MAYOR STRIKES ENFORCEMENT ITEM
ALTUS – Mayor Jack Smiley released a set of COVID-19-related emergency orders on Nov. 25.
According to Segment 3.01 under Face Coverings, the executive order stated that “face coverings must be worn in all indoor public places within the Altus city limits and all city facilities.” The next line, which was highlighted, read “businesses are required to enforce this mandate and report any citizen who refuses to comply.”
That last sentence had not been part of any previous emergency orders Altus had put out during the pandemic. It appeared as though city officials were enforcing of city and statewide mandates for public areas.
However, a week later, a new set of amended emergency orders were released, adding new restrictions. But one phrase was not included in the new emergency order: “businesses are required to enforce this mandate and report any citizen who refuses to comply.”
According to Tyler Clinton Mott, communications and special projects coordinator, Mayor Smiley decided to eliminate the last line.
“After a conversation with the Altus City Attorney, he acknowledged that the mayor wanted to remove the language mandating that businesses report non-compliance with the mask mandate and other aspects of his emergency orders in order to clarify and simplify the orders,” said Mott.
There was no public discussion of the removal of the item at the Dec. 1 City Council meeting.
However, according to officials, the reason for removing the line had to do with the city’s ability to enforce it and removing the language solidified the legal ground of the emergency orders.
According to Mott, Altus is still encouraging its business owners to be diligent in enforcing the city’s mask mandate.
“The city still welcomes these reports from businesses and reserves the right to reinstitute this requirement in the future, if necessary,” Mott said. “But for now, we feel that we can achieve the same desired results using alternative methods.”
Another change to the emergency order include limiting all sporting events inside the city limits. The City mandated that sporting events be restricted to 50 people or fewer. That figure includes athletes, coaches, staff and spectators.