Cook County OKs $8,500 to help Lutzen Township turn town hall into short-term shelter

The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to support Lutzen Township’s effort to outfit its town hall as a short-term emergency shelter and authorized up to $8,500 in county funding, contingent on a county attorney opinion about which local fund may be used.

The vote came after township leaders and residents described damage and power outages during a December 2022 blizzard and presented petitions and fundraising progress to the board. “We have a kitchen. We have bathrooms. We have shower facilities,” Sharon Hickson, representing Lutzen Township, told the commissioners, arguing the town hall could provide short-term housing and communications in future storms and fires.

County emergency management staff said Lutzen’s proposal fits into the county’s broader hazard mitigation work, but cautioned that federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds cannot be accessed until the county’s hazard-mitigation plan is updated and approved by the state and FEMA, a process that staff estimated could take until late in the year. “We cannot access any of those funds until our plan is updated, approved by the state, and approved by FEMA,” emergency management staff said.

Township chair Carl Friesner and other residents described local fundraising and donated equipment that reduced the township’s needed contribution. Friesner and volunteers provided a recent estimate for the generator and installation: the generator unit was estimated at about $6,769; prior installation estimates were around $15,000, though township leaders said volunteers and donated labor could reduce that cost. Lutzen reported roughly $7,000 from a local utility and other small donations and said township ARPA money had already been earmarked toward the project.

Board members discussed funding options, including using a county “timber development” (tax-forfeiture) account or unallocated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. Commissioners pressed staff on whether the federal hazard-mitigation funds could reimburse the county later; county staff said FEMA funds were not structured as reimbursements for work done before a project is approved and therefore could not be used to retroactively reimburse a purchase. That made local funding the only immediate option to meet the township’s request.

After discussion, Commissioner Dave (name as recorded in the transcript) moved to provide $8,500 for the Lutzen Town Hall project from the timber development fund contingent on a favorable county-attorney opinion; the motion included the alternative that ARPA funds be used if legal counsel advised the timber fund could not be used. The board voted to approve the motion. The board chair directed staff to obtain the attorney’s formal opinion and to return with any required paperwork at the next meeting.

The county’s emergency management office also warned that the county’s hazard mitigation plan update remains underway and that projects in FEMA’s project queue from 2020–2023 are at risk of deobligation if the state/FEMA approvals are delayed. Emergency management staff said Lutzen’s proposal is in the queue but will need plan approval before federal funds could be applied.

The board and township leaders said they expect the town hall to serve as a warming house, temporary shelter and communications hub for local residents and visitors, and that the project would be a model for evaluating shelter needs in other remote parts of the county.

Votes at a glance (from this item): the board authorized up to $8,500, contingent on the county attorney’s opinion on fund eligibility, and directed staff to return with follow-up paperwork and next steps.

The board also flagged that work on county-wide hazard mitigation plan updates and FEMA approvals remains a priority to secure larger federal mitigation funds for future projects.