Local Government Updates

We'll be trying out a little bit of a new format to try to have more regular and concise updates moving forward.

General Updates:

Elections:

Election day for this year’s midterms is November 3rd, 2026, with Early Voting starting around October 24th. You can find the local primary election results here on the News-Gazette website. There are new local party chairs, with Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams chairing the Champaign County Democrats and perennial local candidate Jeff Brownfield replacing Susan Mantell in the County GOP.  

Federal Changes / Local Impact:

So-called “work requirements” for food assistance are going into effect. Champaign County Health Care Consumers have a great deal of information and assistance available on how to navigate the new hurdles for those having to prove their eligibility, exemptions, etc.

Gun Violence: The latest updates, including the police chief updates, can usually be found at the monthly Community Coalition meetings available here. There has been a number of recent shootings, many involving minors, in recent weeks. Unsecured guns, lost or stolen from homes and vehicles here and across the country, appear to be a major source for guns used in these types of crimes. Sheriff Heuerman noted that in one recent car theft, at least two guns were taken from a local unlocked vehicle. As we have seen, time and time again, if someone wants a gun, they just have to check enough car door handles in any given parking lot or neighborhood.

There still remain severe challenges in ensuring school attendance across both local school districts here with dozens of kids in each at ongoing and regular risk. There was a detailed discussion on those challenges at the recent Race Relations Subcommittee of the Community Coalition last month.

Local Government Roundup:

Champaign County Government:

The County’s budget process has begun with the Budget Director’s financial forecast presentation at the April County Board meeting. The board is openly considering across-the-board cuts, especially in light of the recent voter referendum supporting cuts to staff and services and opposing any new tax revenues.

The long-delayed Fiscal Year 2024 Audit is still being processed by the external auditor (Clifton, Larson, Allen LLP). There was an update on that process at the last Committee of the Whole (page 54 of the agenda packet). In March there was a presentation on the history of audit issues that led to our current predicament (video and slides).

The expectation is that these continued delays will impact funding, with the county likely missing out on funding it may have otherwise qualified for (e.g. through the state and federal government). The work on the 2025 audit is also being delayed while the County attempts to complete the 2024 audit.

The County Board also passed a one year moratorium on massive “hyperscale” data centers, as part of a process that may lead to blocking their construction here completely. The centers tend to have massive electric and water needs. As the recent mapping of the Mahomet aquifer has confirmed, however, those impacts may still threaten Champaign County if one is built in neighboring counties.

Municipal / School Boards:

City of Champaign: The affordable housing crisis has been a longtime and ongoing issue for the C-U. According to the housing needs assessment report and presentation earlier this year, the City is expected to present “the final document to the stakeholders and to the City Council for approval and moving into the implementation of the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy” this month. 

The annual township board blocked an agenda item for an advisory referendum related to a state law restricting boycotts of Israel. The same referendum passed in Cunningham township at their annual meeting and several other township meetings around the state.

Champaign Park District: The Champaign Parks Foundation is looking for four new members. This organization helps raise money for unmet needs of the park district itself. Elections for Champaign Park District commissioners occur staggered in odd election years, with two commissioner terms expiring in 2027.

City of Urbana: The Alternative Response Task Force (re: policing / 911 calls) had a community engagement event with video available on the Urbana Public TV YouTube page here. President Pearson has been actively working with the stakeholder meetings over the past several months, looking at various alternative response systems around the country and possible local implementations here.

Unit 4:  The Board of Education has approved some of the new cabinet members for the incoming new Superintendent, Dr. Geovanny Ponce, who will begin that role on July 1st of this year. The district approved a separation agreement with former Central High School Principle Montia Gardner, with both sides agreeing not to sue each other in the aftermath of the falling out in a short, but apparently contentious year.

The district renewed its contract for Student Resource Officers. The News-Gazette had details of the contract, including the limitations on officers to issue tickets and other issues here.

MTD: The C-U MTD board will likely have to redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign after a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary).

Champaign County Board Updates

It has been a long time since our last update and so much has happened since the November 2024 election that it would be difficult to catch up on all of it. This post will mostly be about the last couple months of County Board and related news items. We've also updated our About Page with some new disclaimers for our collaborations.

You can always check out the latest County Board meetings from the County's YouTube page here. Agendas, minutes, action reports, and other documentation are available on the County website here. We'll start with the May and June updates first and then a longer look back for those interested (jump to link). For other County government related updates, see our other post today: Other County Government Updates.

May and June County Board Updates:

One of the bigger issues facing the County recently was a potential strike by County employees over a new contract. As of last night, plans for a strike today were canceled as the union and county reached a tentative deal on a new contract. The News-Gazette had an update to their article on the potential strike today:

The Champaign County Board Labor Committee has reached a tentative deal with AFSCME Council 31 Local 900 for a new contract, which will need approval from both the bargaining unit and the county board.

That full News-Gazette article with details of the tentative agreement and more information is available here. WCIA just posted their coverage of the tentative agreement here:

Just hours before Champaign County employees were set to go on strike, a tentative deal was reached between their union and their employer.

The Champaign County Board Labor Committee and AFSCME Local 900 separately announced Tuesday night that a tentative deal had been reached that evening. The two parties negotiated for more than eight hours on Tuesday to reach this deal, and it potentially ends more than six months of bargaining on a new union contract.

That WCIA article is available here with details of the tentative agreement as well. The News-Gazette also spoke with County elected officials on what a strike could have meant for County government. Illinois Public Media had coverage of the negotiations heading into this week:

Champaign County employees are threatening to strike if county officials do not negotiate in good faith on a new contract.

