🤠: 'An old family tradition'
This week Johnson County is back at it again, defying the state.
August 3, 2020 | Letter No. 1
When the national minimum wage was too low, county leadership set the county on a trajectory to require $10.10 an hour by 2017. When 2017 came, the Iowa State Legislature nullified its ability to do so.
Prior to this summer, if you walked into a Johnson County or Iowa City government building, you’d find a sign saying guns were prohibited. The Legislature put an end to that too, making it only possible to enforce if those cities were willing to eat the costs for staffing round-the-clock metal detector searches at all entrances.
As Iowa City has tried to manage housing densities in its core neighborhoods, the Legislature struck down not one but two tools: the regulation of rental permits by familial status and a system limiting the number of permits in a given neighborhood.
Trend 1: Someone in the People’s Republic of Johnson County sees a problem and implements a tool only to have the state step in and slap it out of their hands.
Just a few months ago, the hyphenate “shelter-in-place” was all the rage. It was a COVID-19 mitigation strategy that would require a certain section of the population to remain indoors. You’ll remember when Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague told me at the end of March that if Reynolds didn’t make “serious moves” towards a shelter-in-place order, he would.
That day, Gov. Kim Reynolds said she’d conferred with the Iowa Attorney General, and they opined mayors do not have this power. Back in March, most of us sorted Teague’s statement with Trend 1: our area’s long history of getting browbeat by the State. Given Teague’s comments the following day where he applauded Reynolds for her mitigation effort, I can understand that.
But you’d be wrong. This is different.
Trend 2: The State bans a tool, and someone from Johnson County picks it up anyway.
With the recent July mask mandate, we see Trend 2 in its full effect. Muscatine Mayor Diana Broderson was actually the first in the state to issue a face-covering mandate, but Muscatine City Council — mirroring its long tradition of striking away Broderson’s powers — declawed her order with the help of an uncooperative county attorney.
During this time, Reynolds was clear she believed Iowa Code did not give mayors the ability to declare mask mandates as included in mayors’ stipulated emergency powers. This was the same argument on the same bit of code she previously used against the municipal shelter-in-place order.
As Iowa’s governor said no to municipal maks mandate, Iowa City’s mayor took to Facebook Live to issue a mask mandate. The order included a simple misdemeanor charge — meaning that if a person was unwilling to comply with the order, they could expect a fine ranging from $105 to $885, to be determined by a judge.
We’re two weeks into this order and thus far, no citations have been issued under Teague’s order. Iowa City Police are enforcing the order based on the receipt of complaints. The city has issued boxes of disposable masks to help bring people in compliance and are thinking about the citation as “last resort” — one ICPD spokesperson, Capt. Denise Brotherton, said she wouldn’t imagine an instance where the charge would be needed.
But if someone does get cited, there are many looking to see what will happen. If the accused decides to fight the charge, there are many attorneys around the state wondering what the Supreme Court will decide. After all, the Governor and the AG’s Office can tell Johnson County to put tools like a mask mandate down, but whether the County does is not their decision.
And slouching towards Tuesday, we have an exciting vote ahead. The Johnson County Board of Health will take up a mask mandate ordinance with a simple misdemeanor similar to Iowa City’s. It appears to have unanimous support. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors’ also seems to unanimously support the ordinance and will take it up this Thursday. County Attorney Janett Lyness believes an ordinance originating from the BOH is enforceable, relying on some BOH powers stipulated by Iowa Code.
If this ordinance moves forward, we will have two local governments openly defying the governor using two different code arguments; by these different approaches, a court could rule differently in each case.
Maybe the public health crisis means our actions at this moment are not reflective of our actions in another circumstance. One thing we do know: Iowa City and Johnson County approached their power differently in the last few weeks. They did so and could do it again the next time the state decides to slap a tool out of their hands. Whether it is minimum wage, gun prohibitions, or rental permits, they could choose to approach power differently again.
Your friendly neighborhood reporter,
Zachary Oren Smith
What’s happening this week:
Monday - IPR’s Ben Kieffer is having me on River to River to talk about the Board of Health’s vote (^^), as well as some of my reporting on Coralville’s disproportionate policing of black people. It will air at noon. Tune in.
Tuesday - Iowa City Council will meet for a 5 p.m. work session and 7 p.m. formal session. I’m planning to publish a preview of this meeting tomorrow by noon.
Thursday - Iowa City’s Public Art Advisory Board will consider how to approach the Iowa Freedom Riders’ demand for more Black Lives Matter-oriented artwork in the city. ● Iowa City Council will also have a 3 p.m. special meeting. More on that tomorrow.
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Zachary Oren Smith writes about government, growth and development for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach him at zsmith@press-citizen.com, at 319 -339-7354 or on Twitter via @Zacharyos.