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Home My WebLink About2021-05-05 City Council Special Meeting Agenda PUBLIC NOTICE Special Meeting The Aiken City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at 5 p.m. to consider a resolution to rescind the city’s face covering Ordinance No. 11192020. The meeting will be held in-person in the City Council Chambers at 214 Park Avenue SW. Due to the Covid-19 health concerns capacity limitations and social distancing requirements will be enforced at the meeting. Page 1 of 9 Aiken City Council Special Meeting Agenda May 5, 2021 5:00 P.M. Special Meeting of City Council Page 2 of 9 THE CITY OF AIKEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA MAY 5, 2021 5 P.M. I. CALL TO ORDER II. NEW BUSINESS: Consideration of: (1) Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordinance No. 11192020. A RESOLUTION DECLARING THE TERMINATION OF THE CITY OF AIKEN FACE COVERING ORDINANCE, ORDINANCE NO. 11192020. Page 3 of 9 THE CITY OF AIKEN Memorandum Date: 05 May 2021 To: City Council From: Stuart T. Bedenbaugh, City Manager Subject: A Resolution Declaring the Termination of the City of Aiken Face Covering Ordinance, Ordinance No. 11192020. At our July 13, 2020, and September 10, 2020, meetings, Council passed emergency ordinances in effect for 61 days requiring mandatory face coverings. On November 19, 2020, City Council passed an ordinance memorializing face coverings until either: 1. The Governor revoked his State of Emergency related to Covid-19 or 2. City Council passage of a resolution rescinding the ordinance. A face coverings ordinance was felt needed by a supermajority of City Council to combat the spread of Covid-19. As vaccines become more readily available and warmer weather is with us, our number of infections are declining. On April 28, Governor McMaster called on cities and counties to rescind face coverings ordinances. City staff have been monitoring the Covid-19 rates in Aiken area Zip codes of 29801 and 29803. The attached data set shows weekly cases in these areas are down from a height of 332 positive cases the week of January 21, to 53 positive cases the week of April 22. The number of individuals vaccinated in South Carolina with one dose as of April 27 is 1,700,570 and with two doses is 1,256,751. In the 29801 and 29803 Zip codes, 26,240 people have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, which is almost 40% of the total population in the two Zip codes. [38,482 population in 29803 and 27,764 population in 29801] The proposed resolution under consideration would rescind the mask ordinance effective at 6:00 a.m. the following day after Council passage. The resolution would not preclude individual businesses from continuing to require face coverings and would encourage citizens to continue wearing masks. AGENDA ITEM #(1) Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordi...Page 4 of 9 For Council consideration is a resolution declaring the termination of the City of Aiken Face Covering Ordinance, Ordinance No. 111920. Stuart T. Bedenbaugh City Manager AGENDA ITEM #(1) Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordi...Page 5 of 9 RESOLUTION: A RESOLUTION DECLARING THE TERMINATION OF THE CITY OF AIKEN FACE COVERING ORDINANCE, ORDINANCE NO. 11192020 WHEREAS, on November 19, 2020, the City Council of the City of Aiken adopted Ordinance No. 11192020 – “An Ordinance Requiring Individuals to Wear Face Coverings in Retail and Commercial Establishments Which are Open to the Public, and Matters Related Thereto” due to a dramatic increase in the numbers of identified new COVID-19 cases in the State of South Carolina at that time; and WHEREAS, on March 5, 2021, Governor McMaster issued Emergency Order No. 2021- 12 where the Governor deleted the language from previous Emergency Orders that urged all counties and municipalities to implement ordinances requiring face coverings; the Governor also ended his Order that required the use of face coverings in state buildings; and the Governor also ended his Order requiring the use of face coverings in restaurants; and WHEREAS, according to Emergency Order No. 2021-12, state and federal health experts have consistently encouraged public officials not to rescind certain emergency measures designed to address and reduce community spread or transmission of COVID-19 unless and until identifying a downward trajectory of documented cases of COVID-19 within a defined period or a downward trajectory related to the percentage of positive tests for COVID-19 within a defined period; and WHEREAS, on or about January 8, 2021, the New Cases Per Day in South Carolina peaked at 6,179 cases and, on April 19, 2021, the