Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Nursing Home Public Hearing - UPDATE

[UPDATE - CHANGE OF VENUE - Due to concerns about accessibility at the IMC the State board has changed the venue to the Hyatt Center. From Today's News-Gazette:
Public hearing moved to Hyatt Place
A state board acted swiftly to change the location of a public hearing on the sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home after concerns were raised about the first spot chosen.

Next month’s hearing will now be at the Hyatt Place Hotel at 217 N. Neil St., C, according to Courtney Avery, administrator of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board...

The hearing time remains the same — from 2-4 and 5-7 p.m. Sept. 13.

Testimony taken at the hearing will be considered by the state board at its next session Oct. 30.
Full article here at the eEdition. More on the concerns about the IMC location in yesterday's paper in an article available here.]


We're approaching the final steps and final opportunities for public input for the sale of the Nursing Home that is a near certainty at this point. From the News-Gazette today:
State board sets public hearing on sale of county nursing home for Sept. 13
A state board plans to spend four hours hearing public testimony in Urbana next month about the pending $11 million sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home.

The hearing before the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board has been scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, 202 S. Broadway, U...

Terms of the July 23 agreement between the county and Altitude Acquisitions LLC call for the Urbana facility to continue to be a used as a 220-or-more-bed nursing home through 2027. Also through that date, at least half the licensed beds must be reserved and certified for Medicaid-managed eligible patients and priority must be given to county residents for admission.

The sale is being brought before the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board because the board has legal oversight over certain medical facility construction projects and certain health facility sales and closures, among them the sale of a county-owned nursing home.

The hearing in Urbana will precede an Oct. 30 board session in Bolingbrook at which the proposed nursing home sale will be considered.
More information at the full article, including a potential new name indicated in the paperwork, here.


[Originally posted on 8/23/2018 at 10:16am.]

Chasing the Sun


Champaign County appears to be off to a running start now that the County Board has approved its new solar rules. From a News-Gazette editorial earlier this week:
Editorial | Champaign County moves into solar-power age
...
There already are seven applications to build solar farms in the county, said Zoning Administrator John Hall, with most of them in rural areas on the eastern side of the county near St. Joseph and Sidney.

Just because there are seven proposals for solar farms in the county doesn't mean that broad areas of some of the richest farmland in the world soon will be covered with solar panels. Each of the solar farms proposed in the county will require waivers in order to be built, Hall said. And the sheer number of projects proposed in Illinois — Kankakee County alone has 25 — makes it unlikely that they'll all be feasible.

But the first two solar farm proposals for Champaign County, both from Community Power Group LLC, already are on the agenda of the county zoning board of appeals this week.
Full editorial here. The St. Joseph project appears to be making a reasonable request for bending those new rules since it will be right by the interstate:
Solar-farm developer already seeking exception to county's new rules
...
Maryland-based Community Power Group LLC will go before the county’s zoning board of appeals next week seeking approval for two solar farms. One of them would be located north of the St. Joseph Sportsman Club, northeast of the village, putting it in violation of the new rules, which say solar-farm panels must be at least a half-mile away from a city limit. Community Power Group is asking for that distance to be reduced by about 75 percent, to 725 feet.

John Hall, the county’s director of planning and zoning, said the company is trying to play nice.

“When you look at the site plans in the context of the development that’s around the solar farms and the larger regional pattern of development, the one near St. Joseph is on the other side of the interstate,” Hall said. “When you look at the whole picture of what’s proposed, I think it seems to me pretty clear to me that the solar-farm developers are trying to be sensitive to each location and responding to those locations as best they can.”
I can't help but imagine that this could still cause some concerns about precedent straight out of the gate. Time will tell. [UPDATE: There are some concerns, including future growth of the village and how locals would benefit from credits: Solar-farm company owner pledges power discounts for St. Joe residents.]

Zoning board information and agenda here. Community Power's waiver memos here and here.

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]

County Board 8-23-2018


Following up on last week's County Board meeting (News-Gazette overview in previous post). Agenda here, addendum here, and handout here. Video here at the Champaign County Clerk YouTube Channel.

