OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Health and Community Services Committee Meeting - April 7, 2026

Committee Meetings — Tuesday, April 7, 2026
BodyLake County, Illinois
SessionCommittee Meetings
DateTuesday, April 7, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 21:50

Transcript — Verbatim
0:12

Good morning, everyone.

0:13

Today is April 7th, 2026.

0:17

I want to welcome everybody to the Health and Community Services Committee meeting.

0:22

In addition be to being able to attend in person, remote attendance has been made available to the public via Zoom at the link on the agenda.

0:32

This meeting is being recorded through Zoom.

0:35

Per county board rules and the open meetings act, attendance via remote means is permitted for qualifying reasons as long as the majority of the committee members are physically present.

0:46

We have been notified in advance by member Sarah Knijznick that she is requested to participate participate electronically due to uh work reasons.

0:58

Uh physical quorum is present, so she may be marked as present and eligible to vote on matters before the committee today.

1:06

As a reminder to members attending remotely, please ensure your camera is on at all times.

1:14

Okay.

1:15

So can Carissa Kasbin meet us in the pledge of allegiance?

1:22

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

1:36

Can I get a roll call, please?

1:38

Yes.

1:41

Member Kasbin.

1:43

Here.

1:44

Member Cunningham is absent.

1:46

Member Dan Forth.

1:48

Member Kinesnik.

1:49

Here.

1:53

Chair is absent.

1:54

Ex official member Hart.

1:56

Here.

1:58

Okay.

1:59

Is there any addenda to the agenda?

2:01

No.

2:03

Any public comment?

2:05

No public comment.

2:07

Okay, no chair's remarks today.

2:10

Any unfinished business?

2:12

No unfinished business.

2:15

Okay.

2:15

Can I get a motion for a point one, our consent agenda?

2:20

Motion by Kasbin, second by Dan Forth.

2:23

All in favor.

2:25

Aye.

2:26

Motion passes.

2:28

Moving on to the regular agenda.

2:31

Community development 8.2.

2:35

We welcome Assistant County Administrator Ruth Ann Hall.

2:39

She's going to give us a presentation on joint resolution approving the program year 2026 Lake County Opioid Settlement Funds.

2:49

Funding recommendations of 405,000.

2:53

Can I get a motion?

2:55

Motion by Kasbin, second by Dan Forth.

2:58

Okay, take it away, Ruth Ann.

3:01

Good morning.

3:02

Ruth Ann Hall, Assistant County Administrator.

3:04

I'm here presenting for Ashley Watson, our opioid coordinator.

3:08

She is off-site at a training.

3:10

Um, and I'm really excited about this.

3:12

One of the things that um Ashley brought to the position was her experience in grants.

3:18

Last year was the first year of our opioid settlement fund grants, and we were awarding, we awarded seven grants for 500,000.

3:27

And one of the stipulations with the grants was that they were to be new programs.

3:31

So one of the things that Ashley did was monitor how they were able to get started, their KPIs, and early on, she noticed that they were really not going to be able to achieve everything that they were going to in that that one-year grant program that we were giving them.

3:49

So what we decided this year with the opioid working group is we would offer all of the grantees the opportunity to renew for a second year to make sure that they would securely get the um program off and running, be able to meet their um KPIs.

4:05

So six of the seven grantees agreed to move forward for a second year.

4:11

And Ashley reviewed all of their quarterly submittals, made recommendations to the opioid working group, and that opioid working group, which makes up members of the state's attorney's office, public defender, we've got the sheriff's office, courts, county administrator, community development, and the health department as part of that, agreed with her recommendation to move forward with granting um six of the seven, a total of 405,000.

4:40

So if you recall from the budget, we had um identified 700,000 in grant funds for this year.

4:47

Um so this will take up the first 405,000, and we're gonna have a second grant cycle in the fall.

4:55

One of the things that again, Ashley, having experience with grants understands that great ideas happen not just once a year, but maybe twice a year.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Substance Use Disorder█████████████████████████████████████████████54%
Cannabis Regulation█████████████████20%
Housing█████████████16%
Procedural████████10%
Summary of Proceedings

Health and Community Services Committee Meeting - April 7, 2026

The Health and Community Services Committee met on April 7, 2026, with a physical quorum present. Member Sarah Knijznick participated electronically due to work reasons. The committee approved several resolutions related to opioid settlement funds, HUD action plan amendments, and video gaming grant funding.

Consent Calendar

  • The consent agenda was approved unanimously (motion by Member Kasbin, second by Member Dan Forth).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were made.

