The Manhattan City Commission voted 3 to 2 Tuesday in favor of extending the expiration date of the city’s face mask ordinance through April 1.
Mayor Usha Reddi and city commissioners Aaron Estabrook and Linda Morse voted in favor of the measure.
Reddi says she thinks the policy is effective and that keeping it in place provides consistency.
“The mindset in Manhattan is that we have a face mask mandate and people are pretty much complying,” Reddi said. “I don’t see any problem with it right now. We’re probably looking for problems that don’t exist with what we have currently.”
Commissioners Mark Hatesohl and Wynn Butler opposed extending the ordinance.
Hatesohl says he believes that the city’s policy should be a recommendation and that wearing a mask isn’t always effective.
“At this point, after eight months, everybody has made up their mind about whether masks are helpful and effective,” Hatesohl said. “We all know someone who’s been very good about social distancing and wearing their mask and they still got it. It’s no 100 percent preventer just like the vaccine is not going to be 100 percent effective.”
Butler believes the city should follow the Riley County Health Department’s policies instead of creating its own ordinance.
“What would happen would be, if the Riley County Health Department decides masks aren’t needed after April 1, then they’re not needed anywhere in the city limits after April 1,” Butler said. “But essentially, what we’re doing is, we’re letting the health department do their job and not trying to do it for them.”
The extension was originally set for May 21 so that a face-mask policy would be in place for the entirety of the school year, but Estabrook thought an April 1 deadline would be more palatable for the public. He says an earlier expiration will force the commission to consider the need for the policy at an earlier date.
“I don’t foresee us coming to revisit it until we’re required to,” Estabrook said. “That’s the danger of putting the date out so far. It removes the input from the public.”
Kansas State University, Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 and the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce each sent a letter to the commission prior to the vote in support of extending the mask policy.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, the city’s face-mask policy was set to expire by Jan. 1. If the commission would have let the policy expire, masks would only be required in the part of Manhattan located in Riley County.
Riley County recently approved a face-mask ordinance while Pottawatomie County opted out of the statewide mask mandate.
If the commission chooses to, it could potentially change the the expiration date sooner than April 1.
