The Story County Board of Health adopted a draft of a countywide mask mandate and voted to send it to the Story County Board of Supervisors for final passage in a virtual meeting Tuesday.

The regulation will be discussed by the Board of Supervisors at its next meeting Oct. 13. This is a revised version of the regulation that has been widely discussed in meetings over the past few months.

“This is basically the same face covering regulation that we put out last time, with the addition that penalties will not go into effect until we get the okay from the governor to do so or the governor takes away her emergency powers,” said John Paschen, chair of the Story County Board of Health.

Much of the discussion during the meeting centered on the legality of the mandate and the penalties included in the draft for those who do not comply.

The final regulation would require all people in Story County to wear a face covering any time when they are in a public setting, such as a store; using public transportation, including taxis and ride-booking services; or outdoors but unable to maintain a 6 foot distance from others.  

After much discussion in previous meetings, a public setting is defined as “any indoor or outdoor area, whether publicly or privately owned, to which the public might have access … but not a place when used exclusively by one or more individuals or a private gathering or other personal purpose.”

Exemptions to the mandate include situations in which a person is alone or only with household members, seated in an establishment while eating or drinking, obtaining a service requiring a temporary removal of the face covering or situations where a person is required by law to remove it. Other exemptions include children under 2 and people with medical or legal reasons. 

Notably, the Board of Health declined to include a provision allowing for a religious exemption. 

“I can’t think of a religious exemption that’s reasonable,” Paschen said. “I’ve watched our own church do this, and they’ve performed all their services and all their duties, albeit with some restrictions, but they’ve been able to do it.”

Once penalties are enforced, violations of the mask mandate would be considered a simple misdemeanor with a first offense punishable by the minimum allowable fine of $65. Second and subsequent violations would incur a fine up to the maximum amount of $625. The regulation also says the mandate would be lifted at the earliest date available determined by the Board of Health using available data.

Mark Speck, vice chair of the Board of Health, objected both to the inclusion of the penalties and the implementation of the broader mandate.

“I thought we couldn’t implement any of this until the governor released us from her proclamation,” Speck said, referring to the assertion by Gov. Kim Reynolds that city and county governments cannot mandate face coverings under her public health emergency proclamation unless she permits them to do so, an action Reynolds has repeatedly refused to take.

Ethan Anderson, assistant county attorney for Story County, agreed that passing a mandate is likely prohibited under the current proclamation by the governor. By approving the mandate and by including penalties, the county is putting itself at risk of being sued.

“The legal consensus in Iowa, at least among the vast majority of attorneys, county attorneys and [attorney generals] is that the authority rests with the governor,” Anderson said. “Until the governor delegates her authority … it’s a question of the amount of risk the county would want to take on.”

The regulation, as written, was largely drawn from the mask mandate passed by Johnson County, as several members of the Board felt mirrored proposals would be a benefit if the mandate does face litigation.

Paschen argued including penalties in the mandate now would be both process-saving and time-saving in the future. Such regulations require three readings by the Board of Supervisors, so by passing the requirement with penalties now, additional time would not have to be spent amending the mandate to add penalties in the future.

“If the governor tomorrow should decide that … [she’s] allowing counties to do their own mask mandate, then the Board of Supervisors has in their back pocket the ability to make penalties,” Paschen said. “These type of things don’t work unless you have penalties behind them.”

The face mask mandate was approved and is to be sent to the Board of Supervisors by a 4-1 vote. Speck was the only member of the Board of Health to vote against approving the proposal, which will be considered before the Board of Supervisors at their next meeting Oct. 13.

The Board also heard an update from Story County Public Health Director Les White on the county’s COVID-19 reporting, quarantine procedures and planning for implementation of a vaccine. White provided current data on coronavirus testing outcomes and updated policy to align with the Iowa Department of Public Health’s updated quarantine guidance. 

Anderson joined the discussion of the pandemic response to reinforce the interpreted legality and enforceability of quarantine mandates, saying it would be permissible to utilize the county sheriff to compel an individual to quarantine if necessary. 

Other topics discussed included a presentation about community mental health training, discussion about proclaiming October 2020 as Watershed Awareness Month and reports by the Public Health Department, the Environmental Health Department and Youth Services. 

Paschen concluded the meeting with a statement to the Board of Supervisors.

“We have given you a mask mandate with appropriate penalty guidelines,” Paschen said. “COVID, though the numbers are declining as they have done in the past, continues to be a threat to Story County, Iowa and our country. Face coverings work to keep this virus from passing from one person to another.”

Agendas, minutes and the full audio of the Board of Health meetings can be found online on the Story County website.