A Columbia County judge dealt a quick blow to Renee Hajek’s latest effort to reopen her Evans establishment, Stay Social Tap and Table.
After the Columbia County restaurateur announced plans last year to host a “family-friendly” drag show at the county-subsidized restaurant, local officials raised the issue of her food-to-alcohol ratio.
They determined she had not met the 50% food requirement for 2021, the only full year Stay Social was open, and revoked her alcohol license in October 2022.
In a March affidavit part of a motion for reconsideration, Hajek said she’d been “lulled” by County Manager Scott Johnson into not putting up a fight – or bringing a lawyer – to her October license revocation hearing.
“Just go up there, be genuine and present your case. Contrary to social media, this is not a pre-determined thing. They will listen to you and weigh the facts before they vote,” her affidavit claims Johnson said.
Chief Columbia County Superior Court Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. agreed to strike Hajek’s affidavit and denied her petition for reconsideration Tuesday.
In the affidavit, filed as part of the March petition, Hajek said she did not bring an attorney to the hearing to avoid appearing litigious.
Renee Hajek’s affidavit
The county had initially been accommodating as Hajek said she explored opening a self-pour taproom there. Presenting a 10-year business plan to county officials in 2019, Hajek said they “could not provide specifics” about food sales, but that no food sales data had ever been requested. The county has never officially allowed bars. It began requiring restaurants to submit food sales data earlier this year.
The Columbia County Development Authority offered Hajek a “destination retail incentive plan” grant to offset the expense of build-out to create a self-pour venue in a county-owned retail complex. Hajek opened Stay in August 2020 and was later approved for license renewals for 2021 and 2022.
Hajek said she was ‘“transparent” with then-Development Authority Director Robbie Bennett about her income and expenses during the pandemic. She used her retirement savings to cover expenses from taking on breakfast and coffee offerings after co-operator Sinless Sweets folded, the affidavit states. Bennett resigned from the development authority in April.
Hajek said Johnson and Bennett confirmed her alcohol license “was on the table” because of the drag show. Seeking deputies for security before the show, she was told Sheriff Clay Whittle refused to allow them to work there, although with Johnson’s intervention, he relented, she said.
Within a week of the show, Bennett wanted “financials.” Hajek said she turned over unaudited profit-and-loss statements.
At an Oct. 4 hearing, the Columbia County Commission voted 5-1 to revoke Hajek’s license to serve alcohol. She claimed the financial records she provided to Bennett and Development Services Director Paul Scarbary unaudited records and not audited financial statements.
Chief Columbia County Superior Court Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. upheld the revocation in December, stating the commission decision was based on substantial evidence.
Petition for reconsideration makes new arguments, adds facts
In a March petition to set aside the judgment or reconsider it, attorney Cary Wiggins raised several new arguments premised on Hajek being “lulled” into waiving Stay’s rights prior to the hearing last year.
Among them, the county alcohol code states the county in conducting an audit for the purpose of revocation must notify the licensee of the date of the audit, who is conducting it, and the need to produce audited financial statements to be audited. Wiggins contends Scarbary did none of that, depriving Hajek of the due process of law.
The alcohol code also doesn’t list insufficient food sales as grounds for revocation and is unclear on when and how the county can use the results of an audit including from an earlier time period for which Hajek’s license already was renewed.
Under the code, “the board has limitless discretion to mete out punishment as it sees fit: If we like your business, we’ll suspend the license for a day and encourage you to adopt measures to increase food sales. If we don’t like (or no longer like) your business, we’ll simply take your license,” the petition states.
“Lulled” into waiving her rights, Hajek represented herself at the hearing and made no objections
“If the county were concerned that Stay needed to boost its food-to-total sales ratio by 3%, it could have achieved that goal by suspending Stay’s alcohol license for a week or two,” the petition states.
Columbia County: It’s too late
The county’s brief opposing the petition says Hajek can’t bring new facts, the affidavit or arguments to the court to set aside the judgment except under very limited circumstances that she doesn’t meet. The county also motioned to strike Hajek’s affidavit for similar reasons.
“Stay cannot avoid the fact that it elected to appear pro se and further elected not to raise the defenses or facts upon which it now seeks relief,” attorney William J. Keogh III wrote.
Both sides raised these points in brief at a Monday hearing, and Blanchard said he’d issue an order within 24 hours.
In his order, released Tuesday, Blanchard struck Hajek’s affidavit, stating Georgia law is clear it was inadmissible at that stage of court proceedings. He also agreed with the county’s assertion that using the petition to set aside as a means of introducing new facts was improper.
He also disagreed with Hajek’s claim that Johnson committed fraud by lulling her into not having an attorney at the October hearing. Even if he had, which Blanchard said there was no evidence of, it’s beyond Johnson’s authority.
In a passage quoted directly from Keogh’s brief, Blanchard addresses Hajek’s claims Stay was treated unfairly because she hosted drag shows.
“Stay concludes with a cavalcade of speculation and hypotheticals about ‘alternate’ reasons why the license may have been revoked or how other restaurants may be treated,” the order states. “Again it relies on a brand new and untested affidavit, executed several months after the order was entered, to support its allegations.”
