A recent discussion in Arroyo Grande about administrative citations and the city’s inability to enforce various state and county orders, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, turned into another battle over face coverings and whether they’re helpful in stopping the spread of coronavirus.
At a meeting on July 14, the Arroyo Grande City Council unanimously approved a series of urgency ordinances establishing an administrative citation process in the city for the first time.
Administrative citations are civil enforcement tools that many cities in California—including every other city in SLO County—use to enforce city, county, and state municipal codes. The citations, according to a city staff report, are often used as a last resort to fine individuals who refuse to comply with various orders, but unlike criminal citations, carry no possibility of jail time or a criminal record.
“Criminal citations are also not fun for pretty much anybody,” Director of Community Development Whitney McDonald said at the meeting.
Arroyo Grande has been working to develop and implement such a process for about a year now, McDonald said at the meeting, but recent challenges in enforcing state and county orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic have made the issue a priority.
From a state order requiring everyone to wear face coverings in public spaces where physical distancing isn’t possible, to county orders requiring bars and other businesses to close temporarily at certain times, McDonald said that without an administrative citation process in place, Arroyo Grande has been limited in what it can do to get residents and visitors to comply.
Although administrative citations would be used only as a last resort for those who refuse to comply, she said the threat of fines—set at $100 for the first code violation, $300 for second offense, $500 for all offenses after, and even higher for building code violations—would give Arroyo Grande an important tool in enforcing city, state, and county codes.
But in the same breath, City Council passed another urgency ordinance ensuring that all uncodified city, county, and state orders related to COVID-19 are applicable as “a matter of law” within city limits. That plus the threat of fines led to outrage among a number of Arroyo Grande and SLO County community members who feel that face masks shouldn’t be required.
Several spoke during the July 14 meeting, saying that face masks are actually dangerous and do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many others said the state’s face mask order is unconstitutional, unenforceable, and that it’s out of line for Arroyo Grande to threaten fines.
“Nothing can trump the Constitution of the United States,” one caller said. “… I’m not wearing a mask, I’m never going to wear one.”
It’s not the government’s place to tell people what is and isn’t healthy and then force them to live that way, she said.
Several other community members called in to say just the opposite—that evidence shows masks are effective in hampering the spread of COVID-19, that maintaining public safety is the government’s job, and that face covering requirements are just like basic traffic safety or seat belt laws that are used to protect everyone.
City Council members said that regardless, administrative citations will be a useful tool even after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is not just a mask ordinance, and I think people are overlooking that,” Councilmember Lan George said at the meeting. “… This is so much more than just whether or not you want to wear a mask.” Δ
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2020.
Do these people also refuse to wear seatbelts, shoes, or clothes? Do they refuse to get insurance on their cars? Or even register their vehicles? I thought the idiots were in Florida!
Totally different! Do you want to be forced to wear a mask for life? It’s still not proven to save one life. How can you compare nudity?! Stupid! And why not outlaw cars completely? If we were to take your argument seriously we’d all be walking! Cigarettes are proven dangerous but you can still smoke!
I can get on board with this, safety is paramount. In fact, given the recent Paso active shooter, the riots, the Avila fire, tyranny and overall fear and panic, we should hand out citations to anybody not protecting ones self and others by carrying a gun.
If you can’t be safe and carry, citation. Remember your safety is my responsibility and me carrying a gun protects you! Never thought that Logic class in college would ever pay off.
I am having a serious problem with everyone – everyone – being behind a mask.
I saw my MD for an explanation of the results of an MRI yesterday. I could only hear a third of what she said. I am noticing it is difficult to understand me with the face shield I wear as well.
Fortunately, I am a retired RN and can read a medical report for myself.
Still without paperwork which I have to find on my ‘Portal’, I am not sure what has been done for me regarding the results of the MRI.
This is crazy.
If the MD and I are negative and free of symptoms, why can’t we talk without a mask?
Would we then have to sit 6 ft apart and shout?
Will we need to text to have a conversation?
I am ready for a rebellion. I’ll wear my shield but I – and I hope you – will speak out for allowing my MD and select others to speak to us without a mask.
Of course what the city proposes will not solve this problem but it is another indication that we are not permitted to make decisions for ourselves. No, we need the city fathers to protect us from ourselves.
For instance, if every employee is masked and behind a barrier, why can’t I not be? They can’t breathe on me, can they? They can’t breathe the air I have polluted. What if neither one of us is infected at all?
Let us decide for ourselves! Please! Don’t join in on the ever growing role of gov’t over our lives.
You, City Council members, may regret this one day when you don’t obey some new rule.
Gov’t bodies are not alway correct. They makes mistakes as do the courts and once a law is passed, it is rarely repelled. We are stuck with it, ofter forever with the courts blessing.
No! While i am an agreeance with madk wearindg durring the pandemic,a law would make it for life. Thiscis going too far!