After nearly an hour of questioning the attorney and majority owner of The Signal, the Chattanooga Beer Board voted 6-3 in favor of including a letter of reprimand in the file of the venue on Chestnut Street for a beer code violation that occurred in late April.
At issue was whether the privately owned venue violated the city's beer code by prohibiting two Hamilton County sheriff's deputies who were working as school resource officers while armed at a Hamilton County high school prom from entering the venue.
Much of the debate centered on whether the officers were being denied entry into the space or whether they were asked not to "post up," or remain inside while armed.
Both attorney Ginna Burrell and owner Josh Billue said The Signal welcomes Chattanooga police officers and Hamilton County sheriff's deputies into the space at any time, and that he fully understands and supports the law allowing police into the business at any time, but that the business's insurance company has strict policies on who can work as an armed security guard for events and where they can be stationed.
Billue also said the city and county prohibit their officers from working while off duty as security for private venues that serve alcohol.
"We would love to hire them," Billue said, adding that because of the policy, he often hires off-duty officers from Coffee County.
And, while the beer taps were unplugged and the alcohol was under lock and key for the high school event, the rules are the same, they said.
Burrell said as a privately owned venue, The Signal operates in some ways like a publicly owned space like The Tivoli, but in other cases like a bar or restaurant, and in some ways like neither. City and county police can work as armed security inside at the Tivoli, which sells alcohol at events, for example, but not at bars and restaurants, Billue said.
In the police report filed after the incident in April, it was reported that the manager on duty approached the two officers who had gone inside to get some water. They told him they were there as school resour e officers providing security for the prom.
The manager reportedly told them guns were not allowed inside the venue. The report said the officers then said they would go outside to which the manager said that they couldn't be armed anywhere on the property. The manager on Thursday told the Beer Board he must have been misunderstood because that would go against company policy, and that armed security guards, including Chattanooga police personnel, routinely post up outside the venue.
Billue said armed officers and other security personnel are vetted by the venue's insurance company, which also handles events for NASCAR and other large properties and events, to work as armed security for the venue's events, and they are asked to "post up" outside of The Signal. In fact, he said, an armed off-duty Chattanooga police officer was posted outside of The Signal the following night for a Baylor School prom.
Billue said he didn't hear of the incident until Monday, but once he did, he said he met with Hamilton County Chief Deputy Austin Garrett and had a lengthy conversation on how to prevent such a misunderstanding in the future.
"This was a misunderstanding," Burrell said.
She and Billue said the situation was a new one for the 4-year-old venue and that more questions should have been asked when the event was booked, not at 6:45 on a busy Friday night.
"We should have asked more questions," Burrell said. "We didn't fully understand the role of an SRO, and didn't know to ask more questions. We do now."
She said The Signal's management going forward will ask more questions earlier in the process and will work with everyone to make sure everyone is on the same page and that all policies are followed and understood.
Monica Kinsey made the proposal for the letter of reprimand on the grounds that The Signal had made the proper steps to rectify the situation and prevent it from happening again.
In other business, the board approved special event applications for Hoptown Beer Bar in Cambridge Square, a Saturday Night Fights boxing event at Montague Park on 23rd Street on June 11 and the return of Pops on the River at Coolidge Park on July 2.
It also approved applications to sell beer at the new Weigel's Store at 5873 Highway 153, TailGate Brewery at 1464 Market St., Real Good Smokehouse at 221 Market St. and for Ruby Falls to sell beer for the first time in its newly renovated cafe space.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Follow him on Twitter @BarryJC.