CU at Home Moving to TIMES Center

[UPDATE x2 - The plans appear to be finalized. From the News-Gazette this past Saturday:

C-U at Home moving into former TIMES Center in September
C-U at Home said it has finalized a lease with Rosecrance to move to the former TIMES Center building at 70 E. Washington St., C.

C-U at Home's Phoenix daytime drop-in center for the homeless will move from 34 E. Green St., C, to the TIMES Center building owned by Rosecrance next month.

That building will also become the new home of C-U at Home's administrative offices and location this winter for the community men's emergency shelter.]

[UPDATE 7/30/2018 - The News-Gazette had more details about the transition this past Saturday:

Winter shelter for men may be moving
...
The Rev. Sheryl Palmer, senior pastor of Faith United Methodist Church, said tentative plans call for her church to continue to operate the men's shelter for this coming winter and for other local churches and volunteers to continue to be involved, with C-U at Home taking over running the shelter the following winter...

C-U at Home is already planning to move its headquarters and daytime drop-in center to the TIMES Center building if it finalizes a lease with Rosecrance. The building became available after Rosecrance ended a transitional housing program there June 30...

C-U at Home Executive Director Rob Dalhaus said his agency is working with leaders of the men's emergency shelter and others in the community to eventually bring several services for the homeless under one roof.

More details at the full article here.]

CU at Home, a homeless ministry and service provider in Champaign-Urbana, well known for its Phoenix Drop-In Center may be moving soon to a Rosecrance facility no longer in use. Rosecrance has become a central provider for mental health and other social services in the area after acquiring many individual local providers under their single umbrella. From FoxIllinois:

C-U at Home considers relocating to TIMES Center facility
There is always room for improvement and expansion, and that is why C-U at Home is considering the former TIMES Center facility as its future location...

C-U at Home now hopes to take over the facility after the executive director, Rob Dalhaus III said their lease at the Phoenix drop-in center is almost up. C-U at Home hopes to relocate and operate the drop-in center, emergency shelter and administrative offices at the TIMES Center facility in Champaign, which is why the organization is finalizing an agreement with the facility's former operator, Rosecrance.

"It’s critical that we keep these services locally here in our town,” former volunteer at C-U at Home, Brian Chaille said. “We do need more and this is a good opportunity for that where [those in need] can be safe and secure and trust the people that they're working with.”

Under the TIMES Center, Rosecrance helped men transition into independent living and employment. The remaining clients successfully completed the program which led Rosecrance to discontinue it...

“We are very excited about C-U at Home being able to expand,” director of clinical services at Rosecrance in Champaign-Urbana, Juli Kartel said. “It’s a great win for the community as serving individuals who are homeless is what C-U at Home does so well.”

No word on when Rosecrance and C-U at Home will finalize the agreement.

More at the full article here. The News-Gazette also had similar coverage here. Rosecrance is also looking to relocate from it's Fox Drive location among other moves. From a News-Gazette article last month that also noted a couple of the acquisitions Rosecrance made locally:

Rosecrance planning facility changes now that acquisitions are complete
Some Champaign building changes may be on the way for Rosecrance, a provider of mental- and behavioral-health services in the area.

The Rosecrance facility at 1801 Fox Drive, C, is for sale for $2.9 million. Rosecrance eventually plans to relocate the administrative offices and counseling services at that address to a smaller building in Champaign, according to Chris Gleason, executive director of Rosecrance Central Illinois.

Rosecrance is also looking at replacing its longtime residential treatment facility at 122 W. Hill St. in downtown Champaign with another building, Gleason said.

The Fox Drive building was the longtime headquarters for the former Community Elements, a mental- and behavioral-health agency acquired by Rockford-based Rosecrance in 2016.

The Hill Street treatment facility had been operated by Prairie Center, the local substance-abuse treatment agency also acquired by Rosecrance at the start of this year.

More at the full article here.


[Updated. Originally posted 7/7/2018 at 9:05am]

Rosecrance Changing Locations

Rosecrance — which works a great deal with local government on mental health solutions and criminal justice alternatives and options — will likely be changing their facilities to better suit their space needs. Additionally I excerpted some of possible and potential future plans if there's support from the community. From yesterday's News-Gazette:

Rosecrance planning facility changes now that acquisitions are complete
Some Champaign building changes may be on the way for Rosecrance, a provider of mental- and behavioral-health services in the area.

The Rosecrance facility at 1801 Fox Drive, C, is for sale for $2.9 million. Rosecrance eventually plans to relocate the administrative offices and counseling services at that address to a smaller building in Champaign, according to Chris Gleason, executive director of Rosecrance Central Illinois.

Rosecrance is also looking at replacing its longtime residential treatment facility at 122 W. Hill St. in downtown Champaign with another building, Gleason said...

