In Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the Council demonstrated social distancing by setting up additional tables for Council members to spread out throughout the chamber.

“The right thing for our City Council to do is demonstrate what so many of our officials and our president have asked us to do,” said Mayor Ron Anders. “That is to create distance between each one of us … we’ve tried to adapt [the chamber] for the purposes of providing social distancing here tonight.”

The Council unanimously approved two resolutions putting the City of Auburn in a state of emergency that is planned to last until April 6 but can be extended by the mayor for up to six weeks. 

More details about the recent state of emergency are available here.

Auburn 2040 is scheduled to begin on April 18, but it may be moved to a later date for reasons of health and safety, Anders said. 

The biennial budget should still be voted on in the summer months, as Goldman Sachs predicts the economic effects of COVID-19 to last for another 8–10 weeks, Buston said.

The City will be lenient with business loans and City services, not charging interest or shutting off facilities, Buston said.

Council unanimously approved the renaming of two preexisting streets: Embrace Court will be renamed to Vineyard Court, and Huntley Drive will be renamed to Mara Vista Drive.

Council unanimously approved the professional services contract for a parking deck on Wright Street. The cost to the City has increased from $575,000 to $1.5 million due to changes in scope and construction costs, said Assistant City Manager Megan Crouch.

Council unanimously approved a four-way stop to be installed at the intersection of North Donahue Drive and West Farmville Road. A conducted study did not find that a traffic light was justified, but Buston expects increased traffic will justify a light in the future. The City will reevaluate traffic patterns in one year.

“I’m tickled to death that this has finally gotten to this point,” said Ward 2 Council member Kelley Griswold. “I’m just hoping we can get something in place for the next time this comes up so we’re not having complaints from 2018.”