Larimer Sheriff Questions County Mask Order, State Eviction Ban

The City of Fort Collins and Larimer County both enacted emergency orders requiring masks in public enclosed spaces this week, and the public has had mixed reactions to the new rules.

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith is one of those with an apprehensive view of the orders.

He expressed his concerns in a Facebook post on Monday (May 4), noting that he did not feel the County was justified in making a legal mandate to wear masks.

Smith stated he felt that officials implemented the order just "because someone else did it," and not because of legitimate scientific reasoning.

The sheriff explained that he had no problem with individual stores requiring masks, but that he saw the public health order as an overstep on the government's part.

"If the state or local government impose unreasonable and unjustified restrictions on citizens, they will sacrifice their future credibility on public health matters," he stated in the post. "It's time to roll back the order and return personal decision making to the citizens."

This isn't the first time that Sheriff Smith has had reservations about a government order.

He conveyed his unease about Governor Polis' ban on evictions for the month of May in another Facebook post on Friday (May 1).

Smith stated that Polis did not have the power to "usurp the authority of either the legislative or judicial branches of state government" with the ban, nothing that if a Larimer County judge issued an eviction, he would choose to honor it.