Cary mayor among many who continue to dine indoors

For the second day in a row, McHenry County has hit the mark of COVID-19 caseload metrics that make the area eligible to loosen some of the restrictions on businesses and gatherings the state initially put in place to stem the spread of COVID-19.

It's been a cause for debate among McHenry County mayors, who are doubtful the governor will move the region from Tier 3 restrictions into the less stringent Tier 2 rules this week. The entire state currently is under Tier 3 mitigations.

Still, as some leaders are vocal in their desire to move the region forward, some residents, and restaurant employees, are more divided on whether McHenry and Lake counties should have their restrictions eased.

Cary Mayor Mark Kownick caused concern for one resident, who sent a recording to the Northwest Herald of the mayor saying he ate indoors at Cary Ale House last month despite the state’s ban on indoor dining.

The village livestreams its meetings, and these are then posted to Cary’s YouTube page.

Cary resident Tim Thomas said in an email to the Northwest Herald that he was watching the livestream before the meeting, where Kownick can be heard “admitting to disregarding the indoor dining restrictions.”

“Members of the board can then be heard discussing plans to visit other restaurants for dinner that very night,” Thomas said in the email. “For the sake of transparency, accountability, and good leadership, I think the people of Cary and surrounding towns should know about this behavior.”

Although the video was uploaded in its entirety to YouTube after the livestream ended, which Thomas downloaded, he said the pre-meeting conversation later was omitted .

In the recording, the mayor and a few trustees can be heard discussing their plans for after the meeting.

Someone asked “Are we going out?”

Another person on the recording asked if anything was open for inside dining.

“I’m not sitting outside. It’s cold,” the person said.

To this, the mayor replied “we went to dinner at [Cary] Ale House on Friday night, they were open.”

When reached by a Northwest Herald reporter Thursday, Kownick said he had no comment, and trustees present for the conversation could not be reached for comment.

Bars and restaurants in McHenry and Lake counties were forced to close to indoor dining starting Oct. 31, after COVID-19 health metrics in the region started rising. Outdoor dining still is allowed, and so is take-out and delivery.

This indoor dining ban initially was put into place as a Tier 1 mitigation under Gov. JB Pritzker’s five-phase Restore Illinois plan after the region’s positivity rate surpassed the 8% threshold for three days in a row.

However, many area restaurants are not complying with the indoor dining ban, including Cary Ale House, where the mayor went.

On its Facebook page, the restaurant wrote it is open for dining inside the building.

“At this point, we have no other choice, and we are putting the power in our customers to decide for themselves,” Cary Ale House said in the post.

While it also is offering outdoor dining, curbside pickup, take-out and other options, Cary Ale House started taking reservations for indoor dining on Nov. 13, according to the Facebook post.

Dining is reservation only, though if there are open seats, walk-ins will be allowed, Cary Ale House wrote.

No waiting is allowed inside the restaurant, and it is following the mask mandate, the restaurant wrote.

“Thank you for your understanding,” Cary Ale House wrote. “This decision wasn’t made lightly.”

Area municipalities have largely said they will not enforce the state's mitigation measures, and instead have taken what they call an "educational" approach when it comes to businesses breaking the rules. McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally also has said he won't enforce the indoor dining ban.

Kownick previously told the Northwest Herald that the village of Cary will not be enforcing state COVID-19 mitigation measures.

“If we have a call for service, we will respond and educate regarding the situation and forward any applicable report to the McHenry County health department,” Kownick said.

The village will encourage people to make decisions based on their best sense of what they need to be doing, Kownick added in the earlier interview.