County approves health, sheriff reports

Annual reports from Public Health and the Sheriff’s Department were approved by the Livingston County Board Thursday evening.

Health Department Administrator Erin Fogarty said they worked hard this past year for effective use of funds. There were 30 full-time employees in FY24 with 26 in FY25. She noted the importance of the Environmental Health program.

“We work very hard to make sure we are safeguarding those dollars,” Fogarty explained.

The state eliminated Family Case Management and Better Birth Outcomes programs, which have both been pulled into a new program.

“We were able to fight for some additional dollars later on,” added Fogarty.

LCHD saw a reduction in personnel and operational costs. Fogarty also gave an overview of the different health programs offered.

Following a few questions from board members, Fogarty introduced the new Health and Education marketing director.

Livingston County Sheriff Ryan Bohm was the next to speak.

In 2025, his department had 30 deputies from the sheriff down and he has filled two openings. The LCSD fleet includes 46 vehicles and fuel costs totaled over $149,000. Some of the calls included six death investigations, 18 burglaries, six child abuse cases and one bomb threat.

Drugs seized included heroin, methamphetamines, cannabis, mushrooms and LSD. The department also seized 17 vehicles and $7,268 in U.S. money. The Livingston County Pro-Active Unit made 47 arrests last year. Average daily population for the county jail was 149.

“At this time, we have no openings for correctional officers at the Livingston County Jail which is a great feeling,” observed Bohm.

Just over 1,000 males and almost 280 females were booked at the jail last year and 23,353 people were screened for entry to the Law and Justice Center. Court security arrested 126 people.

“I think things are going very well as a whole,” Bohm concluded. “I’m quite happy.”

In other matters Thursday, the Livingston County Board approved a local agency agreement for federal participation in resurfacing of County Highway 16 from Illinois Route 17 to the Livingston/LaSalle County line. This includes appropriating matching tax funds for the local agency share of the cost.

An engineering agreement was approved for the Pike Road District at 1245N, 1000E for a township bridge program with Hutchison Engineering, Inc.

A resolution was authorized appropriating county matching tax funds for design engineering and construction costs to reconstruct and resurface County Highway 11 from 1500N to 1650N on 1500E.

County board members approved a bridge petition for the Reading Road District for timber pile repairs under a structure at 3300N, 320E. A bridge was closed by IDOT due to rotting in the timber piles but the county has a contractor lined-up to do the work.

“We have made a decision to get that back open,” explained County Engineer Clay Metcalf.

The road use agreement for county highways with Illinois Generation, LLC was approved. The company is responsible for maintenance of roads during construction and the agreement is designed to keep construction traffic on designated roads.

Decommissioning agreements were authorized for Panther Grove 2 and North Creek Solar along with annual liquor license and mobile home renewals.

The following appointments were made:

Livingston County Housing Authority – Lynn DiNardi and Rhonda Weiss.

Mental Health 708 Board – Gary Beier, Ed Legner and Barb Schlatter.

Mental Health 377 Board – Vicki Day and Christine Johnson.

Reading Fire Protection District – Richard Myers, Michael Katcher and Darrell Porter.

There was no executive session.