The board seated and swore in Pranjal Vachaspati, James Quisenberry, and Jodi Eisenmann replacing open seats due to previous resignations. For more on the recent changes and turnover on the board: Tom Kacich | Turnover plaguing Champaign County Board.

Public participation included one of those previous board members, Brooks Marsh, giving his view on County's future as it plays catch up on facilities and other budget issues now that the Nursing Home is sold. He looked forward to a couple years from now when the County has caught up on those issues and can do some great work for the community.

The solar ordinance on the agenda had a few supporters and detractors. A developer in support, a homeowner pleading for sound limiting rules to both physically reduce the sound generated and consideration for actual decibel levels, rather than distance alone. A couple landowners looking forward to the opportunities and a harbinger warning not to count on that solar money in the long run as it dries up over time.

Friends and family of a local victim of "Nasty Joe" begged the board to do more to address his scam of buying pieces of people's yards and other property that they assumed was theirs, but through various discrepancies didn't include a small strip or section here or there (sometimes under their porch or through their fence in this case). The County has a way to search to see if your property has one of these sections so people can resolve it before this guy buys it and essentially holds it for ransom. Links from a previous board meeting:
An issue with an orphaned land parcel was talked about being dealt with to avoid another Nasty Joe situation. There was a reference to the GIS map app to help people find these problems and fix them on the web. There was a presentation at the end of this meeting here.
This particular situation appears to have gotten particularly nasty as the guy profiting off these discrepencies was harassing a homeowner trying to fight the loss of a strip of her property. While being spotted in the area hopping over fences to scope out pieces of property the fence of this previous victim was damaged. This left the owner feeling unsafe in her own home with little recourse. She complained that no matter where she turns, every agency tells her it's not their problem.

Darlene Kloeppel and another resident talked about their concerns with the campus voting location change and previous voting patterns in hopes of persuading the board to find a better solution with more convenient access for voters on campus than the current plan on the agenda.

The rest of the meeting was mostly covered by the News-Gazette summary from last week here except the tourism presentation and the campus polling place debate. There was a presentation on tourism by Visit Champaign County available here on all the work done to bring and promote tourism to the area. It's roughly 15 minutes long.

Campus Polling Places:

The discussion on the polling place that was consolidated with the Illini Union due to renovations got a bit testy. There was a noticeable division between campus concerns and rural concerns. While the newly seated Vachaspati talked about the confusing layout and having to leave and come back to vote due to long lines as a student rural members chastised citizens who couldn't be bothered to put in "a little effort" to vote. Member Goss said Mahomet has long lines too, more voters, they have to drive to their polling places that aren't walking distance, and yet they vote in every election, he said. He argued if you're worried about long lines, vote early.

McGuire pointed to the County Clerk's report at the previous Committee of the Whole meeting about a lack of better options and the issue being mostly out of his or their hands due to a renovation. He later pointed to the unique rural and military difficulties of voting that are a part of the process in comparison.

Summers and Patterson felt the unique roadblocks need to be addressed. Patterson said that the University, knowing that the Illini Union is a required voting location by law should be doing more to accommodate the County. The interaction between he and the Clerk got a bit contentious with Patterson talking about people rolling their eyes and the Clerk getting visibly irritated and sarcastic about how awful the union is that so many people prefer to vote at.

Douglas asked him if there's even another place available with only two months left to go. The Clerk admitted he hadn't checked as he viewed the consolidation at the union as the only and obvious solution. This led to Patterson stating his disappointment and the Clerk shortly replying, "Noted."

The Clerk's argument against establishing another location points to the fact that almost every organization, partisan and non-partisan and even his own office have made the students aware of the union as a universal voting location and that's where the students will go, regardless of whether they set up an additional location (if one is even available). Many of the Democrats remained skeptical. Former County Clerk primary candidate on the board, Rector, blamed the division on them playing politics.

In the end voting it down could have meant that there would be no realistic time for a vote and notification for a new location which could mean setting up an outdoor tent at the current location being renovated, which generally appeared untenable to all. The vote to consolidate the voting location at the union passed, but with a handful of protest votes.

