The McLean County Board on Thursday approved a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] and a statement of work related to the mental health and public safety fund audit.
The MOU clarifies the scope of the audit, as clarified by a working group consisting of representatives from the county, Town of Normal and City of Bloomington. More specifically, it defines the term "audit" for the purpose of allowing an examination of spending in a way that is slightly different from what the term audit typically entails.
This includes expenditures, outgoing transfers and contractual obligations of the fund existing on or before Dec. 31, 2024.
The statement of work was submitted by CliftonLarsonAllen, a consulting firm that has previously worked with the county.
Both the MOU and statement were approved by all county board members present except William Bessler, who abstained.
The Normal Town Council and Bloomington City Council also must approve before the audit can begin.
Bloomington and Normal have been collecting a 1% sales tax since 2016. One quarter of that is shared with the county to support mental health initiatives in the county. The tax also supports paying down debt on the county jail and data systems upgrades used by the county and police agencies throughout the county.
FUSE success
County board chair Elizabeth Johnston commended the Behavioral Health Coordination Department for an increase in use of the FUSE program from about 30 to 56 participants by the end of 2025.
New analysis of the voluntary program for frequent users of the McLean County Detention Facility showed all but a handful reduced the number of bookings they experienced after enrolling. Frequent User Systems Engagement makes mental health services more readily available to these enrollees.
“So, we've got people getting very intensive care and keeping them out of the services that we [county residents other than those in the program] might need if we need to be in the ER or other necessary spaces in the shelters and the jail,” said Johnston.
She also mentioned the sheriff department’s Narcotics Investigation Team has brought 37 felony drug trafficking charges against alleged offenders.
“Really tackling the drug trafficking that's happening in the county, creating better safety for our community,” said Johnston.
Brightpoint
The McLean County Board has approved nearly $106,000 in funding to support a supervised child custody program. It's run by the non-profit Brightpoint.
The county is using money from court fees to fill a gap left by cancellation of a federal grant. It will help sustain the Supervised Visitation and Neutral Site Custody Exchange Center from February through December.
This comes after the county's Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council held three special meetings over the last month to discuss ways to save the program, along with childcare services for people making court appearances. That's also run by Brightpoint.
The county is working to formalize a bidding process for those kinds of requests to receive funding from the county's shared sales tax with Bloomington and Normal that supports mental health and public safety.
Elections
The board also approved a software subscription agreement with SOE Software Corporation for technology used to more easily share election results and in a more timely manner. SOE software already is used by the Bloomington Election Commission to post election night results.
Currently, files are created and uploaded manually by staff in the county clerk’s office. The county hopes to use the software beginning with the March election.
The county also approved a “program your own” software license with Election Systems and Software to allow the county to create its own ballots. Current procedure is to send information out-of-state for others to prepare ballots. The change is anticipated to save $13,000.
