(A) Generally.
(1) The Mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city and shall perform duties as may be required of him or her by statute or ordinance. He or she shall have supervision over all of the executive officers and employees of the city and shall have the power and authority to inspect all books and records pertaining to city affairs.
(2) The Mayor shall also sign all bonds, warrants, vouchers, leases and conveyances authorized by the Council; and he or she shall also sign on behalf of the city all contracts, licenses and permits so authorized unless the Council shall authorize some other official to sign the documents on the city’s behalf. He or she shall have the power of pardon from the City Jail.
(B) Emergency powers.
(1) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CIVIL EMERGENCY.
1. A riot or unlawful assembly characterized by the use of actual force or violence or any threat to use force if accompanied by immediate power to execute, by three or more persons acting together without any authority of law; or
2. Any natural disaster or manmade calamity including flood, conflagration, cyclone, tornado, earthquake explosion within the corporate limits of the city, or partially within or partially without the city with a reasonable possibility of taxing unusually or completely overwhelming the city’s emergency response capabilities or its hospitals and clinics or resulting or likely to result in the death or injury of persons or the destruction of property to an extent that extraordinary measures must be taken to protect the public health, safety and welfare.
CURFEW. A prohibition against any person or persons walking, running, loitering, standing or motoring upon any alley, street, highway, public property or vacant premises within the corporate limits of the city, excepting officials of any governmental unit and persons officially designated to duty with reference to the civil emergency.
(2) Written proclamation of emergency.
(a) When in the judgment of the Mayor, a civil emergency as defined in this section is deemed to exist, he or she shall forthwith proclaim in writing the existence of same and make best efforts to notify individual members of the City Council. With all reasonable dispatch, the Mayor or his or her delegates shall notify the citizens of the city and other persons present by local media of the emergency and the provisions the Mayor has ordered in place to address the emergency.
(b) After proclamation of a civil emergency by the Mayor, he or she may order a general curfew applicable to the geographical areas of the city or to the city as a whole, as he or she deems advisable, and applicable during the hours of the day or night as he or she deems necessary in the interest of the public safety and welfare.
(3) Authority to make certain orders. After the proclamation of a civil emergency, the Mayor of the city may also in the interest of public safety and welfare make any or all of the following orders:
(a) Order the temporary discontinuance of the sale of alcoholic liquor, as defined in Chapter 111 of the code, by any licensed retailer within the city, including ordering the closure of the retailer’s store, tavern, club or establishment or any portions thereof;
(b) Order the discontinuance of selling, distributing or giving away gasoline or other liquid flammable or combustible products in any container other than a gasoline tank properly affixed to a motor vehicle in the city;
(c) Order the closing of gasoline stations and other establishments, the chief activity of which is the sale distribution or dispensing of liquid flammable or combustible products in the city;
(d) Order the discontinuance of selling at retail, distributing, dispensing or giving away of any firearms or ammunition of any character whatsoever in the city;
(e) Order the closing of any or all establishments or portions thereof, the chief activity is the sale at retail, distribution, dispensing or giving away of firearms or ammunition in the city;
(f) Commandeer private property, real or personal, for temporary public use in responding to a civil emergency; provided, however, that the lawful owner of the property be compensated at fair market value for the use or taking of the property upon that owner’s application to the city and/or court of competent jurisdiction for compensation at the conclusion of the civil emergency; and
(g) Issue other orders as are necessary for the immediate protection of life and property.
(4) Time period for proclamation. The proclamation authorized in this section shall be effective for a period of not to exceed 104 hours, unless sooner terminated by a proclamation of the Mayor indicating that the civil emergency no longer exists, but, in no event shall the freestanding executive powers for any one proclaimed emergency continue beyond the conclusion of the next regular or special City Council meeting succeeding the proclamation of emergency. The Mayor shall make best efforts in the circumstances to call and convene a special meeting as soon as practicable after the proclamation of emergency as the emergency circumstances permit.
(5) Notification to news media of emergency. Upon issuing the proclamation authorized in this section, the Mayor or his or her delegate shall notify the news media situated within the city, and the notification shall constitute notice to the public of the existence of the proclamation and the orders and prohibitions therein contained.
(6) Violations. Any person violating the provisions of this section or an executive order issued pursuant thereto shall be guilty of an offense against the city. Any person who violates this section shall be fined a minimum of $100 and not more than $500. The fine and penalty may be invoked as provided in § 10.99 of this code.
(7) Construction. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to impair the powers contained in the municipal code of the city or the Illinois Compiled Statutes, giving powers to the Police and Fire Departments, but shall be construed together with other ordinances for the safety and welfare of the citizens of the city.
(8) Devolution of emergency power in the absence of Mayor or his or her inability to serve.
(a) The Mayor’s emergency powers shall be exercised, only to the extent of his or her absence or disability to serve, as follows:
1. The Senior Alderman as measured by consecutive service on the City Council or, in his or her absence or inability to serve;
2. In the event the Senior Alderman is deceased or under a disability to serve, the second to the Senior Alderman;
3. In the event the above Aldermen are either deceased or under a disability to serve, the third to the Senior Alderman;
4. In the event the above Aldermen are either deceased or under a disability to serve, the fourth to the Senior Alderman;
5. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the fifth to the Senior Alderman;
6. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the sixth to the Senior Alderman;
7. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the seventh to the Senior Alderman;
8. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the eighth to the Senior Alderman;
9. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the ninth to the Senior Alderman;
10. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the tenth to the Senior Alderman;
11. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the eleventh to the Senior Alderman;
12. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the twelfth to the Senior Alderman;
13. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the thirteenth to the Senior Alderman;
14. In the event the above Aldermen are all either deceased or under a disability to serve, the Junior Alderman;
15. The Treasurer of the City of Quincy or, in his or her absence or inability to serve; or
16. The City Clerk.
(b) Nothing herein is intended to prevent the City Council from extending the same or greater powers to the person exercising the emergency powers of the Mayor after its first meeting next succeeding the declaration of emergency, This section is only intended to vest inherently temporary powers between Council meetings to prevent waste, death and destruction.
(c) Nothing herein is intended to limit or impede the power of the City Council, at its first meeting next succeeding the declaration of emergency or any meeting thereafter, to select a Mayor pro tempore as provided by law where the Mayor is deceased or under a disability to serve.
(9) Saving clause. In the event any sentence, portion or division of this section shall be deemed by any court unconstitutional or otherwise invalid or unenforceable, the divisions and provisions not affected or so deemed shall remain in full force and effect and be enforceable through the Home Rule Authority of this city and the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court.
(1980 Code, § 1.002) (Ord. 9073, passed 3-20-2006)