The McLean County Board on Thursday approved Home Sweet Home Ministries’ request for a $1.3 million grant from the McLean County behavioral health coordination for construction of a shelter village in Bloomington.
The vote was 12 to 6 in favor of awarding the grant.
The money comes from a mental health sales tax implemented in the county in 2016, with the revenue collected going toward priorities in line with the county’s Mental Health Action Plan.
The funding will allow construction of The Bridge, a non-congregant shelter village with about 50 sleeping cabins and other accommodations for those who struggle with congregant housing.
All of the no votes on the proposal came from Republican members of the board: Mark Clauss, William Friedrich, Brian Loeffler, Mike O’Neil, Adam Reeves and Andy Ziebarth. One Republican, Geoff Tompkins, voted with rest of the board, all Democrats.
Board members Lyndsay Bloomfield and Corey Beirne were absent.
Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSHM] CEO Matt Burgess attended the meeting to answer remaining questions after the a request for proposal was approved at last Monday’s executive committee meeting.
“I feel grateful for the support we are getting from the county board and that’s been true for the entire community on this project,” said Burgess, adding the funding now promised to HSHM will help offset much of the capital expenses tied to constructing The Bridge.
“We’re looking at a little more than a 50-50 split of public funds and private funds, actually with the split on the private side of funding more coming from the private sector than from the grant funds,” he said.
Burgess acknowledged there will be a need for operational support as well, leaving open the possibility The Bridge would need more financial support from the county in the future.
“But it’s not for a long period of time in this round of the grant opportunities,” he said. “As I have told the county board and I’ve told many others, we have to be willing to blend together different funding sources, including potentially tapping into the mental health and public safety funds again for operational support if we want this project to be more than just built and not run.”
Burgess also gave an update on the lot HSHM plans to purchase for the shelter village. It's a vacant lot currently owned by Connect Transit near downtown Bloomington.
“We are in the final stages of negotiation on that, and so I hope to have something to announce on that within the next week and a half, so I’m feeling very optimistic and excited about getting over that next step,” he said.
After the meeting, county board chair Elizabeth Johnston said, after working with Bloomington and Normal, she feels the project is in line with the county’s mental health priorities.
“With the strategies and with serving our populations, so I feel like I am very pleased we are moving forward with this,” she said, agreeing the potential exists for the board to consider operational funding for The Bridge.
“I think primarily we would be looking at the shared sales tax, I mean this is what the money was intended to do was to enhance access in the community, to enhance services for our residents and overall create public safety,” Johnston said.
“From any different angle that you want to look at, but that’s really the purpose of what this funding is for.”
Public comment
Also at the meeting, the board heard from seven public commenters, all responding to the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] in McLean County. On Thursday, ICE agents took a man into custody at the McLean County Law and Justice Center.
Oriah Matich, a representative of the local Punks Against Trump group and a McLean County native, was among others in and out of the group urging the board to act amidst ICE’s recent actions in the county.
“I am here today to ask you to keep ICE out of McLean County,” Matich said. “Recently, ICE was outside of the McLean County courthouse; this has caused widespread panic in the community. Families are afraid of being torn apart, children feel fear for their friends and families while parents feel fear for their lives.”
Another public commenter was Jey Lumsdon, of Bloomington, who also urged the board to take action and spoke of his experience of having a formerly undocumented friend.
“He confided in me that as of last Friday, he finally got his citizenship and I immediately reacted with excitement and congratulations just for that achievement,” Lumsdon said. “I was very happy ... but also disheartened when he shared with me that everyone else who he has spoken to about it said, ‘You’ve been illegal this whole time?,’ looking at him as if he was less than human.”
Johnston said while the board is primarily a financial and budgetary management body, it was in the board’s authority to investigate how local law enforcement may or may not have interacted with ICE. Under the Illinois Trust Act, signed in 2017, local law enforcement are limited in how they are able to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
In other business, the board:
— Approved a proposal for two solar farms, one from Twp III Solar LLC located In Hudson Township, and the second in rural Downs Township by Suter Solar LLC.
— Renewed the yearly agreement with the McLean County Regional Planning Commission for the regional planning service agreements through June 30, 2026.
— Approved allowing Connect Transit to apply for federal funding for its replacement of Show Bus. Connect Transit’s Connect Go program plans to provide rural transportation services in McLean County starting July 1.
