Dallas County Commissioner J.J. Koch escorted out of meeting after refusing to wear a mask

This story has been continuously updated with additional details from the Dallas County Commissioners Court session.

At his first meeting in about a month, four members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court showed up for work wearing masks. One does not.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told his colleagues Tuesday morning that they would have to wear masks during the meeting. He made the decision after consulting with local doctors to address growing concerns about exploding COVID-19 cases due to the contagious Delta variant.

Commissioner JJ Koch said it was a violation of the judge’s authority and refused to hide.

After half an hour, a bailiff escorted Koch from the podium on Jenkins’ orders.

The political showdown has its roots in a growing conflict across Texas that contrasts public health concerns with personal freedom. Some feel like whiplash from changing medical advice – this is necessary due to rising cases and delayed vaccination rates – and others aren’t sure who to trust.

Koch’s lawyers said he plans to sue Jenkins for the removal and that he should follow the rules set out by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

“He wants to misrepresent the law,” said Koch, a Republican who represents northern Dallas County, including Carrollton, Farmers Branch, parts of Richardson and the Park Cities. “That corresponds to his behavior. He asks for forgiveness, not permission. “

Last week Abbott issued an executive order banning government officials from demanding masks in public places and preventing vaccine mandates, including in schools and hospitals. It also prevents district judges from imposing their own coronavirus restrictions. This comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidelines last week to say vaccinated individuals should mask themselves indoors to protect themselves from COVID-19.

On Tuesday, the county reported a total of 2,132 new cases of COVID-19 over three days, a 145% increase since last week. While new data shows that unvaccinated and vaccinated people with the Delta variant can be equally contagious, health officials say vaccines are still extremely effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

Jenkins, a Democrat, said his decision to require masks at the meeting was based on an order from the Texas Supreme Court giving judges the power to take steps to protect people in their courtrooms. On Monday, other Dallas County justices said they would require masks in the courthouse, consistent with judicial orders.

Jenkins is not a judge in the legal sense. The title of district judge stems from Texas’ roots as an independent nation, when district officials had both judicial and executive responsibilities. Today, Jenkins heads the Commissioners’ Court and oversees, among other things, emergency management.

“My enemy is the virus, not everyone,” Jenkins said in a prepared statement after the meeting. “My actions that require masks in the courtroom are approved by the Texas Supreme Court and I shall serve to keep people safe as per CDC guidelines.”

The county could return to a red threat level of “stay home, stay safe,” Jenkins said, but doctors are still pondering what that would mean. Threat levels were defined before vaccines were available, so guidelines should change, he said.

“It’s just a developing situation,” said Jenkins. “In my courtroom, I want to do my best to protect you.”

The more contagious Delta variant is of concern to the county health department and is causing changes at the local and national levels, Philip Huang, the county’s health director, told the commissioners’ court session.

“It is an extremely serious situation,” said Huang. “The reason the instructions have changed is the Delta variant, which has become the dominant variety.”

UT Southwestern Medical Center predicts that Dallas and Tarrant counties will report at least 1,500 coronavirus cases daily through August 19.

In north Texas, 1,714 patients with COVID-19 are being hospitalized, Huang said, compared with just 384 patients in early July, according to state data. Most of them are not vaccinated.

After the Fair Park vaccine center closed in July, Huang said the county will resume clinics every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. until September 18, just before the State Fair of Texas begins.

At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners approved spending up to $ 255,000 on buying tickets to the State Fair or Six Flags Over Texas as an incentive for people to get vaccinated.

The county health department has stepped up efforts to make the vaccine more available in communities where vaccination rates have slowed. Teams go door-to-door telling people about clinics and recordings are distributed at back-to-school fairs and other community events.

After briefly going to a board meeting at the beginning of the meeting on Tuesday, Jenkins told the commissioners – namely Koch – that they had until 9:30 a.m. to mask themselves or join the meeting virtually from another room. The other four commissioners, including Jenkins, were masked at the beginning of the meeting.

“Inspector Koch”, he asked after the deadline at 9.30 a.m., “you refuse to wear a mask?”

“Yes,” said Koch. “You do not have the authority under the governor’s order.”

Jenkins asked the bailiff to remove Koch, who was collecting his things and left. The bailiff escorted him from the dais to another room.

The commissioners paused for almost an hour while he tried to get the virtual meeting up and running from his nearby office. When the line resumed and Jenkins called for a vote on the next item on the agenda, Koch said he could not effectively attend the meeting remotely.

“At the moment you are violating the governor’s order,” he said on his video feed.

Koch said he wanted to vote, but didn’t feel comfortable doing it. He said he hired a law firm to issue an injunction to prevent the court from proceeding without his physical presence. Late Tuesday, attorneys representing Koch said they planned to file lawsuits against Jenkins on Wednesday morning.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins struck a gavel next to the empty seat of Dallas County Commissioner JJ Koch with a gavel during a commissioners’ court session Tuesday. Previously, Koch had been escorted from the meeting because he refused to wear a mask. (Elias Valverde II / The Dallas Morning News)(Elias Valverde II / employee photographer)

“Of course you are welcome here if you adhere to the mask requirement,” said Jenkins.

Koch later said in a phone interview that he had a mask in his pocket during the meeting, but argued that Jenkins exceeded his authority by requesting that he wear it.

Every time Jenkins visited him, Koch repeated that Koch considered the mandate to be inappropriate because the meeting was an “extrajudicial function”. He requested several times that Jenkins – who said the cook was “as the chief dictator in this court” – have the mandate lifted and allow him to resume without a mask.

“You have clearly expressed your authority to impose a face-covering requirement on an elected official outside of the governor’s orders,” said Koch.

“We’ll consider all of this,” said Jenkins, moving on to the next item on the agenda.

Koch later requested that the session be adjourned until another court could rule on the matter and requested that the session be adjourned until Wednesday.

Instead, the court continued its business.

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