Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Lake County Board's Financial and Administrative Committee met on October 1, 2026, at 8:30 AM. The meeting included public comment from the State's Attorney, approval of consent agenda items, and discussion and resolutions related to capital improvements, including a major multiple department building project. An executive session was held on pending litigation.
It's 8 30 on Thursday, October 1st, 2026. A call to order, the Lake County Board's Financial and Administrative Committee. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm not delivering justice. Yes. Member Clark here. Chair Frank. Here. Member Hewitt? Member Maine is absent. Member Peterson. And Member Velitzek. We have a quorum. We'll proceed. Do we have any addenda to the agenda? We do not. Uh do we have any public comment on items not on the agenda? We have one public comment for an item not on the agenda. I am going to briefly read the uh instructions. An individual has three minutes of cumulative time to provide their public comment. Public comment must be related to the business of the county board and not redundant or political. When appropriate matters raised by public comments, she'll be referred to an appropriate standing committee. The public shall refrain from commenting about prohibited activities, lifestyles, or beliefs of others, including county employees or elected officials that are unrelated to the business of the county board or county government in their public comment. Comments that are uncivil, rude, vulgar, profane, or otherwise disruptive will not be allowed. Candidates running for public office must refrain from including comments that are political in nature or that promote or support a specific candidate, including refraining from uh identifying oneself as a candidate for public office. And I have Eric Reinhardt here this morning. County State's attorney, I rise to give public comments today in the final weeks as the board approves its FY 2027 budget to ask for a strategic investment in the safety of our communities. I want to talk briefly about three ideas this morning, mostly about two. Planning for safety into the future, the rise of technology, and the importance of investing in people. This will not be my final communication, as you might imagine on these matters before you settle on your budget over the next five weeks. The number one goal of the county's strategic plan is the safety of the community. The number one goal, and that is 100% right. The simple fact of the matter is that the county must be the strategic leaders in preventing and responding to crime. Criminals, the technology they use, or the deep causes of crime, don't see village or city borders. Our children's advocacy center reaches across the county. Our G VPI reaches into every community, and we have seen the dangers in the rise of artificial intelligence in places like Lake Zurich, Lake Forest, Mundaline, and Liberteville. Where should this planning occur? I believe that you give deference to all sorts of county departments, whether it's transportation, whether it's the health department, whatever it may be. We would ask for the same intellectual deference that you give to them. In that mode, as you listen to this budget and beyond and prepare for decades into the future, I've got to address two areas briefly. Last year in 2023, we saw a large increase in decades. We saw the largest increase in salaries in decades for prosecutors, but the pressure continues. When they max out, they are losing thousands and thousands of dollars.