Officials pledge help as Hastings restaurant targeted, fined

By John McLoone

The Hastings Chamber of Commerce Small Business Calls are a unique opportunity for business leaders to connect with elected officials.

Typically, officials report on community, county, state and national affairs. On Friday, they were sent away with a mission of helping Hastings businesses, notably restaurants and bars.

The nearly hourlong virtual meeting kicked off with some reports to constituents and community leaders and then transitioned into what was described as an overly punitive attack on a prominent Hastings business under the guise of mask inspections from state and federal agencies.

Several of the elected officials were in and out of meetings throughout the business call, but their attention was glued to the retelling of the reported interaction between an Occupational Safety and Health Administration employee and The Busted Nut Saloon in a surprise Saturday inspection that led to thousands of dollars in fines, largely because the official reportedly didn’t approve of the type of Personal Protective Equipment a bartender was wearing.

Chamber President Kristy Barse hosted the session and asked elected officials to keep their comments somewhat brief because of a big local issue she wanted discussed.

Morris Allen, Congressional Rep. Angie Craig’s, Community Liaison kicked off the meeting as he commuted to his office. He introduced a new office intern and promised to “good modeling” by keeping his remarks brief.

State Sen. Karla Bigham then talked about some state issues, related to Gov. Tim Walz and a special session of the legislature scheduled for the day. She said she expected another member of the Walz cabinet to be voted out of a job by Republicans on the day. That came to fruition. Gov. Walz extended his emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic one more month, and Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley became the second cabinet member ousted in as many months.

State Rep. Tony Jurgens was on the call on his commute to the Capital. He was called to the “virtual table” a couple times before responding.

See CHAMBER page 5

City Administrator Dan Wietecha made his feelings about the Packer-Viking rivalry known during the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Call Friday.

From Page 1

“I am on,” he finally said. “I just had to pull over so I could unmute my phone.”

He didn’t expect much from the special session.

“I’ve had naps that lasted longer than the last special session. It was four hours and it was done. It will be shorter today,” he said.

He introduced what would later become the topic of the day.

“Locally, the biggest issue I’ve been dealing with the last couple weeks is the increased scrutiny of businesses from the Department of Public Safety, Department of Health and OSHA going around to bars and restaurants and checking with compliance. They go in and then send OSHA in to visit, and businesses are seeing fines in the thousands and thousands of dollars,” he said.

Many businesses have suffered through the pandemic, but none are likely as hard-hit as bars, restaurants and tourism- related businesses that rely heavily on doing a huge percentage of their annual business in those few months of beautiful summer weather.

Those businesses have seen extra regulations and have been allowed only to open with restricted capacity and rely on outside seating.

“It’s punitive. They’re kicking businesses when they’re down,” he said. “These businesses are trying to do the right thing and then have OSHA come in. They’re looking at anything and everything. It has nothing to do with the mask mandate.”

He said the governor’s office has not been helpful.

“I was disappointed in the response from his office,” said Jurgens. “If businesses are doing something wrong, let’s work with them. Let’s not be punitive. Let’s not be fining thousands of dollars. Businesses are already struggling. Let’s not put them in the position where they’re struggling even more.”

Dakota County Chair of the Board of Commissioners Mike Slavik then talked about the county’s Small Business Relief Grant Program, and he said another round of grants could be opened up. He said that 2,100 small businesses applied for the grants, and 1,382 qualified. Some didn’t qualify because their business owner is not a Dakota County resident or for a variety of other reasons.

“But the biggest reason was the applicant did not live in Dakota County. A couple Hastings businesses were in that mix. They have owners who lived in Prescott, and they applied,” said Slavik.

He said the first $2 million from the grant program is going to help local businesses this week.

“The board is still having further conversations of another round,” said Slavik.

From the Dakota County budget standpoint, he said there’s good news for taxpayers. There will be a zero percent budget levy increase this year.

