Mask ordinance may be added to board agenda

A motion adding a mask ordinance to the agenda of tonight’s Hot Springs Board of Directors business meeting is expected to be made, City Attorney Brian Albright said.

Tonight’s agenda already included a resolution encouraging the use of face coverings, but Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued an executive order last week allowing cities to adopt ordinances enforcing the use of face coverings in accordance with public health guidelines.

Per city code, action items not included in the prepared agenda the board agrees on during the week before business meetings can be added if five of seven directors approve a motion to consider the new item. The board will convene at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 133 Convention Blvd.

“They can essentially make a decision about whether

or not they want to go with the resolution of support that’s already on the agenda or the ordinance that the governor mentioned last week,” Albright said. “They’ll need to add (the ordinance) in order to discuss it and decide what direction they need to go.”

The resolution encouraging the use of face coverings would be moot if the board adopted the ordinance, Albright said.

Hutchinson has resisted calls for a statewide mask directive and admonished local governments not to enshrine one in their local codes. Last week he gave localities the option of mandating face coverings in their jurisdictions, provided they consult with his office and the Arkansas Department of Health.

The model ordinance he asked the Arkansas Municipal League to draft authorizes local law enforcement to act in a support capacity for businesses that want to enforce the use of face coverings on their premises. Law enforcement may tell people who don’t comply to leave the premises, according to the ordinance.

Local mask mandates would be in accordance with guidance the Health Department issued last month on the use of face coverings.

“Consistency is incredibly important, and that is why this model ordinance says that the city is going to require the usage of masks in accordance with the guidelines of the Department of Health,” Municipal League General Counsel John Wilkerson said in a news release the governor’s office issued Friday.

City clerks and recorders would be required to mail copies of the ordinance to all businesses in the city. Cities could enforce the local mandates for the duration of the public health emergency Hutchinson declared in March.