May 6, 2020 254 PM
PRESIDIO COUNTY — The writing was on the wall for Presidio County Commissioner Buddy Knight. Governor Greg Abbott had issued GA-18, his latest order that would begin to “reopen” the Texas economy on April 27. While Abbott had relied on local governments to shut themselves down during the coronavirus, the state’s newest order opened things up –– and seemingly took away local power to restrict reopening in any way.
In neighboring Brewster and Jeff Davis counties, officials let their local orders expire before May 1, letting the governor’s orders take over. Some officials remarked they felt their hands were tied.
Across the state, Presidio County, Marfa, Brewster County, Alpine, Jeff Davis County, Galveston, Fayette County and Port Aransas had restricted short-term lodging during April. By May 1, Marfa and Presidio County were the sole holdouts in Texas.
While Knight says he wasn’t against closing hotels, motels and short-term rentals for longer, the advice from Texas Association of Counties and their outside counsel said the governor’s executive order would supersede orders by the county. Even though GA-18 never mentioned hotels explicitly, counsel, including County Attorney Rod Ponton, told commissioners that restricting hotels wasn’t a viable option.
“I’d rather have 1,000 lawsuits for remaining closed, than to feel like one person’s death was on us having opened,” Commissioner Brenda Bentley said at a meeting last Thursday. Commissioners took a vote on a proposal by Bentley that would keep hotels closed to all but essential workers until May 15. It aligned with the actions Marfa City Council took the previous night.
Commissioner Eloy Aranda noted the governor’s lack of explicit instructions for hotels, calling it “very unclear,” to which Commissioner Jose Cabezuela agreed. The state’s superseding would be based on hotel workers being classified as essential workers in a document GA-18 references, meaning they could not be restricted in any way.
“My only comment, Judge, was that based on the consultation with the governor’s office and attorneys for TAC, the motion as presented would be in violation of GA-18,” said attorney Ponton.
“I’m here to represent people and that’s what people are telling me they want me to do,” Bentley responded. With that, Bentley’s motion carried, with Knight and Judge Cinderela Guevara providing the minority of dissenting votes.
“I voted what I thought was the correct thing to do. It’s not always the best thing,” Knight said this week, “but I took an oath to follow the laws of the state of Texas and that was a thing that our lawyer in Austin told us we couldn’t do – and it proved to be true.”
It was proven within 24 hours. A still unidentified individual contacted the governor’s office, explained the county’s actions, provided a copy of Ponton’s memorandum to commissioners and included a letter requesting the county’s hotel restrictions be lifted, according to Judge Guevara.
On Friday evening, the county order to close hotels, motels and short-term rentals was finalized and released to the public. Attached to the same email was a second order that rescinded the first, and explained that Abbott’s general counsel, Jeff Oldham, had personally contacted Guevara to say “the closure of hotels by Presidio County is unlawful.” In Presidio County, hotels, motels and short-term rentals are allowed to be fully operational once again.
