City of Kennett goes under curfew 9 p.m through 6 a.m. Effective Immediately

The City of Kennett officials met at Ely Baptist Church in Kennett Tuesday evening, with a majority of them joining via ZOOM set up by Mayor Chancellor Wayne.

Mayor Wayne stated the City has had several complaints about a few businesses not complying with the order of Social Distancing recently announced by the Governor of Missouri.

“We have noticed the Kennett Eagles has had a large crowd the entire past week and we were notified that there was a party held at the American Legion. These gatherings can not continue. This ordinance we are gathered here to discuss and pass is a way to give our law enforcement what they need to enforce this Social Distancing order,” Mayor Wayne said. “It's not to be mean; it is to protect our citizens and everyone else we encounter.”

City Attorney Terry McVey read aloud Ordinance No. 3052. An Ordinance of the City of Kennett, Missouri, declaring a State of Emergency within the City in order to employ measures to protect public, life, health, safety, and property to limit the development, contraction, and spread of COVID-19, the disease creating the emergency.

WHEREAS, in December, 2019, a new infectious disease designated as the COVID-19 virus was detected in Wuhan, China;

WHEREAS, symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath and can range from mild to severe illness, including death;

WHEREAS, on January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization ("WHO") Director General declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern advising countries to prepare for the containment, detection, isolation, and case management, contact, tracing, and prevention of onward spread of the disease;

WHEREAS, on March 5, 2020, the WHO Director General urged aggressive preparedness and activation of emergency plans to aggressively change the directory of this pandemic;

WHEREAS, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the State Emergency Management Agency has reported there are confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the State of Missouri with the first case identified on March 7, 2020;

WHEREAS, on March 11, 2020, the WHO officially declared a pandemic due to COVID-19;

WHEREAS, on March 13, 2020, the President of the United States of America exercised Presidential authority to declare the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States a national emergency;

WHEREAS, on March 13, 2020, the Governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, signed Executive Order 20-02 declaring a state of emergency in Missouri in response to COVID-19;

WHEREAS, on March 21, 2020, the Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services of the State of Missouri (“DHSS”) issued an order requiring social distancing in order to combat the community spread of COVID-19;

WHEREAS, multiple cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Dunklin County;

WHEREAS, as of March 31, 2020, there has been widespread disobedience within the City of Kennett of the March 21, 2020 social distancing order issued by the Director of DHSS, with groups of more than 100 gathering socially within the City, particularly during the evening and night time hours;

WHEREAS, the community spread of cases of COVID-19 in the United States poses a serious health risk for the City and its residents and visitors and identification of additional cases in Missouri and within the City is likely to continue, and extraordinary measures are necessary to prevent a substantial risk to public health and safety;

WHEREAS, Section 77.530 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri gives the City Council the authority to make regulations and pass ordinances for the prevention of the introduction of contagious diseases into the City.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENNETT, MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. EMERGENCY DECLARATION. A state of emergency is hereby declared to exist within in the City upon the passage of this Ordinance, and shall continue until 8:00 a.m. on April 24, 2020, or until it is extended, rescinded, superseded or amended by the Mayor, who is specifically authorized hereby to rescind, supersede or amend this emergency declaration.

Section 2. CURFEW ESTABLISHED. Pursuant to the authority granted to this council by §77.530 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri a citywide curfew is hereby imposed by the City Council to control the gathering of large groups of people within the City. Such curfew shall commence at 9 p.m. and continue through 6 a.m. the following day for each and every day while the state of emergency as hereby declared shall continue to exist within the City.

Section 3. SCOPE OF CURFEW. During the curfew period of each and every day, all individuals are ordered to either stay at their residence, inside their automobiles (if traveling within or through the city), or at their place of employment except as otherwise allowed in this Ordinance. All persons may leave their residence, automobile, or place of employment only for Essential Activities, Essential Governmental Functions, or to work in any business or occupation. Individuals experiencing homelessness are strongly urged to obtain shelter. They are exempt from the requirement to stay at a fixed place of residence, but they shall be subject to all other Social Distancing Requirements required hereby. An individual whose residence is unsafe or becomes unsafe, such as victims of domestic violence, are permitted and urged to leave their home and stay at a safe alternative location. For purposes of the Ordinance, homes or residences include hotels, motels, shared rental units, shelters and similar facilities.

Section 4. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES. During the hours of curfew, all public and private intentional gatherings of any number of people occurring outside a single household or living unit are prohibited, except for the limited purposes permitted by this ordinance. Any intentional gathering of more than ten (10) people in a single space (whether indoor or outdoor) is prohibited unless exempted by this Ordinance. Nothing in this Ordinance prohibits the gathering of members of a household or residence of individuals who reside in such residence. Nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit the entry of individuals into any business for the purpose of procuring goods or services, provided, however, Social Distancing Requirements shall be enforced.

