McLean County has accrued millions of dollars from Bloomington and Normal through a shared sales tax agreement formed in 2016. Years later, most of that money is being held in reserve and as of last Friday, discussion about roughly $3 million stored specifically for mental health has been put to an indefinite halt.
Now, questions are swirling about the implications.
Meetings have been held quarterly for years by the county’s Behavioral Health Coordinating Council to make recommendations to the County Board's Executive Committee — and by proxy, the county — about how the mental health reserve is allocated. Around $3.7 million of nearly $6.8 million had been spent between 2016 and 2022, according to the latest available data.
County Board Chair Catherine Metsker said at the close of the BHCC meeting March 8 that future gatherings were suspended until further notice so the group could “refocus, reset and restart.”
“BHCC was created in 2016 to provide a system to improve the behavioral health of McLean County residents and create systematic change through innovative programming and strategies,” she said. “However, the current structure of BHCC is not meeting this mission.”
She added that meetings will pause until a “process to better meet these needs” is determined.
WGLT has been covering the issue since Friday. Here’s what we know so far:
An update from Metsker
Metsker told WGLT via email Wednesday that “work has already started” to reach her objectives.
She elaborated on her statement about BHCC not fulfilling its mission, adding that “although some innovative programming has been implemented, for example, (the Frequent User System Engagement program), (the Triage Center], and (Central Illinois) Bridge Academy, this pause is meant to ensure the BHCC’s integrity and commitment to improve the behavioral health of McLean County.”
There was still no mention of specific ways the BHCC has potentially failed in this mission, what might be wrong with the structure of the group, or how these issues might be resolved going forward.
When asked what the public can expect, Metsker replied “my vision is to continue to be the convener to aid in strategizing meaningful system changes across the continuum for all McLean County residents in alignment with the goals of the Mental Health Action Plan.”
Rather than directly stating who would be involved in conversations about a potential restructuring of the BHCC, Metsker simply stated she “will be bringing a small team together.”
Emails sent to Metsker on March 8 and obtained via a Freedom of Information request from WGLT detail that meetings “regarding BHCC” were being scheduled between Metsker, County Administrator Cassy Taylor, County Board member and BHCC member Susan Schafer, as well as someone named “Trevor.”
There is a Trevor Sierra who works as the county’s civil legal counsel, but the referenced Trevor is not included in the email chain, nor is a last name provided. These meetings were also indicated to be at Taylor’s request.
An overall timeline on this process is to be determined, so there’s still no clarity on when BHCC meetings can be expected to resume. It could be before the next meeting is scheduled in June. Meetings could also take a new form.
“It will take time as systemic change is neither easy nor smooth,” Metsker wrote to WGLT.
It had previously been mentioned that current programs would continue being funded. Metsker clarified that includes a current bid from a Bloomington-based rape crisis center for funds from the shared sales tax — if it is approved at the full County Board meeting on Thursday.
Metsker also included that her statement had been prepared before the meeting. So, while there were several questions from BHCC members during the meeting about policy, procedure, and functionality of the BHCC, this was not a spur-of-the-moment decision resulting from that discussion.
How am I affected by this?
While it’s apparent that conversations are to continue behind the scenes for now, there are implications for the public.
The Behavioral Health Coordinating Council must be included in conversations revolving around budgeting of the shared sales tax funds, according to the Intergovernmental Revenue Sharing Agreement signed between Bloomington, Normal and the county in 2016.
Because of this, while the tax remains on purchases from everyone who buys goods in Bloomington-Normal or has online purchases shipped here, no spending decisions should be made during this meeting hiatus.
This fund will continue being accrued through May 2036, unless a direct update is made to the Intergovernmental Agreement and despite BHCC meetings being suspended.
Since 2016 and as of 2022, Bloomington had contributed around $15.7 million and Normal had contributed around $11.4 million. Of that, roughly $14.5 million was left unspent.
Most of that money is being intentionally held in reserve for projects including debt installment payments for the Law & Justice Center expansion and a behavioral health database, but County Administrator Cassy Taylor told BHCC members March 8 that there is roughly $3 million left that the BHCC can advise on regarding “community behavioral health initiatives, services, and programs consistent with the” MHAP.
Normal Town Council Member Kathleen Lorenz does not serve on the BHCC but said she's following the issue closely. She added that her hope is to get some transparency throughout the process.
“I think that information is owed to the public, is owed to the taxpayers, and to the stakeholders for knowing what to expect going forward,” she said.
When asked when the public will be updated on decisions made surrounding BHCC, Metsker told WGLT over email, “as work proceeds, I will communicate.” There were no specifics on how that communication might happen.
What BHCC members know and think about the suspension
Everyone WGLT has spoken to about this issue has said Metsker’s decision to suspend meetings was a surprise, but no one seems concerned. As of Wednesday, no one had mentioned getting further messages from Metsker outside her public statement.
Bloomington City Council Member Donna Boelen emphasized that while meetings are indefinitely suspended, this could all be resolved and the June meeting may continue as planned. She added that given the quarterly nature of meetings missing one would likely be fine.
“In my opinion,” she added, “that’s not going to affect any funding.”
Longtime BHCC member and Board of Health member Sonja Reece said she thinks Metsker’s decision makes sense.
“I think her stepping back and looking at this is reasonable,” Reece explained. “She's been on the board for a long time. She hasn't been the chair, and so this is her time to understand this and perhaps, for others to understand this.”
Meanwhile, several BHCC members, including Judge Rebecca Foley, said they have some lingering questions about what to expect.
“What are the plans moving forward? Is the BHCC going to look essentially the same? Or is… a different structure considered? Maybe some clarification to what our actual roles and responsibilities are,” Foley said are all items on her radar.
There’s also the fact that people don’t entirely know what Metsker meant in her statement when she said the BHCC wasn’t meeting its mission, and she’s made no indication of who will be included in conversations or when BHCC can expect updates on the decisions resulting from those discussions.
Town of Normal Council Member Kevin McCarthy said the town wants a seat at the table.
“We're… very much looking forward to sitting down and, you know, being part of a process to define the outcomes of how we measure the use of those dollars more specifically, and judge the impact,” he said.
WGLT reached out to other members of the BHCC, but they were unavailable. Susan Schafer responded with a comment largely echoing — and in part, directly quoting from — Metsker’s statement:
“Systemic change is hard. I view reset, refocus, and restart as a positive regarding a very complicated system,” Schafer wrote in an email to WGLT Wednesday. “We should be continually looking inward (structure, strategy, objectives, processes, and procedures) to accomplish the overarching goal and also how to adapt to developments which are not under our control.”
Project Oz CEO Lisa Thompson wrote in an email that she looks forward to seeing how this brief pause might help the advisory committee meet residents’ behavioral health needs.
“I hope to see this group move forward in the future so that we can continue to collaborate and enhance the mental health services available to McLean County residents,” she wrote. “I would hope we don’t lose focus on providing critically needed services to the community as we work to clarify structure and processes.”
