A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BUTTS COUNTY IMPOSING A MASK REQUIREMENT DURING A PUBLIC HEALTH STATE OF EMERGENCY; TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE RESOLUTION ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS; TO AUTHORIZE THE CLERK OF THE 123RD SESSION OF BUTTS COUNTY TO ATTEST ALL DOCUMENTS; AND FOR OTHER RELATED AND LAWFUL PURPOSES.

WHEREAS, Butts County is a duly created and validly existing political subdivision of the State of Georgia under the Constitution and laws of the state of Georgia, and;

WHEREAS, the Butts County Board of Commissioners is the governing authority of the County, elected by the qualified electors of Butts County and vested with fiscal and legislative responsibilities necessary to the managing of the affairs of the County government, as well as the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Butts County, and;

WHEREAS, in late 2019, a new and significant outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, and the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, known as “COVID-19” is an infectious virus that can spread from person-to-person and can result in serious illness or death, and;

WHEREAS, numerous declarations, states of emergency and other public health related mandates have been issued since March 13, 2020, when the President of the United States declared a national emergency, followed by the Governor of Georgia who declared an unprecedented public health emergency in the State of Georgia on March 14, 2020 due to the effects of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, with subsequent continuances and revisions, and;

WHEREAS, Butts County has, since March 14, 2020, had over 1,300 cases, 48 deaths, 81 hospitalizations and 35 County employees who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus, and;

WHEREAS, the County Governing Authority made the unprecedented decision to close public access to County government buildings and in certain cases, to close non-critical services and shutter community programs in an effort to slow the potential spread of the virus and to protect public employees from possibly interacting with potentially infected citizens and visitors to government buildings for several weeks in 2020, and;

WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners wishes to help mitigate the spread of virus, to protect citizens and employees, as well as to help reduce the overburdensome caseload that is severely impacting all Georgia hospitals by helping to prevent further spread of the virus, now, therefore be it:

RESOLVED, the Commission hereby declares that the foregoing preamble and whereas provisions set forth hereinabove constitute, and shall be considered to be, substantive provisions of this Resolution and are hereby incorporated by reference into this provision, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in light of the aforementioned orders and advice from local, state and federal officials, the Members feel that a mask requirement in the County Administrative Office Building, the center of the Government of Butts County, is in order, and:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all persons entering the County Administrative Office Building shall be required to wear a face mask which covers the nose and mouth of the wearer while in common areas such as hallways, lobbies, and common room where routine and intermittent contact with others is highly likely, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all persons working in the County Administrative Office Building shall likewise be required to wear a mask when occupying any of the aforementioned common areas, but shall not be required to wear a mask when occupying private workspaces or within their designated office suites, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that through this Resolution, the Board of Commissioners, as the acknowledged owner and holder of all buildings and properties of the Government of Butts County, as statutorily defined in O.C.G.A. 36-5-22.1(a)(1) and O.C.G.A. 36-9-2, which states both that “The governing authority of each county has original and exclusive jurisdiction over the directing and controlling of all the property of the county, according to law, as the governing authority deems expedient” and “The county governing authority shall have the control of all property belonging to the county”, and under such law has the absolute and final authority over any county government facility, building, road, street, bridge, public lands or fixtures that serves a public purpose, does therefore authorize the Administration, as deemed necessary, to extend and include any other County-owned facility, to include buildings and grounds, as defined in the Code sections cited above, under these requirements for face masks and does charge all department managers and executives with enforcing the requirements of this mandate, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the express intention of the Board of Commissioners that each independent provision of this Resolution should be adopted, and that the Board would have adopted each such independent provision, even if the others had not been adopted; therefore, in the event that a court of competent jurisdiction finds that any of the aforementioned provisions of this Resolution to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, it is the intent of the Board of Commissioners that the offending provision be severed, and that all lawful provisions shall remain in force, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution and all provisions herein, shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its signature by the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners and shall terminate when repealed by the same Board or if higher authorities revoke the provisions herein and that any and all resolutions or parts of resolutions, in conflict with this Resolution shall be, and to the extent of such conflict are, hereby repealed, and;

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Board authorizes the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners to sign this Resolution on their behalf and further authorizes the Clerk of the 123rd Session to attest all signatures and to file this this Resolution in the Book of Resolutions, Volume 1, and as such, it is hereby:
Adopted in open session this 11th Day of January, 2021 in Butts County, Georgia.

/S/ Joe Brown, Chairman
Butts County Board of Commissioners

/S/ J. Michael Brewer, Deputy County Manager
Clerk of the 123rd Session