The Week Ahead 2/18 - 2/24

REMINDER: Voting has begun! Early voting and Vote-by-Mail! Your chance to register or change your registration 28 days before the election ends this week. Sample ballots are available here. 

Other Events:

County Executive Candidate Town Halls: More from the N-G

Darlene Kloeppel has one this week:
— 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, Tolono Public Library, 111 E. Main St., Tolono. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/162994354491122/

Gordy Hulten has one this week that wasn't in the original N-G article:
— 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20 Tolono Town Hall, 117 E. Holden, Tolono. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2101906040041685/

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

The Housing Authority of Champaign County (and their new website up, but still in progress) Board meets Thursday Feb. 22 at 3pm at the 205 W. Park Ave HACC office.

Champaign City Council meeting Feb. 20 at 7pm in the Council Chambers of the City Building, 102 N Neil Street.

Both of the above meetings come on the heals of the Champaign County Board vote to urge both to change their housing rules that discriminate against those re-entering the community from the criminal justice system based on the RJTF recommendations.

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. e.g. if you're a Democrat you could have met your Attorney General candidates at the IMC last week! Video of that event here. 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:

This week ends with a regular County Board meeting. But, from the agenda packet, one will notice that outside of the consent agenda there only appears to be some smaller expenses to approve. A consent agenda is a parliamentary device used to consolidate non-controversial and routine business into one unanimous vote. From the Board rules:

Items  included  in  the  Consent  Agenda  shall  be  items  that  the County Board Chair believes will be unanimously adopted without discussion.  Motions to go into closed session may not be included in the Consent Agenda.

For those tracking the RJTF recommendations, they'll find the resolutions urging changes to HACC and City of Champaign ordinances and housing added to the consent agenda in last week's Committee of the Whole vote.

The week starts off with the Presidents Day holiday on Monday and the resumption of the County Executive Transition Committee Tuesday to make new Board rules and pave the way for the new County Executive form of government. The Veterans Assistance Commission meeting appears to mostly report on the commission itself, but I haven't attended one of these to know much about it yet. Here's a description from the website of what this board oversees:

The Veteran's Assistance Commission (VAC) of Champaign County is a distinct unit of local government created by State Law and funded by Champaign County. The VAC is a temporary financial assistance program designed to help veterans that find themselves in need. The VAC is managed by a Board of Directors who are veterans representing the various veteran organizations in Champaign County.

For an idea of what they entail click Developmental Disability Board or Mental Health Board links here to see what the meetings entail with example posts on each. The Litigation Committee meeting is mostly closed to discuss pending litigation.

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