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As visitors return to Nashville and Brown County, local leaders are hoping they’ll exercise caution and courtesy — but they won’t be mandated to do so.

Last week, the Nashville Town Council opted to not institute a mask-wearing requirement or extend any local closure beyond what Gov. Eric Holcomb laid out in his Back On Track Indiana plan.

After soliciting public input on a possible face covering ordinance — and receiving a lot of it — town council President Jane Gore announced at the start of the May 5 meeting that the town had adopted a series of “recommendations and guidelines” as this community and the country continue to deal with the coronavirus.

Those included:

• following the governor’s Back On Track Indiana plan, which allows retail businesses to open to in-store customers at 50 percent capacity as soon as May 4, and restaurants at 50 percent capacity as soon as May 11;
• affirming and supporting the Brown County Chamber of Commerce’s recommendations and guidelines for the reopening of businesses, which include information on sanitization, product sampling, social distancing, signage and other details;
• recommending that all residents, workers and visitors wear face coverings while visiting public places in Nashville;
• allowing businesses to open on a timetable that’s at their owners’ discretion;
• encouraging all residents, business owners and their staff and visitors to follow the CDC guidelines for social distancing; and
• “if the individual’s situation allows, the town council encourages all residents to continue to follow all previous stay-at-home guidelines.”

The virtual meeting room met its capacity — at 100 participants — with not everyone who wished being able to sit in on the call.

Many of the participants were downtown business owners. The Brown County Chamber of Commerce and Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau also weighed in; the chamber, with the aid of the Brown County Community Foundation, had surveyed business owners on how they felt about the proposed mask ordinance in particular.

Out of 166 respondents affiliated with local businesses, 56.6 percent said they did not support the ordinance as written. Among the concerns was how it was going to be enforced, said BCCF CEO Maddison Miller.

The chamber also asked about how local businesses were staying afloat, and 64.5 percent of respondents answered that they were not able to access any capital through any opportunities that had been made available, like the federal CARES act. Businesses need to open soon in order to stay alive.

The town will continue to work hand in hand with the chamber and the CVB to take measures to help keep guests safe, like putting up signs reminding them about social distancing and the other guidelines, Gore said.

No business has to open right away if it doesn’t feel that it’s ready, she added.

Hob Nob Corner restaurant owners Warren and Betsy Cole said that as much as they’d like to fully open ASAP, they don’t know that the community as a whole is ready to do that yet. They’ve been offering carry-out for weeks.

Jim Rispoli, owner of the Carmel Corn Cottage, said he’d been taking measures for awhile now to help guests feel safer, like gathering orders for customers and serving only one family at a time. “We are aware, and we care,” he said.

“We need this town opened up again,” Rispoli said. “It will be boarded-up antique stores if we close, because people want to come out, and these stores are hurting. I got my two (assistance) checks, so I’m not doing so bad, but I know other stores haven’t. There’s problems out there.”

Matt Gray, owner of the Iris Garden Cottages and Suites and Copperhead Creek Gem Mine, thanked the council “for listening to the town.”

“I’ve said this I don’t know how many times: With tourism being not our main industry, but our only industry, it’s just vital that we have the option to move on. … Every business owner I’ve talked to is looking at this and saying … we are wading knee-deep in a situation that’s scary, but there’s also another scary side of it, which is the financial load, or lack thereof.

“Please know, I think everybody is going to try to protect ourselves and others … and there’s nice ways” to remind people to do that, Gray said.

He said he’d like to see a little more guidance from town officials on gently policing the number of people gathering in groups, for the protection of everyone.

Town council member Nancy Crocker said the council is working on a plan with local officers.

County perspective

The Brown County Commissioners — the elected officials in charge of the parts of Brown County that aren’t Nashville — have not added any rules that are different than the governor’s either. Commissioner Diana Biddle said last week that the governor’s staged reopening plan for the state was already pretty complex, and she thought that adding more layers would be confusing.

Also, she said she thought it was time for people to be personally responsible to take steps to reduce their exposure. “The virus is never going to be gone,” she added.

Susan Armstrong, director of the Brown County Emergency Management Agency, said that face coverings are recommended and groups of 25 are still prohibited at this time.

“The safe reopening of businesses and restaurants is the goal for all of us, as we continue to navigate the new norm the COVID-19 virus has forced us in to,” she said.

