The City of Southlake
The Southlake city council has tentatively extended its emergency declaration and postponed the May election in response to the coronavirus.
The city council met for its first emergency virtual meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening to discuss its response to the growing pandemic. The first action councilmembers took was to extend the city’s emergency declaration. Mayor Laura Hill issued an initial emergency declaration on March 17 that limited the size of gatherings to 10 people, ordered local businesses to close and limited restaurant operations to curbside, delivery or take-out only. However, that declaration only lasted seven days.
By extending the declaration, the council is not only extending the period of its emergency action but also they’re aligning themselves with state and county actions that are being implemented to combat the virus.
“We’ve seen that this thing is changing daily, almost hourly,” Place 6 councilmember Chris Archer says. “If we align ourselves with the county, that’s our best option. And if we feel we need to do more, then we have the ability to do that.”
The council also voted to postpone May’s general election, which would have elected city council places 1 and 6. Although the resolution postpones the elections to Nov. 3, Mayor Hill says that language was included to reschedule the election to as early as July if approved by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The council voted unanimously on both items. The emergency declaration will remain in place until the council terminates it at a later meeting.