More than 100 workers rallied Monday afternoon outside the Champaign County Courthouse in Urbana. The group, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, claims administrators are not offering fair wages or affordable insurance...

In May, the union took a vote in which 96% of its members voted to support a strike if necessary. The group’s last contract ran through the end of last year.

More from that IPM article here. The Daily Illini had coverage after the union voted to authorize a strike as part of the negotiations if deemed appropriate by leaders:

Negotiations have stalled for 150 days following the expiration of the union’s contract with Champaign County at the end of 2024. AFSCME Council 31 wrote county officials “still have failed to come forward with the fair wage increases and affordable health insurance they know are needed to settle a new contract.”

Emily Rodriguez, the chair of the Champaign County Labor Committee said in a statement that they remain “committed” to continue negotiations with AFSCME.

“We believe our current offer is fair, ambitious, and one that our neighbors can be proud of,” Rodriguez said. “I remember my vote to authorize a strike against UIUC as a picket captain of GEO in 2018. It was a momentous vote I was proud to make.”

More in that DI article here with a lot more details and analysis. WICS had similar coverage ahead of the vote:

Union leaders say today’s vote doesn’t mean they’re walking off the job; it simply gives them the legal authority to strike if negotiations fall through.

Cecilia Phillips, president of AFSCME Local 900 and a deputy clerk, says if they do go on strike, she’s not exactly sure what that would even look like...

AFSCME represents workers across nearly every department in the county — from the courthouse and jail to the highway department and animal control.

That full article here. The News-Gazette also had coverage ahead of the strike authorization and afterward. The News-Gazette had a bit more background in their May 7th article here.

County Board members who have spoken on the topic have generally signaled support for the union and workers, but there have been continued public disagreements on the state of the County's budget. This is especially true on the context of the failed Public Safety Sales Tax referendum and disagreements on spending priorities and conflicting views on the official financial forecast.

Other County Board Updates:

• Longtime District 10 representative Chris Stohr has resigned to join the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District Board.
  
  
• Members of the Champaign-Urbana Reparations Coalition used the public comment portion of the June Committee of the Whole meeting to explain and promote reparations initiatives for Black residents of Champaign County (video jump to link).
  
  
• At the May COW and Regular Board meetings, the Board approved a collaboration between DCFS and the Sheriff's office. From the CCSO memo on the agreement (page 8 of the PDF agenda packet):

• This opportunity will place a fulltime deputy sheriff in the local DCFS field office to assist with the safety of DCFS workers in the field while also allowing for more effective and efficient investigations of DCFS cases that would be investigated by the Sheriff’s Office anyway. This collaboration, formalized through an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Champaign County and the State of Illinois, will fully reimburse the County for salary, benefits, and equipment expenses of the deputy.

• There was a presentation for the expansion of the Street College Programming at the Champaign Count Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) at the May COW (jump to video link).
  
  
• It was announced at the June COW that the County was no longer paying Rosecrance for their reentry program and that funding would be available to work with a new partner on reentry programs. Rosecrance confirmed that they will be moving currently clients to their criminal justice program for continued services. The Rosecrance criminal justice program is no longer relying on the Champaign County Mental Health Board funding for that work either. The Champaign County Reentry Council will be reorganizing given these changes.
  
  
• The approval of the expansion of the Street College Programming referenced the funds made available from those previously budgeted for Rosecrance reentry programming funding (see page 4 of the PDF June County Board agenda addendum). This expansion passed (jump to video link).
  
  
• There were two special meetings over the past two months relating to the settlement agreement on the tax-exempt status of hospitals and local property taxes. The May Special Meeting related to Carle (documentation in the agenda packet here) while the June Special Meeting addressed the claims of Presence Central and Suburban Hospitals Network (former owners of OSF HealthCare).

Potential Late Audit and Impacts:

There has also been a great deal of disagreement over the work on the 2024 audit. Much of the County Board and the Auditor remain at odds after he won re-election in November in spite of a great deal of opposition within the local Party leadership and other elected officials. Some of those officials are commissioners on the Regional Planning Commission which penned a warning in the News-Gazette on what delays in the audit could mean.

Any delays in the completion of Fiscal Year 2024 Single Audit poses serious risks.

If the audit is not completed when it is due, barring any grace periods, existing grants may be frozen and new applications as well as modifications to grants may be denied. The Regional Planning Commission would be unable to draw down funds — both state and federal pass-through grants — to reimburse agency costs for payroll and accounts payable.

These are conditions which have been temporarily imposed on the RPC in previous years when Champaign County was delinquent in its completion of the audit. These delays in the completion of the audit directly threaten our ability to serve the public and could lead to devastating consequences for the individuals and families who depend on these vital services.

Their full letter is available here, and included in the May County Board documents here. The Auditor wrote a reply in which he lamented the call for usurping his authority and then stated that he was "washing his hands" of the 2024 audit:

In a recent letter to The News-Gazette, the Regional Planning Commission expressed support for county administration to prepare the county’s annual financial report and the audit thereof.

This is a seizure of a portion of my duties. The county board and the county executive did this without my input and justify their move by worrying that — for the first time ever — the RPC might have to wait on a grant due to a late audit.

...

As for the 2024 audit, I wash my hands. It is only just that the board and administration who destabilized my office last year take full responsibility for the timeliness and success of this year’s audit. I pray they succeed. I will audit their spending.

The full printed letter is in the News-Gazette here.

Moving:

There have been a variety of updates and some fighting over the County's move to the newly renovated Bennett Administrative Center in downtown Urbana from the old Brookens building on Washington Street.

