By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – McLean County Board member Carlo Robustelli has called for the removal of any county Board of Health member found to have violated the state’s Open Meetings Act in connection with the handling of the department’s budget.
Robustelli tells WJBC’s Terry James he’s concerned about the lack of transparency in light of high fund reserves for the health department, which he says totaled $5 million in a recent auditor’s report.
“There always could be some epidemic or something so bad that the county board along with the administration will have to think about the general fund and go to the state or feds,” Robustelli said, “Those kinds of issues are so big that it’s unreasonable to just bank money from taxpayers to just sit there in the hope that we’ll address that.”
Robustelli also claims Board of Health members have shown disrespect for county officials and have been evasive when questioned about the reserves. He says he supports the state’s attorney’s request for the attorney general to investigate Open Meetings Act concerns.
“I really hope that those members of the Board of Health named in the state’s attorney’s letter to the Attorney General will see that their continuing service is really going to hurt the reputation of the county,” Robustelli said. “I hope that they step down from their positions.”
Robustelli says the public deserves to know how and why the Board of Health has high levels of fund reserves.
“This is the public’s money,” said Robustelli, a District 8 county board member from Bloomington. “It’s not the Board of Health’s money, it’s not the McLean County Board’s money, it’s not the director of the health department’s money, it’s taxpayers’ money. We need to be as taxpayer-oriented as possible and the way you do that is to be as open as possible.”
Robustelli has called on McLean County Board Chairman John McIntyre to remove any Board of Health members found to have violated the Open Meetings Act.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at greg@wjbc.com.
