Ocala Star-Banner
By Carlos E. Medina
Posted Aug 14, 2020 at 7:45 PM
An Ocala attorney filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking a temporary injunction to stop enforcement of the emergency face mask ordinance recently enacted by the Ocala City Council.
The suit, which Christina Miller filed on her own behalf, also seeks to permanently strike down the ordinance, arguing the measure is unconstitutional and an unlawful delegation of powers by the city.
The suit contends that the City Council ordinance shifts the responsibility of enforcement to business owners instead of itself.
"Ocala has not specifically enacted any legislation that actually requires individuals to utilize face coverings," according to the suit. "In a clear effort to circumvent the Constitutional question of governmental powers with regards to face mask mandates, Ocala has instead unlawfully delegated both its powers and responsibilities, of legislating and enforcing individual citizen’s choices with regards to face mask usage, to private business owners.
Additionally, the suit contends that forcing business owners to interject themselves into the private healthcare decisions of residents is unconstitutional.
Among the exemptions in the ordinance is one for those who demonstrate medical conditions that will not allow them to wear a mask. That, Miller argues, puts businesses in conflict with individuals’ constitutional privacy rights.
In the suit, she notes that the burden places business owners in a position that violates both the U.S. and Florida constitutions.
"In the absence of any lawful mandate, Floridians should be free to make their private healthcare choices free from the unwarranted intrusion of unqualified third parties," the lawsuit states.
Miller points out that while courts hearing more than a dozen lawsuits filed against face mask ordinances in other parts of Florida have largely sided with the government, this case was unique because the ordinance is vague and overly broad.
A call to Miller late in the afternoon on Friday was not immediately returned. Similarly, a message sent to Councilman Matt Wardell, who introduced the emergency ordinance, also was not immediately returned.
On Wednesday, the city council voted to override Mayor Kent Guinn’s veto of the ordinance.
The ordinance makes business owners responsible for encouraging face masks or risk a $25 fine. The ordinance compels businesses to post signs stating that face masks are required, to ask customers who are not wearing masks to wear one and to require all employees to wear masks.
But customers can ignore the encouragement, and no penalty can be brought against them.
In defending his veto, Guinn called the ordinance a toothless mandate that was more about symbolism.
"It’s a mandate that you don’t have to follow," he said.
The emergency face mask ordinance passed 4-1 on Aug. 4. On Monday, Guinn vetoed the ordinance, prompting Wednesday’s emergency meeting.
Wardell said the ordinance does not punish businesses if customers decline to wear masks while at their establishments.
On Thursday, Wardell defended the ordinance.
"I haven’t looked at every mask ordinance in the state, but I’ve got to imagine ours (the City of Ocala’s) is one of the softest, given the fact that it doesn’t actually mandate individuals wear a mask," Wardell said.
The lawsuit also comes on the heels of a decision by Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods ordering deputies not to wear masks in most instances and banning employees and visitors from wearing masks inside the sheriff’s office building.
That directive was in direct response to the Ocala face mask ordinance. The move drew widespread national attention as one of the first known public mandates against masks.
On Thursday, Woods eased the mask ban significantly when it came to lobby visitors. Originally, the sheriff’s lobbies were to remain a mask-free zone. Visitors who did not want to remove their masks could sit in their cars and wait for a phone call when it was their turn.
Sheriff’s officials now say visitors must briefly remove their masks to capture their faces on the security camera. After that, they can replace their masks.
The no-mask policy, however, continues for the more than 750 sheriff’s employees. Deputies will not wear masks while on duty, and administrative workers also will remain maskless while in the office. Exceptions to the no-mask policy include sheriff personnel working at the courthouse, the jail, in public schools, in hospitals and in dealing with people suspected of being infected with COVID-19 or at high risk of complications from the disease. Read more
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