O’Fallon City Council holding special meeting regarding coronavirus pandemic
Mayor Herb Roach has called for a special O’Fallon City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 23, to grant additional authority in a local emergency declaration related to COVID-19 goals.
The declaration of emergency was under the recommendation of St. Clair County to help improve the city’s response to COVID-19 and ensure O’Fallon is eligible to recover some costs associated with combating the pandemic.
“We are working hard to combat the spread and impact of COVID-19 in our community. The steps that we are taking have a financial impact on the city’s budget,” Roach said. “With this emergency declaration, O’Fallon will now be eligible to recover some of those costs once we have defeated this virus.”
Under state law and city ordinance, the mayor can declare an emergency at any time by proclamation.
The declaration can be located at https://www.ofallon.org/home/files/declaration-of-emergency-regarding-covid-19.
Because of time constraints, the council will consider both a first and second reading of an ordinance that would amend chapter 37 of the city’s code of ordinances, which is the Civil Emergencies Ordinance. Modifying it will help improve O’Fallon’s response to COVID-19.
The additions include flexibility for public meetings, gatherings and licensed activities, purchases, personnel policies, bargaining units, city facilities, ordinance violations, amounts due and owing the city, and other emergency powers as outlined in the municipal code.
During the past 12 days, the city has restricted services and changed procedures because of the public health crisis caused by the spread of the coronavirus, which has impacted every state in the U.S. and more than 140 countries worldwide.
Recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an emergency disaster proclamation March 9 to mitigate the potential effects of COVID-19, “a novel severe acute respiratory illness that can spread among people through respiratory transmissions and present with symptoms similar to those of influenza.”
This gave the state Emergency Management Agency and the state Department of Public Health significant authority and emergency powers relative to isolation and quarantine orders.
Any orders from the Illinois Department of Public Health at this time must be enforced by local officials. Under law, if they do not, IDPH may enforce such measures and all necessary expenses incurred would be paid by the locality for which services are rendered.
Last week, President Trump officially declared a national emergency over the Coronavirus Pandemic. This will allow up to $50 billion of federal aid for state and local governments.
On March 20, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order requiring all Illinoisans to stay in their homes to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. That took effect at 5 p.m. March 21.
The order prohibits things like visiting the homes of friends and holding gatherings of any size and closes all nonessential establishments, including most retail, recreation and entertainment businesses. It does not prohibit essential activities like going to the grocery store, receiving medical care, or taking a pet for a walk.
The March 23 special meeting will be a virtual interactive one and will be available on the Zoom.com virtual platform instead of the city’s Video on Demand.
“If you have information you wish to share with the city council, we ask that you email them directly to insideofallon@ofallon.org and they will be shared with the city council. All city council meeting agendas are posted online at https://www.boarddocs.com/il/ofallon/Board.nsf,” Roach said.
The city will host other city meetings on Zoom in order to improve efficiency and transparency during the pandemic. This will allow members of the public to participate while they are not able to attend in-person because of the city hall closure.
Roach said O’Fallon City Hall is currently closed to the public in order to help mitigate the spread of the disease to protect residents, staff and to continue to provide essential city services to the community.
“We are doing everything we can to help flatten the curve of COVID-19 while still being an open and responsive city government,” Roach said. “This new virtual meeting platform will help us comply with the Open Meetings Act while city hall is closed to the public.”
In order to access the virtual meeting, please go to the city’s agenda management system: http://www.boarddocs.com/il/ofallon/Board.nsf. People can click on the meeting they wish to view. Each meeting will have instructions on how to join the virtual meeting. The virtual meeting will begin at the scheduled time, but people may enter a virtual “waiting room” prior to the meeting beginning.
People may participate in the meeting using their computer’s existing speakers, microphone and camera (camera not required) or call in for audio only.
Instructions specific to the meeting will be provided by a moderator prior to the beginning of the meeting.
O’Fallon City Committee Meetings
Gov. Pritzker’s March 16 executive order waived the attendance requirements for public meetings to allow for virtual attendance. As a result, the city will be hosting an online Zoom committee meeting March 23.
In-person attendance will not be allowed, but public attendance and comment will be available through the virtual meeting. Instructions are below on how to access each committee meeting.
Here is a training video on how to join a meeting: https://www.youtube.com/embed/vFhAEoCF7jg?rel=0&autoplay=1&cc_load_policy=1
Community Development Committee
Join the virtual meeting by going to https://zoom.us/j/292762430 when the meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Meetings will have audio and video capabilities. People may use your computer’s existing speakers, microphone and camera
People also may call in for audio only attendance: Dial In 312-626-6799 and type in Meeting ID 292-762-430 when prompted.
Public Works Committee
Join the virtual meeting by going to https://zoom.us/j/292762430 when the meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.
People also may call in for audio only attendance: Dial In 312-626-6799 and type in Meeting ID 292-762-430 when prompted.
Finance and Administration Committee
Join the virtual meeting by going to https://zoom.us/j/292762430 when the meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.
People also may call in for audio only attendance: Dial In 312-626-6799 and type in Meeting ID 292-762-430 when prompted.
The Finance Committee has been working on the city budget but may make some changes because of the economic impact that the public health crisis may cause, with loss of sales tax and the special hotel-motel tax during the Stay-At-Home executive order.
The impact on the budget will be dependent on the scope of the civil emergency. The staff will provide information concerning the financial impact.
“With the uncertainties surrounding the emergency declarations and their impact on our business community, we are reviewing our income and expenditures. We are looking at establishing different levels of budget cuts depending on the reductions of income,” Roach said.
Roach reported the city received the final tax levy computation report for the 2019 tax year and the EAV came in higher than what was estimated in the proposed tax levy in November 2019.
The rate setting EAV for Tax Year 2019 is $737,327,557, which is an increase of approximately 4.45% or approx. $31 million from tax year 2018. This includes the 70%-100% veteran’s exemption of $65,628,781, which is a 34% increase from 2018.
The final tax rate setting rate is 0.9227, which is a 2.74% decrease from last year’s tax rate of 0.9480. This final rate for 2019 is lower than the 2011 tax levy rate which was 0.9414.
Because of rapidly changing information at the federal and state levels, the city has created a webpage and is providing timely updates, with time and date noted, at: https://www.ofallon.org/home/urgent-alerts/covid-19-updates.
As of March 22, St. Clair County had three cases, and Illinois’ total cases were 1,049. At the St. Clair County Health Department, 49 people had been tested for coronavirus and 10 of these tests were pending.
Regarding O’Fallon facilities, more info at https://www.ofallon.org/home/news/to-help-prevent-the-spread-of-covid-19-beginning-on-march-18-access-to-city-facilities.
For questions, contact Grant Litteken at 618-624-4500 ext. 8760 or email at glitteken@ofallon.org.
Additional websites for community
Volunteer opportunities can be found at serve.illinois.gov. Any business or organization wanting to donate personal protective equipment can find out how to do so by visiting www2.illinois.gov/sites/serve/Disaster/Pages/COVID-19-PPE-Donations.aspx or by emailing ppe.donations@illinois.gov.
State of Illinois’ coronavirus page: coronavirus.illinois.gov.
The federal government’s coronavirus page is: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.