OMAHA — Omaha is about to add a new layer of elected oversight to the final decision on any future mask mandates, and that will be enough to get the State of Nebraska to drop its lawsuit against the city and its health director.

The Omaha City Council passed an ordinance on Tuesday, April 5 that gives the mayor and council power to veto emergency health rules ordered by the city's health director during a pandemic.

Upon the mayor's signature, the state will drop its lawsuit challenging the city's former ordinance which let the health director act alone.

The attorney general brought the lawsuit after Lindsay Huse, health director for the City of Omaha as well as Douglas County, enacted a COVID-19-related mask mandate in the city on Jan. 12. She ended the mandate in mid-February.

Huse has since said the mandate was pivotal to slowing hospitalizations that threatened to overwhelm the city's medical providers.

“I would have liked to see more of public health’s suggestions for the ordinance incorporated, but no matter what, we are here to protect the public’s health and we remain steadfast to that commitment. I look forward to working with the Mayor and City Council in the future,” Huse said in a statement Wednesday.

Mayor Jean Stothert, a Republican, and City Council member Vinny Palermo, a Democrat, justified their decision by pointing out elected officials are accountable to the people through voting whereas the health director is politically insulated. They said the people should get to weigh in on such actions.

In a statement Wednesday, Peterson said the new veto powers appear to address the state's concerns about the legality of Omaha's approach to mandates.

For the full article click HERE