For the third time in the past four months, the Metro Council is set take up reappointment or replacement of all nine members of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. But when the council meets on Wednesday, its members are likely to again defer the appointments, as it did in November and February.
Councilwoman Tara Wicker—who last fall said she and Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis were working on an ordinance to abolish the ABC Board—says she and other council members continue to work with ABC staff and the parish attorney’s office to make changes to the board.
“I’m not sure if we’re going to be ready to deal with the appointments on Wednesday or not,” says Wicker. She and other council members have expressed concerns that the board is approving liquor licenses for too many businesses in low-income, urban areas of the city-parish.
Wicker says it’s still possible she and other councilmembers will offer an ordinance to abolish the board. But she says that won’t be necessary if ongoing talks with the ABC staff and attorneys resolve councilmembers’ concerns about the high density of liquor licence approvals in the districts they represent.
“If we’re able to move forward with the amendments and remedies that we’ve been discussing with them, then probably we will not have to look at abolishing the board,” Wicker says, “but we just need to see how it goes.”
The four-year terms of all nine ABC Board members who are up for reappointment expired at the end of last year. However, the board continues to function with all current members until the Metro Council reappoints them or replaces them.
“They’re still able to function and fully operate until we make those appointments,” Wicker says. “We haven’t been told that there’s been any impediment to them handling the business of the ABC, and that’s not our intention. We just want to be sure that as we go through this season of new appointments that we send a direct message that the way things have been happening with the ABC is not in line with our expectations and does not meet our satisfaction.”
This isn’t the first time the council has questioned the ABC Board’s operations. In 2011, former Councilman Rodney “Smokie” Bourgeois’ proposed eliminating the board and replacing it with a single director because Bourgeois—who owns the three George’s restaurant and bars in Baton Rouge—said board members had become too involved in daily operations that should be left to ABC staffers. Bourgeois’ proposal ultimately was not supported by his fellow council members. The council convenes at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the third floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. See the complete agenda.
—Steve Sanoski