• The County website has general information and a list of tentative moving dates for various offices.
• There was a tentative general timeline from April on how the moving was expected to go from WCIA for those who'd like to compare that to the current schedule.
• Updates and timelines for the Champaign County Clerk's office move from WCIA.
• More disagreements between the Auditor and the Executive office on space considerations. News-Gazette Opinions Editor Jim Dey had an opinion piece on various parts of that drama here.

What's happened since the November 2024 Election:

The News-Gazette has the November 2024 General Election (including County races and referenda) results here and 2025 Consolidated Election (municipal/local) results here.

In November, the referendum to abolish the auditor's office failed and the embattled and censured County Auditor George Danos won re-election. The Public Safety Sales Tax referendum also failed, which was opposed by Danos and others in intraparty disagreements on budget realities and whether it was necessary. 

When the County Board reorganized in December, Jennifer Locke was selected as the new Chair. The outgoing Chair and fellow Democrat Samantha Carter is still on the County Board representing District 6. The News-Gazette had coverage of both results and additional details here.

News-Gazette Opinions Editor Jim Dey also noted that this election resulted in the first time the Democratic Party held every County-wide elected office. Excerpt:

Democrats hold all the countywide offices and have a supermajority on the county board. The party claimed its last GOP holdout — the coroner’s office — in the Nov. 5 election...

The coroner’s race featured two non-incumbents who were veteran employees of the office: Democrat Laurie Brauer and Republican Steve Thuney.

Brauer received 50,236 votes (58 percent) to 36,219 votes (42 percent) to Thuney.

So good luck to the Republicans in future elections, because they’ll need it. Now the GOP knows how the Dems felt for all those years when they were a solid minority in Champaign County.

That full opinion piece is here.

With the local Democratic Party holding an overwhelming amount of the elected County seats, a great deal of the politics revolves around intraparty disputes and disagreements (with local Republicans openly taking sides on those intraparty disputes). The News-Gazette highlighted some of the ongoing disagreements with the County labor negotiations today. It noted continuing disagreements with the auditor on budget realities underlying the dispute.

The last County Board meeting recessed after the previous County Board chair was accused of violating decorum rules. Another Board member began throwing things when the board voted to end further board communications and move on with the agenda. Jim Dey had another opinion piece on that public drama here.

It remains to be seen how much these continuing disagreements, especially on what the budget realities are, will have on the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget process, already in progress. 

If the past is any guide, those disagreements helped undermine the local Democratic Party's attempt at a united front for raising tax revenue towards that budget already. It has already complicated the negotiations for County worker contracts, with personnel costs being a substantial budget concern moving forward.

Old County Nursing Home Updates:

There was some indication that the new owners of what was once the old Champaign County Nursing Home may have been looking at going through the convoluted and expensive process required to reopen the facility as a nursing home again. I have not heard or found any updates since local news reported that possibility back in January and February 2025, however. From WCIA:

A former Urbana nursing home could be re-opening its doors. County documents show Ayodhya Dham Urbana LLC purchased University Rehab for $1.5 million. Now, the community is left wondering what happens next.

Steve Summers, the Champaign County executive, said there has been very little information shared with the board, and the county’s only involvement was releasing a restricted covenant about one year ago. That allowed the land to be used for something other than a nursing home.

That full WCIA article here. The News-Gazette coverage also indicated that reopening was a possibility:

Despite previous reports that opening another nursing home at the former University Rehabilitation Center of C-U site would not be feasible, the property’s new owners are eyeing this possibility.

County records show that Ayodhya Dham Urbana LLC has purchased the property at 500 Art Bartell Road in Urbana for $1.5 million.

“We haven’t solidified any concrete plans with the building,” said Dipak Patel, a managing member of the group. “We are interested in working with nursing-home operators, though we haven’t decided on anyone specifically. At the moment, we are renovating the building and considering what to do with it after, as many nursing-home operators are indeed interested.”.

That full article here. We will post updates on this once more information is available.

County Board Updates into October

This post contains updates on County Board meetings since our last update ahead of the August 13th Committee of the Whole meeting of the County Board. There's a separate post on other County government updates, including County Auditor and Treasurer updates, public safety departments and sales tax issues, and some Regional Planning Commission updates.

Upcoming October Meeting Highlights: (agenda packet)

It's unclear whether there will be reports from the County Auditor and Treasurer at the upcoming Committee of the Whole, given recent news and controversies (see Other County Updates Cheat Sheet post). There appear to be a couple agenda items related to election software in the County Clerk & Recorder's office and increased costs to the State's Attorney's office and its participation in the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Program.

There also appears to be a tentative budget from the County Executive that may elicit some discussion. That budget summary is available in the agenda packet starting on page 74 (page 78 of the PDF). There were several budget related meetings over the past couple months that get into a great deal of detail about budget issues and decisions. See the special budget hearings in August and the special finance meeting in late September below for more on that. 

The most recent Facilities Committee meeting (agenda, video) appeared to confirm that a major first step of the jail consolidation project is almost wrapped up (jump to video link). This would open up the new spaces for use while older spaces are then upgraded.

Below are links and overviews of the August and September meetings of the County Board:

August Meetings:

8/13 Committee of the Whole (video, agenda packet):

The meeting minutes highlighted most of the key moments from this meeting. Auditor George Danos spoke during public participation to oppose the county's referenda on increasing the Public Safety Sales Tax and abolishing the elected auditor position (his current office).

Coroner Steve Thuney gave a report on his office, staffing issues, and other needs in the Coroner's office. Thuney is currently up for re-election with another staff member running against him. See the VoteChampaign non-partisan candidate guide for more details on local races.

The County Clerk & Recorder gave updates on election issues and other projects. The Sheriff gave updates on the jail consolidation project and issues related to housing inmates in other counties during and after that work.

