Michelle Gumbs, chair of the legislative committee, asked the panel to consider a formal expression of support for Illinois’ mutual‑aid system after staff briefed members on recent federal grant shortfalls.

Scott, a county presenter on emergency services, told the committee that federal homeland security grant (HSGP) and urban area security initiative (UASI) awards to Illinois “were expected 10,400,000.0 statewide, and 4.3 is actually what was awarded,” and that the statewide total fell from an anticipated roughly $44 million to just under $14 million. He said local Division 2’s annual budget is about $68,000 and highlighted an inflatable western shelter used in the 2023 Elgin tornado that “costs about 40,000” to replace; without replacement, that capability would be unavailable to nearby jurisdictions.

Scott warned the larger concern is training and the backfill overtime that enables departments to release firefighters for specialized training. He said the mutual‑aid system funds teams for urban search and rescue, technical rescue, trench rescue, hazardous‑materials response and water/dive rescue; without ongoing funding those teams “would degrade…to the point that they wouldn’t have enough people” to respond and local governments would need to request assets from further away.

Committee members pressed for a coordinated response. Chair Michelle Gumbs asked for consensus to draft a legislative‑committee letter in support of continued mutual‑aid funding; the committee signaled agreement. Gumbs framed the next step as drafting and circulating a letter and continuing discussions with the county’s lobbyists and legislative contacts.

The briefing also noted state‑level activity: staff said a lawsuit over federal funding remains pending and that House bill 4144 had been filed to try to replace some funding at the state level. Committee members asked staff to keep the board updated and to work with the county’s legislative team on outreach.

The committee did not take a formal vote on a binding appropriation but did record consensus to draft a letter of support; staff will follow up with draft language and next steps.