Oktibbeha supervisors voted 3-2 Monday to continue to require protective face coverings at county-owned buildings and social gatherings outside the Starkville city limits as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Supervisors Orlando Trainer of District 2, Marvell Howard of District 3 and Joe Williams of District 5 voted to renew the mandate until the next board meeting on Oct. 19. Board President John Montgomery of District 1 and Supervisor Bricklee Miller of District 4 voted against it.
Gov. Tate Reeves enacted a statewide mask mandate in early August and let it expire Wednesday, although masks are still required in schools and in businesses such as barber shops that require close contact between people.
The Starkville aldermen will consider whether to keep the city’s mask mandate or let it expire at their meeting this evening.
As of 6 p.m. Monday, Oktibbeha County had 1,854 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 53 deaths, while Mississippi has 100,703 cases and 3,013 deaths, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health website.
Trainer suggested the board keep the mask mandate, and Montgomery said he would prefer to allow citizens to decide for themselves whether to wear masks.
“At some point, you’re going to have to let people make the choice as far as their safety is concerned,” he said.
However, infectious disease experts have said throughout the pandemic that masks prevent the wearer from transmitting COVID-19 to others more than they protect the wearer from catching it.
Montgomery also said it might be confusing for citizens to have to follow a mask mandate in some jurisdictions and not in others.
The board voted with no further discussion.
The supervisors unanimously agreed to extend the county’s curfew, which runs from midnight to 4 a.m. They first enacted it Sept. 8 to discourage large parties, and Capt. Brett Watson of the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office said the curfew continues to work.
OCSO had 1,086 calls for service in August and 816 in September, and Watson attributed the 270-call drop to the curfew. He said it also led to a decrease in auto burglaries, from 26 in August to seven in September, since most happen in “the early morning hours.”
The department received 74 calls between Friday and Sunday, which is “down considerably” for a Mississippi State University football weekend, Watson said.
“We’re keeping a lot of trouble out of Oktibbeha County by doing this, and the proof’s in the pudding,” Montgomery said.
In other business, supervisors unanimously agreed to Watson’s proposal to designate the Oktibbeha County Safe Room on Lynn Lane as an alternate location for circuit court operations. Maintaining safe social distancing during jury qualification and selection becomes difficult or impossible in county courtrooms, Watson said, and the safe room might become a necessary trial location at some point as well.
In other business, Howard stepped down from the Golden Triangle Waste Services board, and Trainer nominated District 2 resident Curtis Snell.
GTWS formed in 1997 to provide garbage pickup for Oktibbeha, Lowndes and Webster counties, and representatives from the three counties serve on the GTWS board. Williams is Oktibbeha County’s other representative.
Howard told The Dispatch that board attorney Rob Roberson advised him to resign from the GTWS board because state statute requires the board to have a representative from the district that includes the local landfill, and the Golden Triangle Regional Landfill is in District 2.
Additionally, Starkville Area Arts Council executive director John Bateman gave the board its annual update on SAAC programs. Oktibbeha County is SAAC’s third-largest source of funds, behind the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, Bateman said.
The council netted $1,800 in revenue for Fiscal Year 2020, which ended June 30, and Bateman said SAAC is one of the few arts commissions in the state not to report a loss.
SAAC’s primary challenge has been to continue community outreach despite the pandemic making it unsafe to convene in large groups, Bateman said, but one way to do so was to expand the annual Art in the Park event. SAAC handed out free books and art supplies at J.L. King Park on Sept. 29 and did the same for the first time at Maben Park on Saturday.
Howard, whose district includes Maben, said he attended Saturday’s event.
“There was great turnout and I think everybody enjoyed it… and I hope it’s going to become an annual thing in Maben,” he said.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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