“We absolutely support the decision of businesses and restaurants that want to reopen following the phase two guidelines. We also support those businesses that wish to remain closed or provide only carry-out or curbside service.”

Other local voices

As of May 5, Brown County’s total, confirmed positive cases of the virus stood at 21 — up from 15 a week earlier. Testing has recently expanded, allowing more cases to be found.

But some locals also have raised concern that tourism heightens our exposure to the virus. No information is released publicly, though, about “contact tracing” for people who test positive because of patient privacy, so it’s unclear where the virus is being picked up and transmitted.

Gore heard from many town and county residents in addition to business owners about the town’s reopening. She said she had read and responded to every email, and that people were still welcome to send in comments.

Before the meeting, resident Patricia Krahnke had distributed a survey through the Facebook page Self Isolate Our Brown County. About 200 people answered the questions. It showed results almost opposite to those from the chamber of commerce’s survey.

When asked if the town and county should adopt a face mask-wearing ordinance, 61.5 percent said “yes.”

When asked if the town should be kept closed until epidemiologists or health care workers/officials felt it was safe to welcome visitors from all over, 60.2 percent said “yes,” 35.3 percent said “no,” and the rest answered something else, like suggesting there could be a middle ground.

Of survey respondents, 196 identified themselves as either Nashville or Brown County residents, and 72 said they owned a local business or shop. Seventeen said they were frequent visitors. People could mark as many affiliations as they wished.

The survey also asked “if the town and county remain unwilling or unable to protect our safety, are you willing to be a member of a Community Monitoring Team to take photos of out-of-county/state license plates, take photos of social distancing failures, and monitor the use of masks/gloves use in town and shops on weekends?”

To that question, 15.7 percent said “yes,” 77.7 percent said “no” and the rest answered differently or not at all.

“You are creating a vigilante group to 1. upset tourists while living in a tourist community, 2. pit shop owners against locals or town against county, 3. employees against employers. This is the worst idea ever!!! How will you police your untrained group of people you are unleashing on our town?” one survey participant wrote.

“I live in Brown County, but my plates are registered in Indianapolis. Hopefully, I will not be kicked out or harassed. That said, I am for doing something to manage the flood of irresponsible visitors,” another wrote.

The survey also asked if respondents were “interested in being part of a potential class action lawsuit against anyone who, via contact tracing, is known to have been here on Saturday, May 2, including Governor Eric Holcomb and the State of Indiana, Brown County, or the Town of Nashville, or against any business establishment that was physically open to customers during March/April; that encouraged visitors to come in their shop or stay in their tourist rentals; and actively encouraged people on social media to visit our town and county.”

Gov. Holcomb — and hundreds of other people — visited Brown County last weekend and were photographed without masks. Those photos were circulated around social media. Holcomb later issued an apology and said that he normally is “vigilant” about mask-wearing, but he didn’t grab it from his car when he went into Nashville to pick up his carry-out dinner.

To the lawsuit question, 16.9 percent said “yes,” 72.5 percent said “no” and the rest didn’t respond or typed in other comments.

An attendee at the virtual town council meeting asked if the town had a plan in case residents decided to protest tourists’ return to Nashville.

“I’m really hoping that the locals know that we’re doing the best that we can, and we’re trying to make everyone safe, but we are going by the governor’s mandates, and we’re trying to really encourage everybody to wear masks … don’t touch things. I’m hoping that we don’t have that problem to worry about,” Crocker said.

Passing the word

According to the state’s guidelines, by May 11, all businesses are supposed to post signage about health policies and practices in common areas for employees and customers to see.

A couple of town council meeting attendees asked some questions about the mask-wearing recommendations that the governor and the town are supporting, like whether they have to be worn in a restaurant.

Gore said it’s recommended that people wear a face covering when they’re up moving around, but not when they’re sitting down and eating.

“And these are recommendations. We want you to wear a mask, but we can’t force you to wear a mask, and obviously not when you’re eating a meal,” Crocker said.

The Brown County Visitors Center is working on stocking face coverings in the center that are “a little more Brown County style” and could double as a souvenir, for those who may not come here with a mask or bandana.

Jane Ellis, executive director of the Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau, encouraged local merchants to decorate their own masks and post them to social media to “subliminally tell people that we’re wearing masks and we want you to wear a mask, too.”