Build that wall? This city defied Tarrant County guidelines on coronavirus protections
When you cross the Texas state line, the sign says: “Drive Friendly.”
It should say: “Welcome to Texas. Don’t Count On Help.”
It’s a point of pride with Texans that we expect very little of our government.
Last week, that’s what we got.
After Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley of Hurst spent two days telling us the novel coronavirus isn’t deadly and that he couldn’t close bars or restaurants like Dallas County did, it fell to Gov. Greg Abbott to finally take decisive action.
Then there were libertarian enclaves such as Colleyville, where city leaders and elected officials thumbed their nose even at Whitley’s timid Wednesday order closing restaurant dining rooms, bars and public facilities.
In Tea Party-run Colleyville, the 10th-richest city in America, City Council member Chuck Kelley wrote on Facebook that his city would not close restaurants without the governor’s order.
“We are not required to follow Tarrant County mandates,” he wrote, “ ... So we are still open for business.”
Mayor Richard Newton agreed.
“We definitely follow guidance from the president. We definitely follow guidance from the governor,” Newton said.
But when it comes to Tarrant County plans, he said, “we have our own.”
Abbott finally ordered restaurants to close dining rooms Friday at midnight.
But that meant Colleyville and other rogue cities were four days behind Dallas officials’ order to closing restaurants there, and one day behind even Whitley’s belated order.
That’s four more days of COVID-19 spreading in Colleyville.
All week, a few libertarian activists in Dallas and Fort Worth raised legal questions about whether county judges and mayors have the legal authority to close businesses as the acute respiratory virus was spreading unchecked throughout the community.
A Texas law written for hurricane evacuations says clearly that county judges and mayors have the power to “control the movement of persons and the occupancy of premises.”
That seems clear enough for most Texas county judges, including Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
Newton and Colleyville City Manager Jerry Ducay cited a different Texas law saying that cities can have their own “emergency management program.”
“There is a huge difference between the big cities and Colleyville,” Newton said.
Oh? Do go on.
“We have great citizens in Colleyville who pay attention to all this stuff and abide by the recommendations made for everyone,” he said.
Yes. But the city also has a high percentage of DFW Airport airline pilots and employees flying all over the world. Its residents do not live behind a wall.
Nobody else seems to read the law the same way as Colleyville.
A spokeswoman for District Attorney Sharen Wilson’s office said that disaster law grants “greater authority” to county judges than the city emergency management law Colleyville cited.
In other words, a city can have its own plan, but that doesn’t override county officials’ constitutional authority.
At the Texas Conference of Urban Counties office in Austin, executive director and general counsel John Cahill said he had never even heard of a city raising the question.
Colleyville officials did mention an economic incentive program for local restaurants.
The city will give each resident a $35 gift card for to-go orders at city restaurants.
Cough on that.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
