UPDATE: THE STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE MEETING, AS WELL AS THE FINAL COPY OF THE RESOLUTION.
By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
During a special Wednesday afternoon meeting, the Saline County Commission voted 3-2 to reverse its decision of nearly a week ago and approved a resolution requiring the wearing of face masks or other coverings to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
The resolution, which can be seen below, will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday for the entire county.
County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes provided a review of the resolution then under consideration and spoke a bit about Saline County's history in dealing with COVID-19.
"We have been at this since March. Saline County has been in a declared disaster since March 27," Smith-Hanes said.
Smith-Hanes noted that the commission, during its Tuesday meeting, the commission "expressed a desire for uniformity between the city and the county and willingness to meet in a special meeting once a copy of the city ordinance was received."
The copy of the city ordinance was received on Tuesday after the county commission meeting, and according to Smith-Hanes, County Counselor Mike Montoya spent the evening writing a draft of a county resolution that paralleled the city ordinance.
Smith-Hanes noted that the requirements in the county draft paralleled the requirements in the city ordinance. Those requirements can be seen below.
Commission Chair Robert Vidricksen clarified the difference between the county and city documents. He noted that while the city ordinance could not go into effect until it was published in the county newspaper of record, the county, because of state statute, uses resolutions that are not required to be published before they can go into effect.
Vidricksen then opened the meeting to public comment. A number of persons on both sides of the mask issue got up and spoke.
Ben Pruitt, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for a city commission seat last fall, voiced his displeasure with the proposed resolution.
"I'm not a child. I'm an adult. We elected all of you to do us a job and not dictate what we need to do. You look around. You watch the media. They say this. They say that. Make your decision. The facts are there. Do the research, but don't forget who put you all in office. And if you seek to re-elect, to get re-election, its probably not going to be very good if you vote to pass this. We're not children. We're adults. Thank you," Pruitt said.
Later in the meeting Commissioner Jim Weese, responded to Pruitt's comment when he said, "As far as comments, the gentleman was right. Every year, either a city or county commissioner is up for re-election, and it is the ability then to change your board if a decision comes down that you don't like, and I am good with that."
LaNay Meier thanked the commissioners for considering the resolution and noted that the issue is not a political one.
"I want to emphasize that this is not a political matter in my opinion. I just want to say that I am so grateful that you are here reconsidering this and, of course, I hope that you will pass this ordinance," Meier said. "It takes a lot of wisdom and compassion and caring for our citizens, and working with the city is just a no-brainer. That was an excellent thought and it's just a terrific idea. I want to say that I do hope you will pass it, of course. It's the best thing we can do for our county, city, because in the big, big picture, we're all in this together and we need to care about one another and keep politics out of it."
Melissa Hendricks "strongly encouraged" the the commission to uphold its original decision to not mandate masks.
"From the beginning of the COVID season in March, the governor and you guys told us that the goal was to flatten the curve. We did that. To my knowledge, our hospital was not overrun by COVID cases, and neither were many hospitals throughout the state of Kansas. We began lifting restrictions over two months ago in May, and at that time, neither our governor, our city, nor our county thought it was necessary to mandate masks. From the beginning, we knew that we would see an increase in cases as restrictions were lifted. Our city allowed various sporting events to take place, which brought people here from all over the state. Do you not see the hypocracy in that? Why is anyone in this room surprised or shocked by the fact that that the number of cases have gone up?" Hendricks said.
"I've been told over and over again that if we all just wear a mask, the virus will go away. Kids can go back to school. When did eradication become the goal? To sit here and mandate masks two months after the onset of lifting the restrictions is like deciding to put a condom on after your wife is already pregnant. It's a naive way of thinking," Hendricks continued. "The fact is more and more people are recovering from this virus. My family and I do not have underlying health conditions or elderly, at-risk people to worry about. My husband has worked on the front lines for a critical infrastructure business this whole time. He has been in and out of hot-spot cities, countless homes and businesses, and all without a mask. He has not gotten sick and if he has, his immune system has fought it off and that is what it's supposed to do. I recognize and sympathize with those families that have underlying health issues or elderly, at-risk individuals. Those people should be taking precautions to keep themselves safe from this virus, just like they would with influenza or any other illness. Individuals should be given the right to choose what is right for themselves and their families when it comes to wearing masks."
