In April 2014, Cook County adopted an ordinance prohibiting the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores unless the animals are adopted from animal shelters or small breeders who meet the County's requirement. The Village has one pet store in town, Happiness is Pets, which will be impacted by the County's ordinance.

The County ordinance was set to take effect on October 1, 2014. On September 8, 2014, the Committee-of-the-Whole considered a request from Ron Berning, owner of Happiness is Pets, that the Village opt out of the County ordinance. A motion was passed and that motion was scheduled to be considered for final action at the Village Board's September 15 meeting.

Prior to the September 15 meeting, Village Staff learned that Mr. Berning, along with some others, filed a lawsuit against the County challenging the County's ordinance. The judge stayed implementation of the ordinance and the Village Board decided not to take any action on the Committee-of-the-Whole motion while the lawsuit was pending.

On May 21, 2015, the judge granted Cook County's Motion to Dismiss, stating that the plaintiffs did not state a viable federal claim. He gave the parties until June 11 to file an amended complaint, although he doubted they could amend in such a way to make it viable. Regardless, the plaintiffs did file an amended complaint and the judge provided the parties with a briefing schedule, with the last reply due on July 28.

Mr. Berning is again asking the Village Board to adopt an ordinance opting out of the County ordinance. If final action is taken on this opt out motion made on September 8th, the Village could continue to simultaneously monitor the current legal proceedings, while researching local alternatives to the County Ordinance.

Recommendation 

Staff recommends approval of the opt out motion from the September 8, 2014 Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting, to preserve the Village’s local regulatory options on this issue.