SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) – City of Sarasota leaders have voted against reinstating a mask ordinance.
Commissioners voted 3-2 tonight. A 4-1 vote was necessary in order to pass the emergency ordinance which would have gone into effect immediately.
With only a simple majority vote, it will now take longer for a possible ordinance to go into effect.
Commissioner Kyle Battie, who represents District One, tells 8 On Your Side he decided to bring the mask mandate back before the commission.
“If it is a 4-1 vote then it can pass through, but otherwise it will have to go to first and second reading,” said Battie. “As for myself, I will know that I did my best to do the right thing and at the end of the day, that’s what I have to live with… that I voted my conscience and I tried to do what is best for the city,” he continued.
Sarasota city leaders voted 3-2 last month to get rid of the city-wide mask ordinance that had been in effect since July 1. The mandate expired on Feb. 25.
Commissioner Kyle Battie, Mayor Hagen Brody, and Vice-Mayor Erik Arroyo voted for the emergency ordinance to expire. Commissioner Battie says the biggest reason behind the decision, for him, was a lack of ability to enforce the mandate.
