{"id":2458080,"date":"2020-05-05T19:21:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T01:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=325293"},"modified":"2020-05-06T05:53:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T11:53:15","slug":"snowmass-town-council-passes-mandatory-mask-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/snowmass-town-council-passes-mandatory-mask-ordinance\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmass Town Council passes mandatory mask ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/snowmasscouncil-atd-050520-1024x682.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/snowmasscouncil-atd-050520-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/snowmasscouncil-atd-050520-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/snowmasscouncil-atd-050520-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/snowmasscouncil-atd-050520-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/snowmasscouncil-atd-050520-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>A view of Snowmass Town Hall on May 3, 2020.<\/strong><br \/><em>Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Snowmass Town Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance Tuesday requiring people to wear face coverings in public.<\/p>\n<p>The ordinance, which Mayor Markey Butler <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/snowmass-council-to-vote-on-face-mask-ordinance-tuesday\/\">directed town staff to create following council\u2019s regular meeting Monday<\/a>, takes effect immediately and aims to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeedless to say, we all want to get this place open and if we go this extra step I think we can help get this place open, hopefully sooner rather than later,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n<p>According to the emergency ordinance, face coverings are required inside of town business places, including common areas containing businesses, and\/or any mode of transportation open to the public. A face covering is defined as \u201ca uniform piece of material that securely covers a person\u2019s nose and mouth and remains affixed in place without the use of one\u2019s hands,\u201d the ordinance says.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Face coverings are also required in indoor or outdoor places where people are unable to maintain safe social distancing of at least 6 feet from others they do not live with.<\/p>\n<p>Council members felt the public may have some confusion about this second part of the requirement, so as an example, Councilwoman Alyssa Shenk explained it like this: When a person is able to walk by another person on a sidewalk or trail within 6 feet but also within a 10-minute time frame \u2014 continuing on alone or with members of their household \u2014 no mask is needed.<\/p>\n<p>If a person is walking or hiking with another person who does not live in their household and is unable to maintain a 6 feet distance for more than 10 minutes, both people should wear masks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we have to remember that we\u2019re a tourist community and that people are going to start coming here and are coming here now, so I think by enacting something like this it\u2019s telling them we take our community safety seriously,\u201d Shenk said.<\/p>\n<p>Shenk and her fellow council members also discussed enforcement of the face covering ordinance. While Police Chief Brian Olson said people who do not abide by the ordinance may be subject to a fine, council members worried fines would send the wrong message to the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this really should be about education and I\u2019m not really too keen on having Brian\u2019s officers write tickets,\u201d said Councilman Bill Madsen of the face covering ordinance. \u201cI do think it should be a pretty strong message to the community that we\u2019re just trying to look out for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olson assured Madsen and the rest of council that Snowmass police intend to take an education-based enforcement approach to the ordinance. He said he already spoke with Snowmass Center business owners and management Tuesday before the council meeting to ensure they were aware of the town\u2019s anticipated face-covering requirement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs law enforcement officials, we don\u2019t look forward to chasing people down and ticketing them for not wearing masks,\u201d Olson said. \u201cWe will educate people as we make those contacts, provide them information, encourage them to mask up \u2026 we certainly expect to use our community policing philosophy and educate far and above before we consider citing somebody for not wearing a mask.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olson said the ordinance will only be in effect until it is superseded by a state or county public health order that \u201cis at least, if not more restrictive.\u201d This is expected to happen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/lodging-date-elusive-as-pitkin-countys-new-order-gains-approval\/\">Saturday when the county\u2019s updated \u201cstay at home\u201d public health order<\/a> is set to go into effect to align more with the state\u2019s \u201csafer at home\u201d order. The <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/u\/1\/d\/e\/2PACX-1vRRtclTQ3Z5_T-FCL4yB7JWeHx7FmEM_hoSJ1Vl976w95xXh41e3dBd8cLxDvXaNkgBbyrsBzJaaf5f\/pub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">updated county order includes a mandatory mask requirement.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Beyond enforcement, council members also acknowledged that they had each received several emails and some phone calls from village residents generally concerned that the town face-covering requirement is government overreach.<\/p>\n<p>Council members said that they understood these sentiments, but that the public health and safety of the entire community was of the utmost importance, which is why they chose to move forward with the face-covering requirement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of our jobs is to protect the safety and health of our community. That\u2019s first and foremost one of the most important things we all do as Town Council members,\u201d Butler said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to modify some behaviors here and my goal is to get this community open. I think all of you collectively on the call want to get these businesses open, these guys and gals are hurting. And we have to be very cautious as we proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Town Council passed the ordinance in a 4-0 vote. Councilman Bob Sirkus was not present for the vote.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:mvincent@aspentimes.com\">mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/snowmass-town-council-passes-mandatory-mask-ordinance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A view of Snowmass Town Hall on May 3, 2020.Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times Snowmass Town Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance Tuesday requiring people to wear face coverings in public. The ordinance, which Mayor Markey Butler directed town staff to create following council\u2019s regular meeting Monday, takes effect immediately and aims to further mitigate the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 01:10:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458107,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458080\/revisions\/2458107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}