The Metro Council is expected to give bar owners the OK to reopen their establishments at a special meeting later this afternoon.
Earlier today, the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control approved Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s request for East Baton Rouge Parish to “opt-in” to allow bars and other businesses to operate under eased restrictions. The move—which has so far elicited mixed responses from local bar owners—came shortly after the Louisiana Department of Health reported two consecutive one-week periods of 5% or less incidence of positive COVID-19 tests for EBR, meeting the state’s phase three threshold for reopening.
In a prepared statement, Broome says she “welcomes the Metro Council’s support of [her] decision to apply” for the parish to opt-in, should the council pass a declaration co-authored by five of the seven council members that are needed to approve the measure.
“I’m optimistic it will pass,” says council member Dwight Hudson, a Republican and one of the proposal’s co-authors. “We’ve been monitoring the numbers ever since the governor updated his executive order to say when bars might be able to reopen, so when the data showed that we were on the cusp, we wanted to get that process started as early as possible. The goal was to get it on the agenda as soon as the ATC approved the mayor’s request.”
Council members Matt Watson, Jennifer Racca, Denise Amoroso and Trae Welch, all of whom plan to vote in favor of the declaration, also are optimistic the item will pass. The former three—who, along with Hudson and council member Chandler Loupe, co-authored the item—all say they’ve been working with the parish attorney’s office for the past few weeks, before Broome sent the request to the ATC.
“We are all working together to try and get things back to normal,” Racca says.
However, not everyone’s vote has been secured yet. Council member Chauna Banks says she will not attend the meeting because she has a pre-arranged meeting with BREC. Meanwhile, council member Erika Green says she’s undecided on how she will vote.
“At this point, I have some concerns for my community’s health,” Green says in a text message.
Council members Tara Wicker, Lamont Cole, Donna Collins-Lewis, Scott Wilson and Chandler Loupe did not respond to requests for comment before this afternoon’s deadline.
If the item passes during the virtual 4 p.m. meeting, the council will send a notice to the ATC, which will then have to notify the council of its approval before bars can reopen. Hudson says the process is expected to take a couple of days.
Bars will be limited to 25% capacity indoors, or up to 50 people, whichever is fewer. Alcohol sales must end at 11 p.m., no live music is allowed, and patrons will only be served at their tables.
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