The section of West Lafayette’s citywide mask mandate fining those who violate the requirement was voided Tuesday by a Tippecanoe County judge.
In his order, Tippecanoe County Circuit Court Judge Sean Persin said West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis did not have the authority to include a financial penalty in his executive order requiring residents to wear face coverings. That order fines people with a first-time mask violation $100; a second violation earns a fine of $250.
“This court does not need to address the extent of the Mayor’s authority to issue executive orders, in general,” Persin wrote in his order. “There are many possible scenarios where the Mayor could properly exercise police powers to immediately address emergencies during a pandemic. But the issue of requiring masks has been debated throughout the United States since March 2020, and the Mayor entered his Executive Order on July 13, 2020. Under these limited circumstances, the court cannot say that exigent circumstances justified bypassing the West Lafayette City Council, a local government unit with clear authority to act, by issuing an executive order with civil penalties instead.”
Dennis said the return of Purdue students and the resulting population density in West Lafayette spurred his decision to take action in mid-July -- and that the mandate drew more attention to the “reality” of wearing masks as a preventive measure against COVID-19 exposure.
“It was a success in that regard, because if you walk around the city now -- everyone’s wearing a mask,” Dennis said. “So I think it had some influence in that regard.”
After Dennis issued his order in mid-July, Tippecanoe County resident Michael Bryant filed a lawsuit on July 22 challenging its constitutionality. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced a statewide mask mandate the same day, effective July 27. That mandate initially included a Class B misdemeanor for violators, with fines of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. But that penalty was removed from the final version of the statewide order, which was just extended through Sept. 25.
Persin said Bryant’s lawsuit was “rendered partially moot” by the statewide order, but underlined the fact that while the West Lafayette order levied penalties, the state mandate did not.
“Having the judge say, ‘Hang on a second, the verbiage is good but the fine’s not’ -- I get it,” Dennis said. “I understand. Even in politics there’s a chain of command, whether it be formal or informal, and we should not -- mayors should not -- have greater authority than our governor.”
Dennis said city attorney Eric Burns was working on an amendment to the West Lafayette mandate adding the violation fines for the West Lafayette City Council’s consideration next Monday.
“There needs to be something that we can do that requires compliance, and that something has to be more than ‘because I said so,’” Dennis said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the city added consideration of an ordinance mandating masks -- and keeping the previous fines for violations -- to its council agenda for Tuesday, Sept. 8.
This story has been updated.