County lifts mask, COVID restrictions

Posted on May 21, 2021

In light of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order rescinding local COVID-19 emergency orders, the Taylor County Commission agreed this week to fully re-open its facilities and end its mask requirements for those entering county offices.

Instead, county officials are recommending the public follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding who should wear masks and those who can go without.

In a related move, the commission voted to discontinue livestreaming its meetings via Facebook, but the county will continue to offer a conference phone line, allowing the public to provide comments on issues without being physically present at meetings.

At its Tuesday, May 18, meeting, the commission listened to an update on the county’s COVID-19 situation from by Martine Young and Interim Director Tonya Hobby with the Florida Department of Health in Taylor County (DOH-Taylor).

When the discussion turned to the governor’s executive order, County Attorney Conrad Bishop said it is his opinion that the commission’s mask requirements for entering county offices have been pre-empted by the order.

“I don’t know that you can require people to wear a mask in the building,” he said. “[The executive order] also eliminates and suspends emergency orders or ordinances that impose restrictions on businesses or individuals due to COVID-19.

“That’s how I understood the executive order that the governor sent us last week,” Bishop said. “It was a little bit confusing, but I think if you just study it, I think I’m right.”

“If somebody came in here and said, ‘I’m not wearing a mask,’ I don’t think you have the right to say, ‘You’ve got to.’ It’s a good idea, of course, to wear them, but that’s how I understood the governor’s executive order,” Bishop said.

“If you want to wear one, fine, but I don’t think we can force them,” Commissioner Jamie English said.

“I think we should suspend what we have in place,” Commissioner Pam Feagle said.

“For clarification, we actually have a couple of questions,” County Administrator LaWanda Pemberton said. “Do you wish for the local state of emergency to expire? We’ve been renewing that every week for the last 14 months. The second question would be: do you wish to resume somewhat normal operations, which would be our summer programs at the library, full capacity in our buildings and then setting aside our screenings we have in place and return to where we were pre-COVID?”

“Doesn’t that order basically require that?” Commissioner Michael Newman asked.

“Yes,” Bishop said.

Newman made a motion to approve all of the changes listed by Pemberton. Feagle seconded, and the measure passed unanimously.

The discussion then moved to the commission’s meetings, which since the beginning of COVID have included a conference line to allow the public to comment without being physically present, as well as livestreaming on Facebook.

“Do you wish to suspend any of those functions, or do you wish to continue the conference call?” Pemberton said.

“What does it mean to staff if we continue, because it seems like the feedback that I’ve had is people seem to like that,” Feagle asked. “If they can’t come, they have the opportunity to see what’s going on in local government.”

“The Facebook live is fairly easy,” Pemberton said. “Now, I do need to have a person dedicated to that just to make sure if we were to lose the feed. It takes two people to run Facebook and have the conference call.”

Several commissioners shared they had received negative feedback about the audio quality of the Facebook feed, but all expressed an interest in continuing the conference call to allow the public a chance to comment during meetings.

Pemberton said county staff could continue to film the meetings and post the videos online after the conclusion of the meeting without livestreaming them via Facebook.

During the discussion, Feagle was the only commissioner to express a preference to maintain the livestream in addition to the conference call.

Newman made a motion to end the livestream (but continue posting videos of the meetings after the fact) while maintaining the conference call for future meetings. English offered a second, and the measure passed 4-1, with Feagle voting against.

Feagle said she supported continuing the conference call, but wanted to also continue the livestream.

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