Metro East Sun

Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin wrote an appeal to Gov. J.B. Pritzker to shed light on how his town has been affected by recent events, including floods in 2018 and 2019, and now COVID-19. 

He asked Pritzker to reconsider a one-size-fits-all approach to reopening, and to allow Grafton to open immediately.

“Our town has simply been devastated. Aesthetically, structurally, and economically devastated, more so than any other time in its storied history. My administration worked diligently to balance the budget only to see those efforts wiped out by the costs of fighting the flood,” Eberlin wrote. “The majority of businesses were shut down from March until August, that coming after our tourist season was cut short by flooding in the fall of 2018. Most people were optimistic heading into this year, but the pandemic crushed those hopes. I can’t imagine any other town in Illinois that has suffered more than us.”

Grafton has not fully recovered and cleaned up from the 2019 flood, requiring supplemental budgets more than once. It has not received state or federal aid from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency or Federal Emergency Management Agency.  

And the city’s tourism has been devastated by the coronavirus crisis, which has reduced revenue flow that usually comes from small businesses. 

As of May 14, Eberlin said the town had $25,000 in its savings account    

“To make matters worse in Grafton, many businesses fail to qualify for the stimulus that is being offered. The requirements are such that it makes it nearly impossible for our businesses to get the help they so desperately need,” he wrote. “Sole proprietorships, businesses in the floodway or floodplain, seasonal business and businesses not owned for three years, or have not shown profitability for two of the last three years, businesses with more than 50 employees all find themselves ineligible. These businesses can’t afford to take on additional debt in the form of loans.”

Although Illinois has seen a steady flow of visitors from Missouri since March 21, when Pritzker enacted the stay-at-home order, not been a single case of COVID-19 has been recorded in Grafton, Eberlin said.

“To our north, Calhoun has 1 case, Greene 3, Pike 1, Scott 0, and Brown 2. To our west Macoupin has 36. Only two deaths have been attributed to the COVID-19 virus in those counties. Madison county to our south has 435 cases with 27 fatalities. However, 24 of those fatalities have come in nursing homes,” Eberlin wrote. “Obviously, the point that I’m trying to make is that my town and the region in which it lies has not experienced the outbreak of COVID that Chicago in Cook County and the collar counties have seen. Ninety two percent of all COVID deaths and 91.5 percent of all cases in Illinois exist in those counties. There is really no comparison that can be made to the rest of downstate Illinois.”