City Of Las Vegas Enforcement, Education Efforts Continue On Governor’s Recent Mask Directive

News Release

David Riggleman | Director of Communications | 702.229.2207

 

August 3, 2020 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: DIANA PAUL  | 702.229.6582 | 702.271.3030

 

 City Of Las Vegas Enforcement, Education Efforts Continue On Governor’s Recent Mask Directive

More Than 3,000 Businesses Visited By Compliance Ambassadors, 48 Citations Issued By Business License Officers July 23-July 30

   

     The city of Las Vegas continues to enforce and to educate businesses about the governor’s recent mask directive and social distancing requirements. The goals of these actions are for our community to be safe, for our economy to continue to improve and for businesses to stay open. July 23-30, more than 3,000 businesses in the city were visited by compliance ambassadors, especially in zones where the COVID-19 outbreaks have been higher. Most businesses were observed to be in compliance with the governor’s directive for face coverings and social distancing, with 209 violations observed by business license officers. Most businesses come into compliance very quickly once educated about the requirements.

     Compliance ambassadors are not enforcing the directive; they are observing behaviors and verifying whether violations are occurring. If there is an enforcement action that needs to be taken, that will be done by a business license officer. July 23-29, business license officers issued 48 notices of violations.

     The compliance ambassadors are existing city employees; they are not new hires or newly added positions. These employees have been reassigned to the ambassadors program temporarily, by their original department. These ambassadors have been trained to identify whether any violations of the directive are occurring and to educate the business owners. If these ambassadors observe a clear violation of the directive, they will refer that to a business license officer who will then visit the business and address the violation. Business license officers have the ability to write citations and issue fines.

     By using ambassadors to observe behaviors, business license officers are able to focus 100 percent of their time on addressing violations, to help keep customers and employees safe. Previously, business license officers were spending much of their time trying to verify if a violation was happening, which meant that fewer complaints could be addressed each day. Due to the efforts of the compliance ambassadors, business license officers can now devote 100 percent of their time to actual verified complaints and address those situations to aid our business community in operating as safely as it can.

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