After nearly 4.5 years spent largely ignoring a nondiscrimination agreement they signed with the federal government, a trio of Gunnison landlords will now have to pay for an independent property manager to implement the terms of the consent decree.

In a May 3 order, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon P. Gallagher noted the unusual leniency federal courts have given David Welch, John Welch and Ruth Welch to date, but he acknowledged it failed to produce results.

“Respondents have missed deadlines, failed to participate in hearings, not responded to requests by the Court, and expressed explicit unwillingness to cooperate,” Gallagher wrote. “The time for continued attempts to procure voluntary cooperation has expired.”

In late 2019 and early 2020, the Welches signed a consent order in response to allegations they were denying or discouraging families from renting their property at Westwood Cove Condominiums, which is a violation of the Fair Housing Act. The consent decree required them to pay $800 to the Denver Metro Fair Housing Center, include the language “families with children welcome to apply” when advertising the property, and provide records of rental inquiries and applications to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Since then, the Welches largely refused to honor their obligations or engage with the government further.

“I’ve never seen a court put somebody in jail for this,” Gallagher said last August, after traveling from his home base in Grand Junction to Gunnison so he could address the Welches where they lived. “But at some point, the court’s going to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ and the punishments are going to start happening.”

Instead, the department noted the Welches continued to advertise their property without the family-inclusive language and had not produced the necessary rental records. Earlier this year, Ruth Welch contacted Gallagher’s chambers to say she “would not come to Court, ever, as she has more important priorities and does not agree with this process,” his clerk reported.

Although Ruth Welch changed her mind and wound up appearing after all at a telephone hearing in April, she did not respond to the government’s request that Gallagher install an independent property manager, paid for by the Welches, to oversee compliance with the consent decree. The government has made independent property managers a component of other consent decrees under the Fair Housing Act in recent years.

Gallagher disclosed in his order that Ruth Welch called his chambers the day before the Welches’ response was due to say she was hospitalized and wanted an extension of time. Gallagher’s clerk asked her to direct hospital staff to send a note attesting to her incapacitation, which the court never received.

“The Court has been extremely amendable to accommodating Respondents; however, no further extensions or accommodations shall be granted,” Gallagher wrote, adding that neither David nor John Welch has taken steps to comply with the family’s obligations.

Gallagher gave the Welches and the department until June 3 to propose candidates to manage the property. From there, he will choose which entity to appoint or select his own property manager. He further ordered the Welches not to interfere with the property manager as it carries out the duties the Welches should have been executing since 2020.

“The Court is aware that a property manager will cost Respondent money; however, that is the unfortunate and logical result of Respondent’s continued refusal to comply,” he concluded. “This Court finds that Respondents have repeatedly and continually violated the Consent Decree and that this sanction is appropriate.”