St. Charles lifts ban on late-night liquor permits

ST. CHARLES – Bars and restaurants in St. Charles have been given permission to once again be able to operate late at night.

At Monday's St. Charles City Council meeting, aldermen unanimously approved lifting a ban on late-night permits. Depending on what kind of permit they have, establishments can stay open until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.

However, the City Council's action might be short lived as additional restrictions could soon be placed on the region because of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospital admission increases.

In late August, St. Charles Mayor Ray Rogina issued an executive order requiring that establishments with late-night liquor permits close at midnight because of rising COVID-19 positivity rates. The St. Charles City Council ratified the decision at its Sept. 8 meeting.

The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen 10 days of positivity increases – meeting one criteria for stricter mitigation measures – and five days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate increased from 8.4% to 8.5%. Currently, 31% of medical/surgical beds and 44% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, Kane County's rolling seven-day positivity average increased from 10.7% to 10.9%.

The Kane/DuPage region hit the state's fail-safe of 8% positive in its seven-day rolling average for the second day in a row. If the positivity rate stays above 8% on Tuesday, the region will be subject to enhanced mitigations, which have included closing indoor dining and bar service.

Even though Kane County's positivity rate has continued to increase, the city's positivity rate has remained relatively stable. As of Monday, the city's positivity rate was about 4.5%, a decrease from Labor Day weekend, when it was hovering around 6%.

Rogina said the city would abide by the state's order if additional restrictions were placed on the region.

"We will enforce that," he said. "We have taken the position that we will follow the governor's orders."

During a previous City Council meeting, aldermen had voted 7-3 to recommend that city staff draft an ordinance to reinstate late-night liquor permits with the stipulation that patrons would not be able to enter an establishment after midnight. Fourth Ward Alderman Lora Vitek was one of the aldermen who supported such a move.

"Initially, we were seeing data coming out of the health department that they were leaning toward late-night hours being a factor in why numbers were going up," Vitek said. "But in reality, I think we are all doing the best we can and since then, we have seen St. Charles numbers not go up. And there isn't really a definitive correlation...I am in favor of not having a specific ordinance with all these rules and just opening back up. We know it might be counterintuitive because we don't know what's ahead. But it's really up to all of us to do our duty as citizens and wear personal protective equipment and be cautious."