Forest Acres City Council member says it’s time for a ‘stay at home’ order in SC

As a City Council member for less than one year, I’m faced with helping to craft a meaningful municipal response to COVID-19.

What I quickly discovered after taking office is that for historical reasons our powers are narrowly prescribed by South Carolina law. And as our council discussed our response to this health emergency, I learned that our powers were even more narrowly prescribed when I read the state Attorney General Office’s March 27 opinion that municipal emergency powers are essentially preempted by the governor’s emergency powers.

According to the attorney general’s opinion, Gov. Henry McMaster’s decision to not issue a “stay at home” order preempts our own ability to do so.

I am an attorney by education and profession, but I do not pretend to be a state constitutional scholar.

I appreciate that a unified, statewide response to emergencies is desirable.

And as a representative of a municipality that borders other communities in Richland County, I also appreciate that our own actions are of little impact unless they are combined with broader actions.

But I also know that we face a health emergency unprecedented in my lifetime.

And I believe that such an emergency calls for a unified and strong response.

I am not insensitive to the need to balance health and economics, and I am very much aware that any response must be sustainable as well as enforceable.

But while I do not have advisers from the Department of Health and Environmental Control available to me, everything I have read about this health emergency leads me to believe that it won’t be measured in terms of weeks; it will be measured in terms of months.

And that’s why I believe that this health emergency requires a “stay at home” order.

With all of the advisers and resources that Gov. McMaster has at his disposal, he is in a much better position than I am to frame such an order; what I am simply asking is that the governor do so quickly.

In the meantime I will continue to tend to the small ground of Forest Acres that has been entrusted to me. And I will do my best to rally and encourage our selfless public works employees and police officers.

Thomas Andrews is a member of Forest Acres City Council.

This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 2:33 PM.