LakeComm board meets for first time

ROUND LAKE BEACH – The first meeting of the Member Board of Directors for the newly formed Lake Consolidated Emergency Communications took place July 30 at the Round Lake Beach Cultural and Civic Center.

When fully operational, LakeComm will serve as the new consolidated Public Safety Answering Point for the partnering agencies, municipalities and unincorporated areas of Lake County.

A PSAP is a 911 call center responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services. It is the first critical step in ensuring that emergency calls are quickly and efficiently answered and information is routed to the appropriate response units, thereby enhancing public safety and reducing response times.

With the establishment of the Member Board of Directors, the next level of planning will focus on LakeComm’s transition to consolidated operations in the new Regional Operations and Communications facility in 2025.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the founding LakeComm member agencies as well as other potential member organizations. There are 23 LakeComm member agencies.

Elections were held for LakeComm officers as well as the elected members of the LakeComm Executive Committee.

“This is an exciting first step for LakeComm,” said Kevin Timony, the newly elected chair of the LakeComm Member Board of Directors and Vernon Hills village manager. “Now that we have our officers and executive committee in place, we can begin the hard work of transitioning to the new PSAP in summer 2025.”

A resolution was passed by the Member Board of Directors appointing a LakeComm transition manager to facilitate and coordinate the transition from current operations to the new organization until an executive director is hired. An update on the transition was provided followed by direction and guidance from the newly elected chair. A schedule for regular meetings will be determined and shared in the coming weeks.

For more than a decade, regional 911 consolidation has been a top priority for the Lake County Board and its municipal and agency partners.

The initiative was spearheaded by Illinois law (50 ILCS 750/15.4a), which mandates that any county with a population of at least 250,000 and more than one Emergency Telephone System Board should consolidate ETSBs so that no 911 authority in the county serves a population of fewer than 25,000 residents. Since then, the state has continued to support additional consolidations.