Can county force mask-defiant Blue Springs cafe to close? Judge will rule this week
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Rae’s Cafe vs mask mandate
Jackson County Health Department officials have issued an order to close a Blue Springs cafe that has been ignoring the county’s mask requirement. The owner of the restaurant has said she will not follow the rule.
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Attorneys for Jackson County argued Wednesday morning that they should be able to force Rae’s Cafe in Blue Springs to close for failing to comply to the county’s mask mandate.
Meanwhile, the attorney for the cafe and its owner, Amanda Wohletz, argued the mandate is unlawful, saying the case is not about masks, the mandate or COVID-19 rather it’s about separation of powers.
The arguments came during a hearing Wednesday at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence. Jackson County Judge Jennifer Phillips said she will issue a ruling in the case by 5 p.m. Thursday.
“This is not been about politics for the county,” said Marshanna Smith, public information officer for the Jackson County Executive’s Office. “This has always been about protecting public health of the residents of Jackson County and that’s why over the course of the pandemic we have instituted these health orders to ensure that we can keep our residents health and safe from the devastating effects of COVID-19.”
The dispute centers around Jackson County’s current mask order that was reinstated in early August as the highly-contagious delta variant drove up cases and hospitalizations.
In the following weeks, inspectors were sent to Rae’s Cafe after receiving complaints that it was disregarding the mandate. A warning was issued on Aug. 18. Citations were issued on Aug. 27 and 28. The cafe’s food permit was then revoked on Sept. 3.
Earlier this month, Jackson County officials sought a court order allowing it to permanently close the cafe, which is located in a strip center along Missouri 7 highway. Officials accused the cafe and Wohletz of “endangering the health, safety, and welfare of the community.”
Rae’s Cafe and Wohletz are openly and directly failing to comply with the order aimed to curb the spread of COVID-19 through the community, the lawsuit alleges. Without court intervention, the cafe will continue to operate with flagrant disregard for the rules, county leaders contend.
Deborah Sees, director of Jackson County Environmental Health, testified at the hearing that prior to the recent actions she had a good working relationship with Rae’s Cafe and that under the previous health order the restaurant had complied with the mandate.
Sees testified that Wohletz initially told her that the reasons they weren’t complying were because the kitchen was too hot, it was too inconvenient and she would lose customers. The first time the medical exemption came up was when the food permit was revoked, Sees said.
That caused some confusion, Sees testified, because under the previous health order they complied and wore masks.
Wohletz contends that Rae’s Cafe stopped operating on Sept. 3 and she converted it to a private members-only club, which is exempt from the health order.
But attorneys for the county argued that is not a valid claim, saying what the restaurant is doing is similar to a bar charging a cover charge to enter.
John Reeves, attorney for Rae’s Cafe and Wohletz, argued that because the health order doesn’t define what private club is, Rae’s Cafe should be considered one and therefore exempt from the mask mandate.
Marty Bax, an attorney for Jackson County Health Director Bridget Shaffer, said that mask mandate is a lawful order that was passed in the public’s interest.
“This case is important,” he said. “Others are watching. If the court were to say no need to follow this, the impact that could have down stream is tremendous. We have to protect the citizens of the county.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 11:24 AM.