Discussion Items

Opioid Settlement Fund Grant Renewals (Resolution 8.2)

  • Assistant County Administrator Ruth Ann Hall presented a joint resolution approving $405,000 in program year 2026 opioid settlement fund grants. Of the seven original grantees from the previous year, six agreed to renew for a second year after staff monitoring showed programs needed more time to fully implement. The seventh grantee was allowed to continue with original funding and may reapply in a future cycle. The remaining $295,000 of the $700,000 budgeted will be offered in a fall grant cycle for new programs. Member Kasbin commended Opioid Coordinator Ashley Watson for her dedication and passion. The resolution passed unanimously.

Opioid Settlement Funds for Health Department Services (Resolution 8.3)

  • Ruth Ann Hall and Michelle Esser (Health Department) presented a joint resolution allocating $292,672 in opioid settlement funds to the Lake County Health Department for stabilizing and sustaining substance use disorder services for uninsured residents. The funds will cover gap funding between state reimbursement cycles, which ran out this month. Services include outpatient substance abuse programs, child/adolescent outpatient programs, withdrawal management, and two rehabilitation programs. Any unused funds will be reprogrammed. The resolution passed unanimously.

HUD Annual Action Plan Amendment (Resolution 8.4)

  • Community Development Administrator Dominic Strezzo presented the fourth amendment to the program year 2025 HUD Annual Action Plan. The amendment switches the funding year source for HOME funds between two projects: the North Point Development in Gurnee (which is moving faster) and the Midlothian Manor project in Lake Zurich. The change puts older 2022 funds into the sooner project to avoid additional costs and regulatory requirements. Member Kasbin suggested creating a template of best practices from the North Point project for future developers. The resolution passed unanimously.

Video Gaming Grant Funding Recommendations (Resolution 8.5)

  • Dominic Strezzo presented the program year 2026 video gaming grant funding recommendations totaling $841,100, with an emergency appropriation of $16,100 from the video gaming revenue fund balance. The application round received 18 applications, the most ever. The Behavioral Health Advisory and Recommendation Committee (ARC) scored the applications and held a public hearing in March. Member Kasmin recused herself due to a conflict of interest with PADS Lake County. Chair Hart noted that video gaming revenue has increased every year and expressed concern about the societal costs of expanded gambling, but noted that the county has allocated a significant portion of funds to gambling addiction services. The resolution passed unanimously.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved consent agenda unanimously.
  • Approved resolution 8.2 (opioid settlement fund grants - $405,000) unanimously.
  • Approved resolution 8.3 (opioid settlement funds for health department services - $292,672) unanimously.
  • Approved resolution 8.4 (HUD action plan amendment) unanimously.
  • Approved resolution 8.5 (video gaming grants - $841,100 plus emergency appropriation $16,100) unanimously.
  • Next meeting scheduled for April 28, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Today is April 7th, 2026. I want to welcome everybody to the Health and Community Services Committee meeting. In addition be to being able to attend in person, remote attendance has been made available to the public via Zoom at the link on the agenda. This meeting is being recorded through Zoom. Per county board rules and the open meetings act, attendance via remote means is permitted for qualifying reasons as long as the majority of the committee members are physically present. We have been notified in advance by member Sarah Knijznick that she is requested to participate participate electronically due to uh work reasons. Uh physical quorum is present, so she may be marked as present and eligible to vote on matters before the committee today. As a reminder to members attending remotely, please ensure your camera is on at all times. Okay. So can Carissa Kasbin meet us in the pledge of allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Can I get a roll call, please? Yes. Member Kasbin. Here. Member Cunningham is absent. Member Dan Forth. Member Kinesnik. Here. Chair is absent. Ex official member Hart. Here. Okay. Is there any addenda to the agenda? No. Any public comment? No public comment. Okay, no chair's remarks today. Any unfinished business? No unfinished business. Okay. Can I get a motion for a point one, our consent agenda? Motion by Kasbin, second by Dan Forth. All in favor. Aye. Motion passes. Moving on to the regular agenda. Community development 8.2. We welcome Assistant County Administrator Ruth Ann Hall. She's going to give us a presentation on joint resolution approving the program year 2026 Lake County Opioid Settlement Funds. Funding recommendations of 405,000. Can I get a motion? Motion by Kasbin, second by Dan Forth. Okay, take it away, Ruth Ann. Good morning. Ruth Ann Hall, Assistant County Administrator. I'm here presenting for Ashley Watson, our opioid coordinator. She is off-site at a training. Um, and I'm really excited about this.

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