At this meeting initial approval was given for the new record keeping system and the intergovernmental approvals that will need to come with it. Initial discussion of changing the County Board's order of business to honor County employees earlier in the meetings and in a way more convenient for the recipients, their families, and the board to address them when they're on the agenda.

8/15 Special (video, agenda packet):

This was a short meeting where the County Board approved revised language for the ballot referendum related to abolishing the elected auditor position. The language was trimmed to avoid any language that might be challenged as crossing the line from informative to advocacy. The meeting minutes are a concise overview of the public participation and limited discussion that occurred at the meeting that night.

8/22 County Board (video, agenda packet, addendum):

The minutes summarized the public participation, discussion and votes. Experience C-U had a presentation (jump to video link), including topics such as updates on the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail, Destination 2027 (mentioned in their most recent quarterly report), ARPA funded initiatives and more.

Several agenda items and updates were moved up on the amended agenda for the sake of the participant's time:

• There was a discussion with updates from the Opioid Settlement Task Force (jump to video link) and an approved proposal on how to spend some of the funds "for the purchase, renovation, and opening of the C-U at Home Mid-Barrier Campus." You can see the C-U at Home PowerPoint presentation on that here and listen along here starting at the 3 minute mark). There was a roll call vote later to address a point of order on the original voice vote. There haven't been any updates on when the next meeting will be for this task force (the report at this time suggested sometime in September or October).
  
  
• ARPA updates included some discussion about the Small Business grant program among other technical questions. More detailed updates are available in the agenda packet starting on page 176 (page 181 of the PDF).
  
  
• Rural Broadband updates including some modified proposals to better address the expansion goals.

Later in the meeting there was an extended discussion on the updates and delays surrounding the new County Plaza building. It appeared that the contingency spending has been within normal and acceptable levels given the size and type of the project. Limitations to elevator installation services continue to be a factor in delays and a bit of a project bottleneck.

Additional decennial reports are now on file. All of those reports are available here on the County website. There is a Cheat Sheet post with an explanation and overview of the decennial reports from earlier in the year.

8/26-28 Special Budget Hearings:

• Day 1 (agenda, presentation, video). There was public participation opposing the public safety sales tax, campus protest prosecutions, and 
• Day 2 (agenda, presentation, video)
• Day 3 (agenda, presentation, video). There was public participation opposing the increase to the public safety sale tax and the concern that it may weaken support for the low barrier shelter tax issue for the City of Champaign Township.

September Meetings:

9/10 Committee of the Whole (video, agenda packet):

• Communications and Allegations:

This meeting began with some shocking, although admittedly baseless, accusations by Board Member Brett Peugh against his fellow Democrats. During communications he alleged that a dead cat was left on his porch with some sort of feces on it, implying this was done by his own party members in retaliation for disagreements. Peugh made similar allegations during the party caucus meeting and on social media prior to the meeting. He made clear in his social media post that it was simply a "guess" that other Democrats were involved.

This allegation and others have made their way into Jim Dey's series of opinion articles in the News-Gazette on the drama surrounding the Champaign County Democrats. These include allegations by the County Board Chair Samantha Carter that her fellow Democrats may have been involved in a cracked taillight on her car and the auditor claiming his tires were surgically slashed and later partially deflated. 

FOIAd police records show that the auditor simply had a low pressure indicator and had picked up a nail in the tread. In the report the auditor states a conspiracy by other Democrats to retaliate against him with this nail in his tire. He refers to a previous "surgically precise slashing" that appears to have gone unreported to police at this time. No evidence of any person, Democrats or otherwise, being involved in the tire deflation.

Other Democrats have expressed disbelief and extreme skepticisms that any of these incidents involved politics or retaliation. In the case of the auditor's nail in the tire, some doubt any other person was involved at all as opposed to a common road hazard. There are two extensive opinion articles by Marti Wilkinson overviewing the auditor controversy and some of his tire retaliation claims, including the police report. It also includes some response by the auditor himself here.

In other intraparty drama, Board Member Rodriguez called for a future formal vote to remove the chair due to behavior she deemed inconducive with being able to properly conduct meetings. She noted she didn't want to take the item up tonight with the chair absent and unable to respond.

• Rest of the 9/10 COW Meeting:

At this meeting there was a presentation by the Regional Planning Commission and their legal department about the expansion of the Head Start program to neighboring counties. There was a technical conversation about past practice versus best practice when it comes to the specific language of authorizing the RPC to use certain grant funds. Board members and RPC representatives appeared to agree on a process going forward to ensure the proper "findings" and intergovernmental agreements are covered on the County Board's end.

There was a discussion and approval of the new employee health insurance and benefits plan for FY2025.

There was also some irritation about the lack of an auditor's report given the upcoming deadlines and ongoing issues expressed by former County Auditor and current County Board member J.J. Farney.

The public portion of the meeting ended as the board when into closed session to discuss litigation before they adjourned.

9/19 County Board (video, agenda packet, there's a number of additional documents and addendum as well):

• Democratic Party Caucus:

Prior to the regular County Board member on September 19th, the News-Gazette ran another Jim Dey opinion piece on the intraparty drama, specifically about Member Rodriguez's call to remove the chair at the last COW meeting. Other media showed up to the regular meeting expecting the "shootout" he believed was planned. The issue, however, was not on the agenda.

During the Democratic Party's caucus meeting ahead of the County Board meeting, it was made clear that the item was not on the agenda or planned to be added to the agenda as an action item that night. Illinois State Representative Carol Ammons (D-103rd) and her husband County Clerk and Recorder Aaron Ammons both spoke against removing Chair Carter at this or any future meeting. 

