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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowBoard members of the south-side German American Klub could be on the hook for more than $20,000 in unpaid rent at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
The bill is from 2008 and 2009, when the club experimented with holding its annual Oktoberfest at the fairgrounds, instead of German Park.
The Indiana State Fair Commission goes to court to collect on unpaid bills a few times a year, spokesman Andy Plotka said. The case against the German American Klub, filed in Marion Superior Court Nov. 7, is unusual in that individual board members could be held liable.
The Indiana Secretary of State dissolved the German American Klub for administrative reasons in 2003. Because the club wasn’t a legal entity when President Charles Kemp signed a contract at the fairgrounds, liability should pass to the board of directors, the lawsuit says.
Kemp did not return a phone call seeking comment.
“I would hope that if they have a debt they would just pay it,” said Nate Harves, a board member who wasn’t aware of the unpaid bill until Wednesday, when Ron Roberts, executive chef at the club’s Edelweiss restaurant, called to tell him about the lawsuit.
Harves, who said he hasn’t attended a board meeting in two years, said Kemp and Roberts handle the club’s finances. It’s not clear why the bill went unpaid, but Harves believes Oktoberfest generates enough revenue to cover the fairgrounds expense.
The total owed is $22,076.88, and Kemp appears to be trying to pay it off. In August he signed a note in which he agreed to pay $150, plus $50 a week until October 14, when the entire balance would come due, according the lawsuit.
Kemp, who signed the agreement personally and on behalf of the club, continues to make weekly payments, but the balance remains unpaid, the lawsuit said.
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