McLean County Times

Normal Mayor Chris Koos convened his pandemic advisory council, prompting a mixed bag of opinions from business owners.

The council was comprised of business leaders, health care specialists, educators, bankers and other key individuals. With the group in sunset, Koos will look into ways of managing the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and preparing for reopening.

One member of the council, O'Brien Auto Team President Ryan Gremore, said the coronavirus has dealt his business and industry as a whole a harsh blow.

“I’m watching it happen in real time,” Gremore, who said he had to lay off close to half of his 200 employees in McLean County, told WGLT.

He lamented that his business not returning to operations soon will have an irreversible effect that could be felt by people in the Bloomington-Normal area for generations.

Another sector in hard times is the restaurant business. While some eateries have eschewed dine-in service in favor of delivery or takeout, others simply closed their doors for good.

Tim Strader with Fort Jesse Cafe in Normal, a restaurant owned by his daughter, told WGLT that the establishment wrestled with many unknowns as it moved toward reopening. He felt Gov. J.B. Pritzker should not rush with rebooting the economy without health experts giving total assurance that the coronavirus is at a manageable stage.

“I don’t think it’s sustainable if we have to take one step forward and two steps back or two steps forward and one step back,” Strader said. “All of that is very detrimental to the small business person.”

Accounting firm owner Janessa Williams said that while her business hemorrhaged during the outbreak, she acknowledged the gravity of the coronavirus. Williams said she has friends with loved ones fighting the illness.

“I’m afraid that as a country, as a state, as a county, as a town that the lives of those being lost predominantly are expendable to those making the decisions,” she told WGLT.