Two McLean County court programs that support families are in danger of being canceled at the end of the year.
The federal government has cut its funding, and Bloomington and Normal government leaders aren't sure whether they should help pick up the tab.
The nonprofit Brightpoint runs two programs in the McLean County court system. One supervises child custody visitation in cases of domestic violence and provides counseling services, the other provides child care when someone has to go to court.
Brightpoint is about to run out of money for those long-running programs after the federal government cut $150,000 in October.
McLean County wants to fill that gap with dollars from the county's sales tax fund that supports mental health and public safety. The county has an advisory council that makes those funding decisions called the Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council [FAC].
The Bloomington and Normal city councils both have a seat on that board. Bloomington city council member Sheila Montney said she fully supports the program but doesn't believe this is where the money should come from.
“I love this program. It has nothing to do with this program. It has to do with the role which is very explicit in what our duties are,” Montney said during a special meeting of the FAC on Wednesday at the Government Center. “I’ve heard the word adjacent. I used the word tangential. It’s related but it is not directly in alignment with my understanding of the intergovernmental agreement.”
Montney is referring to an agreement Bloomington, Normal and McLean County established that shape how the county can spend money from the sales tax that Bloomington and Normal collect.
Montney suggested the county explore running these programs on their own. McLean County trial court administrator Will Scanlon said the county shied away in the past, largely due to legal liability. He added the supervised visitation center is operated mostly after business hours and on Saturday.
“The county has also not chosen to operate a program that can accommodate those hours. We have not revisited those decisions in a generation,” Scanlon replied.
Montney said it's the county's decision to spend the money. The county board does have the final say, though the county board has indicated it plans to back the advisory council's decisions.
Montney asked for a legal opinion whether the county can direct mental health funding be spent for something like this.
County Board chair Elizabeth Johnston said it's not a legal question but rather a political choice.
“Because there aren’t quite strong ties to the Behavioral Action Plan as I would want, so this is a discretionary that we will make,” Johnston said, adding the county would not approve the funding without Bloomington and Normal's approval.
The three governments have been engaged in a dispute over how and where money has been spent in the county-managed sales tax fund.
Fellow funding council member Stephanie Barisch from the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council made the case for using the sales tax money to support these court programs. She said those custodial visits require professional supervision that can prevent a traumatic experience for a child.
“The safety and ability to maintain a relationship with a parent in circumstances where there has been abuse and neglect or domestic violence is paramount to the well being of those children,” Barisch said.
Johnston added it's harder to quantify these programs' links to child trauma when they are preventive.
McLean County Chief Deputy Hadley Welch, serving in Sheriff Matt Lane’s absence, said the sheriff has made clear he is supportive of the funding. The funding request came from the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
“I feel there’s a connection, there’s a link,” Welch said.
Normal City Manager Pam Reece also expressed hesitation whether these court programs fit the intended scope of mental health funding. Reece said she wanted more detailed information about what this funding does.
“[The proposal] doesn’t reference that level of professional expertise, the services that are provided through those experts in terms of trying to prevent future trauma,” Reece said.
The funding council postponed a vote to collect that additional information. Members hope to vote on the funding before Brightpoint's court program money is all gone.
