Guadalupe County opts in to reopen bars

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today

Cindy Aguirre

(Guadalupe County) — Guadalupe County is giving the green light for bar owners to reopen. However before any drinks are served, bar owners must wait until the county’s opt-in request is confirmed by the Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission (TABC) and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) as required under Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s order. Last week, the governor left the option for bars to reopen in the hands of county judges.

This week, with the support of local mayors and city managers, County Judge Kyle Kutscher says he is ready to move forward with the governor’s plan to reopen bars at 50 percent capacity.

“After getting that confirmation from all of the cities, everybody said exactly the same thing and it confirmed what I was thinking already which was that you have a tremendous amount of businesses that were already negatively since March. They were singled out and shout out which I understood at the very beginning because of the type of establishment, the type of interaction people have at those businesses but being this far out with all the numbers looking much better, much much lower hospitalizations and much lower death numbers, all these other businesses that got to reopen had the opportunity to change their business model, to change how their establishment was run and how people were let in to do business and I thought and the mayors thought as well that bars should have that same opportunity,” said Kutscher.

Now although bars will be in operation, the establishments will still be required to follow all safety protocols including new ones that have been added for bars under the Governor’s Open Texas Order. Among the newest protocols is that bars must stop serving alcohol at 11 p.m.

Kutscher says the majority of protocols are very similar to what most have experienced at a restaurant.

“With the governor’s requirements within this new order stating that you have to have groups of six or less. They have to be spaced six feet apart. They have to be seated just like a restaurant to be served food and or alcohol and when they stand up to either check out or move around the establishment or facility, they have to be masked. It’s very very similar just like a restaurant is so if we do our part to educate and inform those businesses to work with them, not to go out and be punitive, not slam the hammer down and try to write people $1,000 tickets but support the business community in reopening in a safe and efficient manner, I think we can all be successful,” said Kutscher.

Kutscher says after seven months of not doing business, it’s been hard to see local bars struggle across the county.

“This is our chance as a community and as those business owners to show that we can work together, communicate, follow the rules and open up these businesses and still have very low COVID numbers, low hospitalizations, everybody can be safe and we can still be open. We need to prove a point in that respect and the county is willing to do whatever we have to support those businesses in reopening. A lot of folks in Guadalupe County have been negatively impacted for a long time financially. So, we want to support them getting back to being open. Just everybody has to be personally responsible, be safe, follow the guidelines and if you need something from the county, we are always here,” said Kutscher.

Although Kutscher submitted his opt-in form to the TABC on Monday, it’s not clear yet as to when the county will get the go ahead from the state. Meanwhile, officials says bar owners are still encouraged to register with the Guadalupe County Emergency Management Office so that when the county does receive confirmation from TABC and (TDEM), then those bar owners can immediately be notified via email. The county emergency management office is 830-303-8856.

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