CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- The back and forth over a federal vaccine mandate has towns like Clarksville, Indiana, considering its own policies.
"This is a very big thing for the town," Councilman Mike Mustain said Thursday.
Clarksville, while technically a town still operates a lot like a city, employing more than 100 people.
"I would rather go slow and get it right," Mustain said.
The town council voted Thursday night to table its conversation on what's been deemed the federal vaccine mandate.
Mustain said the name "vaccine mandate" gives it a bad connotation.
"It has been almost vilified by people saying this is a vaccine mandate," he said. "This is a COVID policies and procedures mandate that is coming down."
The policy comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and says companies with more than 100 employees must require their employees to be vaccinated or be subject to masking while inside and weekly COVID-19 tests.
"We follow OSHA guidelines every day in the workplace. This is not unlike any other OSHA guidelines that comes down or federal guidelines," Mustain said.
He supports the policy, but chose to table it at the council meeting because there's still a chance things could continue to change, considering the ongoing national legal battles.
Councilman John Gilkey voted against tabling the policy, saying the town shouldn't wait.
"Tabling the matter in hopes that the Supreme Court will overturn the mandate is, in my opinion, a dereliction of the responsibility of elected town officials to protect the town's workforce and the public at large," Gilkey said in a statement.
"I'm not going to say John was wrong. I just think that we needed to bring this just a little closer to the edge before setting in place something that might have to be revised," Mustain said.
The majority sided with Mustain and the council is scheduled to discuss the policy again on Jan. 4. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to take up the issue on Jan. 7.
Related Stories:
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
