On Monday night Mayor Andrew Cremata utilized his veto power to reverse Skagway’s new mask mandate. On Thursday night of last week, Skagway’s Assembly passed the resolution requiring people to wear face coverings when in public spaces by a 4-2 vote.
Later in the evening during closing remarks, however, one of the Assemblypersons, Orion Hanson, who had issued a yes vote, realized the wording of the resolution remained unclear. He attempted to postpone the adoption of it with a maneuver he called a ‘notice of reconsideration.’
The next day, after consulting with their legal team, the city determined that the maneuver was inadequate, and the Resolution was officially adopted, effective immediately.
That left Skagway residents and businesses unsure of how to proceed. The language of the resolution called for masks to be worn in public spaces but seemed to allow for private businesses to enforce the regulation as they see fit. The definition of a private business remained unclear.
On Monday, Mayor Cremata moved to rectify the confusion by vetoing the resolution and allowing more discussion of the topic during the next Assembly meeting in early April.
“It seems pretty clear to me that the intent at the end of the assembly meeting was to postpone the decision, which would prevent the resolution from being enacted until at the very earliest, the next meeting,” said Cremata.
Mayor Cremata issued a statement on Monday explaining that he takes full responsibility for allowing the clerical error and used his veto power in this instance to ensure that the will of the Assembly is followed, and the language of the resolution has more clarity.
“I think that if we’re going to have any kind of resolution that promotes mask use that it has a little more time on the committee level before coming to the table so that everyone is very clear about the language and what it means for the community,” said the mayor.
The Assembly can overturn the mayoral veto at the next meeting with a 2/3rd majority vote, or can send the resolution back to committee for a re-write. The next Assembly meeting, unironically, is scheduled for April 1st.
