Board of Aldermen 02-22-2022 Page 27
Alderman Clemons
Thank you, Madam President. | agreed with the previous two speakers in the sense of | think it is terrible that some of the
public has really put a bad taste in people's mouth. | said this after the last meeting in December when we passed the
mask mandate to begin with. Some of the things that were said about some of the Aldermen for voting for the mandate -
you know no one wakes up - none of us in this room wake up one day and say how can | tick off half the city. It just
doesn't happen. We come here and we're elected. We do the best job that we think we can do and every two and four
years we stand up for election or re-election and we say how did | do? And that's when people can express their ultimate
opinion. But the attacks to say that, you know, people don't appreciate or just terrible things. I'm not even going to repeat
them.
My whole thing is | have voted no on the mask mandate in the past. | will continue that stance. | do not believe in
mandates. | do believe in masks. | agree with the Board of Health that wearing a mask is the right thing to do | think
when you're in public. Do | do it all the time? No but then again | don't follow my doctor's advice. My wife will tell you |
probably maybe follow the advice of my doctor 25% of the time. So | will vote to rescind the mask ordinance but it is not
because | disrespect the Board of Health. It is just not because | agree with people who are slinging mud essentially
online and in other places. | think that's behavior that's inappropriate. It is not political discourse that is right for our
country and | think we need to really write the track on that. | hope we can do so you know maybe tonight and moving
forward. | think we've done a good job. | think this group has done a good job and | hope we can continue to do that.
Alderman Dowd
| think everybody's expressed their opinion. I'm not going to make a motion to move the question, but | think we ought to
vote on this.
Alderman Gouveia
Yeah, | have to agree with Alderman Clemons and what he said. I’m just not for a mandate. | don't think this question
and nobody here is saying you're debating do masks work or not. The fact is, is can the city mandate us to wear masks?
I'll be voting no. I'm just not for mandate. I'll be voting yes.
Alderman Klee
Thank you, Madam President. Earlier, | said that based on the numbers and the information given from the Board of
Health that | would vote for the rescinding of this. After hearing from Dr. Storace again, I'm going to vote against it
because | believe that maybe we should go those extra few days. | think itis important. As it was pointed out, those who
won't wear are just not going to wear but it also gives those who want to wear them and have a little anxiety about going
to the grocery store know that the majority of the people there will have masks on because of this mandate. | think it's
important.
The Governor who lifted the statewide mandate gave permission to all the municipalities to do what was best for their
people. This body at one point voted for what the way they wanted. | think it's been a great discussion. I've seen things
back and forth. We've been listening to each other. | think it's wonderful. At this time, | am going to vote against it. So
thank you.
Alderman Cathey
Thank you, Madam President. | have to agree with my colleagues about mandates in general but also | believe Alderman
Clemons mentioned something about political discourse. In that light, Alderman Moran reached out to me about this
ordinance and | appreciated that he wanted to reach out and try and get this ordinance passed. | even spoke to him and
said, | think this would be a good faith gesture to the city. To me, it's not about six days. Aldermen in this chamber said, if
the numbers come down, we will change our minds and the numbers came down. Now you have a chance to vote
proactively to stop something for rescinded instead of just sitting around and waiting for it to expire. So | think that says
more about us as a Board being proactive and making a move on something that we saw the data and we feel like it's the
right time to move. So to me, it's not about the six days. It's about the gesture to the public about passing this ordinance.
So obviously, I'd be voting in favor. Thank you.
Alderman Sullivan
Thank you, Madam President. A yes vote is to resend it. A no vote is to keep it, correct.
