Patton Township supervisors plan to consider a new temporary COVID-19 ordinance requiring masks to be worn in places open to the public, though board members largely questioned whether such a measure could be effectively enforced.
The board voted 3-2 on Monday night to direct township staff to develop a draft ordinance and to advertise a special meeting for a date to be set by board Chair Pamela Robb. Township Manager Doug Erickson said drafting the ordinance, advertising the meeting and waiting the required seven days will take “at least a couple weeks.”
Supervisor Betsy Whitman, who introduced the proposal for a new ordinance, said the board should have a special meeting because waiting until the next regularly scheduled session at the end of the month will cause the township “to miss critical time when this ordinance should be in place.”
The proposal, which would also require businesses to post notice of the mask requirement, comes as new COVID-19 cases, driven by the omicron variant, continue to surge locally and statewide and as hospitalizations linked to the virus remain high in Centre County and across Pennsylvania.
Whitman suggested that the ordinance be put into place until March 31.
“If we run this ordinance through the month of March the ordinance will be in place at the time of [Penn State’s] spring break and at the time of students returning from spring break,” she said.
Patton Township previously had an ordinance requiring masks in public places from August 2020 through the spring of 2021 and modified it several times during that period. Erickson said, however, that ordinance was tied to statewide directives and guidance from the governor’s office and the Department of Health as well as recommendations by the Centre Region Council of Governments.
“Currently none of those bodies have issued any directives or guidance,” Erickson said. “So the basis for enforcing a regulation of this matter is a large question mark. If someone wanted to contest it they would go to the district judge. The district judge would take evidence to see if there is a valid basis for the ordinance.”
State College is currently the only Centre County municipality with an ordinance requiring masks in businesses and other places open to the public. The current ordinance was approved in September and extended twice. It is scheduled to expire on Jan. 31, but borough council is expected to vote on extending it again next week.
Supervisor Elliot Abrams noted State College is a home-rule municipality, which grants it more flexibility in creating local laws. Erickson added that the borough also has based its ordinance on recommendations from its own Board of Health and health department, which Patton Township does not have.
But even in State College, the requirement “has been virtually unenforceable,” borough manager Tom Fountaine said in November. It has a penalty of a civil citation and $300 fine for violations, but State College police Lt. Greg Brauser said previously that the department has “practiced enforcement through education” and no citations have been issued since the ordinance was enacted in September.
Erickson said based on his observations and experiences with the township’s previous mask ordinance, businesses would post the requirement but would not call the township to enforce it if people entering refused to comply.
“They’re not going to ask us to come in and tell their patrons what to do,” he said. “When we’ve had calls in the past they’ve been from one patron of a facility to either complain about the store not enforcing it or to complain about other people in the store. It puts us kind of in an awkward position where the … vendors really don’t want us to tell people what to do but they don’t want to tell people what to do either.
“I’m not trying to discourage it but I’m saying at this point it might have limited efficacy.”
Patton Township police chief Tyler Jolley said his department issued no citations under the township’s prior mask ordinance.
“The police department used that really as an educational tool,” Jolley said. “We did, by and large, receive complaints from citizens rather than from business owners or managers or workers. So we would use that really as an educational tool rather than as some type of punishment for not wearing a mask.”
Supervisors did not discuss potential penalties for violations if the new ordinance were to be enforced by citation. The township’s prior ordinance stated a $100 fine could be levied for violations.
Supervisors Elliot Abrams and Sultan Magruder voted against drafting the new ordinance, not because they were against its goal but because of the difficulty enforcing it. Both said they would be in favor of a resolution stating the township’s position.
“I agree with the proposal, but if it’s not enforceable I don’t think that we should pass something that’s not going to be enforceable,” Magruder said. “I think it sets a bad precedent moving forward. I would be in a favor of a resolution though. At the very least it’s signaling that this board takes COVID-19, this pandemic seriously and we’re requesting that businesses and individuals do what they can to protect the community. It’s sort of up to the moral code I guess of individuals and businesses for whether or not they’re going to take that resolution and make some policies.”
Added Abrams, “I think that the ordinance alone really isn’t going to do anything except the people that are already putting masks on will be fine with it and the people that strongly oppose will just have some other reason to be upset.”
Speaking during public comment, Amber Concepcion, who serves as president of the State College Area School Board, said an ordinance could be effective in setting “norms and expectations,” that would help slow the spread of COVID-19, even if it can’t be fully enforced.
“In my role on the State College Area School Board, we are really concerned about making sure that we keep schools safe to be open and that we have sufficient staff to be able to keep schools open, because of the concern of illness spreading through our population and affecting the school system,” Concepcion said. “Anything we can do to dampen transmission in the community so that we can protect the most vital services such as schools and our health care system — and we know that Mount Nittany [Medical Center] is already struggling — I think it’s worth it.”
Resident Jim Payne said he did not believe an ordinance would have much impact, but that the board should still communicate its position.
“You go to a lot of stores and the norm is to not wear a mask,” Payne said. “Those of us that do wear a mask feel like we’re in the absolute minority anymore… The majority of people inside the stores, other than employees, as far as customers, many people don’t wear masks. So I don’t think an ordinance is going to do too much, and a resolution wouldn’t either. But at least a resolution, as Mr. Magruder says, passes along that the Board of Supervisors is taking this seriously.”
Supervisor Dan Trevino said he would probably vote in favor of an ordinance, “but understand it’s probably not going to have the impact that we would request.”
A date for the special meeting to consider the ordinance has not yet been set.
