CENTRE COUNTY, BELLEFONTE, Pa. (WTAJ) — The Bellefonte Borough Council voted to postpone their discussion on possibly implementing a masking ordinance.
Board Member, Micheal Prendergast was one of many who attended the council meeting held on Zoom, Tuesday night. He says “it doesn’t make sense to postpone it. If people are against it, people are against it.” While he and others believed that the mask-wearing ordinance should go into immediate effect, some disagreed.
Bellefonte business owner, Stacie Pudliner says “were putting extra pressure on the children and then obviously the police officers. We need to be aware of this. This is already a stressful situation so now were adding more stress and more pressure in places it doesn’t need to be.”
Bellefonte police say if they were to establish a mask ordinance, refusal to follow it could result in up to a $150 fine.
Other issues discussed in the zoom meeting were losing business and concerns for students coming into town. One Bellefonte resident says “if we impose this we are driving more business away, they will go online, they will go to other communities that don’t force them to wear masks… And we are not Penn State. We are not the students.”
The board decided to table this for further discussion in a physical setting where more community members can give their input.
Tonight’s discussion will be posted to the CNET Centre County Youtube page. It can be found here.
