UPDATED - The “page” about Ordinance 2145 has been disappeared from the State College Borough website
The ordinance itself, set to expire Jan. 31, is still available through five hits under “content” and one hit under “files.”
UPDATED with comment from Denise Trostle, Borough Administration Clerk, received this afternoon, citing Ordinance 2152, “examined and approved as an ordinance January 4, 2021, ”effective upon its approval and set to expire May 31, 2021. See below.
ORIGINAL POST
The link provided in the officer’s Dec. 31 response (see prior post) went to a live page as of January 1, but now goes to a 404 message.
So it was taken down at some point in the last four weeks.
A keyword search on “Ordinance 2145” (as of today anyway) yields zero items under the “Pages” tab, five items under the “Content” tab, and one item under the “Files” tab.
Further, a search in the Borough Code yields a “null” result.
SCPD already confirmed that police don’t have the authority to arrest anyone.
Without the ordinance, police don’t even have authority to issue citations for $300 fines to people who refuse to wear masks, or business owners that allow unmasked people inside their premises, or people who gather in large groups in public or private spaces. And judges have no authority to levy the fines.
This seems at odds with a January 22 Twitter post by the State College Police Department and recent reporting by WTAJ that the mask mandate, social distancing mandates, and occupancy limits have been “extended” — by agents and actions at dates and times unknown — until May 31.
Interestingly, the SCPD Twitter post doesn’t cite any authorizing ordinance at all.
UPDATE - 2:45 p.m. January 29 - Email received from Denise Trostle, Borough Adminstration Clerk:
Wanted to let you know that the Borough launched a new website this week. It looks like the “404” link you posted below was saved from our old website, as it references “document center,” which is no longer a part of the new website.
If you go to the website and search for 2145 or Ordinance 2145, it will come up in several places. After you search, you will see 3 tabs above the search results. In an instance such as this where you are looking for a specific document, the “Files” tab will net you the most direct results.
Also, the extension of the date for the mask ordinance, as well as some changes to language, occurred with Ordinance 2152, which can also be found on the website.
With the website being so new, we do anticipate that users could encounter errors here and there – although hopefully nothing major. Should you encounter errors with the new site, please be sure to email your feedback to: webadmin@statecollegepa.us so errors can be addressed.
Coincidently, I found a slight glitch with the new system when writing this email. Right now, to find Ordinance 2152, you have to search just plain 2152 or Ord 2152. It will not come up when searching with the full word Ordinance. We are working to get that corrected, but it may be next week before it’s resolved.
Editor’s Note: Mask mandates, social distancing mandates, business closures and occupancy limits are unjustifiable, unconstitutional and totalitarian, and effective only for social control, not for infection control.
I concede Trostle’s point: Borough Council has continued its illegitimate power grabs from last spring, August 4, 2020 (Ordinance 2144), and August 17, 2020 (Ordinance 2145), by engaging in another illegitimate “legislative act,” this time on January 4, 2021 (Ordinance 2152).