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Record of Proceedings

Law and Judicial Meeting Summary - January 6, 2026

Committee MeetingsTuesday, January 6, 2026
BodyLake County, Illinois
SessionCommittee Meetings
DateTuesday, January 6, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
0:12

I will call the law and judicial meeting to order on Tuesday January the 6th, 2026.

0:22

Happy New Year's, everybody.

0:26

Okay.

0:27

May we stand for the pledge of legion.

0:33

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

0:38

And to the remote.

0:42

Under God.

0:46

Amen.

0:48

Okay.

0:51

So I'm not gonna read this because I don't need to read it.

0:55

None of this is right here.

0:57

Okay.

0:57

Yep.

0:58

I don't know.

0:59

We just need to read this.

1:00

I done read that.

1:01

We just need to say this card.

1:05

But it's okay.

1:06

We don't have nobody on vote.

1:08

No.

1:08

So I never read it.

1:10

If we don't have nobody on vote, I never read it.

1:12

Let's just jump through with it.

1:12

It's unnecessary.

1:16

Okay.

1:17

May I have a roll call, please?

1:19

Uh member Altenberg is absent.

1:21

Chair Cunningham.

1:22

Here.

1:23

Member Dan Forrest.

1:24

Member Kenny Zach.

1:26

Member Kyle.

1:28

Member Peterson.

1:30

Let's chair Roberts is absent.

1:32

Yeah.

1:33

Okay.

1:34

There's an addenda to the agenda.

1:36

No addenda to the agenda.

1:38

Any public comment there's not on.

1:40

No public comment today.

1:42

Chair remarked.

1:43

Just I don't have really no remarks.

1:46

Happy New Year's, everybody.

1:48

And hope everybody's healthy and moving on for 2026.

1:55

Okay.

1:57

Any unfinished business?

1:59

No unfinished business.

2:00

Okay, new business.

2:01

I need a motion for the consent agenda item.

2:05

Minutes 8183.

2:08

Moved by Member Peterson.

2:10

Second by Member Kenisha.

2:14

Okay.

2:15

All in favor.

2:17

I motion been approved.

2:20

No no.

2:21

Okay.

2:23

Regular agenda 8.4.

2:26

And this is from the sheriff office.

2:28

This is a giant resolution.

2:30

Approval and intergovernmental agreement for contractual police.

2:39

Service by and among the village of Lake Barron and North Berlin.

2:45

Lake County and the Lake County Sheriff Office from January the 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2028 in the estimate annual amount of 1 million 156, 970.89 cents.

3:06

So I need a motion.

3:08

Motion by member Dan for the second by member condition.

3:12

Okay, you guys are on.

3:14

Good morning, Jim Chairman from the Sheriff's Office and Happy New Year.

3:17

This is a renewal policing contract.

3:19

It's a joint contract between Lake Barrington and North Barrington.

3:23

Um this has been re uh re the contract and the costing has been reviewed by the state's attorney finance and risk.

3:31

And we're here uh seeking approval.

3:35

Any question?

3:38

All in favor and carrying the motion.

3:40

All in favor.

3:41

Eyes have it, none opposed.

3:43

Motion been approved.

3:47

Okay, 8.5.

3:49

And this is from the sheriff office.

3:51

This is a giant resolution approving an intergovernment agreement for the contractual police service by an imam, the village of Beach Park, Lake County and the Lake County Sheriff Office from January the 1st, 26, 2026 to December 31st, 2028, in the estimate and your amount of 700 and 771 dollars and 300.

4:24

31 313.93.

4:29

And I need a motion.

4:31

Motion by Kenisha.

4:33

Second by member Peterson.

4:39

Thank you.

4:40

Okay, any this is uh similar to the other.

4:44

This is a uh renewal for policing contract that's been reviewed by all the parties I mentioned earlier.

4:51

Okay, this is basically the same thing with the other contract, and of course, no question carrying the motion.

5:01

You guys are okay.

5:04

Carrying the motion.

5:05

All in favor.

5:07

Ayes have it.

5:08

None opposed.

5:10

Motion been approved.

