The Lake County Board of Commissioners met on April 15, 2026, at 16:15 UTC with two members present (Commissioner Chippy absent) to consider a lengthy agenda including public hearings for federal and local funding, approval of numerous contracts, and opening of bids.
The board approved a large number of contracts and agreements in omnibus motions, all passing 2-0 with one absent:
The order of the uh Board of Commissioners for Wednesday April 15th. Uh please stand for the pledge of allegiance to remain standing for a moment of silence. Pledge of allegiance through the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice fraud. Thank you. Uh let the record show the we have two members of the board of commissioners present and Commissioner Chippy is absent. Uh additions. You want to take them in a group. Yes, there are a number of additions, Commissioners contained under Section Two. Um I would ask that uh those be acknowledged by the board. In addition, Commissioners, there are two public hearings that were noticed uh for today, one for the CUME bridge fund and one for the establishment of the major bridge fund. Those should be the public hearing for those should be items 10.41 for the CUME bridge fund and item 10.42 for the major bridge fund. So I would ask the board to uh approve the agenda uh as amended. Mr. Chairman, sir. Then I will I will move to a move. I will move to approve the agenda as amended and recommended by the county attorney. I'll second let the record show the motion carries two or one absent and section three is the opening of uh bids. Make the motion to authorize the opening of the bids. Chairman, then I move to uh approve public opening of vendor responses and request would be it's in quotes. I'll second the direct motion carries three two oh one absence. And then commissioners, I would ask to move to section 10 action on commissioners' items. Uh as indicated, we have a couple of uh public hearings this morning. Um item 10.1 would be the public hearing uh for the 2026 CDBG monies. Attorney Joe IRAC is here. Uh so I would ask that the uh board make a motion to open the public hearing uh for the purposes of the 2026 CDBG monies. Chairman, then I would move to uh open up public hearings for agenda item 10.1 I would second um second the motion to let the record show that the motion carries 201 absent and we are now um open for public hearing on uh lake county government's 2026 CDBG monies and board would recognize uh Tim Brown or Joe Iraq, whichever one feels like speaking first. Thank you, Mr. President. I shall speak first. The uh it bear with me because there's a process here. Um Tim is here making sure that I follow the process correctly. So I have to read the opening remarks. Is anyone here in the audience here for the uh directly for this hearing? All right. First uh each spring Lake County Economic Development Department applies to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for new funding through the community development black grant program. One of the application requirements is to hold a public hearing in the communities where CDBG funding is allocated in order to obtain input from local citizens on the proposed uses of the new funding. For 2026, the county of lake is it allocation is $75,000. Most common use of the funds is for infrastructure, including street reconstruction, sanitary sewers, waterline extensions, storm drainage improvements, sidewalks, and projects to remove architectural barriers and make them handicap accessible, such as curb cuts and wheelchair ramps. CDBG funds may also be used to eliminate slums and blight through demo demolition of unsafe buildings or other clearance activities. C D BG funded infrastructure projects may only be done in areas where the neighborhood is at least 47% low and moderate income according to the HUD guidelines. In most cases, an income survey must be done to qualify the area for funding. The income information taken by the survey is strictly confidential and is used solely for the purpose of determining the areas of eligibility for C D BG funding. Handicapped excess projects and demolition may be done anywhere in the community without the need for area income determinations, such as the one we're doing right now out front with last year's money. The public hearing is just the start of the application process for Lake County. There is a series of legal advertisements and comment periods that take place during the summer prior to the final grant of approval from HUD in late August. New C D BG funding is released to the county in its entitlement communities on around September 1st and needs to be expended by June 15th of the following year. After public comment tonight, I'm going to approach the uh president and the board in regards to signing certain applications and documentation. The documentation is the citizen participation plan, which just provides how citizens can participate in the allocation and application for that those funds through the federal government. The second form that I'm going to present to the board is the affirmative action program implementing section three of the housing and urban development act of 1968. It makes sure that there is compliance with section three of the affirmative action requirements by the federal government.