Grundy County’s Law and Justice Legislative EMA Facilities Corner Committee voted on Sept. 3 to recommend that the full county board approve a lease allowing Family Guidance to establish a physical behavioral health presence in the county administration building.

Committee members said the lease is intended to provide a local, in-person option for people experiencing behavioral health crises and to replace services the county’s health department no longer provides. The committee voted to forward the lease to the full board (motion by Harold, second by Joe Pulisci); the motion carried.

The committee discussion described the arrangement as a short-term, one-year framework intended to restore local access to care while limiting the county’s long-term financial exposure. A committee speaker described the proposal as “basically the first or the next step in us helping to alleviate the behavioral health crisis here in Grundy County,” and said Family Guidance selected office space in the building’s behavioral health wing after a final walk-through.

Meeting comments gave operational details: if the county board approves the lease on Oct. 14, Family Guidance personnel would move in on Oct. 15 and begin serving clients in person; calls to county dispatch would be able to transfer callers to Family Guidance staff; the committee described coordination with approximately 17 private partners in the community. Committee members said the county’s behavioral health division stopped providing services through the health department in May, a change the lease is intended to help address.

The meeting record contains inconsistent figures for rent. One committee speaker said the rent proposal is $25 per square foot; another line in the discussion referenced “$31.20” and someone mentioned a monthly figure of about $260. The committee did not resolve or ratify the differing numbers during the meeting; the motion before the committee was to recommend the lease framework to the full board, not to set every final lease term.

The recommendation now goes to the full county board for consideration. If the full board approves the lease, committee members said Family Guidance would begin occupying the space the day after the anticipated board vote and would operate under the one-year arrangement discussed at the committee meeting.

Details not specified at the committee meeting include the exact square footage leased, finalized rent and payment schedule, and whether the county will subsidize any portion of the occupancy costs beyond the rental rate described in discussion.