Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly strongly opposes a mask mandate either enforced by policing or lacking any form of enforcement. His concern is both a matter of constitutionality and enforcement. He made that clear during a meeting with unelected city and county leaders Friday, when that group shot down a proposed order mandating mask-wearing.
But as coronavirus cases surge, and in a surprise move that recognizes the public health urgency of mask protection without turning violators into criminals, Staly is proposing that cities can impose an enforceable mask mandate in public places and private businesses that combines the powers of trespassing with those of code enforcement, without making the non-wearing of masks itself the infraction, and thus steering clear of any constitutional issues.
Staly’s proposal, which he said he would willingly explain before any local government, may provide a pragmatic compromise to cities or the county as they wrestle with what has become a politically divisive issue that often buries public health concerns beneath heaps of more ideologically driven defiance. Three cities’ governments are considering mask mandates this week: Palm Coast on Tuesday, and Bunnell and Flagler Beach on Thursday.
“In my opinion a mask mandate would be overly burdensome to enforce,” Staly said today, referring to the county’s draft order for a mandate, discussed last Friday, “because if you look at the proposal, it had a myriad of legitimate exceptions. In addition of that we’re in a time of great unrest involving policing across America. So then to then make the police an enforcer of a mandatory mask mandate will only exasperate that issue.” Staly also cites the Florida Constitution’s privacy clause, stronger on that score than the federal Constitution, and concerns with costly legal wrangles that could start now and outlast the coronavirus emergency by years.
“What I suggest, if cities or county want to make masks mandatory outside in public area or inside businesses, that they order businesses to post signage and require the wearing of a mask to enter a business,” Staly said, an approach that can be achieved through code enforcement. “The business representative would say: you cannot come in here without a mask, you must leave. If the individual refuses to leave, then you trespass them.” At that point, the sheriff’s office–or city police–can be called in, but to issue a trespass warning, which means the person may not frequent that establishment for a year or more. If the warning is violated, the person may be arrested for trespass violation.
“So it’s not the mask enforcement that we’re handling, it’s now a trespass issue,” Staly said.
But it would also shift some of the burden of enforcement on business owners, who may or may not decide to want to trespass violators. Eric Cooley, who owns the 7-Eleven on State Road A1A in Flagler Beach and a city commissioner there, made the point during that commission’s last meeting on June 25.
“As a business owner, I think the intent is there,” Cooley said, speaking through a mask. “I think that it’s not something we’re going to be able to execute. Even if you want to do it, how is it enforceable? I can tell you with all the influx of visitors we have, I’m just trying to piece this together in my head, what do I do when all of these people are coming through the door every day without masks. I can;t afford to refuse them. I can’t turn all these people away, because it’s massive amounts of people, and I can’t give everybody masks. So I’m just trying to work the practical side of it.” He was reassured when the city attorney described Orange County’s ordinance, which mandates masks but doesn’t require businesses to enforce them. “I was worried about to be the mask enforcer guy, and that’s very scary, that gets ugly,” Cooley said.
But that gets back to the sort of proposal Flagler County Commission Chairman Dave Sullivan proposed and Emergency Management Chief Jonathan Lord drafted.
Last Thursday Sullivan wrote Lord and County Administrator Jerry Cameron, asking for an order mandating masks under the county’s emergency authority, but without fines or punishment for violators. “The time has come and it is urgent that the County make the wearing of face masks mandatory until the current rise of Covid-19 positive cases gets back under control,” Sullivan wrote them. “The current data is clear that the large rise of positive cases nationally is now making its mark in Flagler County. In order to keep the County open as It is I strongly feel mandatory mask wearing will give us a chance to do so. When citizens are inside or cannot social distance outside the masks should must be worn.”
Lord produced the order, and a meeting of the county’s “policy group” was set up for the next day to discuss it. The group periodically gathers county and city executives, emergency, health and law enforcement chiefs during emergencies.