Section 5. EXEMPTIONS. All 911 call center employees, fire personnel, corrections personnel, healthcare employees, hazardous material responders from government or the private sector, workers maintaining digital systems infrastructure supporting law enforcement and emergency service operations, first responders, emergency management personnel, emergency dispatchers, court personnel, law enforcement personnel; and people designated by the applicable governing authority as necessary in the performance of Essential Government Functions are exempt from this Ordinance to the extent such people are performing these functions.

Section 6. ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS. Nothing in this Ordinance shall prohibit any individual from performing or accessing Essential Governmental Functions.

Section 7. DEFINITIONS

For purposes of this Ordinance, these terms, regardless of whether capitalized, are defined as follows: "Business" or "businesses" means any for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, benevolent associations, limited liability companies, or partnerships, regardless of legal organization, form, entity, tax-treatment, or structure;

"City" means the City of Kennett, Missouri;

"Essential Activities" means activities that are necessary for a person to: act or perform tasks essential to any person's health and safety, or to the health and safety of their family, household members, or pets, including but not limited to obtaining medical supplies or medication, visiting a health care professional, obtaining supplies needed to work from home, or laundering clothing; obtain necessary services or supplies for themselves and their family, household members, or pets, or to deliver necessary services or supplies to others; shop for grocery products, food, beverages, or other household and consumer products (for example, cleaning or personal care products including but not limited to products necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation, communication, and the essential operation of residences); engage in services or perform work necessary to operate or maintain Essential Critical Infrastructure; participate in religious services and other spiritual practices but only to the extent consistent with reasonable compliance with Social Distancing Requirements and gathering size limitations; activities at open construction sites, irrespective of types of structures, subject to applicable OSHA and other safety guidelines, and related architectural, design, and land surveying activities, so long as the people involved reasonably comply with Social Distancing Requirements to the extent consistent with applicable safety guidelines; necessary care for a dependent in the person's legal custody, including acts essential for a parent with legal custody to transfer the physical custody of a child; care for a family member in another household; engage in Essential Government Functions; engage in Healthcare Operations; engage in business; exercise constitutional rights to the extent that by so acting the person does not endanger the public health and safety or the health and safety of any person and so long as Social Distancing Requirements are met; acts consisting of providing and delivering products and services to businesses, the federal government, the state government, or other political subdivision of the state of Missouri.

D. “Essential Critical Infrastructure” is as defined by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

E. "Essential Government Functions" means all services needed to ensure the continuing operation of federal, state, or local government departments, offices, agencies, officials, political subdivisions, entities created by intergovernmental agreement, essential court functions as determined by the Presiding Circuit Judge or the Presiding Circuit Judge’s designee, and any other government functions necessary to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of the public;

F. "Gathering" means an occasion when people come together as a group, whether formal or informal and whether public or private;

G. "Intentional" means an act done with a purpose or with deliberation;

H. "Residences" means a house, a condominium unit, an apartment unit, a dwelling, a hotel room, a motel room, a shared rental unit, shelters, or similar facilities but extends only within the bounds of the person's ownership, the person's leasehold interest, or the space occupied in a hotel, motel or shared rental unit and does not include common areas;

I. "Social Distancing Requirements" means the social distancing recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control which include maintaining at least six-foot social distancing from other individuals, not to congregate in groups of more than 10 in any space, washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds as frequently as possible or using hand sanitizer with more than sixty percent alcohol, covering coughs or sneezes with something other than hands, regularly cleaning high-touch surfaces, and not shaking hands, or as otherwise defined by order;

Section 8. AUTHORITY OF MAYOR. The Mayor is hereby authorized to issue such orders as deemed necessary to protect the public health and safety from the COVID-19 disease.

Section9. Enforcement. Violation of or failure to comply with this Ordinance or any order issued by the Mayor under the authority granted herein shall constitute an ordinance violation punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.00 or imprisonment not to exceed ninety days or both such fine and imprisonment. Parents and guardians shall be responsible for the compliance of their minor children with this order. Any parent, guardian, or any other adult having custody of a minor who violates this ordinance shall be punished as provided in this section.

Section 10. Savings clause. If any provision of this Ordinance or its application to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid, then the reminder of the Ordinance, including the application of such part or provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected and shall continue in full force and effect. To this end, the provisions of this Ordinance are severable.

Section 11.This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and approval.

Police Chief Kenny Wilson said this ordinance is not implemented to interfere with law-abiding residents who need to travel from point A to point B.

“This doesn't mean we will be stopping everyone who is driving some place. If there appears to be a gathering of ten or more, like at a club or at a block party, or anywhere, this gives us the authority to either give a warning and send people on their way, or we can write citations or make arrests if need be. But we are not wanting it to ever get to that point,” Chief Wilson explained. “We are hopeful that everyone will abide by the Social Distancing order and take these measures serious. This is not designed to cause problems for people going to Casey's or Huck's for milk, or for factory workers who may work out of town. If someone has to go across town to a relative's house to get something, that's fine. This is for those who are gathering in large groups or participating in suspicious activity,” Chief Wilson added.