Representative Ammons noted that she was addressing the caucus instead of the media with her concerns at this time. She expressed her hope that she would not need to comment publicly on the matter, noting the news vans in the parking lot at the moment. Both Ammons warned of the precedent such a removal might set.

Chair Carter made a statement reiterating her belief that she has asked for help and never received it, that she has given respect, but never has been respected back. She also brought up the cracked taillight on her car. She argued her intentions were always to unify, not to divide people. The rest of the agenda was an overview of the upcoming County Board agenda (including some duplicated complaints about the auditor covered below).

• Regular County Board Meeting:

Once again, a number of agenda items were moved up for the sake of presenters' time. Many of them would otherwise have to wait through unrelated meeting items for a long while. Public participation began with both a character reference in support and a critic of Chair Carter. Another speaker complained about mysterious explosions near Mahomet and his frustration in getting the noise issue resolved.

The Vice President Blanton Bondurant of the local NAACP Champaign County Branch spoke about his concerns related to the County Executive and the treatment of the Chair Carter. He demanded answers to his previous questions in writing prior to the meeting requested by the County Executive. He stated his concerns about the proof of residency for Board Member Rodriguez and argued that it should be a simple matter for her to present papers establishing her residency. 

Member Rodriguez audibly scoffed at the demand to see her papers, causing a tense and awkward moment (as back and forth interactions are not allowed by County Board rules during public participation). Mr. Bondurant reiterated his demand for written answers to his previous list of questions from the County Executive. Executive Summers acknowledged that he would respond to that inquiry.

During communications, Chair Carter denied any racism behind her questioning of Member Rodriguez's residential qualifications. She noted a long history of the County Board's problems, racism, not listening to certain voices, and other issues. She denied that she had done anything wrong, but was open to conversation, coffee and mediation.

County Executive Summers noted that there was no leadership vote on the agenda or being added tonight. Rodriguez reiterated her concerns with the Chair, others board members she believed have asked Carter to resign as Chair, and that she believed she had the votes to remove her if the vote was held tonight.

The ARPA funding updates are available in the agenda packet starting on page 115 (page 118 of the PDF). I didn't catch this meeting in person and the video appeared to skip a bit during the ARPA discussion.

There was a long discussion of the frustrations with the auditor and references to the auditor's letter that the current audit was going to be late again. Members Farney and Fortado both spoke at length of the late notice of the issues he claimed to be having in delivering a complete audit to the external auditor. In addition to the lateness, there appears to be ongoing concerns about a lack of timely communication about the problems he says he is having, and denial of assistance offered to help with those issues.

The possible financial ramifications of a late audit begin with warnings, but quickly escalate over time to include a great deal of additional planning and work by other departments. At this point in time the county has not lost any money or faced any stop payments. Board members discussed the timeline of cascading repercussions depending on how late the audit ends up being.

There was a disagreement on the auditor's language on a budget item regarding the advertising spending about county referenda. It appeared to include a legal opinion about the spending which was discussed at length by board members and staff as to whether the language could be amended. Ultimately the item failed, with only Member Cowert and Chair Carter voting in favor of passage. It's unclear how this spending approval will be addressed going forward.

Additional decennial reports are now on file. All of those reports are available here on the County website. There is a Cheat Sheet post with an explanation and overview of the decennial reports from earlier in the year.

9/24 Special Finance Meeting (video, agenda) spent a couple hours discussing the FY2025 budget and decisions facing the County Board going forward in the budget process. For a detailed overview of the items discussed, you can see a draft of the minutes from that meeting in the upcoming COW agenda packet starting on page 6 (page 10 of the PDF)

Other County Updates

This post includes additional County government related updates on the Auditor, Treasurer, public safety departments and sales tax updates, as well as some Regional Planning Commission related updates on Head Start and the Long-Term Transportation Plan.

Auditor and Treasurer Updates:

Illinois Public Media's Newsroom had an overview of the controversies in the auditor's office, concerns about late audits, and recent interviews with some of the main players in that drama today:

Steve Summers, Champaign County Executive, said if voters decide to eliminate the auditor’s office, the Champaign County Board is likely to merge its accounting department, including the auditor’s role, with his department. “Then, with County Board approval, a new hire would be made and carry out the work of the auditor’s office,” Summers said...

In addition, Summers said the role of the auditor has diminished in recent years, as the current software system “handles many of the tasks that an auditor 30 or 40 years ago would have done manually...

Both candidates for county auditor oppose the referendum to eliminate the position they’re running for. 

That full article here with a lot of additional background on a number of the recent controversies, perspectives and history.

The Treasurer's office was dragged into the auditor drama shortly after Treasurer Cassandra C.J. Johnson announced she was planning on retiring before the end of her second term. From the News-Gazette:

Describing herself as “burned out” by long hours and a short staff, Johnson said the only question is when she’ll leave...

Johnson, who is 44 and goes by the initials “C.J.,” suggested it would be at the “beginning of next year,” but that is indefinite because “there are a bunch of projects I want to close out.”

The U.S. Air Force veteran was elected treasurer in 2020, filling out the unexpired balance of the four-year term created by the resignation of former treasurer Laurel Prussing. She was re-elected to a full four-year term in 2022.

That full article here.

Auditor Danos has recently justified the need for an elected auditor position by highlighting additional interest income the County could have made if the Treasurer had deposited more of the County's money in an Illinois Funds account. From Jim Dey's opinion article on the Auditor's claims:

While Champaign County officials have urged voters to approve a sales tax increase to shore up their financial resources, the county has missed out on nearly $2.1 million in income by maintaining funds in low-interest-bearing accounts.

