Commissioners and staff praised a rapid, intergovernmental and nonprofit response that kept a Code Blue emergency shelter open during the recent extreme cold.

A county speaker said that planned Code Blue arrangements slipped on Saturday afternoon, but officials and community partners pivoted within 24 hours and moved the shelter to the Lake County Fairgrounds. The speaker thanked County Administrator Jason Boyd, Dion Dimitro of United Way of Lake County, the Lake County Fairgrounds and volunteer groups for supporting the effort.

The speaker said the county had earlier been preparing for this winter and had held planning conversations beginning in November. When a location fell through, officials and partners quickly opened an alternate site and moved operations so shelter services were available when temperatures dropped.

Commissioners also acknowledged Code Blue partners and volunteers by name in the meeting: LifeLine Extended Housing, Project Hope, Pastor Forney and volunteers, Lake Tran, the sheriff's department and buildings and grounds staff.

The remarks described Code Blue as a coordinated system of nonprofits, churches and county staff that provide overnight shelter when certain weather thresholds are met; the speaker said discussions began in November and that the quick pivot on Saturday enabled sheltering during the cold spell.

County Administrator Jason Boyd also briefed the board earlier in the meeting on weather-related construction delays at the Lake County Sheriff's Office site and thanked crews and partners for their work during the extreme conditions.