Didn’t listen to Monday’s Board of Health meeting, but minutes from the July and August meetings provide some indication of the Department’s stance.

July, 2020, Minutes

Mr. Kyle Marcussen stated there have been several repeat offender businesses as it relates to requiring masks for patrons and employees, as well as capacity limits.

Mr. Marcussen urged the Board and the Department to undertake additional enforcement action up to and including closure on repeat offenders of the Executive Order.

Ms.[{Patti] Nomm said our authority is very clear in the Department’s food ordinance for food sanitation and related issues, but we don’t have any authority to enforce guidelines that businesses refuse to follow.

The Department does not have the capacity to enforce non-compliance issues in regards to the State Executive Order, although technically the Department can close food establishments.

Ms. [Executive Director Meliss] Adamson stated we can’t put our staff in harm’s way for non-compliance issues and that is why education is so important so businesses will understand why their compliance is important to the community.

Ms. Adamson believes that most people don’t want to take a step backwards, but there may not be a choice if the region or state numbers continue to increase.

August, 2020, Minutes

Ms. [Patti] Nomm gave a presentation summarizing the Department’s experiences regarding complaints and responses over the past 5 months since the Executive Orders were issued, how we will be handling
complaints moving forward.

Ms. Nomm stated that some facilities were confused whether the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) guidelines, restrictions and limitations under the Executive Order, were required or recommended.

Staff sought and received guidance from the State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO), who indicated that each case would be reviewed on its own merits regarding formal enforcement.

Ms. Nomm stated that the current opinion of our States Attorney’s office is that the Executive Orders are null and void, and the Department has no authority to enforce anything under the Executive Order.

Ms. Nomm said that staff provided over 400 one-on-one trainings for our food establishments about COVID-19 prevention according to DCEO guidelines that were established for Phase 4 during this time period.

Ms. Nomm stated most operators were trying to comply, but there is a small percentage of food establishments that are resistant.

Staff found that many establishments that do well during ormal operations, but that there are breakdowns in the processes when they are at their busiest.

Complaints and concerns were received by all divisions.

From mid-March thru August 6, 206 complaints, from 134 unique locations, were received.

Most complaints were about food establishments; we also received concerns about schools, daycares and other businesses.

The most frequent complaint was failure to wear face masks.

However, often complaints involved more than one concern such as not wearing face masks along with lack of social distancing and/or large
crowds.

The August 7th Emergency Rule Change codifies the failure to wear masks by staff or patrons unless medically exempted and the gathering of 50 or more people or 50% occupancy, whichever is less.

Since the new rules have been in effect, the Division has received over 70 complaints specific to the new rule changes.

Ms. Nomm said that some of the enforcement challenges include facilities indicating that staff cannot were masks due to medical reasons.

The new rules don’t provide a clear policy regarding medical exemptions, and the Department’s expectation is that a facility must have a policy in place for medical exemptions, and the policy should include some type of documentation of the need for the exemption.

Staff was asked where the new rules originated from.

Ms. Adamson said they were adopted from IDPH in response to the Executive Order, and amended the Control of Communicable Diseases
code.

Dr. Stinson asked if the ruling of the Executive Order is in the appeals process. Ms. Adamson said from the Illinois Department of Health’s standpoint, the order is fully enforceable.

The Clay County order has been stayed, which makes the Executive Order back in effect.

Environmental Health has implemented a process to receive and respond to repetitive complaints without creating duplicate files.

The rules require a 3-step, escalating enforcement process:

• written warning,
• Notice to Disperse,
• then a Notice to Appear in Court.
  

Any fines would be assessed by a judge.

Ms. Nomm said Environmental Health has written approximately 10 notices of warning to establishments so far.

She is expecting several may ultimately go through the entire enforcement
process.

Ms. Nomm said she has concerns regarding the expectations of Environmental Health staff to enforce violations.

There will be situations that Environmental Health staff is not equipped to
handle such as dispersing a large crowd.

Also, the time spent on these complaints impacts other programs in the Division. Ms. [Susan] Karras agreed that handling COVID-19 complaints and questions and providing education does take time and staff away from other responsibilities.

Mr. [Joesph] Clarke asked why this hasn’t gone through legislature to get passed as statute.

Ms. Adamson answered that it was attempted earlier for an emergency rule but was not upheld.

Ms. Adamson added that some objected to how the process was conducted rather than the rules themselves.

It is very clear in the rules that law enforcement and any employee of a local jurisdiction can be given the authority to enforce these rule

Mr. Marcussen asked why we can’t use the same type of enforcement that we use in ordinance violations because the virus is a public health risk.

Ms. Nomm responded that the Public Health Administrator has the authority to suspend food establishment permits for a variety of reasons, but ultimately we rely on the State’s Attorney’s office if we need to follow through with formal enforcement, such as if a facility disregarded a permit suspension.

Mr. Marcussen stated the Department should still proceed with the enforcement.

Ms. [Mary] McCann stated we need to find a balance and staff still has a large amount of complaints to deal with, not just COVID-related.

Ms. McCann added that it’s important to have compliance and most
people try to do the right thing to protect the community.

There was discussion among board members regarding the restrictions that have been made due to COVID-19 and the reasons why many people object to these restrictions.

Board members discussed different practices that have been restricted over the years such as smoking and other types of laws that have been put in place for to protect the public’s health.

It was suggested that a special meeting be called to discuss the adjudication process and a proposed resolution.

Ms. Adamson stated Ms. Howell and Ms. Nomm will need some time to get their information together to present to board members.

Ms. Adamson stated a poll would be taken to check board members availability.