The meeting ended with resolutions honoring previous board members who recently resigned and a reminder about the budget books needing to be brought to the budget meetings this week and started being read through. Going towards the end of the year, the County budget will probably be one of the bigger issues... other than an election and possibly even more turnover, of course.

Friday, August 24, 2018

County Board Overview


I wasn't able to make it to last night's County Board meeting, but I'll have more information once the video is available from the County Clerk YouTube Channel. The News-Gazette had an overview today:
Champaign County Board approves zoning changes for solar farms
...
On Thursday night, the Champaign County Board voted 19-3 to amend the county zoning ordinance to allow photovoltaic solar farms on certain agricultural properties...

Seven applications to build such farms around the county have already been submitted...

Board member Jim McGuire expressed concern about the impact solar farms may have on the value of nearby properties.

But Zoning Administrator John Hall said multiple studies have found solar farms have no significant effect on property values...

In other business:

The county has three new county board members.

After the board voted unanimously to appoint Jodi Eisenmann to Brooks Marsh's former seat in District 1, Pranjal Vachaspati to Shana Jo Crews' former seat in District 9 and James Quisenberry to Robert King's former seat in District 10, all three took the oath of office from County Clerk Gordy Hulten.

The new board members will serve terms through Nov. 30.

The board also voted to approve a budget amendment appropriating $4,611,946 for the Champaign County Nursing Home to cover expenses until the home's sale to two Evanston-based companies is closed.

And board members voted 13-8, with one abstention, to approve a resolution moving Cunningham 3's polling place from a University of Illinois residence hall currently undergoing renovation to the Illini Union.
More at the full article here. The various Election and office pages will be updated with the new appointments and candidates soon. There were some new candidate filings this week with a little overlap with those appointments. More details on what led to the Nursing Home and Polling Places vote available at the Committee of the Whole post here.

County Economic Indicators

Monthly numbers came in this week for home buying and unemployment. From the News-Gazette on Wednesday:
July home sales down over 2017, but year-to-date sales still ahead
...
In July, 317 homes were sold, down 11.2 percent from the 357 sold in the previous July, according to the Champaign County Association of Realtors.

Through July, 1,812 homes have been sold this year, up 1.23 percent from 1,790 through July of last year.

Meanwhile, the average home sale price was down 9.9 percent in July, from $197,167 a year ago to $177,595...

There were 221 pending sales in July, up from 219 a year ago. These indicate homes that went under contract and are awaiting closing.

The average mortgage rate in July was 4.52 percent, up from 3.96 percent in July a year ago and down from 4.57 percent a month ago.
Full article with some commentary from local Realtors here. Unemployment numbers were in today's News-Gazette:

The unemployment rate dropped in each of the state's 14 metro areas in July compared with a year ago.
Unemployment numbers down again in July throughout Illinois
In the Champaign-Urbana metro area, it dropped slightly — from 4.6 to 4.5 percent. In the Danville area, it dropped from 6.8 to 5.9 percent...

In the C-U area, 1,600 nonfarm jobs were added.

Nine hundred were added in the government sector; 700 in education and health services; 500 in leisure and hospitality; 100 in professional and business services; 100 in financial activities; 100 in transportation, warehousing and utilities; and 100 in durable goods manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the Champaign-Urbana area lost 400 jobs in trade, transportation and utilities; 300 in wholesale trade; 200 in retail trade; 200 in mining and construction; 100 in information; and 100 in non-durable manufacturing.

More area unemployment data at the full article here.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Area Kindergarten Readiness


A new State survey painted a bleak picture of kindergarten readiness. From the News-Gazette yesterday.
ISBE survey shows just 1 in 4 kids ready for kindergarten
The results of the Illinois State Board of Education's first survey of kindergarten readiness weren't exactly heartening, but they appeared to confirm what educators already knew:

What children do before coming to kindergarten matters.

The Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS) collected "readiness" data on 81 percent of kindergartners across the state via teachers who observed them over the first 40 days of the 2017-18 school year.

