Council discusses mask requirement

Purcell’s City Council meeting Monday in the Police Service Building’s community room was pretty routine and mundane.

That is until the final topic of the meeting came up.

Mayor Ted Cox, who has about 10 members of his immediate family who have contracted COVID-19, brought up the discussion of the possibility of requiring face masks in Purcell to help control the spread of the virus.

The discussion lasted nearly 20 minutes with the council agreeing to follow up to draft a resolution.

The matter will be addressed at the December 21 special meeting the council said.

PMH CEO/CNO Kem Scully told the council Purcell Municipal Hospital is 89 percent COVID-19 with the hospital near capacity.

“We are overrun in Purcell with COVID cases,” Scully told the council. “We only have one bed in use that’s not COVID.”

“Hospitals in Oklahoma City are overrun where there are no beds for regular patients. We need to do something to flatten the curve,” she said.

Purcell Dentist Dr. Glenn Mead also addressed the council about mask wearing, something for which he has great passion.

Councilman Danny Jacobs said the resolution needs to be a cooperative effort between the city and the chamber of commerce.

In other business the council passed several resolutions and ordinances unanimously including:

• a resolution directing filing and notification to the city’s code or ordinances

• an ordinance naming the street on the south side of the new hospital as Hospital Drive

In the Purcell Public Works Authority meeting trustees accepted the 2019-2020 audit for PMH and approved a change order for the new hospital’s sewer project amounting to $139,965.20 and approved a new pump for the main sewer lift station.

Trustees also voted to approve an agreement with Sullivan & Associates to rehabilitate and reconfigure the Canadian Avenue Lift Station.

In addition to Cox and Jacobs, also present were council members Theda Engert and Jay Tate. 

Councilman Graham Fishburn was absent due to COVID quarantining.