Peoria Standard

The East Peoria City Council approved emergency powers recently, allowing Mayor John Kahl to take actions in response to emergency situations without convening the full council.

The council met under special conditions permitted by a recent executive order from Gov. J.B. Pritzker that allowed the council to hold the meeting without all members present in the room, thereby keeping within state guidelines limiting the size of gatherings to 10 individuals.

“We’ve had emergencies in East Peoria before, with flooding and with the tornado and so forth, so we were a little surprised our ordinances did not specifically give emergency powers to the mayor,” Kahl said as reported by the Journal Star. “This ordinance clears that up at a time when we need it.”

The new ordinance passed with a unanimous vote, though Kahl abstained.

With the new measure, the sitting mayor at the time an emergency is declared–such as a natural or man-made disaster–will be empowered to make decisions that would normally require the authority of the council in order to continue the operation of the city.

The mayor’s special powers under the ordinance will only last 14 days, matching the regular frequency within which city council meetings are held. If the council is able to gather a quorum within that time, such a meeting will also signal the end of the mayor’s emergency powers.

The mayor is able to re-issue the emergency powers if the city council is unable to meet within the 14-day time frame and the crisis continues.

A draft ordinance had given the mayor the power to order all sales of firearms and ammunition within the city limits, however Kahl had the provision removed from the ordinance prior to the council voting on it.

“I would never want to have anything to do with that,” Kahl told the Journal Star.