No matter how the legal and financial woes facing the closed-again M&M bar and restaurant play out, county officials and others want its iconic neon sign to stay in Butte.
“We believe it belongs here and needs to stay here,” Community Development Director Karen Byrnes said Wednesday.
M&M owner Sam Jankovich closed the historic restaurant a week ago and is trying to sell it. It has been mired in legal woes since 2012, including disputes with the state Department of Revenue and three other groups seeking a combined $76,840.
Young Electric and Sign Co., which refurbished the M&M signature sign, has sued Cigar Store Properties and Jankovich for $10,056 that YESCO says is owed for the work.
In court documents, YESCO says Jankovich granted it a “security interest” in the sign, which allows it to foreclose on it for a sheriff’s sale or remove it from the building in the event of non-payment. A phone message was left Wednesday with Jankovich but went unreturned.
George Everett, director of Main Street Uptown Butte, asked Byrnes during an Urban Revitalization Board meeting if any efforts were being made to keep the sign in Butte.
Byrnes said she had talked with YESCO about the county’s interest in keeping the sign in Butte, regardless of how other matters play out.