Du Quoin declaring state of emergency, to help local business

The Du Quoin City Council is calling an emergency session for 7 p.m. Thursday, to declare a state of emergency that will help local business apply for loans and grants.

According to Mayor Guy Alongi, neither he or anyone on the city council has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. They are doing this because the national COVID-19 pandemic - and Illinois's mandatory stay-at-home order - has caused many Du Quoin businesses to be closed for nearly three weeks, severely stressing their ability to survive.

On March 26, President Donald Trump declared that a major disaster exists in Illinois. One of the benefits is that businesses can apply for disaster money to help them survive the shutdown.

On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker extended the state's stay-at-home order until April 30.

"We're doing this to help our businesses," Alongi said. "They need relief."

Alongi said many of the assistance applications that businesses fill out ask if their community has declared itself a disaster area, or in a state of emergency. Having a state of emergency makes it easier for business owners to successfully be approved for loans and grants, he said.

"We can't wait another two weeks," he added. "They have deadlines (to get the forms in)."

This will be the only item on the emergency meeting agenda, Alongi said.

Declaring a disaster or a state of emergency can come with expanded mayoral powers, but Alongi says he's not interested.

"I'm not interested in extra powers," he said. "The only power I want is what I already have."