On Thursday March 12th City of Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen called for an emergency council meeting the following morning. The Council met in full attendance at 9:30am and had significant public attendance, plus at least four news agencies were present as well. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and vote on one agenda item: a “Declaration of Emergency”.
Citizens, City staff, and Council Members all discussed the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic and the broad and apparently limitless powers granted to the Mayor and City Council as a result of the emergency ordinance. As issues of illness, death, child care, and government overreach were being discussed, one person in the room had heftier concerns.
Councilwoman Clarissa Nickerson Fourman was primarily concerned that Mayor Feinen might interrupt the supply of liquor. It is not clear if Fourman was concerned about her personal supply of spirits, or if she was expressing a concern for her constituents, but she raised the issue at least three different times during the meeting. Fourman first appeared to be making a joke: “I’m not as serious a person as everybody else, so I have to ask Mayor Feinen to please don’t close the liquor stores. Please.” The comment received a few soft chuckles but generally seemed out of place in a serious discussion involving the near certainty of illness, death, and economic downturn in Champaign’s near future.
Fourman continued to push the issue, bringing it up a second time directly with the Mayor: “Mayor Feinen, you not gonna to close the liquor stores, right?” No chuckles were given this round, and Feinen said, “not today”.
Then, Fourman actually interrupted the City Clerk as she performed the roll call vote on the emergency ordinance, adding a bizarre contingency to her yes/no vote: “Yes, if she doesn’t close the liquor stores.” Fourman’s behavior was out of order and moved well beyond what might have been considered a light-hearted joke, and into what appears to be a an alcohol problem. Some of the other Council members feigned a smile but they mostly looked embarrassed. The situation has citizens wondering what Fourman is actually sipping from her trademark can of Dr. Pepper.
Fourman was appointed, not elected, to Champaign City Council in 2015. Being an employee of at-large Council member Tom Bruno gave Fourman an easy-in, and in Champaign, having the right friends usually beats the democratic process every time. Both Bruno and Mayor Feinen were also originally appointed, not elected, to the council.