Board Backs Fox Valley Data Exchange Grants After Debate on Security and Long‑Term Funding

The Winnebago County Board approved three amendments to support the Fox Valley Data Exchange, a regional data aggregation and dashboarding project, after supervisors questioned data security, pilot results and whether county funds should seed a larger fundraising effort.

What supporters said: Proponents, including members of the board of health and public‑health staff, said FVDEX saves analysts hours by aggregating public health and community indicators and that the platform is already serving county needs for community health assessment and planning. Jason Schulis, executive director of the Fox Valley Data Exchange, described use metrics and partnership with Winnebago County Public Health during public comment.

Concerns and counterpoints: Some supervisors said the commission previously declined a larger ARPA request because the project was unproven at that time; others noted FVDEX has since secured partners and fundraising and is in a pilot phase. Questions about personally identifiable information were raised; project presenters and county staff said the platform uses public, de‑identified datasets and that governance and data‑security safeguards are in place.

Board action: The board approved a $25,000 grant and related regional service and resource‑sharing items in successive amendments (vote counts recorded in the minutes: one amendment 20–16; follow‑on amendments 24–12 and 28–8). Supervisors who voted no said the county should not commit tax or reserve dollars without clearer long‑term commitments from partner counties and private funders.

Follow‑up: Project leaders said they will continue fund‑raising and provide usage reports to county stakeholders; county departments that anticipated using the dashboards said they would track how often staff use FVDEX to inform future budget decisions.