Since Rosecrance acquired both Community Elements and Prairie Center, it's worked at integrating mental-health and substance-abuse treatment services in the area and has been able to make some back-end efficiency improvements without reducing clinical staffing, Gleason said.

One change that isn't on the immediate horizon is reopening the local detox unit that had been operated by Prairie Center and closed in 2011 due to state-funding cuts.

While discussions continue about that, Gleason said, detox is a pricey service to provide, and several partners would need to be involved in bringing it back to Champaign County.

On his wish list is a community triage center that could include an observation unit for people undergoing a temporary mental-health crisis — a venture that also would require multiple community partners, Gleason said. Rosecrance provides a triage program for people in temporary psychological crisis at one of its facilities in Rockford, he said.

More details at the full article here.

Service Organizations and New Locations

Rosecrance and the Regional Planning Commission's Youth Assessment Center have been on the move. Rosecrance has a substance abuse treatment center coming soon that will replace the current facility. From the News-Gazette today:

Rosecrance aims to open new treatment center in December
A new residential and outpatient substance-abuse treatment center with a detox unit will open in late December in northwest Champaign.

Rosecrance, the Rockford-based mental-health and substance-abuse treatment system, bought the former PASS Program building at 2302 Moreland Blvd. and plans to open its new central Illinois recovery center there in December, Rosecrance President and CEO Phil Eaton told The News-Gazette on Thursday.

Rosecrance has been offering services in this area since acquiring two Champaign-Urbana mental health and substance-abuse treatment agencies, starting with the former Community Elements in 2016 and the former Prairie Center at the start of this year.

Rosecrance's current residential treatment facility at 122 W. Hill St., C, will be closing when the new building is ready to open, Eaton said. That building was sold to Green Street Realty, which plans to redevelop it into apartments.

More details at the full article here. The Youth Assessment Center is highlighting successes at its new location. Also from the N-G today:

Youth Assessment Center touts success stories at new location's open house

The Champaign County Youth Assessment Center has been up and running at its new west Champaign location since April. But now, with all the equipment plugged in and the welcome mat out front, officials are taking time to celebrate some success stories.

The center provides services to troubled kids in an attempt to keep them out of court and prison. Thanks to a $50,000 donation from Jimmy John’s founder Jimmy John Liautaud, its rent at 2011 Round Barn Road is covered for three years.

“What we’re excited about are our partnerships that we are continually growing with the police departments and with the school districts, especially,” said coordinator Jonathan Westfield, a former Champaign police officer. “But we’re also looking to branch out to a lot of the community organizations that work with juveniles, and we can better provide access to these services that they have.”

More details, including a success story available at the full article here.

Rosecrance Merger and Moves

Rosecrance, a major provider of services in the area that works heavily with local government and other agencies is growing and reorganizing. From the News-Gazette yesterday:

There was also information on some of the facilities and moves highlighted by Rosecrance at the June Reentry Council meeting last month. Rosecrance Central Illinois' Executive Director, Chris Gleason, was clarifying an article from the News-Gazette available here. from the minutes (quick abbreviation key: BH is Behavioral Health, CoC in this context I believe is the City of Champaign, RCI is Rosecrance Central Illinois, and SA is Substance Abuse):

CU at Home is hoping to move into the TIMES Center from their Phoenix Drop-In Center. More information on that here.

Reentry Council 7/11

July's Reentry Council was moved back a week due to the July 4th holiday. Today's meeting focused quite a bit on the new bylaws and organization of the Reentry Council going forward. Bruce Barnard who regularly facilitates the meetings had his last meeting last month. His increased responsibilities and time obligations with his work at EIU appeared to be the main factor.

A large portion of the meeting was dedicated to a bit of organizational housekeeping for the year going forward. Annually selected co-chairs were nominated and approved: Claudia Lennhoff of Champaign County Health Care Consumers and Karee Voges, administrator of the Champaign County Jail. Bylaws of the Council were tentatively approved with some typo and grammatical corrections to be submitted. A few quick highlights:

• The Council organization fits certain paramaters required of grant funding rules.
   
• The Sheriff's Office would be represented as a single entity as opposed to with the Jail separate.
   
• The Executive Committee would consist of representatives from the Champaign County Mental Health Board, Rosecrance Central Illinois, Champaign County Sheriff's Office, and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers.
   
• Rules on voting members and voting proxies for representatives were discussed with a possible future amendment to the bylaws to make that easier for organizations.
   
• Task groups created by the Council would be run by Council representatives selected to chair them and start out under default rules of the Council.
   
• Executive Committee organizational details would be worked out by the Executive Committee.
   
• Invitations to Carle, OSF, Land of Lincoln, and the City of Champaign are being considered for representation on the Council. 

I had a quick question on guests, which in the bylaws were in the context of expertise, as opposed to local government observer such as myself. The bylaws were broad enough for the co-chairs to invite almost any guest and allow them discretion on space considerations, needs of the group, and appropriateness. The Designated Citizen Representative was brought up, but will be discussed in the Executive Committee and probably be aimed towards someone with a background in reentry issues.