5:11

Thank you.

5:11

Thank you.

5:13

Okay.

5:16

8.6 states attorney.

5:20

And uh this is a joint resolution authorizing the exception of a state fisher year 2026 juvenile justice council grant awarded to the Lake County State's Attorney's Office by the Illinois Juvenile Justice Committee Commissioner through the Illinois Department of Human Service to enhance and strengthen the Lake County JJC, which is run by the Lake County State's Attorney's Office and approving an emergency appropriation of $80,000 in grant funding.

6:00

And I need a motion, motion by Member Kenisha, seconded by Member Danford.

6:07

Okay.

6:09

Good morning, everyone.

6:10

I'm Joe Gravitter, Chief Deputy of Administrative Services for the State Attorney's Office.

6:15

So this is a seven-month grant that our office has received off and on since 2020.

6:22

The juvenile justice council uh focuses on programs that help to prevent juvenile delinquency.

6:29

The amount received is the same as what we received the prior year, well, the prior grant year.

6:35

Uh it funds printed materials, a contractual part-time uh JJC coordinator, a contractual racial and ethnic disparity reduction coordinator, and then national speakers for the annual uh JJC conference.

6:52

Any question on this grant?

6:56

Care in the motion.

6:57

All in favor?

6:59

Ayes have it, none opposed.

7:01

Motion been approved.

7:03

Thank you.

7:03

8.7.

7:06

And this is a joint resolution, authorizing the exception and execution of a blood worth grant awarded by the Bureau of Justice System to the Illinois Anderson Project of which the Lake County State's Attorney Office is subgrantee to partner with the Lake County Lake County Sheriff to reduce the number of room for conviction within Lake County, including an emergency appropriation of 245,37 in grant funding.

7:51

And uh I motion I need a motion for the move by Member Peterson, second by Member Kenisha.

8:01

Okay, you all uh so this is the uh budget modification that we have been waiting for through the uh Illinois Innocence Project.

8:10

So it was uh recently approved.

8:13

Um, and so the SAO is a subgrantee on this grant modification, and it runs through September 30th of this year.

8:20

Uh, this will enable us to continue to collaborate with the IIP in supporting DNA casework and reducing the number of wrongful convictions, including litigating post-conviction cases.

8:32

It'll fund the salary and benefits for our conviction integrity unit director, uh, which is a current position within the state's attorney's office, and um a contractual investigator, a contractual paralegal, as well as uh the computer software and licenses that would be needed by those positions.

8:52

And a question on this grant, all in favor, carrying the motion, eyes having none opposed, motion been approved.

9:08

Okay, and this is uh another grant, joint revolution authorizing the exception and execution of an Illinois Department of Human Service name appropriation programming grant, assisting the Lake County State's attorney's office gun violence prevention initiative to help reduce violence by increasing community response of shooting and approving an emergency appropriation of 1,000.

9:49

Am I saying it right?

9:51

One million, I mean one million and grant funding motion motion by member canisha, second by member Danford.

10:00

Motion motion about member canisha, second by member Danford.

10:07

Okay.

10:09

So the SAO was awarded uh this by the Illinois Department of Human Services in the amount of one and a half million dollars for the period of January 1st through January 30th this year.

10:22

The grant will fund salary and benefits for five staff, either in whole or in part, um, as well as a sub award to Waukegan Township for their peacemaker services.

10:32

Um it will also fund a contracted therapist and youth coordinator along with uh various outreach opportunities for the uh for the community to bring awareness.

10:43

So this is for the peacemaker in large part, yes, but it is also funding uh some of our gun violence prevention initiative staff thank you.

11:00

How many peacemakers do we have now?

11:06

See you want to come again, Steve Spagnolo is going to join us.

11:14

Steve, thank you for the question.

11:16

Uh there's currently 13 staff on board right now.

11:18

Um, with the funds, we'll uh try to get them back up to 15.

11:23

Okay, Dan's had a question.

11:27

Yeah, no, I'm thinking.

11:31

Okay, I leave it now.

11:33

I lead in my Danfo.

11:37

Thank you, Chair.

