a year or less if there are accusations that are verified, if people want to bring forward claims and process those so that we can have a record of things that have been investigated, charged, proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The new stipulations require Black Nugget employees go through a training program to avoid over-serving customers, and they are prohibited from drinking or being under the influence of illegal drugs on the job.
Balas must also strictly enforce occupancy limits, age requirements, and cooperate with police at all times.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment is investigating Wagner’s allegations into wage theft.