The proposed order calls for mandatory masks indoors for all government facilities or businesses that are open to the public “when not maintaining social distancing,” with 11 exceptions, with no cited penalties for those violating the order, and with plenty of room for interpretation. For instance, no mask wearing would be required if social distancing is respected (though current research and public health officials’ recommendations, even locally, call for mask wearing indoors even when social distancing is respected, because of the way infectious droplets may recirculate through air flows), by anyone eating and drinking, or anyone who may be impaired by a mask “due to an existing health condition.” (See the proposed order below.)
The policy group, which that day included Lord, Cameron, Sheriff Rick Staly, Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney, Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton, Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson and County Attorney Al Hadeed, but not Health Department Chief Bob Snyder, shot it down as a group, with little varying individual dissent. The strongest voices against it were Cameron, Staly and Doughney, who cited the unenforceability of the mandate. Morton, who’s been a mask advocate, did not push back, and Jackson said it was better not to issue an order and let elected officials vote on it. (Morton and his spokesperson did not respond to calls and texts today.)
“We should spend our time and effort on education because trying to enforce that mandatory I think would b e overwhelming for law enforcement,” Doughney said, citing the possibility that people would be flooding the 911 center with calls reporting non-mask-wearers. “So my stance on it is, education is the key, and I think we need to increase our efforts to reward people that are wearing masks instead of mandating them to wear masks.” Rewards include such things as the county tourism bureau’s Pledge to protect campaign, he said, which recognizes businesses that encourage mask-wearing.
In April, Doughney, after initial resistance, was behind the call to mandatorily shut down the beaches, an order that also applied countywide. Not a single person was arrested as a violator, though the beaches were policed, but with education as the primary aim, not punishment. The same approach would not work with masks now, Doughney said. “That was three months ago, and just going through this for the last three months I think people are worn out. It’s wearing on everybody. I don’t think when we started this out three months ago that the public at least in my mind thought that we would go on this long.”
Staly today put it another way: “The difference between those two was the beach was closed, period, whereas this affects a personal privacy.”
Half of Flagler County’s officially reported infections, now verging on 400, have occurred since the June 5 Phase 2 reopening, the local surge reflecting from a distance the colossal surge in cases statewide, where cases now exceed 200,000, with 70 percent of those occurring after the June 5 Phase 2 reopening, and no indication of a slowdown. The surge led numerous counties and cities to impose mask mandates with varying degrees of enforcement, including several cities in Volusia and St. Augustine in St. Johns.
But uniquely among nations battling the coronavirus (with the possible exception of Brazil, where masks are also divisive), the mask issue has become a polarizing marker sharpened by election-year rhetoric, with opponents of mask mandates often ridiculing masks’ efficacy while calling them infringements on their constitutional rights. The science is strongly on the side of mask-wearing as a public health measure that can significantly lower, but not stop, the incidence of infections.
Mayor Milissa Holland said she is bringing a mask-mandate proposal to the Palm Coast City Council at its meeting Tuesday evening. The Bunnell City Commission scheduled a special meeting Thursday at 5:45 p.m. to consider a mask mandate, which is also supported by Mayor Catherine Robinson and Jackson. And the Flagler Beach City Commission will consider its own mandate Thursday evening as well, behind a proposal from Commission Chair Jane Mealy, though Doughney said he will advise against it. There are no current plans by the county to consider a mandate, though Sullivan said he will wait and see how the cities vote and then consider bringing it up at the next County Commission meeting on July 13.
Meanwhile, Cameron, an arch-conservative who sees masks hiding political agendas, issued a misleading “public service announcement” on WNZF in which he was less interested in encouraging mask-wearing than in claiming, without evidence, that there’d been “posts on social media and blogs that are untrue and causing confusion in our community. Flagler County has not instituted mandatory mask wearing. While we strongly encourage voluntary compliance with all safety guidelines, there are no mandatory requirements to mask wearing currently in place.” At no point in the PSA does Cameron actually encourage mask-wearing, as, for example, public service announcements or videos issued by palm Coast do.