total number of new cases in South Carolina was 518 cases [as reported by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control]; and WHEREAS, as of April 27, 2021, 1,700,570 South Carolina residents have received at least one vaccine and 1,256,751 South Carolina residents have completed their vaccinations [as reported by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control]; and WHEREAS, on April 28, 2021, Governor Henry McMaster requested that counties and municipalities remove face covering restrictions, mandates and ordinances; and WHEREAS, Section 9 of Ordinance No. 11192020 states: “This Ordinance shall automatically expire upon the issuance of a Resolution by the Council of the City of Aiken declaring that COVID-19 is no longer a serious threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of its citizens or the Governor’s Executive Orders declaring a State of Emergency exists in South Carolina due to COVID-19 are not renewed, whichever event is earlier; and WHEREAS, based on all of the foregoing, the Council of the City of Aiken has concluded that COVID-19 is no longer a serious threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of its citizens and that Ordinance No. 11192020 requiring face coverings in commercial and retail establishments should automatically expire; and AGENDA ITEM #(1) Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordi...Page 6 of 9 WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Aiken has concluded that it is essential to the general health, safety, welfare and economic stability of the City and is in the best interest of its citizens for Ordinance No. 11192020 to automatically expire at 6:00 a.m. the day after adoption of this Resolution. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED the Council of the City of Aiken hereby declares that COVID-19 is no longer a serious threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of its citizens and Ordinance No. 11192020 shall automatically expire at 6:00 a.m. the morning after the adoption of this Resolution. The Council of the City of Aiken continues to encourage all of its citizens to receive the COVID-19 vaccinations and to continue to comply with effective “social distancing” practices. This Resolution shall not be interpreted to prohibit individual businesses from requiring its employees, customers, and visitors to wear masks at their place of business. ADOPTED by the Council of the City of Aiken at regular meeting held this ____ day of ______________________, 2021, at which a quorum was present and voting. ___________________________________ MAYOR APPROVED: ATTEST: _________________________________ ___________________________________ CITY ATTORNEY CITY CLERK I:\Ordinances\Resolution-Masks-Ending Face Covering Ordinance 2021-05-05.doc AGENDA ITEM #(1) Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordi...Page 7 of 9 From Date To Date 29801 29803 Total 7/5/20 7/18/20 115 99 214 7/19/20 8/1/20 168 138 306 8/2/20 8/15/20 198 113 311 8/16/20 8/29/20 119 86 205 8/30/20 9/12/20 51 69 120 9/13/20 9/26/20 30 55 85 9/25/20 10/1/20 74 32 106 10/2/20 10/8/20 30 44 74 10/9/20 10/15/20 20 35 55 10/16/20 10/22/20 30 37 67 10/17/20 10/29/20 48 55 103 10/30/20 11/5/20 29 36 65 11/7/20 11/12/20 34 44 78 11/13/20 11/19/20 44 50 94 11/20/20 11/27/20 54 57 111 11/28/20 12/4/20 108 103 211 12/5/20 12/12/20 121 134 255 12/13/20 12/18/20 97 144 241 12/19/20 12/26/20 83 129 212 12/27/20 1/2/21 105 149 254 1/3/21 1/9/21 119 155 274 1/10/21 1/16/21 94 158 252 1/17/21 1/23/21 135 175 310 1/24/21 1/30/21 148 184 332 1/31/21 2/5/21 74 101 175 2/6/21 2/13/21 78 127 205 2/14/21 2/19/21 47 61 108 2/20/21 2/27/21 37 62 99 2/28/21 3/8/21 45 60 105 3/9/21 3/13/21 9 10 19 3/14/21 3/20/21 16 19 35 3/21/21 3/26/21 11 18 29 3/27/21 4/4/21 23 20 43 4/5/21 4/13/21 45 24 69 4/14/21 4/18/21 19 24 43 4/19/21 4/25/21 25 28 53 Reported COVID-19 Cases, by Week for Zip Codes 29801 & 29803 Data compiled from the SCDHEC website from July 2020 to April 2021 AGENDA ITEM #(1)Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordi...Page 8 of 9 Reported COVID-19 Cases, by Week for Zip Codes 29801 & 29803 Data compiled from the SCDHEC website from July 2020 to April 2021 Data Source: https://public.tableau.com/profile/population.health.dhec#!/vizhome/MainDashboard_15964746061440/HomePage 214 306 311 205 120 85 106 74 55 67 103 65 78 94 111 211 255 241 212 254 274 252 310 332 175 205 108 99 105 19 35 29 43 69 43 53 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 7/18/20 8/18/20 9/18/20 10/18/20 11/18/20 12/18/20 1/18/21 2/18/21 3/18/21 4/18/21 AGENDA ITEM #(1)Consideration of a Resolution to Terminate the City's Face Covering Ordi...Page 9 of 9