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County committee hears Iroquois Mental Health funding gap and confirms new animal control administrator hiring
Summary
The county health and finance committees were told state grant funding for first-responder suicide prevention will end in fiscal 2026; the committees also reviewed animal control staffing and the county reported that Anne Perla Prairie was hired to begin May 19.
Members of the county’s health and finance committees heard that grant funding for first-responder suicide-prevention programs will discontinue beginning in fiscal year 2026 and that the Iroquois Mental Health Center is seeking ways to continue services in the absence of that funding.
Amy Zabel (recorded as discussing the Iroquois Mental Health Center) told the committee that since March the center added 99 new clients and now has about 900 open clients. She said the center will provide a brochure describing services and is looking for alternate ways to serve the population affected by the loss of the specific grant.
The committee also received public comments and employee-status questions related to animal control. Linda Brevard raised concerns about her employment status and whether a resignation had been received; committee staff said employment records and related materials had been forwarded to the state’s attorney for review. The committee reviewed candidate materials; later in the meeting staff updated the board that Anne Perla Prairie, a current county employee, had been selected for the animal control administrator position and is scheduled to begin duties May 19.
The committees reviewed routine departmental reports including animal-control intake and shelter statistics, environmental health inspections, immunizations, senior services, and WIC program notes. The health committee entered executive session on personnel matters; it returned with no action taken on the hiring of an animal control administrator in that session, but the later update announced the hire and start date.
