Mayor Holly Daines has scheduled an Aug. 18 vote by the Logan City Council to extend her controversial citywide mask mandate until Dec. 31.
LOGAN – A citywide mandate making the wearing of face coverings mandatory for Logan City residents and visitors will not take effect until Saturday, but Mayor Holly Daines has already scheduled a vote by the Logan City Council to extend the emergency measure until Dec. 31.
That vote has been set for Aug. 18.
The mayor has informed city council members that City Attorney Kimber Housley has advised that Logan is not required to solicit public comment on the extension of the mask mandate.
In an e-mail message dated Friday, July 31, Daines recommended that no public hearing be scheduled on the mask mandate, but left that decision up to the members of the city council.
While acknowledging that “there are strong feelings on both sides of the mask mandate,” Daines’ message stressed that 80% of e-mails she has received from members of the public are supportive of the mask mandate.
Logan City Councilman Jess Bradfield has indicated that he favors a public hearing on the requested extension, since the mayor provided no opportunity for public discussion of her plan prior to requesting authorization from Gov. Gary Herbert to impose the mask mandate.
“I will fight like hell to represent all Logan residents, not just those on the side (of the mask mandate) that I happen to agree with,” Bradfield said.
“If the mayor or council seek to limit residents’ ability to publicly comment, I will immediately move to strike down the executive order,” he added. “We must allow all sides to have a voice.”
Bradfield explained that he now has reservations about the mask mandate because he feels that Daines misrepresented her intentions when she initially discussed the issue with council members on July 21.
At that time, Daines said that the mask mandate would not be enforced punitively. Under the executive order that Daines signed Thursday, however, individuals can be cited either “administratively or criminally … for repeated or egregious violations.”
That executive order applies to any individual over age five who is medically or psychologically able to tolerate a face covering.
The city ordinance stipulates that a face covering that completely covers the nose and mouth must be worn in “public areas where consistent social distancing of at least six feet is not possible, reasonable or prudent.”
With that order, Logan has joined a handful of other local entities in Utah that have made the wearing of face coverings in public mandatory. Those entities are Salt Lake City and three Utah counties: Grand, Salt Lake and Summit.