As recently as Aug. 31, the county had $13.9 million on deposit in a Terre Haute, Ind., First Financial Bank account that paid a 0.2 percent interest rate and generated $2,415 in interest for the month.

If that same amount had been deposited with the state treasurer’s Illinois Funds account, the interest rate would have been 5.373 percent and generated $67,877 in interest income.

That full article here. Others have argued that catching this issue years ago, before the County lost out on the additional interest revenue, would have made a stronger case for the auditor.

Public Safety Budgets:

The News-Gazette had an overview of local public safety officials and their stated budget needs going forward, including the Sheriff's Office, State's Attorney's Office, and the Public Defender:

This week, as the board begins discussing how to allocate funds for fiscal 2025, the leaders of the county’s law enforcement, courthouse and corrections divisions each made their case for why they should receive additional support to improve public safety efforts.

Yet to what extent the board decides to fund each department’s vision will ultimately hinge on whether county residents approve a referendum in November’s election for a quarter-cent “public safety” sales tax.

That full article here. The County has also put up a Public Safety Sales Tax information website here. The Champaign County State's Attorney has defended the County's spending on this website and local advertising about the referendum as educational. Opponents have alleged that this spending as crossed the legal line into advocacy.

Other Public Safety Updates:

There's a Cheat Sheet post on the recent METCAD Policy Board meeting and the staffing crisis facing the dispatch center. The County's METCAD 911 dispatch service is an intergovernmental organization with the City of Champaign as the primary, which is why staffing is generally handled by the City of Champaign. The staffing crisis, however, could impact services throughout Champaign County.

Kathy's Mailbag had a brief overview of the County's emergency management organization this month: 

“While the day-to-day operations of EMA are overseen by an emergency management coordinator appointed by the sheriff, emergency management policies for the county are developed through the Regional Emergency Coordination Group (RECG), a group made up of local elected and appointed officials such as the sheriff, mayors/city managers, police chiefs and representatives from UI, Parkland and the C-U Public Health District. Those policies are then put into action by EMA. “

That full Mailbag article here.

Regional Planning Commission Related Updates:

Expansion of RPC Early Childhood Education Program, from the News-Gazette:

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission plans to expand its Early Childhood Education program into Ford, Iroquois and Vermilion counties.

Program Director Brandi Granse said the RPC is acquiring five centers: two in Danville, one in Paxton, one in Gilman and one in Watseka...

According to RPC officials, the move adds 300 infants, toddlers, preschoolers and pregnant women to RPC’s Head Start and Early Head Start enrollment.

That full article here.

Long-Range Transportation Plan:

There have been some recent updates on the process of local governments endorsing the County's Long-Range Transportation Plan. From WCIA:

Every five years, the Champaign Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS) is required to update the LRTP, which plans out the next 25 years. The goal of the LRTP is to create innovative and sustainable transportation solutions in Champaign County...

To see a full list of projects included in the 2050 LRTP, visit the Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study website.

Currently, the 2050 LRTP is in a draft review period until Oct. 15. Once the draft-period has ended, the plan will be adopted by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission Board and Technical and Policy Committees. Then, the council will be able to accept and recognize the finalized 2050 LRTP plan.

That full article here. This article goes into detail about the City of Champaign's endorsement of the LRTP. The staff report at the study session explained the next steps:

The draft LRTP 2050 plan is in the 30-day draft review period through Tuesday, October 15, 2024 and can be viewed online. CUUATS staff is seeking input from stakeholders, particularly local municipalities, and the general public. CUUATS will then evaluate and incorporate feedback that is feasible and relevant to accomplishing the goals and visions of the LRTP 2050. 

Although not all feedback will be incorporated into the main document, all feedback will be provided in the appendix of the LRTP 2050 document. Once the comment period has ended, the plan will be adopted by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission Board and Technical and Policy Committees. City Council also has the option to accept and recognize the finalized LRTP 2050 plan.

The Regional Planning Commission hosts a LRTP 2050 webpage with additional information and updates here.

County Board July Updates

July only has a regular County Board meeting. Most months also have a Committee of the Whole or "COW" meeting of the full board and some additional committee meetings (e.g. Facilities). This post covers the June County Board meetings and a special Study Session meeting towards the end of the month.

Public Safety Sales Tax Referendum:

The big news out of the June meetings, and after much deliberation over previous months, was the passage of a resolution to put an increased sales tax measure on the ballot for voters to decide on. From the News-Gazette a few weeks ago:

On Thursday, the county board approved adding a referendum on a “Special County Retailers’ Occupation Tax for Public Safety,” which would add a quarter-cent to the county’s sales-tax rate, to the Nov. 5 ballot.

Proponents say the increase is necessary to support investments such as competitive wages to attract correctional officers for the understaffed juvenile detention center, an additional sheriff’s deputy to support a new mental-health-focused court program and a budget that enables the public defender’s office to hire more expert witnesses...

Board member Brett Peugh acknowledged that the county needs the funds but noted that his constituents who live in a historically Black district will be hit the hardest by the tax and don’t support the measure.

That full article here. WAND had a very brief overview of the sale tax referendum here.

Nursing Home Needs Assessment:

At the June Committee of the Whole meeting, the Advocates for Aging Care group presented the findings of the local needs assessment to the County Board. That full presentation is available here. WCCU had coverage of the group's findings and the need assessment.

Advocates for Aging Care (AAC) along with the Champaign County Board, the Champaign County Health Board, and Champaign-Urbana Public Health District came together to conduct a survey assessing nursing home, rehabilitation, and long-term care facilities in Champaign County.

With over 850 consumer responses and over 50 providers, they found what they expected to be true, that there aren’t enough skilled care beds in Champaign County.

