The Coal City Village Board has made violation of state or village-issued emergency orders a punishable offense.
City officials unanimously approved the changes to the town code on May 13. It went into effect as soon as the trustees approved it and will extend beyond the scope of COVID-19 and include any other potential emergencies.
“We have an executive order from the governor that neither myself or these trustees that sit with me have any authority to override. That’s just the fact, period," Mayor Terry Halliday told The Free Press Newspaper. "The governor’s executive order is the authority, but at the same time many of us here understand the situation, especially in a small town where small businesses are critical."
The ordinance provides citizens who violate a punishment that is a lower level than arrest. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has issued more than 30 executive orders that Coal City is required to enforce by law.
First, code offenders would be issued a verbal or written warning from law enforcement. If violations are issued, then they will be no less than $75 and no more than $750.
Some of the trustees in charge of the policy, such as Sarah Beach, are small business owners and see the value in the violations being issued.
“It’s not going to work for every business owner but this template helps those business owners that are on the fence trying to decide whether or not they should open," Beach told the newspaper. "It will help them make that decision and those that are dedicated to opening it’s not going to matter what rules we put in place. They are going to go that route. But having all the options and having everything there allows the businesses to do their own risk assessment to the situation, how much they are willing to risk and is it a bigger risk to pay the fine to the village or is it a bigger risk to not open the doors. Unfortunately, it's very gray and it’s very personal."
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