Village receives press release allowing local health departments, police department to issue warnings, citations for violating mask policies
By ARIANA R. CHERRY
Staff Writer
The Village of Arthur met on Monday evening, August 17 with board members practicing social distancing (as they have in the past recently) and wearing masks with the number of COVID cases rising in the areas around us as well as some being in our own community.
At the beginning of the meeting, Trustee Jenni Marner informed that the expenditures were $98,731.36. Board members approved the current bills and expenses.
Grant Corum of the Public Works Department announced that Craig Moffet’s last day was August 7 and they are currently down to two people for the next month. One of the employees is currently on medical leave. Grant noted that he has gotten a few applications for another full-time employee.
Attorney Kenny Crossman announced that he closed on Lot 21 on the Meadowview Subdivision last Friday.
A sign request was made for Eagle Scout, Ryan Krutsinger. He finished his project at Brad-O-Clen last year that included a flag pole, some signs and a new bridge. The village has a generic sign program for those who don’t qualify for the “Home-Town Heroes” program, but currently there is no policy for it. The board made a motion to postpone the issue until a written policy about signs has been made.
A motion was made to purchase Christmas greens for the Welcome Center and the Gazebo. The village will decorate the Arthur Community Center this year.
A street closing request was made by the Arthur Area of Commerce for Kick-Start to Fall for September 4-5. Arthur is having “Kick-Start to Fall” this year in place of the Cheese Festival. The downtown stores will be having special sales and giveaways. There will also be food vendors downtown on Friday and Saturday. A motion was made to approve the request and it was passed.
A change order request was made for the Sanitary Sewer Lining project in the amount of $23,800 which also included a two-month extension. The man-hole project is at 40% completion while the lining is at 90%. The new man holes have all been completed but they are still working on some of the older ones. A motion for a loan disbursement for the sanitary lining project was made in the amount of $96,441.10. Both the change order request and loan disbursement were approved.
Chief Michael Goodman spoke on a press release from Governor Pritzker. Pritzker states in the release that as he has visited with different mayors and local officials, he states that there is still a great need for people to wear masks.
Goodman said that the Governor has given local health departments the permission to issue warnings to businesses in violations for mask policies.
The village could pass an ordinance if they wanted to, and if this were to happen, the local police department would be the ones to have to enforce it. Currently IDPH (Illinois Department of Health) has a three-point system for those who are in violation: (1st time – warning, 2nd: the number of people in the business are limited, 3rd- a citation would be issued. It would be categorized as a class A misdemeanor and be subjected to a fine ranging from $75-$2,500). “Locally, we are still a long way from enforcing at the local level,” commented Goodman.
