A difference of opinion between city and county governments in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic included a cease and desist letter from the county attorney to the city’s chief legal officer over a citywide mask mandate approved by the Memphis City Council.

But the exchange of letters by the attorneys didn’t have “any material effect” on the cooperation between the city and county on responding to the pandemic, according to the city’s chief operating officer.

The letters from July 2020 were released Thursday, March 17, by the county mayoral campaign of Ken Moody, an assistant to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland who is challenging incumbent County Mayor Lee Harris in the May Democratic primary.

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Moody and Republican mayoral contender Worth Morgan have been critical of the response of Harris and his administration to the pandemic and have suggested the reaction included rebuffing city offers of assistance.

The issue in the exchange was the City Council’s passage of a mask mandate in June 2020 for Memphis. Moody claims it shows “the depths the county mayor and his administration were willing to go to stop the city of Memphis from assisting the Shelby County Health Department at an unprecedented time in our nation’s history.”

But the letters show specific county concerns about a part of the city mask ordinance that dealt with potential city authority to undertake contact tracing, a specific duty of the Shelby County Health Department.

The letters were obtained through a public records request by Moody’s campaign.

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Strickland has taken no position on the race for county mayor.

After reviewing the exchange of letters from July 2020 between county attorney Marlinee Iverson and city chief legal officer Jennifer Sink, City Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen told The Daily Memphian there was some “push and pull” about the roles the two governments played in the pandemic response in the early stages.

After reading the letters, McGowen said it refreshed his memory on what was one of many issues with which local leaders across jurisdictional lines were grappling in the public health crisis.

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“None of that had any material effect in advancing the work of the task force for the benefit of the city and the county,” McGowen said of the citywide mask mandate, referring to the combined city, county and suburban task force that responded to the COVID pandemic and interacted with state officials.

The disagreement was not public at the time as a very public difference of opinion on the terms of a business shutdown took center stage.

Neither Strickland nor Harris ever publicly discussed any disagreement over the mask ordinance approved by the council.

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The July 10, 2020, letter from Iverson to Sink has some strong language about the council’s passage of a mask mandate the previous month ahead of a later countywide mask mandate issued by the Shelby County Health Department.

The mask mandate applied to gatherings in indoor public spaces within the city.

The letter on county government letterhead requests “the immediate cessation of all activities” that “contradict or impede steps taken by the SCHD in its response to the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Of the city’s mask ordinance specifically, Iverson said the passage of the ordinance “and any acts taken pursuant to it are not authorized by law, create confusion and interfere with lawful operations underway in the SCHD’s current pandemic response.”

Iverson was specifically concerned about a section of the ordinance that allowed for the city to do some contact tracing in addition to the mask ordinance, which is a section she refers to several times in the letter.

She also said that action and others could have “unintended consequences of undermining the pandemic-related mitigation efforts of the SCHD by confusing the public.”

The letter came as Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was resisting calls for a statewide mask mandate and ultimately left the decision up to individual counties.

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Meanwhile, the city of Memphis was moving some city workers to the still forming contact tracing effort under the umbrella of the Shelby County Health Department.

Sink’s response on July 22, 2020, to Iverson’s letter reads that she is “frankly perplexed” by the county’s response.

“For its part, the council’s mask ordinance was a necessary measure, for which the city administration had dedicated significant resources in a public communications campaign and enforcement resources,” Sink wrote. “The ordinance has undoubtedly resulted in a substantial increase in the number of people wearing masks.”

Sink also replies that Strickland had “unequivocally advised” Harris ahead of Iverson’s letter that “he has no present intention to undertake any action to engage in quarantine or contact tracing activities.”

“While you threaten potential legal action, I do not see any legal basis for any lawsuit to restrain the city employees, agents and contractors form taking actions pursuant to (the ordinance) that interfere with the health department’s authority, or the public’s understanding of its authority, to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” she wrote.

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Sink also said the city would remain engaged in the joint task force.

“I recommend everyone return to focusing all energy on the common goal of successfully battling this pandemic, which will devastate our community if we do not work together,” she concluded.