Property committee approves $1,000 grant, emergency appropriation for Parks and Recreation

The McLean County Property Committee approved acceptance of a $1,000 Illinois Prairie Community Foundation grant and adopted an emergency appropriation ordinance to place the funds into the Parks and Recreation Department budget.

Director of Parks and Recreation Mike Steffa said the "$1,000 award will just be, it'll be used for educational, materials and supplies for Nature Trails Days," a program run in cooperation with the Illinois Extension Master Naturalist program. Member Duffy moved approval of the grant; Vice Chair Layman seconded the motion, which passed by voice vote.

On a separate motion to amend the county's fiscal year 2025 combined annual appropriation and budget ordinance for the Parks and Recreation Department, Member Bell moved and Member Duffy seconded. Steffa told the committee, "No, this is just the grant money going into a fund." That motion also passed by voice vote.

Layman asked whether this was the first year the county had sought outside funding for Nature Trails Days; Steffa replied, "Yes." Layman also asked about planned solar lighting for the mooring docks; Steffa said, "We do not have any solar lighting down there. We do have a light, an electrical light down at the main boat launch. So this would be in addition to what we have now." The committee did not discuss specific vendors, installation timelines or additional funding for the docking lights during the meeting.

The committee's approvals were voice votes recorded as passing; no roll-call tallies were provided in the public transcript. The meeting's next scheduled Property Committee meeting was announced as March 4, 2025, at 5 p.m.