The Mobile City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to approve a resolution from Councilman Fred Richardson limiting how people may gather on property owned by the City of Mobile, part of a wave of local measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
The measure requires anyone on city-owned property to keep a consistent six-foot distance from others for as long as the state health officer’s emergency order remains in effect. It also directs Mobile’s mayor to take whatever steps are needed to carry out the distancing requirement and gives the mayor authority to close city property to the public altogether if that spacing cannot be maintained. The closure power carves out exceptions for COVID-19 testing, other efforts to fight the outbreak, and official city business.
Council President Levon Manzie and Councilwoman Bess Rich both phoned in to cast votes in favor of the resolution, joining Richardson, Gina Gregory and C.J. Small in the 5-2 majority. Councilmen Joel Daves and John Williams voted no. The item consumed much of the council’s work session before Tuesday’s regular meeting, with debate stretching close to an hour.
Richardson said the resolution was not meant to stop residents from visiting parks or taking walks, but to prevent people from gathering in groups. “Nothing in my resolution says anything about closing parks,” he said. “The reason we have so few cases here in Mobile is because people haven’t been tested. We don’t know what it is until we start testing. The only way to jump on COVID-19 is to separate the well from the sick. Until we know who is sick, we have to use some restraint ourselves.”
Public Safety Director James Barber and Public Works Director John DeLapp told the council the resolution would reinforce, rather than duplicate, an order Gov. Kay Ivey had already issued statewide restricting large gatherings. Williams pointed to Ivey’s order as evidence a local rule wasn’t needed, while Daves said he agreed with Richardson’s underlying concern about people clustering less than six feet apart but doubted the city could actually enforce the new rule.
“Our public safety director said it doesn’t really add anything to attack the issue,” Daves said. “I’m hesitant about being finite, and I want to have the mayor have some flexibility. I’m not sure how enforceable this is by keeping people six feet apart.”
Rich raised concerns specific to her district, telling colleagues that constituents had questions about conditions at Medal of Honor Park, which includes walking trails. “I think the trails should remain open,” she said. “But I’m not sure about playgrounds. The whole idea is to not fracture our healthcare system. Organized sports and reunions should not be held at parks.”
Small said he went into the discussion undecided before ultimately voting yes. “I’m on the fence,” he said. “We have only three confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mobile County, and we should look at the resolution before passing it. Kids don’t really have anything to do. I would rather have them use their energy (at a park) rather than breaking into someone’s houses.” By Tuesday morning, the county’s confirmed case count had risen to five.
The vote came amid a broader wave of local and state action in March 2020 as Alabama officials moved to slow the spread of COVID-19. Ivey’s statewide order was already restricting large gatherings, and cities across the state were weighing their own supplemental rules for enforcing distancing on public property. Mobile’s resolution gave the mayor’s office a specific directive for managing city-owned parks and facilities if voluntary compliance with the six-foot rule broke down.