City Council Approves Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Emergency COVID-19 Spending Powers Ordinance
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two days after a handful of aldermen temporarily blocked Mayor Lori Lightfoot's bid to expand her spending and contracting authority during the coronavirus pandemic, the City Council voted 29-21 to approve the mayor's emergency powers ordinance.
Opponents have argued the measure gives the mayor too much power to spend taxpayer dollars without aldermanic oversight.
The vote comes after five aldermen on Wednesday used a parliamentary maneuver to "defer and publish" the ordinance, delaying the vote until the next City Council meeting. The mayor and supporters of the measure then voted to adjourn Wednesday's meeting and schedule a new meeting for Friday afternoon.
The Budget Committee voted 23-10 to approve the ordinance on Tuesday.
The ordinance would give the mayor's Chief Procurement Officer Shannon Andrews power to enter into contracts of up to $1 million for coronavirus-related needs without requiring City Council approval. Budget Director Susie Park would be empowered to move money within the city budget to pay for COVID-19 expenses without seeking authorization from the City Council. Park and Andrews would be required to provide weekly reports to the Budget Committee.
Lightfoot's original proposal for greater spending authority would not have included any spending limits on city contracts for the COVID-19 response, and would have waived required economic disclosure statements from vendors. Facing opposition from aldermen, the mayor agreed to the $1 million ceiling on contracts that don't require City Council approval, and to give vendors 60 days to submit economic disclosure statements.
In another concession to aldermen, the mayor agreed to have all of the emergency contracting and budget powers sunset by June 30. If the Chicago Department of Public Health were to determine before then that the COVID-19 threat has subsided enough to repeal the ordinance, the emergency powers would go away sooner.
Lightfoot did not comment on the approval of the ordinance after aldermen voted for it, but earlier this week, she accused opponents of the proposal of "preening in front of the press."
"The ploy of these grandstanders changes nothing. It only needlessly delays the business of the city for two days, and underscores exactly why we need an emergency order in the first place," she said.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), who helped orchestrate the delay on a final vote on the ordinance, said he would have supported the ordinance if it had included more oversight from aldermen, but said it "lacks guarantees that emergency dollars will be appropriated through an equity lens."
"We have seen the disastrous effects of when we trust a mayor to be Chicago's sole decision maker and authority. Mayor Lightfoot has unilateral control of our schools, and teachers had to go on strike for 11 days to win basic necessities for our children," Ramirez-Rosa said.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) said the mayor should not have the sole authority to decide how the city will be spending approximately $470 million in direct coronavirus relief funding the city expects from the $2.2 trillion federal COVID-19 stimulus package.
"I think it is important for us in the council to be able to have a say on how we're going to be addressing this emergency, how these programs are going to be affecting the lives of people that are seeing their lives threatened," he said.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said, while he opposed the original proposal the mayor introduced to the City Council, he appreciated that he listened to aldermen's concerns, and agreed to limits such as a June 30 expiration date, and weekly reports to the Budget Committee.
Reilly said he trusts Lightfoot to be "judicious" in spending decisions during the coronavirus outbreak.
"For those folks who really still don't feel comfortable with this, I think I should remind everyone that the general public, the Chicago taxpayers, will be applying a critical eye to the decisions that this administration makes, and the City Council makes over the next several months, and there will be an accounting for that," he said.
Opponents of the emergency powers ordinance have said the City Council can meet with as little as 48 hours notice to vote on spending measures if needed during the pandemic, but the mayor's office has said that can be too long to wait in some cases.
Lightfoot's aides have said they've seen prices for some personal protective equipment and other necessary supplies change in as little as 12 hours.
"If we wait, we lose. We can't afford to lose. Our residents' lives are on the line, and we've got to move quickly in this pandemic. Forty-eight hours, when we're seeing the level of competition and fighting for basic supplies, is an eternity," Lightfoot said after Wednesday's meeting.
Budget Committee Chairwoman Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) said she's considering the creation of a working group of aldermen to coordinate with the mayor's office on COVID-19 response efforts, and allow them to voice their concerns about how money is being spent.
