Below is what Trustee Stan Nord posted on Facebook. A link is included but you have to have a Facebook account to see it. Since it is very long, I’m not going to repost it. Former Bloomington lawyer Todd Greenburg conducted the hearing. To my knowledge he hasn’t ruled yet on the fine Normal plans to collect. Attorney Thomas Devore represented Joe’s.
Normal’s punishment hearing for Joe’s Station House indoor dining complaint. This is 1.5 hr video. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing there are 2 significant dialogues which may cost you, the taxpayers, heavily.
The town is voluntarily bypassing the Health Department and making judgement on health issues. And the town is voluntarily enforcing something which our state’s law-making body has not specifically instructed nor ordered any municipal body in the state to do. To my knowledge, neither the Town Manager, Mayor, Town Attorney nor any council persons are epidemiologists, are public health officials, nor have had training on what constitutes a public health issue and response. Yet they are making medical/health decisions on the public’s behalf without qualified experts.
@ 37 min, the police officer who responded to a complaint was asked by the defense attorney
Q. “When you initially got there, did you find [there] to be a risk to the public?”
A. “No, I didn’t feel that it needed police intervention.”
@ 38 min, the town attorney asked the policy officer
Q. “Have you ever been an epidemiologist?”
A. “No sir.”
Q. “Ever been a public health official?”
A. “No sir.”
Q. “Ever had any training on what constitutes a public health issue?”
A. “No sir.”
@1:19:30 “If the governor wants his executive order enforced, [he needs] to get to enforcing them. Don’t have our cities and counties go out and try to enforce these things and draw our cities and counties into potential civil liability issues down the road…This is not a state law. This is nothing more than an executive order. You notice they use the word guidance a lot sir. They use the word guidance. Oh, it’s guidance. There’s a reason for that. Because at some point it’s going to come up that we never ordered you to do anything.
The State of Illinois is going to step back [and say] we didn’t order you we just gave guidance. You the city done that trying to enforce our guidance through the use of your local ordinances…”This dialogue highlights the hypocrisy that unqualified town elites are acting outside of their scope by making medical/health acquisitions and decisions alone.
Public health issues belong under the purview of the Public Health Department. If a medical professional knowingly were acting outside of their scope of practice they could be sued for malpractice. If the town gets sued, the town staff, mayor, and council will not pay a dime for their actions.
You, the taxpayers will be stuck with all the legal bills and damages that are awarded. Plus, the town staff will continue to receive bi-annual pay raises, lifetime pensions, and Cadillac benefits.
BTW…The Sangamon County Health Department has announced they are allowing indoor dining in restaurants in their county, which includes Springfield, IL. I am not intending to argue science, just consistency and reliance on health professionals for health decisions.
McLean County Health Director, Ms. McKnight, is not an epidemiologist either.
I hope the brothers swue the Town of Normal for all they can get!!! Koos’s Korps needs to be taught a lesson or two on laws & executive orders!! Imprison all of them with the exception of Stan Nord!! Ron
Sue Chris Koos directly. He is acting outside the bounds of his office. He is acting outside the bounds of law. His actions are not tethered to anything. Sue him for acting in opposition to the law and the office of the mayor. 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
Koos is not the only one blasting this nonsense. Every council member except for stan voted to make it illegal to have an opinion that opposes Koos or Reece. Normal prides themselves on being progressive leaders. I say they all get sued individually. Maybe they can argue who is the most progressive over dinner in their cell block. It would be awesome if pritzker was there too.
They voted on suspending license fees for good behavior. Nobody voted on fines.
And that is what bothers me the most about all this. Council talked about a carrot and stick approach to liquor license holders and Council holding the license over their head to get them to comply with the governor’s orders. What they are calling carrot and stick, I’m calling bait and switch. Liquor licenses are granted to enforce the city liquor code and revocation or suspension is for those said violations. Disagreeing with the governor’s orders that are not law is not a violation of the city liquor code and legally cannot be allowed as reason for revoking or suspending a liquor license. This is the equivalent to a resident being in violation of a city ordinance and the city in turn refusing to pick up their garbage or shut off their water for said violation.
This is not what city liquor licenses are used for and to now open this door is setting a really bad precedent and opening the town of Normal up for liability issues. I am very disappointed in Council for heading down this path. This is a power trip that has nothing to do with public health.
Vote for Marc Tiritilli in April! Time to take the trash out!!