11:37

Um, I was just curious.

11:38

Was this money that just came in, the money that we were anticipating a couple of months ago coming in, but we didn't know if it would come in or not.

11:47

Yes.

11:47

So we're trying to figure out alternative ways to fund it.

11:50

Correct.

11:51

Okay, good.

11:51

So I didn't know.

11:53

Thank you.

11:54

Thank you.

11:56

Any more question?

11:59

Carrying the motion.

12:00

All in favor.

12:01

Aye.

12:02

Ayes.

12:04

Haven't none opposed.

12:05

Motion been approved.

12:07

Thank you.

12:07

Thank you.

12:11

8.9.

12:14

And this is uh from the 19th edition of circuit court, and this is a giant resolution authorizing emergency appropriation in funds, 254 children, waiting room to fund benefit expenses of the fishery year 2025 budget in the amount of eight thousand and two hundred dollars from the fund of 250 fund banners, and I need a motion.

12:48

Motion by Kenisha, second by member Peterson.

12:54

Okay.

12:55

Uh good morning, Chair Ross Cunningham and members of the committee, Regina Tuzak, Chief Financial Officer.

13:01

As part of the year-end closeout of payroll and benefits, we occasionally have expenses that exceed the budgeted uh amounts.

13:10

And in the case of the children's waiting room, we do have benefit expenses that exceeded the original budget for fiscal year 25.

13:18

There's uh good reasons for this.

13:20

Um, at the time the budget was prepared.

13:22

We had one vacant position.

13:24

Of course, we always have assumptions that go into what the uh health uh benefits will be.

13:29

And we also had one uh position that had elected opt-out.

13:34

Um, since the budget was prepared, uh, the position was filled, and the opt-out uh employee has uh since elected to participate in benefits.

13:45

So those two things contributed to the increase in costs in excess of what was originally budgeted, and thus we come forward to you today to request this um emergency appropriation from fund balance to uh provide for these benefit expenses for the fiscal year 25.

14:03

Happy to answer any questions that you might have.

14:05

Yeah.

14:06

Oh, one item.

14:07

I'm sorry, I want to do note is that there is a scriptner's error on this.

14:10

It does say account 74010, and that should be 74080.

14:15

My apologies for that.

14:22

So that'll be correct.

14:24

Yes, maybe it'll be correct.

14:29

Thank you.

14:30

All right, and no question, all in favor.

14:34

Ayes have it, none opposed.

14:37

Motion been approved.

14:38

Thank you.

14:39

Thank you.

14:42

Okay.

14:44

No county administrator report.

14:47

No county administrators report.

14:50

I know what I have no executive section.

14:53

No need.

14:54

No.

14:55

Any members have any remarks they want to make?

15:02

Um I join this meeting.

15:07

Next meeting is January twenty-seventh at the same time.

15:11

I declare this meeting adjourned.

15:13

Thank you, Lord.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████50%
Public Health████████████████18%
Juvenile Detention███████████████17%
Procedural██████████████15%
Summary of Proceedings

Law and Judicial Meeting Summary - January 6, 2026

The meeting of the Law and Judicial Committee convened on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, to address administrative matters, including consent agenda items, public comment opportunities, and several resolutions regarding police services and grant funding. A quorum was present, though members Altenberg and Roberts were absent. The committee approved multiple resolutions concerning intergovernmental police service agreements and various grant appropriations, with no public comments received and no remarks from the County Administrator.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes 81-83, moved by Member Peterson and seconded by Member Kenisha.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were received during the meeting.

