The Warrenton Board of Aldermen held a video conference meeting Monday for the sole purpose of gaining public feedback about actions to slow the spread of COVID-19. After a mix of public opinions in different directions, the answer aldermen arrived at is to launch a campaign of public education and business outreach to encourage wearing masks.

The decision left two aldermen frustrated with what they see as a lack of action.

There are now more than 600 active COVID cases in Warren County, a spike of 200 cases from just a week ago, according to the county health department. Nine deaths are attributed to the virus so far, and over 30% of local COVID tests are coming back positive, putting Warren County in an extreme risk category, according to the health department.

During the discussion Monday, the majority of Warrenton’s elected officials said they oppose a mask mandate or other regulations that could be harmful to the city’s businesses.

“I would love to try to encourage (mask usage) as much as possible, but as far as enforcing, it’s a tough road to go down,” said Mayor Eric Schleuter. He said the city needs to consider how any sort of mandate could affect the livelihood of businesses.

Alderman Gary Miller said he wants the city to gain voluntary cooperation from local businesses to post signs around town strongly advocating for the use of face masks to combat COVID. He said he doesn’t support a mandate that would get police involved.

Ambulance District Director Tim Flake also suggested the city contact churches and businesses who have electronic signs to help share the message of how serious local cases are right now.

Aldermen Gary Auch and Cheryl Dyer weren’t satisfied that a sign campaign would be enough to slow COVID. 

“We think this is important, but we don’t care enough to do anything about it,” Auch complained.

Auch and Dyer pushed for the city to offer greater support for businesses to enforce their own mask rules, without forcing any businesses to comply. They supported announcing an explicit policy that businesses can call police for trespassing if someone refuses to wear a mask or leave when asked.

“(That way) we are not issuing any mandates. We are only going to provide assistance  for business owners who need help with enforcing their own mask requirements,” Dyer summarized.

Aldermen Scott Schulze, Bob Delaloye, Gary Miller and Jack Crump voted against that position.

However, Mayor Schleuter said city staff don’t need a vote to enforce  existing trespassing laws, and can communicate that to businesses.

Debate over further action got heated after the mayor and several aldermen indicated that any mandates should come from the state government, and the situation hasn’t become critical enough for a statewide order.

“You can tell somebody who passed away that it wasn’t so bad,” Auch retorted.

When asked what the conditions would have to be for the aldermen to support a mask mandate, board members replied that they are hesitant to act without similar mandates from the county or state level.

“I don’t think we’re at that point yet,” said Miller.

“A (mask) mandate does no good unless we create another law” to enforce it, said Schulze. “I think the best thing we can do is just encourage businesses, and back them up, that want to have their customers wear them.”