Asked to cite examples of the “social media and blogs” claiming there was such a mandate, Cameron did not respond. (Asked the same question, Julie Murphy, the county spokesperson, wrote: “I am unaware of any PSA where Mr. Cameron makes any such claim.”) Cameron at the Friday meeting had alluded derisively to the FlaglerLive article the day before reporting that Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and county leaders were considering mask mandates. It isn’t clear why he felt compelled to discredit ghost reports of a mandate, or himself confuse the issue ahead of a week replete with local governments voting on just such a mandate. He did not respond to a request for an interview.
“My position on the mandate is that it’s becoming fairly standard across the country to emphasize to the people they need to wear their masks,” Sullivan said today, his position unchanged. “At this point I don’t see it as a big deal, and I don’t think it has anything to do with affecting people’s constitutional rights. Maybe somebody can make that case legally, I don’t know, but this is a medical problem not a check on the constitution.”
“The partners turned down the idea of having a mandate,” Sullivan said of the policy group. “I can’t overcome that, because that’s the group that gets together to make decisions about stuff like that.” But he said he’ll consider it at the commissioners’ level. “We may do it next Monday but I think we have time to decide on that. I don’t totally control the format or anything else. I made my case to our county administrator and he brought it forward to the partners and the decision was not to go forward with the mandate, so at this point I’m not sure where that leaves me.” He added: “If Palm Coast goes to mandatory and then Flagler Beach does, I would think it would be strong pressure for the county to do the same thing.”
Jackson, the Bunnell city manager who was on Friday’s call, agreed with Cameron and Staly that enforcement would be impossible. “But I think it does say to a community that I think that this is very important to do, and even if we just get our [community] full of individuals with who will abide by wearing the mask,” Jackson said, “it’ll make all the difference in the world. But no one is fooled, as public managers we like to bring forth public policy that can be enforced, and I think it’s a policy statements the local governments make–wearing a mask is a very important act in preventing the spread bof the virus. No one disagrees with that.”
Jackson said Friday’s rejection of the order Lord was recommending was not necessarily a rejection of the mandate, but a rejection of a mandate pushed through by such an order (though the county has pushed through numerous such orders since the emergency began). “Our position I believe in our discussion was, we were not going to do that as managers, even though we have the authority to sign certain mandates,” Jackson said. “We feel that our elected officials are the one that needed to basically act on this directly. Because there are pros and cons, not about the health and safety, but how people feel about it. Some businesses could feel that it could hurt business, some folks could feel they have a constitutional right not to be told to wear it. It is definitely a decision the elected officials need to deliberate on and have that public discussion and then make a decision.”
Morton during the Friday meeting also noted that the Palm Coast Council would take up the issue.
The Florida Constitution’s privacy provision aside, opponents of masks in Florida have frequently pointed to a section of state law that forbids the wearing of masks (F.S. 876.12), though typically neglecting to note a subsequent section of the same law (876.155) that specifies that the prohibition applies only to those wearing masks to intimidate, harass, threaten or abuse people, or to commit a crime or interfere with a person’s rights under the law. On June 26 the Florida Supreme Court ruled against a restaurant employee who challenged Gov. Ron DeSantis’s authority to issue shutdown orders in coronavirus-related matters, reaffirming the governor’s emergency powers authority. A lawsuit in Leon County was filed the same week, challenging Leon County’s mask mandate.
Lord’s recommended order is below.
Confused says
I’ve loved the Sheriff until this suggestion. I know he is under a lot of pressure by the local governments. Trespass? How about a boycott of any place so posting. Not happy on this one Sheriff and I have followed and praised you, but not this time!
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Sheriff you have lost me big time. How dare you make up this bullcrap about someone’s constitution right to privacy
Your job is to protect my health welfare and safety not play party politics. I don’t think it is constitutional for the chief law enforcement officer to accept campaign contributions ! I WORRY about my constitutional rights to have my life protected . Sheriff you get an A++++ up to now…you blew all your hard work by succumbing to party special interest. You above every other constitutional officer should put protecting our lives as your number 1 priority and not a political asinine off the wall attitude. Shame on you. You bet I have thought all day wether or not to put myself in a position where your personal unsubstantiated opinions could affect an outcome if I am ever in a position to be judged by you. SHAME ON YOU
Percy's mother says
YOUR job is to protect YOUR health.
