MT. VERNON (WSIL) -- Mt. Vernon Mayor John Lewis says growing concerns about the governor's new and revised orders are creating impatience and frustration for business owners.
Mt. Vernon Mayor John Lewis says he's been overwhelmed with requests to go against Governor JB Pritzker's orders.
"I was being bombarded with questions like, 'why don't you stand up to the governor? Why don't you go against the governor's order?' when the fact remains, if I did that, I wouldn't be telling the people the truth," he said.
Lewis posted a Monday to clarify he has no authority over businesses that want to reopen.
"If you're a bar and trying to open up, we're not--the city is not going take any reinforcement action. The state could pull your license forever, and then you've lost your livelihood," he said.
Local restaurants like Guero's say the last two months have been a nightmare. Owner Jennifer Carmona says it's difficult to see businesses staying closed for another 30 days.
Whatever they think is better for the public safety, I understand. I wish they had a clearer message right from the beginning with a clear path that we all would've known right away so that we could've stepped it up," she said.
Both agree that the governor's plan to is not realistic.
"The order put out, I'm very disappointed with. The businesses are very disappointed in my area. I've received nothing but phone calls this morning that they can't operate like this that much longer," he said.
Lewis says the best thing citizens can do is contact the governor directly about their concerns.
"That's one of the things we've been telling all our people to do is call the governor's office, write letters.. put pressure," he said.
The mayor says the city is still available to assist businesses with grants and loans.
