Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen Baffled by Public Outcry on her COVID-19 Emergency Powers

On March 13^th, 2020, Illinois Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen issued an executive order declaring an emergency in Champaign, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ordinance, which provides the Mayor with unprecedented powers, received widespread criticism both locally and nationwide.

Included in the executive order are measures that grant Mayor Feinen “extraordinary powers”: 

• Violating parts of the Open Meetings Act
• Ban sale of firearms and ammunition
• Ban sale of any alcohol
• Closing of all bars, taverns, liquor stores, etc
• Ban sale or giving away of gasoline or other liquid flammable or combustible products in any container other than a gasoline tank permanently fixed to a motor vehicle
• Direct the shutoff of power, water, gas, etc
• Take possession of private property and obtain full title to same
• Prohibit or restrict ingress and egress to and from the City

Feinen has been a licensed attorney in Illinois Since 1992, and has been Mayor of Champaign since 2015. According to Feinen, after passing these measures, she went home thinking, “I’m pretty proud of us…Instead of just referring to the code, we attached it, so people could see it.” Feinen did not see any issue with giving such extreme powers to the Mayor of a midwest town of 90,000 people. But the next day, according to Feinen, the phones rang off the hook at City Hall, and “our social media just started blowing up.”

A full article on the meeting can be found here: City of Champaign Mayor Feinen Declares COVID-19 Emergency- Citizens Question Powers Granted in Ordinance and City’s Healthcare Preparedness