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Kenosha County Board approves series of unanimous resolutions on housing, public safety, parks, budget and grants
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Summary
The Kenosha County Board unanimously approved Resolutions 178–186, covering Fair Housing Week, a new community reentry specialist position, a multi-county drug trafficking grant, DNR trail grant submission, bird-city recognition, developer roadway funds, fiscal-year carryovers and grants for 9-1-1 mapping and telecommunicators.
The Kenosha County Board approved a series of resolutions during the meeting; most passed unanimously with brief presentations and no extended debate.
Resolution 178 (Human Services Committee) recognizes April 27–May 3, 2026 as Fair Housing Week and cites Title VIII (Civil Rights Act of 1968) and the Wisconsin Open Housing Law. Supervisor John Franco moved the resolution and the board approved it unanimously.
Resolution 179 (Human Services and Finance & Administration) modifies the Division of Behavioral Health Services 2026 budget to create a community reentry support specialist position. The position will be funded by Department of Corrections general-purpose revenue from Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2030. The resolution required a two-thirds vote and passed unanimously.
Resolution 180 (Judiciary/Law, Finance) accepts a 2026 drug trafficking response grant. The total grant is $50,000 divided among five counties; Kenosha County’s share is recorded as $10,000. The grant requires no county tax levy and the funds will be used largely for surveillance equipment and related supplies.
Resolution 181 authorizes the county parks director to submit an application to the Wisconsin DNR Recreational Trails Program to support public outdoor recreation development. Resolution 182 maintains Wisconsin "Bird City" status and recognizes International Migratory Bird Day.
Resolution 183 authorizes the highway commissioner to accept and expend funds from the developer of the Paris Solar Energy Center LLC to be used for Kenosha County roadway improvements. The transcript contains inconsistent dollar amounts: an earlier read of the agenda references $138,432 while a later speaker states "$108,138,432"; the resolution text as passed should be checked in the final minutes or resolution document to confirm the correct amount.
Resolution 184 is the 2025–26 fiscal-year carryover and annual closeout. The county reported a fiscal-year 2025 surplus of just under $2,000,000, primarily due to a $7,800,000 surplus in Human Services. The administration recommended allocating $1,100,000 of the nearly $2,000,000 surplus to the new Human Services Building Fund, bringing that fund’s total to $3,300,000 over three fiscal years; the resolution also repaid $500,000 to the health insurance reserve and eliminated a noncurrent Brookside liability. The Finance Committee approved an amendment to carry over $15,000 of County Board surplus for 2026 staff development. The resolution passed with the required two-thirds vote.
Resolution 185 authorizes acceptance of a State of Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs GIS grant to offset software costs for the countywide 9-1-1 mapping system. Resolution 186 authorizes Kenosha Joint Services to accept an annual donation from the Kenosha Prince Hall Masons to support 9-1-1 telecommunicators (annual donations of $500–$1,000); that resolution was approved.
All items were adopted as presented on the floor; roll-call counts recorded unanimous approval where required and two-thirds tallies where noted. The board took no additional substantive policy actions beyond those resolutions during this portion of the meeting.