Discussion Items

  • Intergovernmental Police Service Agreements (Resolutions 8.4 & 8.5)
    • Speaker Jim from the Sheriff's Office stated that Resolution 8.4 is a renewal of the policing contract between the Village of Lake Barrington and North Barrington, and the Lake County Sheriff's Office, effective January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2028. The speaker noted the agreement was reviewed by the State's Attorney, Finance, and Risk departments with an annual cost of $1,156,970.89.
    • Speaker Jim from the Sheriff's Office stated that Resolution 8.5 is a similar renewal for the Village of Beach Park, effective the same dates, with an estimated annual amount of $700,313.93.
    • Member Dan asked a question regarding the nature of the funding source for an unrelated grant, and Member Danford sought clarification on whether the recently awarded $1.5 million grant funds were anticipated months prior; Mr. Spagnolo confirmed the funds were recently secured and previously uncertain.
  • Juvenile Justice Council Grant (Resolution 8.6)
    • Speaker Joe Gravitter, Chief Deputy, stated the grant is a seven-month award from the Illinois Juvenile Justice Committee, continuing a program active since 2020 designed to prevent juvenile delinquency. He noted the funding amount matches the prior year and will cover printed materials, part-time and contractual coordinators for racial disparity reduction, and national speakers for the annual conference.
  • Illinois Innocence Project Grant (Resolution 8.7)
    • Speaker from the State's Attorney's Office stated this grant modification supports the Illinois Innocence Project to reduce wrongful convictions. The speaker detailed that funds will cover the salary and benefits for a conviction integrity unit director, a contractual investigator, a contractual paralegal, and necessary computer software/licenses, running through September 30, 2026.
  • Gun Violence Prevention Initiative Grant (Resolution 8.8)
    • Speaker from the State's Attorney's Office stated this grant, totaling $1.5 million from the Illinois Department of Human Services, funds the first 30 days of the fiscal year to support gun violence prevention. The speaker clarified that the funds will pay for five staff members, a sub-award to Waukegan Township for peacemaker services, a contracted therapist, a youth coordinator, and outreach. The speaker noted that while 13 staff are currently on board, the goal with these funds is to return to 15 staff members, including the potential addition of Steve Spagnolo.
  • Children's Waiting Room Budget Exception (Resolution 8.9)
    • Speaker Regina Tuzak, Chief Financial Officer, stated that benefit expenses for the Children's Waiting Room exceeded the FY2025 budget due to two factors: the filling of a previously vacant position and an employee who elected to opt-out originally now electing to participate. The speaker noted a scrivener's error in the agenda regarding the account number (74010 vs 74080) and expressed a position of correction regarding the documentation.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion Approved: Resolution 8.4 (Police Service agreement for Lake/North Barrington, ~$1.16M annually) passed unanimously.
  • Motion Approved: Resolution 8.5 (Police Service agreement for Beach Park, ~$700M annually) passed unanimously.
  • Motion Approved: Resolution 8.6 (Juvenile Justice Council grant, $80,000 appropriation) passed unanimously.
  • Motion Approved: Resolution 8.7 (Illinois Innocence Project grant, $245,374 appropriation, transcript cites "245,37") passed unanimously.
  • Motion Approved: Resolution 8.8 (Gun Violence Prevention grant, $1.5 million appropriation) passed unanimously.
  • Motion Approved: Resolution 8.9 (Children's Waiting Room budget exception, $8,200 appropriation) passed unanimously, with a noted correction to the account number.
  • Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned by the Chair, with the next meeting scheduled for January 27, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

I will call the law and judicial meeting to order on Tuesday January the 6th, 2026. Happy New Year's, everybody. Okay. May we stand for the pledge of legion. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. And to the remote. Under God. Amen. Okay. So I'm not gonna read this because I don't need to read it. None of this is right here. Okay. Yep. I don't know. We just need to read this. I done read that. We just need to say this card. But it's okay. We don't have nobody on vote. No. So I never read it. If we don't have nobody on vote, I never read it. Let's just jump through with it. It's unnecessary. Okay. May I have a roll call, please? Uh member Altenberg is absent. Chair Cunningham. Here. Member Dan Forrest. Member Kenny Zach. Member Kyle. Member Peterson. Let's chair Roberts is absent. Yeah. Okay. There's an addenda to the agenda. No addenda to the agenda. Any public comment there's not on. No public comment today. Chair remarked. Just I don't have really no remarks. Happy New Year's, everybody. And hope everybody's healthy and moving on for 2026. Okay. Any unfinished business? No unfinished business. Okay, new business. I need a motion for the consent agenda item. Minutes 8183.

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