Owners and counsel say city withheld records, calling beer-board process unfair

Defense counsel for both Tin Roof 2 and Kimbrough's told the beer board they had made records requests and were not provided timely materials for an adequate defense. Steve Meisner said his public-records request returned a $35,000 production estimate and that the city had not produced narratives and other materials he had sought prior to the hearing. "I had to pay $35,000 to get the records that I requested," Meisner said on the record.

City Attorney Bill Squires and staff explained that the scope of the records request would pull many officers' body, dash and in-car camera files and that the time required to review and redact media was the reason for the estimate. Squires told the board that, for two bars and a three-year span, the search returned hundreds of videos: "There were 409 videos related to Tin Roof alone for those 3 years," he said, describing the redaction and review burden.

The board proceeded with the hearing after placing objections on the record and allowed both sides to present testimony. The dispute over record production framed much of the defense's argument that indictments and CAD counts were insufficient without the supporting narrative reports and that the board should prioritize remediation and cooperation rather than immediate revocation of permits.