Special council meeting set for Thursday afternoon to discuss revised Milwaukee mask mandate

MILWAUKEE -- A special Milwaukee Common Council Public Safety and Health Committee meeting will be held Thursday, July 9 at 2:30 p.m. to discuss the MKE Cares Milwaukee mask mandate following "extensive input from members of the community," Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, who introduced the ordinance, said in a news release.

Dimitrijevic noted since being introduced, MKE Cares has received diverse support from local small businesses, thousands of residents via a change.org petition, local healthcare providers, VISIT Milwaukee, The Milwaukee Area Labor Council and United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, among others.

“It’s great to have had a community discussion over the past few days about mask use to protect our neighbors," said Dimitrijevic in the release. "We’ve taken your feedback and combined it with science and best practices to develop a MKE Cares plan that will keep us all safe. We won’t regret requiring people to cover their faces in this pandemic, but will regret it if we don’t.”

The MKE Cares ordinance can be viewed here and includes the following enhancements:

The release noted officials are accepting public input ahead of Thursday's meeting. You can submit your thoughts by following these steps:

1. Visit milwaukee.legistar.com/Calendar.

2. Select the “e-comment” button across from the meeting during which the file will be heard. Meeting info is listed above.

3. Scroll down to the item number that corresponds to the desired file and click the “comment” button.

4. Fill in the necessary information, select a position and type a comment in the comment box. Note that comments are limited to 600 characters.

5. Hit submit.

The Public Safety and Health Committee will also discuss a resolution directing the Milwaukee Health Department to establish a program that would allow all residents to receive a free face mask with a goal of creating "an equitable means for hundreds of thousands of residents across the entire city to receive masks free of charge."