Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau is leading the municipality in fighting back against a recent Cook County executive order that mandates vaccines for everyday excursions such as dinner.
The executive order goes into effect Jan. 3. It requires vaccines for restaurants, gyms and bars.
“She has no authority to do that,” Pekau told South Cook News regarding Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s announcement of the mandate.
Orland Park has called a special board meeting for Tuesday to discuss the issue.
“We have a special meeting where we will pass a resolution — I'm assuming will pass — because I'm pretty sure the entire board agrees with me that we will not enforce this mandate,” Pekau said.
Pekau said Orland Park will not be enforcing this or any other mandates.
“We have told the people of Orland Park we're not going to enforce it, and we've done so with our legislative body voting on it like it should be, not some mandate coming from me or and as it has in this case, a mandate coming from the Cook County Board president,” Pekau said.
There were nearly 200 restaurants in Orland Park in 2019.
As part of the mandate, Cook County is requiring everyone carry proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test.
The Cook County Health Department said the department might change its rules to mandate proof of a booster shot as well, pending the federal government’s response.
Pekau, who is running for Congress in the 6th District seat, said he requested data from Cook County supporting the decision but has heard nothing back.
“I'll have a presentation as well with some data because I sent the letter immediately asking for data from accounting,” he said. “By the way, we've received nothing back but I wanted the data that supports this decision.”
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