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Affirming the Extension of Declaration of Local Emergency issued August 31, 2021 by Mayor Melvin Carter III.
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WHEREAS, Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019, commonly known as COVID-19, a respiratory disease-that can result in serious illness or death, is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is a new strain of coronavirus that had not been previously identified in humans and can easily spread from person to person; and
WHEREAS, on March 15, 2020, Mayor Carter declared under the authority given in Minnesota Statutes § 12.29, that a local emergency exists within Saint Paul, effective March 15, 2020, with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statute, and Saint Paul Legislative Code, Chapter 13; and
WHEREAS, on March 17, 2020, the Saint Paul City Council, in Res 20-550 approved that declaration and extended the emergency for ninety days, until June 15, 2020; and
WHEREAS, on June 8, 2020, Mayor Carter declared under the authority given in Minnesota Statutes §12.29, that the local emergency continued to exist within Saint Paul, effective June 8, 2020, with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statute, and Saint Paul Legislative Code, Chapter 13; and
WHEREAS, on June 10, 2020, the Saint Paul City Council, in Res 20-874 approved that declaration and extended the emergency for ninety days, until September 8, 2020; and
WHEREAS, on September 8, 2020, Mayor Carter declared under the authority given in Minnesota Statutes §12.29, that the local emergency continued to exist within Saint Paul, effective September 8, 2020, with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statute, and Saint Paul Legislative Code, Chapter 13; and
WHEREAS, on September 9, 2020 the Saint Paul City Council, in Res 20-1249 approved that declaration and extended the emergency for ninety days, until December 8, 2020; and
WHEREAS, on November 30, 2020, Mayor Carter declared under the authority given in Minnesota Statutes §12.29, that the local emergency continued to exist within Saint Paul, effective September 8, 2020, with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statute, and Saint Paul Legislative Code, Chapter 13; and
WHEREAS, on December 2, 2020 the Saint Paul City Council, in Res 20-1652 approved that declaration and extended the emergency for ninety days, until March 2, 2021; and
WHEREAS, on March 1, 2021, Mayor Carter declared under the authority given in Minnesota Statutes §12.29, that the local emergency continued to exist within Saint Paul, effective September 8, 2020, with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statute, and Saint Paul Legislative Code, Chapter 13; and
WHEREAS, on March 3, 2021, the Saint Paul City Council, in Res 21-326 approved that declaration and extended the emergency for ninety days, until June 1, 2021; and
WHEREAS, on June 1, 2021 Mayor Carter declared under the authority given in Minnesota Statutes §12.29, that the local emergency continued to exist within Saint Paul, effective September 8, 2020, with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statute, and Saint Paul Legislative Code, Chapter 13; and
WHEREAS, on June 2, 2021, the Saint Paul City Council, in Res 21-852 approved that declaration and extended the emergency for ninety days, until August 31, 2021; and
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present unprecedented and rapidly evolving challenge to our City. As of May 21, 2021, there were 51,795 reported cases of COVID-19 in Ramsey County, and 855 COVID-19 related deaths; and
WHEREAS, even though the spread of COVID-19 has slowed, and vaccinations are becoming widely available, serious threats to health and safety of persons and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt in the City; and
WHEREAS, small businesses in metropolitan areas have been hit harder than those in rural areas. According to a report by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) The Effects Of The COVID-19 Pandemic On Small Businesses (released March 2, 2021), in April 2020, the number of people in metropolitan areas who were working and self-employed was 21 percent lower than in April 2019. Outside of those areas, the decline was only 13 percent. In subsequent months, the decline in metropolitan areas continued to exceed the decline outside of metropolitan areas; and
WHEREAS, according to the SBA report, supersectors with large shares of employment at small businesses before the pandemic experienced large decreases in employment. Leisure and hospitality had the largest decrease in employment, at 48 percent, and had the third largest small business share, at 61 percent; and
WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 2 in 3 small businesses in Minnesota report at least a moderate negative impact on their business from the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 4 in 10 Minnesota small business owners presently expect that it will be six months or more before their business returns to its normal level of operations; and
WHEREAS, according to a Pew Center survey published March 5, 2021, among those who say their financial situation has gotten worse during the pandemic, 44% think it will take them three years or more to get back to where they were a year ago - including about one-in-ten who don’t think their finances will ever recover. Also, about half of workers who personally lost wages during the pandemic (49%) are still earning less money than before the coronavirus outbreak started; and
WHEREAS, in addition to action necessary to safeguard the health and safety of Saint Paul citizens, it remains necessary for the City to provide support to individuals and businesses alike to ensure that Saint Paul recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic disaster; and
WHEREAS, during the COVID-19 peacetime emergency, Mayor Carter has exercised executive authority through more than 50 Executive Orders to provide relief and further prepare our City for the COVID-19 Pandemic; and
WHEREAS, these Executive Orders remain in effect only as long as the emergency continues; and
WHEREAS, the necessary resources to respond to and recover from this pandemic will exceed those resources available within the City, and additional resources will be needed from Ramsey County, and state and federal sources;
WHEREAS, on August 31, 2021, Mayor Melvin Carter III again declared a local state of emergency pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 12.29; and
WHEREAS, Minn. Stat. § 12.29 and St. Paul Administrative Code § 13.06 provide that a local state of emergency not be continued for a period in excess of three days except by, or with, the consent of City Council; and
WHEREAS, Council finds it necessary to continue the state of emergency; and
WHEREAS, in the judgement of the Council immediate consideration of the emergency declaration is required; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that Council hereby continues the local state of emergency for a period of 90 days.