The regular meeting items addressed before and after all the organizational issues covered the usual approval of the previous minutes and an introduction of Chris Gleason of Rosecrance who was new to the group and catching up with all of the introductions.

Tammy Bond of First Followers highlighted some of the upcoming events and work within the community including training and education opportunities. There's also an upcoming Expungement Summit (more information here). 2016 data from reentry surveys should be available on the First Followers website in the upcoming few weeks.

County Board Chair Pius Weibel noted the County Board's recent approval of the new Rosecrance contract (video of the vote and presentation at the County Board here and agenda here — page 2, item XVI B 1). Rosecrance noted in the Reentry Council meeting that this means they will be getting a new full time case manager who will be working with Becky Griffith's team at the jail, but not onsite at the jail. This is important due to the space limitations at the jail itself.

Other updates were pretty routine. Data on participants, screening, and services being used. The Mental Health Board representative noted that they've completed their work towards allocations and contracts moving forward. The Illinois Department of Corrections will be providing better access to data for people working in reentry. I didn't understand the specifics, but it sounded like a positive move that will help.

The Fair Housing Campaign was discussed with the upcoming presentation by First Followers to the City of Champaign on July 24th. The desired outcome being a study session where the details of removing the exemption to the Human Rights Ordinance could be examined in a way that would help ease the roadblocks faced by people reentering and trying to find housing or their inability to stay with family.

The Housing Authority's goals for reentry pilot programs would be less restrictive if Champaign mirrored Urbana's current housing rights law on the subject. The Reentry Council took a position for such a change in 2016 and recommended to remove the exemption then. The Council again agreed to support removing the exemption and will have representatives at the First Follower's presentation to the City of Champaign on July 24th.

Next month's meeting will likely be less organizational, though there will be some followup on the bylaws.

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 3/27

A lot of dire news on the Nursing Home at last night's County Board meeting. From the News-Gazette today (meeting notes write up below):

Champaign County Board OKs up to $210,000 in loans to nursing home
Champaign County Board members Tuesday night agreed to loan up to $210,000 immediately to make payments to support the Champaign County Nursing Home.

In one vote, board members approved, 15-5, a plan to use the county general fund to cover ongoing nursing home payroll costs...

In the second vote, the board OK'd making $94,038 in structured payments out of the county's general fund to vendors at the nursing home. That resolution passed, 16-4.

Republicans on the board warned that the financial conditions at the institution are worsening monthly, and that the nursing home expenses may require cuts elsewhere in the budget.

"We're headed toward the financial disaster I've been talking about for the better part of the year I've been on the board," said Mahomet Republican Jim Goss, who argued that the county budget might have to be cut to afford the payments to the nursing home. "This thing is running away from itself and it's a snowball that we're not able to stop at this point. We've got to come to hard decisions here in the next 30, 45 days at the very slowest."

The full article, here, has more information about the canceled Rosecrance negotiations to lease a wing of the Nursing Home for drug treatment as well. A write up will be added here later today (hopefully) in an update.


Meeting Notes: (video link)

The meeting was called to order at 6:31pm. All present except R - Jon Rector and D - Lorraine Cowart. One of the agenda items was canceled (Rosecrance lease) "no action" today. Agenda and next meetings approved. Highlight: There is going to be a Justice & Social Services Committee Meeting on April 10th.

There were no takers for Public Participation tonight.

Member Goss asked for a Nursing Home related item to be taken off the consent agenda (which requires unanimous support to pass). Motion carried. In Communications it was noted there was a comment from the HACC and a report from the Champaign Economic Development Corporation in member's material for the meeting.

The Re-Entry Annual Report and Presentation (direct video link) was presented by Bruce Barnard of Rosecrance tonight (who was also with the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration). Champaign has been deemed an "innovator county" due to its stepping up on these issues. He explained that this was something to be proud of. He provided a list of reentry council membership (see video when available). He pointed out that the number of people in jail is down significantly while mental health services are up significantly. "Do we have more work to do? Yes."

He thanked Allen Jones (Deputy Sheriff) and State's Attorney Julia Rietz for their efforts on the program, as well as Celeste Blodgett who has recently moved on to another related job in the community for her work on the program over the past three years.

Most of the report itself and followup questions relied on the Power Point presentation, so watching the video link is probably the best approach.

After that presentation there was a motion required of the previous reentry contract (soon to expire) to make notification to renegotiate for the next contract as required. Basically to renew the contract this bureaucratic step is required in the contract. It passed by voice, all ayes.

In finance there was some question about late fees associated with some credit card payments made (as opposed to writing checks) that Member Stohr wanted more details on from the Auditor. The Auditor will be sending that information via e-mail to the board.

