The City of Kennesaw renewed its Declaration of Emergency. The current declaration was put in place on March 20, and the Kennesaw Code of Ordinances states that “no state of emergency shall continue for longer than 30 days, unless renewed by the mayor.”

Here is the text of the renewal declaration:

A Declaration of Emergency was executed and became effective on March 20, 2020. Pursuant to the Declaration of Emergency and the Kennesaw Code of Ordinances, Sec. 34-2(a)(3), “no state of emergency shall continue for longer than 30 days, unless renewed by the mayor.”

Due to the on-going nature of the Covid-19 emergency, it is hereby ORDERED that the Declaration of Emergency is hereby renewed and the Declaration of Emergency, and any Executive Order(s) related thereto, shall continue until the mayor finds that the emergency no longer exists, at which time the mayor shall execute and file with the city clerk a document marking the end of the state of emergency. The city council may, by resolution, end a state of emergency at any time.

Background

Kennesaw issued its State of Emergency declaration on March 20, followed by their first executive order, closing bars and imposing other restrictions.

They also announced a plan to alternate shifts of employees to decrease social distance, and the city closed Smith-Cantrell Park.

They then issued an executive order suspending all public hearings requiring community access, including zoning hearings.

Then Kennesaw temporarily suspended the business licenses of businesses that require personal physical contact with customer, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 2 Governor Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place executive order that superseded local executive orders.