Moratorium on water shutoffs for those impacted by COVID-19 to be considered by Decatur City Council
The city council will be considering a change to city code that would suspend water utility disconnections to individuals impacted by the COVID-19 virus. The moratorium and nine additional agenda items will be discussed at the city council’s next meeting on Monday, October 5. Specifically, the resolution under consideration states “That termination and disconnection of water service by the City of Decatur for failure to pay for such service shall be suspended for those accounts with payment due dates and/or water shut off dates on or after October 6, 2020 and upon determination of COVID-19 eligibility by the City of Decatur or its designated social service agency.” The city council will be voting at Monday’s meeting on using Dove, Inc. to oversee the distribution of $834,287 in CARES grant funding to assist residents with rent/mortgage and utility assistance and to determine eligibility for no-water-shut-off relief.
LAKE DECATUR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN TO BE DISCUSSED
Other topics to be discussed at the city council meeting include continued funding of the Lake Decatur Watershed Management Plan and a proposal for bi-weekly monitoring of sediment and nutrients in the Upper Sangamon Watershed. The monitoring will provide baseline information to be used in the development of the comprehensive management plan for Lake Decatur.
CITIZENS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
If you would like to discuss this or any other issue with a city council member, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for each council member can be found at the following link: https://www.decaturil.gov/mayor-and-council/council/.
PLEASE EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
Meetings take place at the Theater located on the second floor of the Decatur Civic Center (1 Gary K. Anderson Place). Free parking is available in the lot immediately south of the entrance. Citizens are encouraged to attend meetings and express their views. Citizens are allotted 3 minutes per person near the beginning of each city council meeting. In addition, citizens can provide comments regarding one regular agenda item per meeting for up to three minutes provided they notify the city in advance (and prior to the start of the meeting). You can request to speak on a particular agenda item at a council meeting by filling out an on-line form at: https://www.decaturil.gov/mayor-and-council/advance-request-to-speak-at-council-meeting/.
AGENDAS FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE
An agenda and information about each agenda item for each city council meeting can be found at: https://www.decaturil.gov/mayor-and-council/council-meetings/.