HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners may have extended the city’s mandatory mask ordinance until their first meeting in January, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has other plans.
DeSantis announced Sept. 25 that the state is immediately moving into “Phase 3” of COVID-19 pandemic recovery. The guidelines for that phase include making wearing masks and practicing social distancing voluntarily rather than mandatory. The announcement removed local municipalities’ ability to penalize anyone not wearing a mask when indoors in a public space or when unable to social distance in public, rendering the Holmes Beach mask ordinance unenforceable.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said that city leaders are still recommending the use of masks and facial coverings when unable to social distance and while indoors.
“We will continue to ask and keep it on our signs,” Titsworth said in a message to The Sun.
She added that the governor’s move to enact Phase 3, specifically the removal of mask and social distancing guidelines, will negatively impact Anna Maria Island’s COVID-19 infection numbers, which have so far remained low. The Island has had 55 total reported cases of the novel coronavirus as of Sept. 27, according to the Florida Department of Health.
“This concerns me as I feel the mask and social distancing mandates made people feel comfortable to leave their homes and shop again,” Titsworth said.
The governor’s Phase 3 order not only did away with municipalities’ ability to penalize for not wearing masks, but it also allows businesses – including restaurants, bars, salons, gyms, theme parks, retail stores and others – to return to normal operations at full capacity with no restrictions.
The move to Phase 3 also allows for government meetings to resume in person. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdowns, the city of Holmes Beach has held all of its commission meetings via teleconference. City planning commissioners held their first meeting since March on Sept. 9 in commission chambers with social distancing guidelines implemented during the meeting.
Titsworth said that it will be up to the city commission chair, Commissioner Jim Kihm, to determine when the city commission will return to in-person meetings. Government meetings are currently allowed to be held in Florida by teleconference under the governor’s declared state of emergency. Currently, the state of emergency is scheduled to expire Nov. 3.
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