It is not the job of government to protect your health.
See my post about healthful living and eating which leads to a healthy and strong immune system.
YOUR job is to live a healthy lifestyle so you don’t initiate degenerative disease such as diabetes, COPD, heart disease, kidney disease, etc. , which in turn weaken your immune system such that you have difficulty fighting off infection.
A healthy lifestyle also helps one’s MENTAL health . . . which can add or detract from one’s immune system.
Nancy N. says
Percy’s Mother, take your ableist BS and get right the hell out of here. Your post is nothing but victim-blaming of people who have serious medical conditions, and sanctimonious preaching of fat-phobia under the guise of “health”.
My daughter was diagnosed at age 8 – yes, EIGHT – with arthritis and other life-long auto-immune conditions. Based on the condition of her joints, the doctor told us she’d most likely first developed the condition when she was a tiny baby. She now takes medicine that suppresses her immune system to control these conditions. Because of this, if she gets Covid-19, it is very unlikely that she will survive. Do you have any idea what it is like to be barely 17 and in mortal fear for your survival? She does.
There are many, many people in a similar situation in this community: cancer patients, people with auto-immune conditions. people with heart valve defects….a huge range of conditions are treated with medications that affect the immune system, or the condition itself is compromising. Even just being old makes your immune system not work as well as it once did.
You could help protect your neighbors and the wider community by doing the simple act of wearing a mask to help control the spread of Covid. But instead of trying to help the people who need it most in this community, you refuse and choose instead to shame and blame them.
Find some humanity for your fellow citizens of this community, and put on a damn mask.
Charles Anderson says
Not making light of your daughters illness,however if it is that much of a concern to you then you should self isolate and not infringe on people who are not sick to be punished and ostracized for not having to wear a mask
LetThemEatCake says
Just stand outside Publix. Cops are there all the time when I shop. You’ll make the point about masks before your sub is ready.
Pat Orourke says
So basically the people against making masks mandatory are doing so because it would be “difficult” to police. It’s much harder to go through this virus or bury a loved one! Get over yourself, mandate masks for the safety of our citizens! Our could lives depend on them.
John R Brady says
Simple “No shirt, no shoes, no mask no service”
Trailer Bob says
BINGO. If we can make consumers wear shoes for health reasons, what is the difference when it come to masks during a pandemic? This is really getting ridiculous. No one likes wearing a mask or face shield. Is it better and more ethical to have people die than to violate someone’s rights to be reckless during a pandemic?
Maybe we should all start entering stores without a shirt and shoes and see what happens.
Unfortunately, most of us have to make a living, socialize to stay sane, and go to stores. Why should we have to face getting sick just because some morons with low IQs who don’t believe the earth is round are allowed to do so because our government and elected officials, etc., are more concerned about the people who are doing the wrong things at the wrong time?
I realize there are no easy answers, but come on… Next time an adult is arrested for smoking a joint, tell me again how THAT is a danger to our society, and why we cannot make people wear protective masks, shields, in public.
Retired says
Totally agree. Being on a respirator isn’t fun. We have had too much of an increase in positive results. Wear a mask to protect others.
Masks are control says
I’ve never been kicked out of a store for not wearing a shirt or shoes, shopped more than once with out them, but I have been kicked out for not wearing a mask. I shopped somewhere else
Steve says
Making a big deal out of nothing Its a mask for Gods sake and potentially benefits all Its not forever. Its too late anyway. Should have been mandated months ago. Been wearing one since march. A no brainer Good luck
Jimbo99 says
This is a good look at how the Covid-19 reporting has become such a scam in the 1st place. The proposal is to have businesses require the masks and those that don’t, that make a scene will be criminalized thru a trespassing violation rather than a violation of not wearing a mask. Mask wearing anywhere outdoors would be the individual’s personal choice. Violate it elsewhere and it’s a matter of how bad the business wants you out of the place & off premises and how fast FCSO can get there to enforce the trespass. The trespass is probably a worse charge than say a fine for not wearing a mask. So many ways to create revenue here and hide the true reason. Imagine a report that indicates that trespassing increased, when the real reason is that someone wasn’t wearing a mask.
