Plainfield Mayor Renews Emergency Declaration For Coronavirus

PLAINFIELD, IL — Last Monday, March 16, Plainfield Mayor Michael Collins issued a State of Emergency declaration for the village as the new coronavirus began spreading into Will County. The length of such declarations can vary, and in last week's case it was deemed necessary to last seven days. Now that those seven days have expired, village staff told Patch that the declaration is being renewed.

While saying that there are "no new circumstances" in Plainfield's current situation, village Community Relations Director Amy De Boni added that, "the disaster declaration will continue to be renewed throughout the ongoing COVID-19 situation."

This means that until such time as it is deemed no longer necessary, the emergency declaration will continue to be renewed every Monday.

Declarations of a State of Emergency allow municipalities like Plainfield to receive disaster-relief funds from FEMA should that become necessary, and to change certain protocols regarding how the village government operates. In this case, declaring an emergency allows the village to activate its emergency operations plan. According to Village Administrator Brian Murphy, this plan has multiple tiers related to the spread of coronavirus, with different actions to be taken as more cases of the virus appear in proximity to Plainfield. As of Monday afternoon, a total of 26 cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in Will County and four cases had been confirmed in Kendall County.

"As this virus finds its way through the Chicagoland area... we have differing levels of action plans," Murphy said last Monday. "They run from it being just a federal and state issue - we know it's that already. As of this afternoon it has moved into being a regional issue... The next two levels are when there cases that make it into Plainfield and then finally... if we have cases within the [village government] itself."

At present, the most drastic step the village has taken in its plans is to close all municipal facilities to the public. This step complements the 'stay at home' executive order handed down by Governor J.B. Pritzker on Saturday, asking all Illinoisans to stay home except for essential tasks. Murphy also said the next Plainfield village board meeting will likely make use of digital and teleconference technology, to limit the amount of time board trustees and meeting attendees spend together physically.

"It will be live, it may be streaming only on cable," Murphy said. "It may be that we just have a conference call right here in [Village Hall] and people can listen in."

To learn more about Mayor Collins' emergency declaration, visit the Plainfield village website or call the mayor's office at (815) 436-7093.

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