Lake County Board Meeting October 14, 2025: ICE Staging Ban, Board Rules, Recognitions
Lake County Board Meeting – October 14, 2025
The Lake County Board convened on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. The meeting included special recognitions, public comments, and consideration of several major items, including a resolution prohibiting county property for civil immigration enforcement staging, an amendment to board rules, and multiple funding and appointment approvals. The meeting adjourned around 12:30 p.m.
Special Recognitions
- Gail Graves was recognized for her contributions to literacy, public health, and community outreach, including co-founding the African American Community Partnership Group and leading United Way's Community Impact Division.
- Digital Inclusion Week (October 6–10, 2025) was proclaimed, highlighting that over 3,870 residences lack broadband and over 35,000 residents lack a computer. Lake County’s Digital Growth Initiative has trained over 3,000 residents and distributed 600 laptops.
- Veterans Day and Operation Green Light for Veterans (November 4–11, 2025) were recognized. The Veterans Assistance Commission serves approximately 200,000 transitioning service members annually. Lake County is home to Naval Station Great Lakes and other military facilities.
- National First Responders Day (October 28) was recognized, honoring an estimated 4.6 million first responders nationwide.
- October 2025 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month was proclaimed, noting the National Domestic Violence Hotline reports 24 victims per minute in the U.S. (over 12 million annually). A Safe Place and the State’s Attorney’s Office collaborate on prosecution and victim support.
- Rhonda Heller was celebrated for 35 years of service at the Lake County Health Department, where she progressed from associate sanitarian to senior environmental health practitioner.
Consent Calendar
- Items 6 through 37 on the consent agenda were approved unanimously (19-0) after removing items 12, 13, and 15 for separate consideration.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Sean Kalakie (Fremont School District 79 board secretary) introduced two board members as liaisons to the County Board to improve communication, especially regarding the Ivanhoe Village development.
- Rayne Edwards thanked board members for mentioning the return of hostages from Hamas and for showing up on immigration issues, but expressed concern about unprofessional behavior by elected officials.
- Andrea Moore requested the County consider adopting an agreement with the Illinois Commerce Commission to enforce towing regulations, citing a personal experience of being charged $280 and denied credit card payment.
- Rosemary Heileman (League of Women Voters of Lake County) introduced a new board observer, David Young.
- Margaret Carrasco criticized ICE operations in Waukegan, describing them as “Nazi soldier tactics,” and called for an emergency meeting on October 16, 2025, to address the impact on residents and the local economy.
Discussion Items
- Resolution 38 – Prohibiting County Property for Civil Immigration Enforcement Staging: The resolution bans use of county parking lots, vacant lots, and garages as staging areas, processing locations, or operation bases for ICE. An amendment by Member Main to change the language to “county property for county purposes only” failed (6 in favor, 13 opposed). A motion to refer the item back to the Finance and Administrative Committee also failed (4-15). The original resolution passed 14-5.
- Item 50 – Circuit Court Clerk Operation and Administration Fund: The resolution creates a new fund for the circuit court clerk. An amendment to require remittance of funds to the county treasurer per state statute (705 ILCS 135/15) passed (15 aye, 0 no, 3 abstain). A motion to refer back to committee failed (4-12). The amended resolution passed (15 aye, 3 abstain).
- Item 51 – County Board Rules of Order and Operational Procedures: The board considered amendments to the rules adopted December 10, 2024. An amendment by Member Peterson to change travel training approval from the county administrator to the county board chair passed (15-1). An amendment by Member Altenberg to restore language on appointed official selection (Section 7 of Supplement A) passed by voice vote. The final rules as amended passed (12 aye, 1 abstain).
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 38 adopted (14-5): County property cannot be used for ICE civil immigration enforcement staging, processing, or operations.
- Board rules updated (12–0–1): Travel approval returned to board chair; appointed official selection section restored.
- Circuit Court Clerk Fund created (15–0–3): New fund established with requirement that certain fees be remitted to county treasurer first.
- Multiple funding and contract approvals:
- Workforce development sub-award with College of Lake County ($697,862, 3 new FTEs) – approved unanimously.
- Inmate medical care contract with WellPath LLC ($4,657,248 for one year) – approved.
- Engineering services for Gauges Lake Road improvements ($3,237,837, funded by motor fuel tax) – approved.
- Roundabout construction on Russell Road at Kenosha Road and Lewis Avenue ($7,219,693.30, funded by county option motor fuel tax) – approved.
- Demolition of dangerous building at 9865 West Logan Court, Zion – approved.
- Polling place accessibility grant ($250,000) – approved.
- Design services for multi-agency facility in Libertyville ($1,184,559) – approved.
- Appointments approved: Letitia Holbert, Amy Van Streen, James Snodgrass to Workforce Development Board; Keith Hansen and Allison Murray to Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District; Linda Peterson to Housing and Community Development Commission.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Today is Tuesday, October 14, 2025, and I call the Lake County Board Meeting's order at 9 a.m. The meeting is being recorded and live streamed on our website, Comcast Channels 18 or 30 and ATTU vers channel 99, as well as on Zoom at the link on the agenda. In addition to being able to attend in person, remote attendance has been made available to the public via 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 board members are physically present. We have been notified in advance by members Hunter and Frank that they request to participate electronically due to work reasons. A physical quorum is present, and if there's no discussion, I'll ask county staff to note in the minutes that members Frank and Hunter are present and eligible to vote on matters before the county board today. Okay, seeing no discussion. I think we can approve that one. And as a reminder to members attending remotely, please ensure your camera is on at all times. Before we begin with our agenda, is there anyone our board members would like us to remember today in a moment of silence? Thank you, Member Maine, followed by uh Vice Chair Dr. Mary Ross Cunningham. Thank you. I'd like to remember former uh executive director of the health department, Dale Galassie. You know, he he died uh last month. Uh he was a very dynamic person, uh larger than life in in many ways. He had actually he had a teaching career. I actually have a friend who is a nurse who he was her instructor, and but he joined the health department in 1981. Um I forget the position, and then he became the executive director in 1992 through 2007. So I was fortunate enough to get to overlap with um his tenure as the executive director. I think he he really brought so many um his dynamism, his commitment to public health to residence, um, and um really saw about social determinants of health before a lot of people were using those terms. So he really moved the agency um many uh many steps forward, and he also knew very well how to communicate with people, how to communicate with board members, and whenever he presented to a committee, you were sure to get uh a full picture and come away with a lot more information. Yep, you you knew less than you realized until you had talked with Dale. So uh I'd like to remember Dale Galassie. Thank you. Vice Chair. Also remember mine stole my son that worked on the deal. He was a great guy. Those that didn't know him, he worked with everybody. And when he got the ready to retire, he went to the state of Illinois and got on the help board. And uh remember we were trying to get a hospital out west. He was on that board. He supported that board, he was trying to get that we didn't have enough votes. So when we went to Springfield, he didn't we didn't have enough votes for the outwest hospital. But Dale was somebody that you could work with, and he was serious with his job. He was serious for the county. Very serious, very professional. And uh, I wasn't here. I was gonna go to his uh viewing, but I wasn't here when they had it because I didn't want to miss that. Because uh Dale Dale worked with oh gee, he worked with everybody and I think about now at the Hill Department. Those that was there, I think they didn't retire. Most of them are retired, so I just want to say there thank you, Ann. I had that in mind. I was all the time, but thank you. Thank you, Member Hewitt. I'd like to ask everybody to keep this year's family in their memories. Um Dave Steer was a friend of ours. Um he raced cars and and did a lot of work on the cars and got to know him through the car club, but I would like to say people who knew him affectionately was always Dave the door guy.
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