By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina PostThe City of Salina's facemask ordinance will remain in place for now.&nbsp;Commissioners voted 2-2 on an ordinance that would repeal the current city mask ordinance, however, because there was a tie vote, the repealing ordinance was not approved. Commissioners Karl Ryan and Mike Hoppock voted in favor of repealing the ordinance; Commissioner Trent Davis and Mayor Melissa Hodges voted against it.On Tuesday, the Saline County Commission voted to end the county's mask mandate in a week. So while the county mask mandate will end tomorrow, the city's mask ordinance will remain in place for the time being.Only four commissioners were present at today's meeting. Earlier in the meeting Hodges reported that Commissioner Rod Franz was injured in a fall last week and was in Wesley Medical Center in Wichita in stable condition.Commissioners did approve revisiting the mask resolution issue at the May 24 meeting unless Franz is able to return to an earlier meeting. If that is the case, city staff is instructed to add the mask resolution item to the agenda of the first meeting Franz is known to be able to attend.During commission discussion, Hoppock noted that the face mask ordinance was put into effect while he was mayor."I believe that was the correct thing to do at that time," he said. "One of the comments I made was that I was not as concerned about the number of cases as I was about hospitalizations and deaths, and about flattening the curve, which I believe we've done a good job of."Hoppock noted that if the ordinance was rescinded, the commission would not be outlawing masks.&nbsp;"I do agree that each individual and business can set their own policies. As a business owner, I will respect anyone that comes into our office wearing a mask. We will do the same in respect of their wishes," he said.Hoppock also said that he believes a majority of persons at risk have been vaccinated.&nbsp;"I kind of feel like we've got a little bit of mask fatigue going on at this point. I think we made the comment several months ago that we probably had a 95+ percent of the individuals following the mask mandate. I do not feel like we're there now," Hoppock said.&nbsp;"However, whether we rescind the mask mandate or don't, I would hope the public would treat one another with respect, whether you are pro-mask or anti-mask, is what I would ask of the community," Hoppock added."I agree with all of the things Commissioner Hoppock said. He summed it up pretty nicely as far as I'm concerned," Ryan said. "I think the public needs a target and they need an end date to the masking, and I think we need to provide them that at this point."Davis, said he agreed with the need to provide a target and end date. Davis talked about the various locations on the state's quarantine list, including Michigan and a number of states on the East Coast."I'm hoping we don't fall into that false sense of security that comes with wide-open prairie and plenty of space and 'oh, what self-respecting germ would want to come to Kansas? I mean, we're nice people. They're not gonna bother us.' And we found out that wasn't the case," Davis said. "It (COVID-19) liked Kansas just like it liked all the other places."Davis said that when he is able to get rid of his mask he would like to take his full supply of masks and burn them."I don't want to have to go back. Because psychologically,&nbsp; I tell you, it's going to be a lot harder to go back&nbsp; to the mask than it is to keep wearing it," David said.Davis explained that he had a facemask on for more that 12 hours Sunday."I couldn't wait to get to my car, drive home so I could roll my window down and just breathe in deep. But I'm really hesitant or concerned about mixed messages," he said.Davis gave the example of someone coming to town and needing to abide by varying sets of mask rules depending on where they are.Davis said he didn't want to end the mask ordinance too soon, and saw the end of school as a possible target date for rescinding the ordinance."I just see the end of school as a very conveniently approaching target date where maybe as a community we can take a step forward," he said.Hodges said that the primary criteria that is important for her to support rescinding a mask ordinance is that "we have either reached our target goal of 70 percent of adults in Saline County or that we can demonstrate that the vaccine demand has been met.""I think at this time, obviously, we know the percentages aren't there. I still think it is too early to see whether or not we've reached a plateau or that we aren't going to be able to vaccinate any more people, especially when the people who make up Phase 5 have only recently become eligible to receive their vaccinations," Hodges explained.She noted that approximately 75 percent of the emails she has received have been in support of keeping the mask mandate in place.During the meeting, commissioners heard from Saline County Health Department Director Jason Tiller concerning the COVID-19 situation in the county.Tiller told commissioners that the latest COVID-19 numbers for the county were as follows.6,111 total cases5,968 recovered35 active cases108 total deaths with one death reported in the past 30 days42 total cases reported thus far in AprilAdditionally, Tiller told the city commissioners that none of the COVID-19 variants had been reported in Saline County.As of Wednesday, 14,977 Saline County residents -- 28 percent of the total county population -- had received at least one COVID-19 vaccination, he added.READ: <a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/202b0c88-1546-4c7b-870c-715ce81052b6">Saline County: 11 new COVID-19 cases; 5,968 of 6,111 recovered</a>

UPDATE: City mask ordinance to remain in place for now