This COVID-19 operational update is for the fourteen days from Thursday September 24 through Wednesday October 7.
After having consulted with Florida Department of Health Brevard Administrator Maria Stahl, we have re-opened the City’s five public-serving buildings to direct service to the citizens and businesses of our community. The City’s requirement for members of the public to mask while inside our facilities remains in place, and the hand sanitizer stations that we have procured have been deployed so as to seek to maximize their use as soon as citizens enter the entry doors of our municipal buildings.
In response to a few citizen inquiries, we have posted the Centers for Disease Control guidance on Halloween Activities on the City’s web site.
In accordance with the authority granted the City Manager in Section 11 of the West Melbourne Emergency Masking Ordinance No. 2020-05, I have administratively extended the City Council’s Emergency Masking Ordinance to midnight on Monday October 12. Tomorrow, I will evaluate the need to extend the requirement another week to October 19.
The City Council’s emergency ordinance allows for these one-week-at-a-time extensions so long as there is an active COVID-19 emergency in the State of Florida. Governor DeSantis last extended the state of emergency via Executive Order Number 20-213 on September 4. The extension is for 60 days to November 3. A copy of the order is attached. Unless Governor DeSantis extends the declared statewide COVID-19 emergency past November 3, by its own terms, the Council’s emergency masking ordinance sunsets at that time.
Each time I have administratively extended for one week the sunset date of the ordinance, the determination has been filed with the City Clerk and posted on the City’s web site. This information is also provided each time directly to the identified ‘essential businesses’ by members of the City’s Police Department.
Over the past two weeks, I have participated in conference calls with the Brevard County Emergency Operations Center. I had a County, City and Town Manager COVID-19 conference call on September 24, and I have scheduled the next Space Coast County, City and Town Manager conference call for next Thursday October 15. In these calls, the municipal and county managers share current information and planned actions related to each local government’s evolving responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.