For ISBE, kindergartners "demonstrating readiness" meant that such "students have displayed the skills, knowledge and behaviors for all three developmental areas" — language/literacy, math and social/emotional development.

Statewide, only 24 percent of kindergartners met that criteria.

Among the statistics for local schools:

— In Unit 4, 22 percent of surveyed kindergartners demonstrated readiness in all three areas.

— In both the Urbana and Danville districts, 16 percent surveyed were considered ready in the three areas.

— Hoopeston Area and Westville both reported 25 percent readiness in the three areas.

— Bement (52 percent) and Tuscola (50) were on the high end. Arcola (9 percent) was on the low end.

The data could also be broken down by whether students receive free or reduced-price lunches. Overall, the survey showed that students who weren't on either plan tended to score higher than those who were.
More at the full article here. The News-Gazette also had an editorial on their concerns with such low readiness numbers here with a couple cautions:
It's important to note that the determination is not based on testing but on observing students in the classroom for the first 40 days of school. Their teachers watched as children performed such tasks as adding and subtracting small quantities, identifying letters and numbers and working in small groups.

And since this is the first year of the assessments, there's no way to compare with past evaluations, nor is there any kind of a national standard to see how well or poorly Illinois students rank.
 They recommend some positive steps to take at home, but admit that even noting the shortcomings of the data, the picture it paints is "discouraging."

Urbana Solar Farm Protest Voted Down


The Urbana City Council had an opportunity to protest under a state law (see Page 3 of Exhibit E, page 16 of pdf file from resolution) new zoning rules on Solar Farms in Champaign County (more on the solar farm issue here). The council voted against doing so. Two before and after articles on that, the first from WAND with a video segment citing the News-Gazette:
Urbana city staff have suggested council members not stand in the way of a Champaign County zoning proposal that could bring solar farms to rural areas.

That is according to the News Gazette.

The recommendation comes ahead of the Urbana City Council meeting.

The council is scheduled to vote on whether to protest changes to the county rules on solar farms. The rules were proposed this month by the county board.

Urbana must give approval for the proposal to move forward.

Solar farms need a special permit from the Champaign County Board to be built.

The News Gazette reports there are already seven applications for solar farms.

The county board will consider final approval of the solar farm rules on Thursday.

If that passes, the first solar farm public hearing will be on Aug. 30.
It was reported after the meeting that it was rejected. From the News-Gazette coverage of the Urbana City Council meeting afterward:
In other business, council members unanimously rejected a resolution that would have protested proposed zoning changes at the county level to allow solar farms.

Council member Bill Brown said the county's process was thorough and kept Urbana in mind.
There doesn't appear to be any controversy, but from the resolution documents you can see that a lot of work went into assuring that City ordinances, rules, and concerns were looked at for these new zoning rules before giving their recommendation to the council not to stand in the way. I doubt that'll change anyone's mind on the issue, but for others it may be interesting.

BPNJ Brief Update


Build Programs Not Jails is getting ready for the influx of students back to town and the upcoming election and the possible ramifications on local government and priorities going forward. There will be an upcoming event to be announced that will address the direction the group will take in addressing the needs and challenges ahead. The tentative date for that will be September 8th. More on that as more information becomes available.

The next regular meeting of BPNJ will be on September 5th for those wanting to get involved in all of the planning and discussions for the group moving forward, especially as it pertains to the building programs to prevent reliance on criminal justice interventions and alternatives to mass incarceration.

A lot of what was covered was planning or organizing in progress so I don't have much to report this time around.

Veterans Assistance Commission


On "The Week Ahead" posts I've sometimes referred to a Veterans Assistance Commission meeting that I had yet to attend and gave the best description I had from the County website. For example from this week's post:
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 (agenda here). 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.
Well, I finally made it to that one and found out that there's additional information and access through their new facebook page available here: https://www.facebook.com/ChampaignCountyVAC/. The local VFW Post 630 also has a brief information page here.

The programs are mainly funded by the county, but they're able to do additional work with funds raised in the community, for example the recent riders event (WCIA article and video here):
A motorcycle club made up of veterans donated $5,000 to the county's Veterans Assistant Commission.

