DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Area restaurants continue to offer indoor dining.

Several Downtown Decatur restaurants voiced they will offer indoor dining. On Sunday, the Gin Mill posted on its Facebook page and said the mitigations impact its restaurant tremendously.

"These new restriction's impact our restaurants tremendously and would effectively close down our business completely, putting our entire staff out of work," the restaurant's post said. "Based on prior court rulings, we believe the Governor lacks the authority to implement these restrictions.

The governor has implemented these restrictions based on his perceived authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Act. However, circuit courts in Illinois have already ruled that the governor has exceeded his authority.

As such, the following locally owned and independent restaurants have all come together to remain open for indoor dining to the public.

  • The Gin Mill
  • R Bar
  • Sloan's Calzones
  • The Lincoln Lounge
  • Doherty's Pub
  • Door 4 Brewing

Our decision to stay open was not taken lightly and should not be seen as a political statement. We are well aware of the detrimental impact this pandemic has had on our country, community, and customers, and we take it very seriously. The health and well-being of our staff and customers remains our number one priority and all Phase 4 protocols will remain in place. We have and will continue to exceed all current CDC recommended guidelines for restaurants, including the enforcement of social distancing, Masks, and sanitizing all touch surfaces.

We are choosing to remain open because we and the staff need to survive. We need to be able to earn a living, our staff need to be able to support their families and our customers need a place to go to have some normalcy in their lives.

We will remain open unless and until the Macon County Circuit Court orders otherwise.

We understand and respect your decision if you do not feel comfortable dining in. Carry out is always a safe alternative.

We as local business owners have always been devoted to not only providing our customers with the best dining and drinking experience possible, but also to maintain a clean, safe, and healthy environment for everyone.

Thank you for your continued support."

The owner of R Bar and Grille said his restaurant depends on dine-in service, and added without it, he could be forced to close for good.

"We just decided we needed to provide and just try, you know, otherwise the fabric of downtown relies on its restaurants and small businesses, and if we aren't here, it would be a shame," ownership said. 

The Macon County Health Department released a statement on restaurants allowing indoor dining.

"We are grateful for the establishments being compliant," health officials said. "We appreciate any measures taken to limit the spread, especially during this second surge of the pandemic. We follow-up on every complaint we receive, but unfortunately, there are limitations to what a health department alone can enforce. We continue to encourage compliance to protect the lives of our residents."

The Illinois Restaurant Association said it doesn't support the decision of allowing indoor dining, but feel something needs to be done to keep these places of business open. 

"We know how to do this right. we are a highly regulated industry. We have the health department visit us; we have we know how to do this right," said Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association. 

Toia said leaders are are pushing the federal government for more assistant to help businesses get through the pandemic.Â