Greenwood officials, Red Carpet Inn staff face off during injunction hearing

A preliminary injunction hearing on the Red Carpet Inn and Fanta Suites lasted over four hours but a decision won’t come until next week.

Johnson County Superior Court 4 Judge Marla Clark asked both the attorneys for the city and the hotel to submit proposed court orders in lieu of closing arguments. Attorneys have until 6 p.m. Monday to issue their proposed orders, and Clark will issue her final order on the injunction following that.

Greenwood city officials are suing the owners of the troubled hotel, 1117 E. Main St., in civil court in order to force compliance with previous orders to vacate. Because employees making repairs to the hotel continue to occupy the hotel, city attorneys argued Tuesday that the hotel’s owner is violating the plan commission order to vacate the property.

Attorneys for the city called five witnesses to testify about the events that led up to the hearing, and subsequent inspections during the hearing. The hotel’s attorneys called three witnesses: Ahmad Mubarak, the hotel owner, and two other employees.

Stop work order

Among the new pieces of information revealed in testimony from city and county officials was that Mubarak allegedly refused building commissioner Kenneth Seal’s request for an inspection last week. Mubarak allegedly told Seal “no” when he called him Friday and referred him to his attorney.

The inspection would have taken place on Tuesday morning and would have also involved the city’s fire marshal and the Johnson County Health Department. Under questioning from both Bill Barrett, the city’s attorney, and Josh Lowry, the hotel’s attorney, Seal said he never reached out to Lowry following Mubarak’s refusal. Mubarak later confirmed this in his testimony later on Tuesday.

Seal issued a stop work order for the hotel because of the inspection refusal, meaning that employees making repairs have been ordered to stop work immediately. The refusal is a violation of the terms of a building permit issued for repairs in November 2021, he testified.

“We have (to have) reasonable access to perform inspections,” he said.

He also testified it is unclear if the city ever issued a certificate of occupancy to the hotel, which was built in the late 1960s to early 1970s. This requires further research, he said.

Lowry questioned Seal about why it took so long for a follow-up inspection. The permit was issued in November 2021, but a follow-up inspection did not take place until September of this year.

Seal testified that Mubarak had given him the impression he was really motivated to address the issues, so he gave him some leeway. However, as more complaints came up, action needed to be taken.

He only wants the hotel to get up to code, he said.

“I’m the building commissioner, not de-commissioner,” Seal said.

Later, Seal, along with fire marshal Tracy Rumble, deputy fire marshal Ryan Angrick and Johnson County Health Department Director Betsy Swearingen testified about conditions at the hotel. Among the items they observed during multiple inspections through the last year and a half were blocked emergency doors, cockroaches, mold, exposed plumbing and missing and damaged smoke detectors.

All of these observations are building, fire or health code violations, officials testified. They all said they believe the hotel was unsafe.

Lowry asked Seal, Rumble and Swearingen if conditions at the hotel could have improved since the Nov. 28 inspection. They all said they could not say because the request for another inspection was refused.

‘No major issues’

Mubarak testified that employees have done a lot of work to remedy the issues in the main building. There are “no major issues,” and he’s invested a lot into the hotel, he claimed in testimony.

Barrett asked when work was completed for the main building and why Mubarak allegedly denied the request for an additional inspection. Work was completed sometime after Nov. 28, and Mubarak said he only told Seal to speak to his attorney.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lowry had asked Seal if Mubarak could schedule an inspection for only one building. The answer was yes.

Bill Harold, a hotel maintenance worker who said he is a licensed electrician, testified that employees have been “working around the clock” to get the main building repaired, he said.

Jacob Bowman, an attorney for the city, asked Naomi Toves, who said she works for the hotel as a maintenance worker/housekeeper/electrician, about her training as a maintenance worker and electrician. She testified she had no formal training for either of these jobs. In terms of being an electrician, she said she replaced light bulbs and secured loose wiring.

Toves also testified she didn’t need a license to know if the work she was doing was up to code.

Security concerns

Seal also testified that Mubarak told him employees continue to occupy the hotel because of security concerns. Mubarak alleged that people had been attempting to break into the hotel since it was first ordered to be vacated. Seal told Mubarak to call the police to report the incidents, however, he allegedly told Seal he couldn’t.

No reports of break-ins or thefts have been made to Greenwood police since the Nov. 24 deadline, according to police records. There was a theft report from Oct. 18, but that involved an employee stealing from the hotel.

The most recent police call to the hotel prior to the hearing was a report of a suspicious vehicle on Dec. 12, records show.

Toves testified about two alleged incidents where someone had attempted to break into the hotel since it was ordered to be vacated.

During one alleged incident, a man on a golf cart shined a light into the hotel. Incidents like this are why employees are staying at the hotel overnight to protect it, Toves said.

“I’ve put my life on the line for this property,” she said.

When questioned by Bowman about the incident, Toves could not answer when it occurred. When asked about her security experience, she said her experience came from working at a high school in Guam.

Harold testified that security issues have been getting worse at the hotel, and he believes people would break in if no one was staying at the hotel.

Mubarak was asked why he hasn’t hired private security. Mubarak said it was a matter of funding, and Barrett responded by asking how he could afford the repairs but not security. Mubarak said he was able to use money from somewhere else.

Seal was called back up to the witness stand and questioned about the security concerns. Seal said this was the first time Mubarak had ever mentioned the security concerns as a reason for why employees continued to say at the hotel.

Employees had said during the Nov. 28 inspection that they would be homeless without the hotel, Seal said.