With a federal lawsuit now dismissed against the City of Guthrie over its ‘shelter-in-place’ order, council members will now decide the next steps moving forward concerning the ongoing pandemic.
On April 22, 10 citizens slapped the City with the lawsuit, saying the City’s ‘shelter in place’ order infringed on their constitutional rights. Related article: Group of citizens file federal lawsuit against City of Guthrie
The council passed the shelter-in-place ordinance (Ordinance No. 3331) on April 6 in an effort to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Three weeks later on April 21, the council amended the ‘shelter in place.’ However, they voted to keep the mask ordinance and prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people on certain public property.
On April 30 in Oklahoma City, Judge Scott Palk determined the plaintiffs suing the City didn’t have much of an argument to sue, saying citizens weren’t arrested for violating the rules and the City didn’t threaten to prosecute them.
The council will, again, decide on the steps moving forward with their regular scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in a videoconferencing call. The meeting will be streamed live on Guthrie News Page’s Facebook page.
Members could decide to take no action and allow the ordinance to expire at 11:59 pm on May 5.
The council could adopt and approve a rule (Ordinance No. 3332) amending the provisions to the previous ordinance and could implement the following:
- Extend the expiration date of the current ordinance to a new date past 11:59 pm on May 5
- Amend/delete various sections of the ordinance
- Discussion and possible action on the “Declaring an Emergency” clause contained within Ordinance No. 3332
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