City Council votes to approve Lopez as health director

After calls that interim Health Director Pat Lopez didn’t have the authority to enforce directed health measures, Monday afternoon the Lincoln City council voted to approve her.

The  Council chose to split the decision into two parts – the first about whether to approve Lopez’s position and the second about whether to approve her past actions as interim.

The first part of the vote carried 7-0. The second part of the vote carried 6-1.

The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners and county health board are also scheduled to vote on whether to approve Lopez’s position Tuesday. The position requires the approval of all three governing bodies.

Tensions were high at the City Council meeting as many people stood up and questioned the decisions made by the City and the Health Department since the pandemic. Including, the mask mandate and declaring an emergency at the beginning of the pandemic.

“The bottom line, the counsel has to take  ownership for all the damage that has been done by these measures. These measures are a direct function of your trigger happy action to give our mayor and your health director an open ended emergency situation when an emergency didn’t exist at the time,” one speaker said.

Still, council members standing in support of Pat Lopez.

“She has operated with full authority, with full legality. There is nothing that the interim health director has done that has gone beyond her authority,” council member Jane Raybold said.

This is a developing story, we will continue to provide updates as they become available.