On the Nursing Home payroll loan Anderson requested a roll call. In the discussion, the treasurer explained that the funds would be used immediately as payroll is due tomorrow and the Nursing Home does not have the cash on hand to cover it in response to McGuire's question. Petrie had a question on why the payroll was higher was answered due to overtime by the interim Administrator Busey. Anderson asked if it was a majority vote to pass. Chair says yes. Passed 15-5 in roll call with Clifford, Harper, McGuire, Mitchell, and Clemmons voting no.

The next questions came up with a truck purchase pulled from the consent agenda by request of Goss who didn't believe now was the time for the purchase given the budget crunch. The Chair and Administrator pointed out that the funds in this case were "restricted use" from the Transportation Fund and not generally available for items outside of transportation. The voice vote was too close to discern. The hand count was 14-6, passing.

The approval of using federal funds for mass transit needs had a motion to suspend the rules as it had not passed through committee first. The motion passed all ayes. The discussion included a question by McGuire on where the furniture was to be purchased to avoid a conflict of interest. The amount has been set, not the source yet (no apparent conflict). He asked for a quick explanation of the funding which is from a federal grant that is either "use it or lose it" that they are going to be using for software, furniture, and equipping buses with bike rack/mounts. Passes voice, no nays.

On the Juvenile Detention Center agreement with Correct Care Solutions the Chair noted a date correction. Stohr asked if the company was local and using local facilities. Busey noted it was based out of Nashville and selected via a competitive bid process via the Sheriff's Department. Passed by voice vote, all ayes.

On the Addendum item for Nursing Home settlement payments there was a long discussion towards a 15 vote Roll call vote. Petrie asked for additional information from the auditor in the e-mail she was planning on sending on the previous issue.

Goss wanted to know what happens if this fails. Busey explained that the County would likely be sued due to requirements of consent decrees and contracts. Services such as food and communication services could be stopped with possible difficulty in finding another vendor to provide such services.

Republicans generally pointed out that we are in dire circumstances and this is the beginning of the budget death spiral with the Nursing Home they've been warning about. Goss said that within the next 30-45 days the board would need to make some hard calls. Other Republicans agreed that cuts, layoffs, and furloughs while needed services aren't added is in the future. The Democrats overall remained noticeably silent. Roll call vote passes 16-4, with Clifford, Harper, Marsh, and Clemons voting no.

The remaining item passed with no action on the Rosecrance lease agreement that for now is canceled due to state requirements through the Department of Public Health. It did not seem certain that the issue would be raised again.

The board adjourned at 8:48pm.

Reentry Council

In a nutshell, the Champaign County Reentry Council connects people reentering the community from the criminal justice system to the services and support structures they need to succeed individually. That success also translates to less recidivism in the community and better support for families to be safe and successful as well.

The Council was created by the County Board to address the needs of the entire reentry population and not just substance abuse under the previous program years ago. It began as an a coordinating and advisory group to the then reentry program and then was enhanced with the efforts of the Collaboration project (final report here and more information from the Cheat Sheet here). It currently exists through a County agreement with Rosecrance and meets at the Rosecrance facility on Fox Drive. Here's some basic information from their bylaws:

The purpose of the Reentry Council of Champaign County is to provide a means of communication and coordination among community organizations, public officials, advocates, and others involved in the community response to persons returning to Champaign County from incarceration in federal prison, state prison, or the county jail. The Council also receives and reviews data regarding jail bookings, jail-based screenings, and connections to services for the purpose of coordinating community services and planning. The Council receives regular reports from organizations providing reentry and related services, reviews funding opportunities, and recommends actions which will enhance public safety, reduce recidivism, and improve outcomes for those returning from incarceration and their families.

The constituencies with voting representation on the Council are the Champaign County Board, the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, the Champaign County Mental Health Board, the State's Attorney's Office, the Judiciary, the County Jail, Champaign County Health Care Consumers, Champaign County Probation, U.S. Probation, Rosecrance Central Illinois, the Champaign County Continuum of Care, Champaign County Housing Authority, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, FirstFollowers, Ann's House, GROW, State of Illinois Department of Corrections Parole, TASC, a law enforcement representative, a liaison from the Crisis Intervention Team Steering Committee, and a designated Citizen Representative.

There's not a lot of online information about the Reentry Council (although a lot of the work leading up to it is documented on the Sheriff's website here) and it does not have meetings open to the public, although they do extend invitations for guests to sit in. Their contract renewal was recently moved closer (by procedure) at the last County Board meeting (more information here, video of their presentation here). Board Member McGuire stated at the Reentry Council this month that he was optimistic about renewing the program and thanked individuals for their hard work on the progress and three years of data collected.

