On March 16, 2020, the Urbana City Council met to discuss and vote on a “Temporary Emergency Ordinance to Address the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic”. The City of Champaign, which immediately abuts Urbana to the West, passed such an ordinance three days prior, and was met with national scrutiny for their 30 point list (“Exhibit A”) of “extraordinary powers” granted to Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen.
Champaign’s list of powers includes banning the sale of guns and ammunition, confiscating real and personal property, closing businesses, and restricting access in and out of the city. Champaign even granted Mayor Feinen a catch-all provision for allowing virtually any other order she deems necessary. News outlets across the country posted stories and thousands of local citizens took to social media to criticize the over-reach by Champaign City Council. One Youtube video about Champaign’s emergency ordinance titled “Mayor Granted Power To Ban Guns & Ammo” received over 350,000 views (4 times the population of Champaign) in just 3 days. Champaign City staff were scrambling in the hours and days after their Council vote to explain themselves and reassure concerned citizens.
A large portion of Urbana’s meeting focused on not making the same mistakes. Urbana’s Emergency Ordinance does not enumerate any of the extraordinary powers contained in Champaign’s ordinance. The City made it clear before the meeting that the Emergency Ordinance would not allow for interference of goods to businesses or consumers and would not allow the Mayor to infringe upon constitutional rights. Ward 7 Alderman Jared Miller spoke on the issue:
“We saw what happened with the City of Champaign, with their ‘Exhibit A’, and Section 10 of the ordinance they passed, which was very similar to this. And we wanted to make it very perfectly clear, to everyone in the City of Urbana, that the City Council saw a flaw in that. In that resolution, and we saw in that ordinance, that we did not want folks to think that we were choosing to repeat. That we take very seriously those powers that are given to the Mayor.”
Miller was concerned about Section 13 of Urbana’s ordinance which gives Mayor Diane Marlin unspecified powers:
“Section 13. Other Emergency Powers. The Mayor, pursuant to her general police powers to protecting public health and safety within the City of Urbana, shall have the power and authority to issue general orders that have the force and effect of law.”
Miller, along with Ward 2 Alderman Eric Jakobsson, wanted to amend Urbana’s ordinance to include steps for City Council to check and override executive decisions made by Mayor Marlin during the COVID-19 crisis. Jakobsson, who participated in the meeting electronically, said that “All that I’m trying to do here is retain, even though it’s an emergency, the ordinary balance of powers that we have between the Mayor and the Council.”
Miller then asked for clarification on exactly what types of powers might be used by the Mayor under Section 13. City Attorney James Simon was not able to limit powers by specifically enumerating all of them, but he did provide some limitation which seemed to be a direct jab at Champaign’s heavy-handed emergency ordinance:
“The Mayor does not have the power to in any way control guns. One, we don’t license guns, the state license with FOID cards, and concealed carry cards, that sort of thing.”
With support from other Council members, Miller and Jakobsson were successful at combining and entering an amendment to Section 13 of the ordinance which required Council review of every Mayoral executive order at the next regular Council meeting. It also allows for a special meeting to be called by any 4 Council members within the 48 hours following a Mayoral executive decision. Ward 7 Alderman Jared Miller then took a moment to address citizens and media outlets directly:
“To make it clear through our media sources, reporting as it happens on this: this is an additional check that is added into this ordinance…This ordinance also has another check in that the City Council, at any time, may vote to rescind the entire emergency ordinance. So, we have one blanket check on the ordinance, we have just added an additional check on a specific action that can be taken under Section 13 in this ordinance. I just wanted that to be clear that we have two checks on the power vested in this ordinance given to the City Council.”
When asked by Alderman Bill Brown, Mayor Marlin said the only immediate decisions she had planned with her new powers were to limit some access to City facilities, suspend public event permits and temporary liquor licenses, make purchasing decisions to allow remote working capabilities for city employees, and discontinue enforcement of many downtown parking meters. Marlin said she did not have any specific orders in mind in regards to the heavily-debated Section 13 of the ordinance.
In contrast to the decision by Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb, Mayor Marlin also made clear that city services, such as in-person access to the Urbana Police window in the City Building, will continue to be available to citizens.
Urbana City Council voted unanimously to pass the emergency ordinance as amended.
CU-Underground has issued a separate article on the issue of Urbana’s adherence the Open Meetings Act during the COVID-19 pandemic: Urbana Council to Cease Open Meetings During COVID-19, Despite Illinois Open Meetings Laws