TR says
Thank you Mr. Staly for talking common sense and with logic. Not like everyone else who makes decisions that puts everyone in a panic. Decision about masks should be made based on facts and no more.
Trailer Bob says
I agree, but this has become so difficult to deal with that the cure is almost as bad as the disease. Mostly because of so many people not following protocol to keep others safe, my wife and I have been staying home, in the country, with no neighbors in sight, just us and the dogs, the music and the martinis , wine, and beer. At first we were at each other’s throats, but finally, we are getting closer than ever as the world as we knew it slowing fades into the background. It is difficult and different for all of us, and we don’t even HAVE the virus. Good luck to everyone.
Dennis says
We went to PFChangs yesterday. Had no mask. Would not let us in to eat. Place was empty though see you later, we went and ate someplace else, with no mask. How much more business can you afford to lose? No masks.
deb says
Just think, the mask you wear might save you’re own life. So very simple.
bob says
So, our county officials have now become constitutional lawyers? Quit fussing about those things and just pass an ordinance. If we have an ordinance that makes you cut your lawn, a mask-wearing ordinance is a no brainer.
pinelakes79 says
Years ago, many stores/businesses had a sign posted — “I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone at anytime”. I guess it is time to dust off that sign.
Mythoughts says
Just think of the revenue the county would get if they made masks mandatory just like wearing seat belts to save lives. You get a ticket and have to go to the county and pay for it. What’s the big deal to help prevent this deadly virus to continue to spread in Flagler County?
Downtown says
PC Code Enforcement? You must be joking. We cannot get Code Enforcement to enforce the codes regarding lawn mowing, hedge trimming or turning your property into a junk yard eyesore and devaluing the property of the neighborhood . You call and lodge a complaint and you get a song and dance about why they can do nothing. My favorite? Well as long as it can’t be seen from the street we can’t do anything. Even though the PC codes clearly state front yard, side yards and back yards must be maintained and clear of debris and junk. No where in the codes does it state something as stupid as, “as long as it can’t be seen from the street”. If there’s not money involved as in getting proper permits, etc they don’t want to be called out to do the basic job of enforcing city codes and the paperwork involved
Sherry says
Since when is Sheriff Staly a constitutional scholar who knows better than all the mayors and city commissioners who have implemented mask wearing mandates all across Florida?
This obviously is a “political” ploy on his part in order to show allegiance to trump and puppet DeSantis. He is putting all our lives and health at unnecessarily higher risk merely because of his political loyalties. Until now, I thought he was doing a pretty good job. You have lost my vote Staly, and you should be ashamed! You now have the blood of innocent citizens on your hands, just like DeSantis and trump!
Greta says
You’re saying all the mayors and city commissioners are constitutional scholars? Perhaps Sheriff Staley subscribes to what Winston Churchill said about appeasers – they hope that if they feed the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat them last.”
Ron says
This is just another example of an ordinance being enacted without enforcement. Our county officials are reactive not pro active. We had ask them to keep vacation rentals closed. Now we have a surge in Covid numbers. Ages between 18 -35 are the ones now involved. Not to hard to figure out. Large gatherings and parties without face protection.
Roy Longo says
Every aspect of our lives are governed by laws meant to protect us. Seat belts, no shirts not shoes no service, speed limits, traffic lights, drunk driving, headlights on in the rain, jaywalking laws, building codes, etc. None of those laws, along with many others are not listed in the Constitution. They are governed by local, state or federal laws. Wearing masks during a pandemic to protect you and others should be no different.
MEMEOF6 says
This is out of control……………Didn’t we stop smoking indoors a law to protect people’s health? What would happen if I walked into any store, restaurant, ANY place indoors with a lit cigarette? I would get the boot! probably not just by the management but by every person in the place………………………….We all adapted and we will all adapt to masks! JUST DO IT!