Another highlight of the meeting was the new Housing Authority of Champaign County Executive Director was in attendance with the interim director and they spoke specifically about the housing issue here. They're applying to be one of the Housing Authorities to take part in a trial program to open up more housing for the reentry population with funding from the Vera Institute. Champaign County has recently been recognized as an Innovator County (see County Board report video link) for its work in criminal justice reform, so there's a good chance we could be accepted. This could help with housing programs generally, not just HACC. It would still allow for screening, but it would not be a catch-all for those with a criminal background. It would also allow for more creative and flexible solutions than most options at the moment.


Meeting Summary:

Here's a quick meeting summary as opposed to a full write up:

Bruce Barnard (from the report to the Board) was the facilitator for the meeting. Folks from the County Board, Jail, law enforcement, probation, and support organizations, etc were in attendance. A guest speaker from Jesus House Restoration Ministry gave an overview of their program. They discussed the annual report at the County Board and program updates. HACC discussed the Housing pilot program mentioned above.

There was quite a bit of collaboration between the organizations and corrections agencies sharing information over my head and updating each other on the status of various parts of the reentry population and programs and services available and in use.

The meeting ended with a couple announcements. The Champaign County Health Care Consumers award event is coming up. More information here. NAMI Champaign is having an event for the community as well. More information on that here.


[Last updated: 12/12/2018 with additional information on the Reentry Council]

Reentry Council May Meeting

What is the Reentry Council? This post has a quick overview at the top. In a nutshell, the Champaign County Reentry Council connects people reentering the community from the criminal justice system to the services and support structures they need to succeed individually. That success also translates to less recidivism in the community and better support for families to be safe and successful as well.

Today's meeting followed up on a lot of the topics from the April Meeting (minutes here).  Bruce Barnard was facilitating the meeting. Celeste Blodgett was attending in her new role as Office Support Supervisor for Rosecrance and thanked everyone for their appreciation sent at the last meeting.

Claudia Lennhoff from Champaign County Health Care Consumers discussed the 2018 CCHCC Annual Awards presentation. They will be making a presentation to the Urbana City Council in further recognition of crisis intervention trained officers:

She also highlighted the issues with the Medicaid transition to Medicaid Managed Care. The roll out has left many people auto-enrolled in plan that won't work for them and they are only given one opportunity to change them. She asked that providers and organizations that come across clients with these problems send them to CCHCC so they can help them get on the best plan for their needs.

Mark Driscoll, staff member of the Champaign County Mental Health Board / Developmental Disabilities Board, passed out flyers for the Salvation Army's reentry program for employment and training. Click image to the right to enlarge.

He also talked about a program providing training for inmates at the Champaign County Jail. Our Jail had been the first to open their doors to the program. There was some discussion about presentations on the program for the local Drug Court as well as through CCHCC. I will update with more specifics as I find out more.

In the report on the Jail, there was talk about the limited facility space (and a bit of a flooding calamity for the new staff who managed to make it work in spite of the issue). They said they're seeing all sorts of, what sounded like, positive results, with the additional staff. There was a discussion with the facilitator and CCHCC's Lenhoff about the seriousness of the facility space limitations limiting the ability to deliver services.

In what will certainly raise skepticism among local jail expansion proponents, Lenhoff explained that she believes there is confusion between previous jail expansion plans and the current ones. Previous plans were derided as wanting more cells with less concern on why they should be filled. She explained current expansion ideas are geared towards space to provide services, not in place of services before reaching jail, but to ensure that those who are in that situation have all the necessary service options. "There should be no wrong door" for people to seek services. She explained that sometimes incarceration is the point where services are needed and wanted most.

The jail's numbers when it comes to screening for services were reported as positive. The screenings help determine need and eligibility for inmates so they can get connected to them.

The Crisis Intervention Team Steering Committee was said to have made at least some data collection uniform across the county, which could be very positive for data collection results. I'm not sure if this data would be necessarily related to or helpful to other efforts of data collection locally for criminal justice, but it certainly sounds like an interesting development. For more information on the CIT team and how it operates, check out their webpage on the Urbana website.

There was some discussion about the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grant money recently released and what sounded like a reference to the proposed coordinating council from the Racial Justice Task Force overarching recommendations:

The Mental Health Board representative noted that the matching funds from their County body would require more detailed information to get moving through the board procedures. Rosecrance's representative offered to help get the information organized and get those details to them by the end of the week.

Mr. Barnard then went over the "Stepping Up" brochure excerpt describing some of Champaign's efforts on mental health and criminal justice collaboration (click to enlarge):

More information on the Stepping Up Initiative and it's goal to reduce the number of mentally ill in our jails at their website. The group is also suggesting a "Day of Action" on or around May 16th to have events informing the public of affiliated programs and opportunities. The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program public presentation at the Champaign Public Library and material from the "Innovator County" recognition press release materials were considered as starting points towards a press conference coordinated with local press. Rosecrance volunteered to help lead in coordinating those efforts.