Commissioner Monte Shadwick said he believed it was important that if the commission passed the resolution, that it include a provision to review the resolution on July 28 and then every two weeks after.
"I think that businesses out there need some certainty. There will be businesses that decide not to open through this, and I think that they need to make decisions on when possibly it could happen. If it's when a vaccine becomes available, that could be next year," Shadwick said.
Shadwick's request was later incorporated into the resolution.
Commissioner Roger Sparks said that while he agreed with the resolution, he believed the issue was one of personal responsibility. Sparks questioned whether people exempted under the resolution, such as those "with a medical condition, mental health condition, or disability" needed to have a doctor's letter.
"And what happens if a business does not like them? You know. What happens?" Sparks asked.
Sparks also raised a question about the definition in the resolution that masks could be improvised "from household items such as scarfs, bandanas, t-shirts, sweatshirts, or towels."
"Have these products all been verifed by medical or scientific professionals? We have face masks being sold out there that say right on them 'will not stop COVID-19.' My whole thing comes to is it really a perception of safety or is this a psychological manipulation?" Sparks said.
Commissioner Mike White expressed concern that if the county enacted the resolution, it would prevent the other encorporated cities in the county from enacting their own ordinances concerning mask wearing. It was later pointed out that the cities would be able to pass their own ordinances, regardless of what Saline County passed.
Weese then asked Montoya whether the county resolution, if passed, would affect the City of Salina's ordinance. Montoya replied, "No."
"If this resolution would pass, would it negate the ability of the City of Assaria to pass an ordinance of lesser degree?" Weese asked.
Montoya replied, that if a city is incorporated, its officials would be able to pass an ordinance pertaining to the city.
Weese then asked Tiller whether the curve in the county had been flattened.
"It has been. We are starting to see an increase in the hospitalizations at Salina Regional," Tiller said.
Weese noted that there has been a lot of confusing information put forth concerning the CDC. He asked Tiller what the CDC currently was saying about the wearing of face masks.
"The CDC still recommends the wearing of masks," Tiller said, and then provided information about a number of CDC articles that discussed mask use.
Weese said that if the resolution is accepted, "the best would be lives might be saved and we might be able to keep our community open and not have to go back to a shutdown and such."
Vidricksen thanked all who attended the meeting and showed an interest in the topic.
"I agree with whoever said if everybody would just do their part and would social distance or whatever it takes to keep themselves and anyone else safe, if we would all do that, but it appears to me that we're not doing that. And that's why we're in the situation we're in," Vidricksen said. "It was a prudent thing to do, I think, to come in and revisit this, and to give us time. The governor gave us no time what so ever for us to come up with a resolution on last Thursday or to be able to react. I understand why my fellow commissioners voted the way they did with the enforcement thing. I understand their comments today. I agreed with almost everything that's been said in here today other than do we wear 'em or don't we wear 'em, because, you know, there has to be a line in the sand there for me."
Vidricksen then discussed the difference between the city and the county.
"The city does not have a health officer. The county does have a health officer, and I'm going to take some direction from a health officer. I've had, oh probably 25 physicians call me or email me and suggest that I do one thing or another, and I can tell you, the vote was 24 to one to wear the mask. My vote will go in favor of the health department and their suggestion," he said.
Vidricksen then asked the commissioners whether they had any additional comments.
"Well I would just like to say, as somebody that voted against it on Thursday, the fact is 85 percent of the county is going to be under this tomorrow whether we accept this or not," Shadwick responded. "My concerns yesterday were, I think there needs to be a level playing field between people within the city and in the rural areas and I think that there needed to be some consistency. I still don't like the governor's one that she mandated to us the other day. I think the city's is a little more thoughtful. So I'm going to be somebody that's in the unique position, that probably my business is now going to be boycotted by both groups."
Shadwick then moved that the commission adopt the resolution with and amendment in Section 6 that the commission would review the issue on July 28 and then every other Tuesday after that. Weese seconded the motion.
The commission's vote was 3-2 in favor of adopting the resolution, with Sparks and White voting against the motion.
A copy of the resolution appears below.