Jim O says
Thank you Sheriff Staly for being the only adult with a voice. Please stay the course. Do not let the media get into your head even though they try every way possible to tell you what to do.
Thanks again,
Jim
Right says
Really? So you offer a roundabout way to make criminals (trespassers) out of people not wearing a mask? Way to go Sheriff.
OEIF/ OEF Vet says
Hi liberals… since when did you abandon the “my body, my choice” mantra?
I guess it’s valid only when you are taking the life of a baby.
You cannot mandate anyone wear a mask. You can advise, encourage and strongly recommend; but you cannot mandate.
I am just as worried as anyone regarding this issue; but you liberals do not have the facts on your side.
What makes you think that simply wearing a mask does anything?
What happens if you sneeze or cough? You can’t immediately drop everything in your hands and rush to a bathroom to clean up every single time.
You simply can’t comprehend that the only mostly fool-proof way of spreading anything is to almost never go anywhere; and when you do, to go in a head-to-toe HAZMAT suit.
Only then can you possibly not spread any germs.
If you think wearing a mask will solve anything, you have been misled or are willfully ignorant.
I served in Iraq/ Kuwait/ Afghanistan, and had to wear MOPP-Level 5 gear for entire days at a time… no one here is going to do that. And no mask is going to prevent anything… especially if you believe a fart can pass the virus through multiple aisles in a store.
Get real. Be clean. Wash thoroughly and often. And stay 6 feet from everyone.
Sherry says
Nancy N. . . . Thank you so much for sharing your story and for trying to pry open the selfish, self centered closed minds of those who refuse to open their hearts and do anything to protect their neighbors.
Palm Coast has finally passed a face mask mandate, just as so many other cities in Florida have done. Now the city commissioners in Flagler Beach need to do the same thing. This is a time to toss away politics and do all we can to save peoples lives and health. Only by wearing a mask and social distancing and washing our hands often will we be able to “SLOWLY” open up the economy somewhat safely again.
Denali says
I think it is absolutely wonderful that we have such a student of the constitution as our sheriff. Now that was pure sarcasm. I doubt that Mr. Staly has even read the entire US Constitution. The job of the sheriff is not to decide constitutionality, rather to enforce the laws written by the legislative branches of the government. There is no constitutional issue in requiring the use of masks to thwart the spread of an infectious disease. Staly is simply mimic the words and actions of his heroes Trump and DeSantis. Just like his divisive comments regarding criminal offenders, this is another piece of red meat for their educationally challenged base. As Sheriff it is not his place to create a political issue or public policy, do your job by enforcing the laws as written or resign. Let the courts worry about constitutionality.
Add the mask enforcement to the dozens of other issues that the sheriff’s office has decided not to enforce excessive noise, reckless driving, speeding, altered exhaust systems, parking on the streets, stopping for red lights of stop signs, turning right from the left lane. Heck, you can run a red light in front of a deputy and not get stopped; some deputies are the worst speeders in town – unless responding to an emergency with lights on, they are required to abide with the same laws as the rest of us. Yes, most of what I mention is traffic related but that is what we see, Lord only knows what others things are being overlooked that we cannot see.
TD1 says
We should have known that we would be where we are Florida . Thousands of new cases daily . Like so much else that we have used to “take sides “ go defend team R or team D , it should not surprise us that we Americans have decided to do the same with using masks , taken a public health issue and made it political .
What are the consequences ?
Well , simply compare our charts to South Korea , Germany , France , Italy , Spain among many .
Instead of the USA leading as we normally do in world events , we are running way behind , the EU won’t let us in .
Those South Koreans , Italians , Germans , Spaniard’s and others united in a national cause , respected science and have the virus in check .
To those who keep up this mask rhetoric, constitutional arguments , etc .
Act like responsible adults .
We are required to wear seat belts while driving for a good reason .
We can’t yell out “fire “ in a crowded theater for good reason .
As far as the sheriff :
I’ve noticed your officers standing 2 feet away from stopped citizens and haven’t seen one officer wearing masks yet .
This is not my definition of showing good example , serving and protecting . Not for your officers and not for your citizens .