There was a quick overview of recent letters of support for HACC applying for a reentry housing pilot program, as well as a TASC reentry program. The TASC program focused on women from Decatur corrections to Parole District 3.

They offered me a chance to ask questions, but I hadn't caught up enough to know what to ask yet. I did however offer, since our goal is to inform the public on how their local government works, to do what I can to spread the word and let people know what's happening with all of this. So a full write-up tonight and more updates to follow!

Amazingly they adjourned at 12:39pm. Seemed like we covered a lot in 39 minutes. Maybe it just seemed faster after the data and statistics presentation at the HACC meeting yesterday? Could be.

The Week Ahead 3/11 - 3/17

[UPDATE x2: The special meeting item's paperwork was not ready so there won't be anything to vote on tonight. The COW is still at 6:30pm tonight though.]

[UPDATE: Tuesday at 6pm, just before the normal COW meeting, there will be a special meeting to lease out part of the Nursing Home to Rosecrance for addiction treatment. More information here.]

REMINDER: Voting has begun! Early voting and Vote-by-Mail has started for the March 20th, 2018 Primary! We're within 28 days of the election so if you still need to register to vote there is Grace Period Registration. Grace Period Registration is available at early and regular polling locations. More information here. Sample ballots are available here. 

Other Events:

Champaign and Urbana Local Government March Meetings.

Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:

Urbana Human Rights Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 14th at 5:30pm at the Council Chambers at City Hall at 400 S. Vine Street (info pamphlet)

Champaign County Community Coalition Wednesday, March 14, 3:30-5:00 PM at the Champaign Public Library meeting room.

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, March 14th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center.

Champaign County Board: Committee of the Whole has specific RJTF crossover this month (more information below) Tuesday, March 13th at 6:30pm at Brookens.

There are candidate events happening for races up and down the Democratic and Republican ballot, so get your sample ballot, read about and meet the candidates. Forums, questionnaire, and other Candidate Information mentioned in the Cheat Sheet organized in this post. The News-Gazette has interview podcasts on their website. Candidate websites and social media links at the CCVA Candidate Guide is a good place to start looking at candidates.

Make a plan to vote. Election day itself falls within Spring Break if you're going to be out of town. Early voting and Vote-by-Mail have begun.


County Calendar:

The week kicks off with the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at it's new 6:30pm time. From last month's agenda packet you can see this is more of a managerial board discussing financials and marketing more than policy or politics.

[UPDATE: Tuesday at 6pm, just before the normal COW meeting, there will be a special meeting to lease out part of the Nursing Home to Rosecrance for addiction treatment.]

This month's Committee of the Whole (what's a COW?) has a Racial Justice Task Force crossover. The Justice & Social Services Committee will have a "Presentation on the Database and Recommendations of the Community Engagement Subcommittee" and the "Community Reentry Quarterly Report."

The Zoning Board of Appeals is probably self-explanatory. This week, technical rule changes on wind and solar farms appear to be the focus (agenda). [More information in the New-Gazette today 3/15/2018: Resident offers cautionary tale on wind farms ]

The 2018 schedule is up on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access










[Originally posted 3/9/2018 at 5:05am]

County Board Meeting and Nursing Home Issues

The Nursing Home will be a hot topic at tonight's County Board meeting (agenda here). A preview from today's News-Gazette:

Back on the table: Offer to lease wing of nursing home
A lease agreement for an unused portion of the Champaign County Nursing Home is back on the agenda of the Champaign County Board tonight.

The agreement to lease a wing at the nursing home to Rosecrance Health Systems for $16,860 a month was postponed two weeks ago over questions raised by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

There apparently are still unresolved questions, County Administrator Deb Busey said Monday.

"Every time we provide information to them, there's another piece of information that they want to have," she said. "It's been a slow process."

Under the plan, Rosecrance would lease the "Stadium View" wing of the nursing home for six months, beginning April 1 or the date the county "receives approval from the Illinois Department of Public Health, whichever occurs later."

More information in the full article here. This is following up on the special meeting (post and write up here). It goes into some details of the Nursing Home's debts to vendors and issues that'll come up tonight in making sure the requirements to retain their services are met via further money from the County's general corporate fund.

It also had a quick information update on the single bid to purchase the Nursing Home:

Meanwhile, a special committee evaluating the single offer to purchase the nursing home — for $11 million from Extended Care Clinical LLC and Altitude Health Services Inc., both of Evanston — has scheduled meetings for next week to begin reviewing the proposal and possibly touring facilities operated by the companies.

The timeline for assessing the offer calls for making it available to the full county board by April 24, along with a special meeting on May 1 to interview officials from the company.

The evaluation committee is scheduled to make a recommendation on the deal to the county board no later than May 17, with a possible county board vote on the sale May 24.

Reentry Presentations

Two area reentry collaborations made presentations to the Champaign County Board this month. Below is video and other material from those presentations and some additional information about both from an earlier Reentry Council post.

