OCALA, FL (352today.com) – No one wants to go through a global pandemic again. But in the event of one, Marion County residents will be able to make personal health decisions.
On Tuesday, July 16, the Marion County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously 5-0 in favor of adopting a Health Freedom Bill of Rights ordinance.
Over the course of several meetings leading up to the vote, citizens expressed concerns and beliefs about policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, like vaccination requirements and mask mandates.
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Commissioner Matt McClain was charged with the task of leading the project and developing something that best suited Marion County.
“We didn’t want to take what some other county had done and do a copy and paste job for an ordinance, that’s just not going to work for us,” said McClain. We came up with something really good.”
More than a year ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation safeguarding the rights of Floridians against medical mandates. Marion County is among the local governments that has now followed suit.
“We can go and develop policy and procedure now that we have this in our ordinance about how we’re going to handle this type of situation if it arises,” said McClain. “Hopefully, we never have to use this ordinance, but this allows us to be supportive of those ideas and develop policies and procedures in how we can be an active participant in protecting people’s rights.”
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The county says the ordinance protects the civil liberties and individual rights of Marion County residents.
“We’re going to have something in writing that aligns with the State of Florida’s position,” said Michelle Stone, Marion County Board of County Commissioners chairwoman. “We’ll be able to make our local decisions. We’re protecting our local employees as well, and that they can feel comfortable making their own personal health decisions, whether or not they want to be vaccinated, whether or not they want to wear a mask, and that’s a personal decision.”
Marion County resident Bob Schmidt spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We need to sit there and affirm our beliefs at the local level that supports what the legislation is,” said Schmidt. “I would like to see this be an example for the 66 other counties in the state of Florida. Marion County did it the right way. We’ve joined a couple of other counties, but this should be a contagion in the State of Florida to the other counties.”