MANATEE COUNTY – Manatee County’s COVID-19 face-covering mandate has been formally amended to no longer apply to churches and other houses of worship, and a lawsuit challenging the mandate has been dropped.
On Aug. 25, the county commission unanimously supported exempting houses of worship from the original face-covering mandate enacted when commissioners adopted emergency resolution R-20-116 by a 4-3 vote on July 27.
The face-covering exemption took effect Aug. 25 but still had to be formalized by an amended county resolution. This occurred on Tuesday, Sept. 15, when Manatee County commissioners voted 6-1 in favor of adopting county resolution R-20-139.
Commissioner Misty Servia cast the only vote opposing the houses of worship exemption after Dr. Jennifer Bencie, Director of the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County, said there had recently been COVID-19 outbreaks at local churches.
“We have three churches that have individuals who are positive – and they’re not related, so there is an issue of concern there,” Bencie said by telephone.
“According to our epidemiologist who did the investigations, at three churches in the county in the last few weeks, there have been six, seven and eight cases in each of those churches. Some are family members and some are friends of those family members who only saw them at the church. So, for that reason, the epidemiologist believed the church is the common place where the virus was transmitted in these cases,” Bencie said.
Bencie did not name the churches.
“I knew about one, but I didn’t know about three churches,” Servia said.
“I said at our last meeting, when the board voted to exempt houses of worship, I supported that motion with great trepidation – with the caveat that if we saw any outbreaks at houses of worship I would not continue to support it. So, I will not be supporting adoption of this resolution today,” Servia said.
“That’s concerning. I’m to continue to support this, but it gives me great pause that this continues to spread in churches,” Commission Chair Betsy Benac said. “I still believe that churches should mandate masks. We do know that masks help to slow the virus.”
Commissioner Carol Whitmore referenced the COVID-19 updates Bencie and Public Safety Director Jack Sauer provided earlier in the meeting when the commissioners were asked to extend the county’s local state of emergency for another seven days – an action that would also by default extend the county mask mandate.
Regarding the percentage of county residents who tested positive in recent weeks, Bencie said, “Over the last seven days the positive rate was 3.6%. The week prior it was 2.97%. We’re absolutely in the last three to four weeks seeing a change for the better and I believe it is because we are doing the preventative mitigative measures that are necessary, including masks and social distancing. Moving forward, I do believe it’s very important to keep the mask resolution in place.”
Regarding the houses of worship exemption, Whitmore said, “We have to start somewhere and I’m all about the information given to us today. Our numbers have been flat, the schools have opened. The churches don’t have to wear masks, but most responsible people in churches are still wearing them. I am right now going to support the resolution.”
Whitmore said she might reconsider her position if the overall percent positive rate that was slightly over 10% at that time climbs above 11% again.
The amended face-covering resolution states it is in the best interest of the county to amend the emergency resolution to exempt places of worship from the requirements for mandatory face coverings. The resolution still requires mandatory face coverings in business establishments as defined in the amended resolution.
“A ‘business establishment’ means a location with a roof overhead under which any business is conducted, goods are made or stored or processed or where services are rendered. The term ‘business establishment’ includes transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, vehicles operated for mass transit, taxis, jitneys, limousines for hire, rental cars, and other passenger vehicles for hire,” the amended resolution says.
“The term ‘business establishment’ includes locations where non-profit, governmental, and quasi-governmental entities facilitate public interactions and conduct business. The term ‘business establishment’ does not include places of worship. This emergency resolution shall remain in full force and effect for so long as the local state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic remains in effect,” the resolution says.
The county face-covering mandate remains in effect in unincorporated areas of Manatee County, including Cortez, and in cities that have not enacted their own local mask/face- covering mandates, including Bradenton Beach. The county face-covering mandate does not apply in Anna Maria, Holmes Beach or Bradenton because those cities previously adopted their own face-covering or face-covering signage mandates.
Lawsuit dropped
Regarding the exemption for churches, Chief Assistant County Attorney Bill Clague noted Pastor Joel Tillis has dropped the lawsuit he filed against the county on Aug. 2 while being represented by attorney Anthony Sabatini, who also serves as a member of the Florida House of Representatives.
Tillis is the senior pastor at the Suncoast Baptist Church in Palmetto and the lawsuit Sabatini filed on Tillis’ behalf claimed the county’s face-covering resolution was unconstitutional because it violated the privacy, due process and religious freedom clauses in the Florida Constitution. The Manatee County lawsuit was similar to other lawsuits Sabatini filed elsewhere in Florida.
The original Manatee County face-covering resolution was based on a similar emergency resolution adopted in Leon County – a resolution that had already withstood a legal challenge from Sabatini and others.
Palmer said Tillis’ voluntary dismissal means the county prevailed in the lawsuit and is entitled to pursue from Tillis an approximate $2,300 reimbursement for legal costs the county incurred for court reporter services. None of the commissioners desired reimbursement from Tillis or the church, but Benac expressed her distaste for a state legislator filing lawsuits against a county government.
Benac said she heard Sabatini had been admonished by a judge in another county. Clague clarified that Sabatini was cautioned, not admonished, by a circuit court judge in Gadsden County.
“He urged him (Sabatini) to reflect upon whether or not having filed multiple lawsuits of the same nature in multiple jurisdictions might give rise to the argument he filed frivolous cases. But he did not rule he had filed a frivolous lawsuit in this case,” Clague said.
“This attorney, Mr. Sabatini, is a member of the Legislature, but he is acting in his capacity as a lawyer. He’s not representing the Florida Legislature. I don’t want it to seem like they’re suing us. They are not, but a member of the Legislature is engaging in these lawsuits,” Clague said.
Additional actions
During last week’s meeting, the commission voted 4-3 to extend the county’s local state of emergency for another seven days. The 4-3 vote occurred because extending the state of emergency would also automatically extend the face-covering mandate that commissioners Vanessa Baugh, Steve Jonsson and Priscilla Trace still oppose.
County Attorney Mickey Palmer explained the relationship between the two actions: “If the emergency resolution goes away, then the mask resolution immediately evaporates as well. The opposite is not true, but the mask/covering resolution is completely dependent on the emergency resolution.”
The commission voted 4-3 in opposition to Commissioner Vanessa Baugh’s motion to repeal the county face-covering mandate entirely. But the commission unanimously supported Baugh’s subsequent motion to no longer automatically extend the face-covering resolution when extending the local state of emergency. In the future, extending the local state of emergency that provides access to state and federal funding and extending the county face-covering mandate will be handled as two separate actions that require two separate votes.
Related coverage:
Churches excluded from county’s face-covering mandate
Pastor and state representative challenge county mask mandate