“Our residents and businesses are struggling now and are continuing to struggle,” said Slavik. He said the county is able to hold the levy down because it hasn’t replaced about 100 employees who have retired or moved on to other positions.

“On the county portion of the tax bill, there will be no tax increase,” he said, noting that 74 percent of tax bills in Dakota County will see the county portion decrease.

That set the table for the big local issue, and Barse invited Busted Nut owner Tatia Nelson to speak.

Nelson said on a recent Saturday during the day she had been at the restaurant and had headed home. She was summoned back because an OSHA employee was there for an inspection, though she was vague on the real reason for her visit.

“She basically said she was there to help the health department,” Nelson said. “She did not conduct her inspection like the health department. I’ve been through 16 inspections. I know what to expect.”

The inspector would not elaborate on who sent her.

“Basically’, she just said, ‘A state agency called on me.’ I asked her numerous times, and I still didn’t get an answer,” said Nelson.

All restaurant employees were wearing PPE of some sort. One had a chin shield on that covers the mouth and nose but isn’t as cumbersome and makes it easier to still breathe.

“I got a $7,000 fine for that,” she said. “She didn’t know if that was allowed to be worn. I’m very frustrated. I finally got out of her that they are coming in undercover and taking photos.”

Another fine was levied because the inspector didn’t understand the chemical system in the dishwashing process.

“All in all, I have almost $8,000 in fines. It’s kicking you when you’re down,” she said, noting that it was followed up with several days of bad weather where people couldn’t utilize outdoor seating.

“I want to know what I’m going to do when I don’t have the outside seating, because we’re only allowed half capacity. It’s getting cold out. It’s going to rain again this weekend. It’s ridiculous,” said Nelson. “I’m not trying to cause any problems. I’m just trying to run my business.”

“This is extremely concerning to me,” said Barse. “They weren’t just looking for things regarding COVID-19.”

The elected officials who all were heading their separate ways had kept their phones on and were tuned into the plight of Nelson and other restaurants and bars.

Several other local restaurants reportedly had Department of Health visits recently also.

“This is very concerning especially because of Rep. Jurgens’ point. The direction from the governor has been to hand out a mask not a ticket, to educate and not fine. That’s clearly not what happened here. When will it be spiraling over into other industries? This is very, very concerning to me. I do hope that our elected officials still on the call heard this. It’s something the chamber is taking extremely seriously,” said Barse.

Bigham said that if the OSHA employee didn’t provide concrete reasons for being there, “That’s unacceptable.”

“I’d be happy to call over to the Department of Health and Department of Public Safety to see if there’s anything that can be done. I’d be happy to meet with businesses that have had similar experiences,” she said.

She did note that her office has received numerous complaints about people not wearing masks in businesses, and she said the mask mandate is here to stay, for a while at least.

“I would anticipate that the mask part is going to stay for a while, to be honest. That’s one of the sure-fire ways to get through this. If people comply and do social distancing, it will work,” said Bigham.

“You have the restaurants that are just trying to do business, and it seems that’s the area where they’re getting in trouble. I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Bigham said.

Jurgens said he already communicated with Public Health.

“They were very unhelpful. The response was once they levy a fine, they can always dispute it,” said Jurgens. “This needs to be escalated beyond that. That’s what I’m working on now. It’s not just one business in Hastings. It’s the fact that this was not the intent of the executive order from what we were told. It was to hand out masks, not fines.”

Barse said that consumer education, not penalizing businesses, is what needs to be done.

“I think that a push toward education that there is a consumer responsibility to keep business opens needs to continue to happen. All of the burden is being placed on business owners’ backs,” she said.

Barse credited the City of Hastings for approving a portion of CARES Act funding to go toward educating consumers, and the chamber is utilizing that funding to put together a “Put a Smile on Your Face, Visit Hastings” campaign.

“I appreciate the feedback we’re getting from the elected officials that are on the call. I hope you continue to work on this. It’s one incident right now, but it could quickly escalate,” Barse said.