"So in our community, we’ve known by the numbers that we only have about 411 of the 748 beds we need, or are projected to need by the end of 2026 because not only do we have the need now but our older population is growing,” explained Cathy Emanuel with AAC.

That full article here.

More Auditor Drama:

There was a Study Session / Special Meeting of the County Board last month, a few days after their regular monthly meeting (video, agenda packet). The topic was about eliminating the Auditor as an elected position for Champaign County and looking at alternative models. The County Auditor made remarks during the public comment portion of the agenda (video go to link). He spoke in support of keeping the office elected and independent. He took issue with the local League of Women Voters report on a couple points (also here on his facebook page).

The League of Women Voters presented their study from a couple years ago on the benefits and alternatives to having an elected auditor for county governments. Their position predates any of the current drama with the current auditor and views the position as archaic and, in many ways, duplicative. The original study report is available here at the Illinois Public Media Newsroom website. Their presentation on the report from 2 years ago is available on the LWV YouTube page here.

Michelle Jett, the County's Director of Administration, presented and laid out more information on alternatives in other Illinois Counties and some of the nuance of what instituting that would look like in Champaign County if the voters approved it (video jump to link).

Republicans on the County Board seemed less enthusiastic about a ballot referendum on this question now that they've slated a candidate to oppose the current Democratic Party Auditor. There was continued discussion on the appropriate timing of such a referendum and how best to uphold democratic principles in local government.

Chair Carter continued to press the issue of the County Executive and the Executive form of government, but met resistance from within her own party due to the limits of the agenda itself and what the public had been given notice of. This continues some previous contention between the Board Chair and the County Executive's office and staff highlighted in June's Cheat Sheet here.

The meeting left off with planning to discuss the issue as an agenda item on the July regular County Board meeting (there is no Committee of the Whole meeting before the regular meeting in July).

The News-Gazette's Jim Dey has added three more articles to his plethora of Democratic intraparty squabble opinion pieces this month to cover the Auditor and County Board Chair / County Executive drama.

United Sovereign Americans:

At the June regular County Board meeting, there was a series of speakers on behalf of a national group called United Sovereign Americans, including two co-chairs for their Illinois chapter (jump to video link). They read the text of their proposed resolution for the County Board to pass for an "election audit." The version of the resolution they proposed to the DeKalb County Board is available here (starting on page 15 of the PDF file).

There's a separate Cheat Sheet post on this group, its background, and other coverage of it across the country here.

Rural Broadband Updates:

There was another presentation at the most recent Broadband Task Force this week. After last month's presentation, there were concerns about the need to lay fiberoptic cable to begin to lay the groundwork for broadband expansion to rural towns and areas. The presentation this month focused on initial ideas to lay cable to Royal, Ogden, Homer, and Sidney and the details of how many households may be close enough to get connected to those lines.

There was also a long discussion about the types of funding available, from federal (e.g. RDOF versus ARPA) to ongoing concerns that the State funding may not be awarded to these projects here locally.

More County Government News:

• There are indications that the old Champaign County Nursing Home building may have a prospective buyer, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• There was a presentation on the cover crop ARPA funded project and updates at the June COW (jump to video link).
  
  
• President Minnie Pearson of the NAACP Champaign County Branch spoke shared some concerns about the treatment of the County Board Chair by other board members and others (jump to video link). She insisted that board members treat each other with respect.
  
  
• WCIA had coverage of local efforts around the county to put on Independence Day parades, fireworks, and other events. They also had an overview of the county's main July 4th celebration organization this year.
  
  
• WCIA also had coverage of the removal of a very full animal barnyard near the City of Champaign, but within the County's jurisdiction after a long ordeal by neighbors.
  
  
• The Daily Illini had coverage of the local County tourism organization Experience C-U's collaboration with Champaign County African American Heritage Trail and others for local African American heritage murals.
  
  
• The acronym laden county organization for coordinating homelessness service providers in Champaign County (The RPC's CSPH) has found increased homelessness in Champaign County in 2024.

County Board Updates into June

There continued to be a great deal of drama between Auditor and a great deal of the rest of the County government. Recent public statements by those involved appear to put the Auditor at odds with many of the staff of the County Auditor’s office itself, most of the County Board members of both parties, the County Executive, and the administrative staff under the Executive). This culminated in a County Board censure of the County Auditor for alleged mistreatment of staff, pornographic material on a work computer, and other criticisms of his work (or allegedly the lack thereof). From the News-Gazette:

After at least a month of discussion on the subject, the Champaign County Board has voted to censure county auditor George Danos for alleged failure to act as an "independent watchdog" of taxpayer funds and actions "unbecoming an elected official."

...

"The actions of Champaign County Auditor, George P. Danos, have created a work environment the County Board does not condone or support," the resolution states. "... The Champaign County Board seeks to make Champaign County government a safe working environment, free of harassment and misconduct for all employees."

Voting for the resolution: Elly Hanauer-Friedman, Jennifer Locke, Jenny Lokshin, Diane Michaels, Don Owen, Emily Rodriguez, Jilmala Rogers, Ed Sexton, Mike Smith, Chris Stohr, Jennifer Straub, Leah Taylor, Jeff Wilson, John Farney and Stephanie Fortado voted for the resolution.

That full article here. We had a previous Cheat Sheet post on the controversies surrounding the Auditor back in April here. The Auditor gave his perspective and answered many questions about the accusations in the censure resolution on WDWS' "Penny for your Thoughts" radio show this past week (in the second hour of the June 5th episode here). The conservative opinions editor of the News-Gazette, Jim Dey, has also taken an interest in the local Democratic Party infighting with no less than seven opinion articles focused on the dispute in the last two months.