First, the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission's new Young Adult Reentry Program's full video presentation to the board is available here. The slides are available on the County website here. One slide highlighted the collaborative nature of such programs with public and private entities:

The Champaign County Reentry Council also had a presentation (video link here and text of that report is on the County website here (page of 7 of the packet and page 10 of the PDF file). The Reentry Council is also a collaborative group of government, public and private organizations. Here's a list of their members:

The constituencies with voting representation on the Council are the Champaign County Board, the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, the Champaign County Mental Health Board, the State's Attorney's Office, the Judiciary, the County Jail, Champaign County Health Care Consumers, Champaign County Probation, U.S. Probation, Rosecrance Central Illinois, the Champaign County Continuum of Care, Champaign County Housing Authority, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, FirstFollowers, Ann's House, GROW, State of Illinois Department of Corrections Parole, TASC, a law enforcement representative, a liaison from the Crisis Intervention Team Steering Committee, and a designated Citizen Representative.

The YARP representatives also talked with the Reentry Council recently, so there is some related information about both and their presentations in my last post on the Reentry Council. Here are the relevant excerpts:

First off, there were some helpful informational guides and flyer about local reentry resources. The first is for people interested in more information about participating in the new Young Adult Reentry Program getting started by the Regional Planning Commission: YARP Participant Handbook. The second is a local resource flyer for people needing services upon reentry to the community from the criminal justice system. The third is a Reentry and Resource Guide and Workbook from Rosecrance for people reentering. It provides step by step information for some critical starting issues, such as obtaining a valid ID (no easy task when the prison issue ID isn't accepted):

  

There will also be a presentation of the Reentry Council's mid-annual report to the Champaign County Board this Tuesday at 6:30pm at their Committee of the Whole meeting. The text of that report is on the County website here (page of 7 of the packet and page 10 of the PDF file). I'll post a link of the video presentation when it's available. These presentations, like this one last year, help explain the data and charts involved in reentry collaboration, which can be heavy on jargon and abbreviations, even to those on the council. For the reader's sake, I'm highlighting probably the key bit from the conclusion:

It remains the view of the Reentry Council that more resources are needed in Champaign County to better support the successful transition of citizens returning here from incarceration. With recent leadership changes at the Champaign County Housing Authority, it appears that housing options, perhaps the most critical need faced, for the reentry population, will be increased.

As reentry case management is a vital component of success for all persons returning from incarceration, willing to engage in supportive services - particularly those with behavioral health needs, it is the hope of the Council that all supportive resources will become sustainable. On-going, reliable support for releasing individuals will offer the best opportunity to formerly-incarcerated people to establish productive lives that will serve the betterment of themselves, their families, and the Champaign County community

Although the data is more recent, this language is the same as the council report last summer and remains true (That July 2018 report is available here on page 14 of the agenda packet PDF (page 9 on the printed version). The difficulties and hurdles for people reentering are multi-layered and intertwined. It's complicated for those trying to help people navigate the system to meet their basic needs, let alone the people going through it themselves.

The recent updates on the Reentry Council are available in this last post here. More updates soon as the Reentry Council meets at the beginning of April.

March COW

The County Board Committee of the Whole (what is this?) last night included a Special Meeting about leasing out part of the county nursing home, but the vote had to be delayed. Meeting notes below (jump to meeting notes). Summary from the News-Gazette:

County board puts off lease vote for nursing home, OKs plan to cover payroll
A vote on a proposed agreement to lease space at the Champaign County Nursing Home to Rosecrance Health Systems was postponed Tuesday over questions raised by the Illinois Department of Public Health, while county board members members gave tentative approval to a plan to use the county's general fund as a line of credit to cover nursing home payroll.

Board Chairman C. Pius Weibel said he hoped to bring the lease agreement back before the county board on March 27. As proposed, the county would lease to Rosecrance an unused wing at the nursing home for use as an inpatient drug therapy facility for about 24 patients at a time.

But nursing home officials received a letter from the Public Health Department late Monday afternoon raising questions about the agreement. County administrators didn't learn of the questions until Tuesday morning.

Also:

The measure to use the general fund to cover nursing home payroll was approved 12-6 at the board's regular committee-of-the-whole meeting, with all "no" votes coming from Republican members Jim McGuire, Jon Rector, Jack Anderson, Brad Clemmons, John Clifford and Stan Harper.

Weibel called the measure "a Band-Aid approach" that will make it easier for the county to cover payrolls, which average about $240,000 every two weeks.

Under the plan, county Auditor John Farney and county Administrator Deb Busey will pay bills submitted by vendors only during payroll weeks. After it's been determined that there is adequate revenue to cover payroll, accounts payable will be prioritized with any remaining funds.

Full article here.

