By T. Scott Boatright
The Lincoln Parish Library (LPL) Board of Control decided Thursday that it’s time for a little talk about alcohol.
During its June meeting inside the Jack Beard room of the LPL, the Board approved a motion to open discussions with the Lincoln Parish Police Jury to ask the LPPJ to possibly amend one of its ordinances to allow the use of alcoholic beverages at the Library’s Event Center.
Currently, a Police Jury ordinance prohibits the use of alcoholic beverages on LPPJ property.
LPL Board Events Center Committee Chair Bill Jones was not at Wednesday’s meeting, but during a committee meeting last Thursday recommended that the Board proceed in asking the Police Jury to begin discussions over the matter.
“I would recommend that the Board also instruct this committee to prepare the proposed Events Center policy regulating the use of alcoholic beverages in the Events Center and that we have it available to the Jury when we make our request,” Jones said during that committee meeting.
The LPL Board motion approved Wednesday stipulated that the Events Center Committee is instructed to handle those discussions with the Police Jury and to report back to the Board the result of those discussions with the Police Jury; and that before it meets with the appropriate representatives of the Police Jury, the Events Center Committee should develop proposed regulations governing the use of alcoholic beverages at the Events Center and ask the Police Jury and its legal counsel for input and approval of such proposed regulations.
During the committee meeting, Jones said there is no city of Ruston’s ordinance that would prohibit the use of alcoholic beverages in the Events Center and that because the Library Events Center is Jury property, the city should respect the Jury’s right to control whether, and under what circumstances, use of alcoholic beverages can be allowed on Jury property.
“Interestingly enough, the city’s ordinance does not prohibit the use of alcoholic beverages at the Events Center,” Jones said. “Their ordinance only applies to a library building that’s exclusively to be used as a library. So, (the Events Center) is exempt from their ordinance.
“I’ve had good conversations with the city’s attorney, Bill Carter, who has been very helpful, and he says the library and the Events Center are Jury property and the city won’t oppose its general permitting process over Jury property and that the Jury can regulate as it chooses.”
He added that the city of Ruston has not experienced problems with allowing the use of alcoholic beverages in the Civics Center or the Old Fire Station.
“They have developed a good policy that has prevented such problems,” Jones said.
Jones pointed out some key elements of the city’s policy to the LPL Board:
• City police or Sheriff’s Deputies provide security at any event where alcohol is served or sold, with one deputy per 100 people at the current charge of $50 an hour.
• Alcoholic beverages must be served by a licensed Alcoholic Beverage Caterer
• The will be no use of alcoholic beverages outside the facility (in the Event Center’s case a specific room — the actual space rented) and not in the parking lot
Jones said the LPL Board needs to enter into negotiations about an ordinance change because the facility is losing significant potential Events Center revenue because the serving of alcoholic beverages by groups renting out space there is currently not allowed.
“We’ve been through this a lot before with the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) — we know we’re losing significant revenue,” Jones said during last week’s committee meeting. “If we can do this where it doesn’t present a problem to the library, and I think we can, I think we ought to try to do it.”
The LPL Board and the CVB have in the past had talks to consider the two entities teaming to manage the Events Center with a goal of increasing usage to bring in more revenue from rentals.
But the current inability to serve alcohol at such rental events has been a sticking point so far.
“This just opens the door,” Police Juror Milton Melton, who serves on the LPL Board as the LPPJ representative, said of the motion passed Wednesday. “There will be much more discussion about the particulars.”
In other business during Wednesday’s meeting, LPL Director Jeremy Bolom said the library is off to a strong start for summer programming.
“The Summer Reading kickoff was the biggest we’ve had in a long, long time,” Bolom told the Board. “We had 641 people, so it was a really big day. Everyone was super excited.”