May County Board Regular Meeting:

The last regular County Board meeting (video, agenda packet) lasted over 5 hours due to a great number of presentations on a variety of important programs and topics, as well as public comments in support of looking at the contract / bidding process for minority owned contractors and sub-contractors. Highlights with video links:

• Public Participation included several comments in support of looking at the process of awarding contracts, ensuring minority owned businesses are given proper consideration per the County's own equity goals (go to video link).
  
  
• Presentation on the Racial Covenant Project out of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office (go to video link).
  
  
• Updates on the wider H3 program from many of the organizers behind that and the local First Followers Reentry program (go to video link).
  
  
• Updates on C-CARTS (Champaign-County Area Rural Transit System) funding and projects (go to video link). Staff from C-CARTS had been waiting well over 4 hours by the time their funding item came up and they had a chance to speak on it.

The meeting also went on to cover some contentious issues such as the salaries for countywide offices and their historical imbalances. The new salaries would continue to be imbalanced between the countywide elected office holders. The meeting ended on a long discussion and vote to censure the County Auditor (jump to video link) that was covered in the News-Gazette article mentioned above.

During board member Communications, Chair Carter expressed her ongoing frustration that she is facing racism within the County government and a double standard by her own colleagues. Some of the frustrations appeared intertwined with the County Board's concerns with the Auditor's office. A heated moment came when she complained about the behavior others during and after the 4/4 Special Finance Committee Meeting disagreement. She had previously publicly apologized for her own behavior in that incident (at the 4/9 Committee of the Whole a few days later).

There were repeated points of order and admonishments not to criticize other board members during meetings per the County Board's rules. Carter yelled over the admonishments and received some applause from the audience when she finished her statement.

April County Board and Committee Meetings Roundup:

• 4/4 Special Finance Committee Meeting: the only agenda item for this meeting was discussing a response to the public FOIA information on the County Auditor. The agenda packet also included that same FOIAd information that had been made public.
  
  County Board Member John Farney made a point of order early in this meeting that the County Board Chair, Samantha Carter, took issue with (jump to video). While it appeared that the point of order was mundane, the gestures, yelling, and other behavior during this moment has become the subject of further apologies and arguments.
  
  
• 4/9 Committee of the Whole: This meeting began with admonishment by various board members about Samantha Carter's behavior at the 4/4 special meeting. Chair Carter apologized, noted some ongoing frustrations, but assured the board that it wouldn't happen again. Bruce Hannon was honored as the "eternal keeper of the clock" for the County Court House (see more on that later in this post below). There were updates on the Reentry Program by Rosecrance (jump to video here) and the censure process regarding the auditor.
  
  
• 4/11 Labor Committee: This meeting (agenda packet, minutes) was almost entirely about the auditor, proposed censure language, and the priority of the committee's intent to protect County staff in the Auditor's office who lack many labor protections afforded County employees in other departments. There is a separate Cheat Sheet post that got into the weeds of that meeting and the Auditor issues here. I wasn't able to cover May's Labor Committee meeting, and it appears that the only media coverage was an opinion piece by Jim Dey here. It also centered on censure language (agenda packet including a new proposed censure resolution, tentative minutes of the May meeting are available in the June Labor committee agenda packet).
  
  
• 4/18 County Board Regular Meeting: This meeting included a presentation by the County Auditor with his own interpretation of the County's financial situation and dispute on the budget projections. There was a separate Cheat Sheet post on this dispute over budget forecasts as part of the budget process and the Public Safety Sales Tax here.
  
  
• 4/23 County Board Special Meeting / Study Session: This meeting (agenda packet, video) was focused on addressing board member questions about a referendum to increase the Public Safety Sales Tax by a quarter cent. In the end, it was decided that the County Board's intent was to move forward with putting the question on the ballot. There would still have to be additional approval by the County Board itself.

Bruce Hannon, Eternal Keeper of the Clock:

The County Board passed a resolution to dedicate the courthouse clock as the "Bruce Hannon Memorial Clock" at the April Regular Meeting. From the News-Gazette:

“Bruce Hannon was instrumental in forming the Citizens Committee to Restore the Clock and Bell Tower at the Champaign County Courthouse in 2001 and became Chair of said Committee,” county officials said. “... Under his leadership, the Clock and Bell Tower Committee raised $1.15 million of non-public funds by private donations to underwrite the re-construction of the historic tower at the Champaign County Courthouse and to restore the Clock therein.”

...

A plaque will be placed at the site and a dedication ceremony will be held at a later date.

Steve Beckett, a local lawyer and former Champaign County Board member who was part of the clock tower committee, said Hannon had a gift for persuading people to get involved with different projects, including the clock tower restoration.

That full article here. Steve Becket's full remarks in at the April Committee of the Whole meeting in favor of the resolution, and a touching story of Bruce Hannon's clock work in the community that made him a legend, are available here at the County government's YouTube page.

 

More County Government News:

• There was a 6/10 meeting of the County Board's Broadband Task Force (agenda packet, video starting after the staff resolved some serious technical issues with the sound), which included some presentations and a long discussion on the rural broadband goals. It appears that a lack of state funding had seriously reduced the number of households the VOLO project had hoped to reach. State funding appeared to be an issue with Nextlink's goals as well. The discussion by Task Force members afterwards appeared to highlight a number of technical disagreements and concerns about the lack of progress.
  
  
• Tom Kacich had a profile of the new Champaign County Republican Chair in the News-Gazette.
  
  
• Savoy voted to go ahead with an agreement with the Champaign County government towards its viaduct project, according to WCIA. There was an additional article previewing the vote with more information here.