Videos (Special Meeting video and COW video) at the County Clerk YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/champaigncountyclerk


Meeting Notes:

Special Meeting: 6pm at Brookens (agenda) began at 6:04pm

Prior to the Special Meeting Chairman Weibel informed me that the Special Meeting was going to be very brief as the one item on the agenda was delayed. At the meeting itself it was explained that the Illinois Department of Public Health notified them that another step was required to get approval to lease out part of the facility.

Member Petrie asked for further explanation of what the issues were. The IDPH had concerns about staff and management overlapping versus simply leasing out the property. She also raised concern about the medicaid beds and "overbedding" and whether this deal would cause problems for the Nursing Home's medicaid program. These questions are still being worked out with the IDPH and lawyers.

Member Harper wanted to make sure the broker and potential buyer for the Nursing Home were being kept in the loop. He was assured they are aware.

This item will be on the agenda two weeks from now. The Special Meeting adjourned at 6:13pm.


Committee of the Whole: 6:30pm (agenda) began at 6:31pm

Attendance: Quorum. Absent Crews, Hartke, and Marsh

Public Participation: Doctor Dottie Vera Wise (sp?), a Physician in C-U for 4 and half years when she was practicing, has been tracking criminal justice statistics of those in jail. She gave numbers of thos in jail and pointed out that such numbers need to be more easily accessible given the important decisions that the Board makes that should be informed by them. She distributed an information pamphlet showing the numbers over the last six years or so. She argued that things have improved, with a jail population averaging about half of what it was six years ago, but there is still room for improvement.

RJTF Presentation: (direct video link here)

There was a presentation by Ryan Huges and Doctor Carolyn Randolph from the Racial Justice Task Force advocating for the Community Engagement recommendations to be adopted. They discusses a project (more information here and database here) in coordination with Dr. Bev Wilson and U of I students collecting and analyzing criminal justice statistics in the area from the County Sheriff's department, Jail, Circuit Clerk, and four other police departments. One example they noted was that controlling for age, sex, and type of crime across five departments, Africian-Americans were still four times more likely to go to jail than white suspects.

They advocated for making the data more streamlined and contining the data base project with local community groups and the U of I by

1) having better access to data with dynamic records and avoiding access barriers like CAPTCHA that prevent automating data collection.
2) Getting the format of the data across systems in line with one another.
3) Cross-agency integration
4) Establishing analysis of data with diverse groups in the community.

They believe their database project could serve as an example for future databases.

After some discussion about the difficulties and regulatory road blocks in their cross-agency data recommendations, they pointed to a leadership role the County Board can serve as opposed to asking them to try to change regulations outside of their perview. A vote to adopt the recommendations was considered, but due to the complications involved it sounded like Member King was going to put together a committee group to suggest more direct recommendations for the County Board itself per Chairman Weibel's suggestion.

Other Reports:

The Community Reentry Quarterly Report will be presented on March 22nd with the Annual Report

Most of the usual County Office reports were simply filed. The States Attorney argued for her need of an assistant state's attorney to handle the work load while they are already a lawyer short on the criminal side. Staff is overwhelmed having to cover that workload. Concerns about position control (and fears of temporary staff becoming permanent drains on the budget) led to an amendment to revisit the position at the end of the fiscal year (which is the calendar year for the County Board now). The amendment and motion as amended passed with a voice vote with one nay.

Other Finance agenda items passed with a voice vote.

Treasurer and Auditor spoke about their reports. The Auditor noted their staff had won a couple awards in spite of difficult circumstances which received applause from the board.

Interim County Administrator Busey spoke about the Nursing Home report and there was a discussion and Q and A with SAK (the management agency running the home now) about recouping collections costs.

There was a debate on a band-aid measure to ensure payroll is paid even with brief waiting periods between the Nursing Home receipts and payroll needing to go out to staff that has caused consternation in the past. The measure would direct the treasurer to temporarily loan money out to ensure payroll is paid and immediately repay it with Nursing Home receipts when they come in. While nobody seemed to happy about the budget being in a situation where this was necessary, it had a broad support from the Treasurer, the Auditor, and the interim County Administrator.

Member McGuire raised concerns about the idea getting expanded down the road beyond payroll and whether this creates a loophole around the usual appropriation rules requiring 15 county board votes and the $250k limit. What a vender sues and demands repayment through this process? The argument broke down with Busey's side saying it simply prioritizes pay roll and arguing it can't get out of control as it only risks AP payments to prioritize payroll. McGuire's side pointed to the lack of limits on teh spending and believed it would be a slippery slope to other costs. He pointed to the history of Nursing Home band aids getting out of control in spite of best intentions.

The measure passed 12-6 with a roll call vote (no votes in the N-G excerpt above).

After that the board seemed anxious to wrap up and quickly passed the remaining items on the agenda by voice vote, and approved the upcoming consent agenda items and adjourned at 8:26pm about as fast as I could write that down.