MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County mask requirements appear to have eased substantially following approval of two motions during Thursday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Citizens are no longer required to wear face cover when in many county buildings, but rules vary for portions of the county workforce.
Results of the separate board votes are murky when you muddle through the special session involving local management of the coronavirus pandemic.
The board first approved a motion to rescind the requirement that non-exempt citizens must wear face cover while attending meetings held in the Board’s auditorium.
After dissenting in that vote, Supervisor Buster Johnson moved that the county lift its broader requirement that employees wear masks when unable to properly social distance in their workplace within county buildings. Johnson said air potentially contaminated by the coronavirus can circulate from the auditorium to the rest of the administration building.
Johnson said it would be inconsistent, and makes no sense, to keep the county buildings requirement in place while lifting the requirement for the auditorium.
Deputy County Attorney Ryan Esplin who noted that Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley had recommended that the mask requirements remain in effect to protect both the workforce and the public. He said the auditorium vote was a compromise affording protection while fostering free speech, but that lifting the county building requirement goes too far.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I just don’t think that’s right,” Esplin said. “The county attorney’s office does not recommend that you pass this motion.”
The motion passed by a 3-2 vote with Supervisors Hildy Angius, Ron Gould and Johnson in the majority, while Board Chairman Jean Bishop and Gary Watson were in the minority.
Despite the global building vote, exceptions may well result in a hodge-podge of confusing inconsistency across the county landscape. Court buildings and jail facilities, and their staff, are exempt from the board vote and mask requirements remain in those domains to protect public health and prevent spread of COVID-19.
Burley asked if she has autonomy and authority as a department head to decide what’s best for those working under her umbrella. The board was silent to her inquiry before county manager Sam Elters weighed in.
“Unless I am directed by the board otherwise, I believe I have the authority to empower department heads to take the proper steps and policies for their department related to the whole discussion of the virus,” Elters said. The result is that County Directors outside the court and jail arena, can impose whatever mask requirements they feel best from building to building and department to department.
Elters noted that 48% of the county workforce, including jail and court personnel, responded to a mask policy survey. Elters said 340 opposed using masks in the workplace, versus 274 workers in favor.
Dave Hawkins
