BY SHARON WILLIAMS

Eighteen months ago, Peoria County residents couldn’t have foreseen the far-reaching effects of a pandemic. It has been more than a century since our country has had to deal with something so fierce and unforgiving. We have lost family members, friends, co-workers to COVID-19 and many are still dealing with the effects of having contracted the virus. We have lost more than 600,000 lives in the United States since this started, and the numbers are still rising.

What this pandemic has shown is that our county needs to be prepared for such catastrophes. Our Peoria City/County Health Department and Emergency Management Agency employees have always taken their jobs seriously and have readied themselves for all types of disasters and crises through constant training and upgrading of skills.

Over the past months, many residents have experienced firsthand the training of our staff – from the testing sites to the administering of COVID vaccinations, our staff has been well prepared to serve the needs of our community. We have worked hard to keep the public updated on guidance through social media and press conferences, answered countless inquiries by businesses and schools over phone and email and helped people navigate through illness, all to protect our most vital asset – our residents.

While I am proud of our Health Department’s and EMA’s response over the past year, it has also shed more light on the limitations on their building and therefore the limitations on service delivery, that the departments housed at the site have been dealing with for quite some time. The current facility has lived past its life cycle and is in dire need of large-scale capital improvements.

The Health Department serves our community in a facility that was built in the 1950s as a sanitarium. It houses not only Health Department staff, but Emergency Management Agency and Sustainability and Resource Conservation employees. As services expanded to meet our growing community needs, the building has seen three major additions, the last being 38 years ago. Because of the layout of the building, the additions created operating inefficiencies that no longer serve the needs of the health department’s clients as well as our staff.

Over the past several months the health committee of the Peoria County Board has been exploring the idea of a new health and human services campus. While this process is in its infancy, the Board of Health has been saving money for multiple years, knowing that an upgrade would be needed in the near future.

Through the committee process and a vote by the full County Board, we have approved a request for qualification (RFQ) that starts us looking for architect and engineering firms as well as a construction manager at risk. These firms will help us investigate all our options, whether we decide to remodel the current facility, build a new facility and/or relocate from our current location on Sheridan Road.

No final decisions have been made, but the discussions have centered around combining some of our departments to create more efficiencies and savings for Peoria County taxpayers. Streamlining services will help to create a better experience when our residents visit this facility. As with any project, the Peoria County Board will make decisions on what is in the best interest for our county. These conversations will be ongoing at the Health Committee meetings in the coming months.

Peoria County Board has always worked in a bi-partisan fashion. We work hard to be the best stewards possible with your tax dollars and we will continue to make decisions in the interest of our residents.

The Board looks forward to being transparent and open in this process and we look forward to any feedback you may have. If you have questions, please reach out to me at: swilliams@peoriacounty.org.

Sharon Williams is a member of the Peoria County Board representing District 1. She is chairperson of the health committee.