North Kent News

State governments across the country have to make tough decisions when it comes to which businesses are deemed essential and which are deemed nonessential.  

In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is getting pushback from some small business owners in the lawn care and landscaping industries that say they should be able to remain open, despite the COVID-19 threat.

State Rep. Jim Lower (R-Greenville) has taken their concerns up with the governor's office. Lower believes the governor's executive order is too restrictive.

He said people in the community are out trimming shrubs and working on their flower beds while maintaining a safe distance from one another, according to Michigan House Republicans.

"No one is within 6 feet of anyone else,” Lower said, and he believes landscapers and lawn care professionals can do the same.

“Under the governor’s orders, people can line up at a hardware store to buy gardening tools and yard waste bags, but a guy who owns a landscaping business can’t tidy up the yard of a senior citizen who isn’t capable of doing it themselves," Lower said to Michigan House Republicans.

Lower argues landscapers and lawn care professionals are essential now and will remain essential in the coming months because their work will help prevent the transmission of "pest-borne illnesses spread by fleas, ticks and mosquitoes."

Lower says local plant nursery owners have also voiced their frustrations with the governor's executive order.

The nurseries, many of them family-owned and -operated, said forcing them to close their doors are devastating their businesses because they make most of their profits during the spring, according to Lower.

"They’re forced to close while grocery and hardware stores can continue selling their plants. I don’t blame them one bit for being frustrated,” Lower said, according to Michigan House Republicans.