The program helps veterans who are struggling to pay their bills. The American Legion Riders Post 568 raised the money at an event earlier this month.

Last year, they gave the commission about $4,200, which allowed the program to help an extra 27 veterans pay their bills around the holidays.

Commission employees say the $5,000 donation will allow them to help even more veterans this year.
They work with local veterans organizations, including a monthly Veteran Food Pantry with the VFW and members of those organizations make up the commission members. They have most of the organizations represented, but they are looking for someone to fill a vacant position if you know a veterans organization member who might be interested.

The commission works out of the Brookens Administrative Center and has an office just to the left of the front desk down a little hallway there. They're in office 3D (map) to see veterans who need information or assistance. The commission used to meet in the Putman meeting room, but has recently moved across the way from their office in the 3F meeting room (again, just to the left of the front desk at Brookens).

The group's mission, meetings, and even the budget are very straightforward. One extra agenda item includes a salute to the flag at the end of the meeting.

In additional news brought up at the meeting, a Veterans Legal Clinic has been set up at U of I that is offering legal services to Veterans who might not otherwise be able to afford it, including for Discharge Upgrades (e.g. for those who should have received medical discharges, but were separated on other grounds). More on that program here. Contact information for the Veterans Legal Clinic include a phone number 217-244-9494 and e-mail clinic@law.illinois.edu.

New Candidate Filings


Following up on a previous post (and News-Gazette blurb here) more candidates have entered the fray through party nominations and appointments will begin tonight at the County Board to fill the remaining terms of seats empty due to resignations and moves. From the News-Gazette Tuesday:
Nominees selected to fill out three vacancies on Champaign County Board
On Tuesday, precinct committee members in District 10 proposed offering the seat vacated by Robert King, who moved out of state, to Tanisha King-Taylor, who defeated the other District 10 representative, Chris Stohr, in the Democratic primary.

If King-Taylor turns down the offer to serve out King's term, Democrats will nominate former county board member James Quisenberry instead.

King-Taylor will face Republican David Weisiger on Nov. 6 for election to a full term for the seat currently held by Stohr...

Earlier Tuesday, Democrats nominated University of Illinois doctoral student Pranjal Vachaspati to serve out the remainder of the District 9 seat vacated last month by Shana Jo Crews, who is moving out of the county.

Vachaspati, a participant in the 2017 "Jeopardy" Tournament of Champions, was already nominated in the primary to run for Crews' seat in November. He will face Republican Traci Nally, who is general counsel and vice president of human resources for News-Gazette Media.

Meanwhile, Republicans appointed Jodi Eisenmann of rural Mahomet both to serve out the remainder of Brooks Marsh's term and as the candidate for his District 1 seat in November's election.

Eisenmann has experience as an educator and farmer, assisting her husband, Derric, in their family farming operation, JDE Ag Farms Inc.
More at the full article here. Updates to the Elections, County Offices and District pages are coming soon to reflect the new filings and information.

Vote By Mail is available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started! More information on Vote By Mail in Champaign County here. Ballot request direct link for residents here. More information on County elections (including checking your registration, sample ballots when available, and early voting times and locations) at our Elections page.

Monday, August 20, 2018

The Week Ahead: 8/19 - 8/25

*** There is a County Board meeting this Thursday. Agenda here (more information below). More information on how to attend a county board meeting here. *** 


Vote By Mail is available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started! More information on Vote By Mail in Champaign County here. Ballot request direct link for residents here. More information on County elections (including checking your registration, sample ballots when available, and early voting times and locations) at our Elections page.

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up (e.g. recent meeting of Republican Women of Champaign County and Democratic Party Meet and Greet for County Candidates). Check out your preferred candidates and you will likely see campaign, canvassing, or voter registration events in the area. Many are using facebook to more easily share event information and reminders. Check out the Champaign County Voter Alliance's preliminary general election candidate guide to see who is running. We'll be updating County race information from the primary election to the general soon.
 
Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:
Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, August 22nd at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

The Housing Authority of Champaign County has a special Moving To Work public hearing this week Thursday August 23rd at 2pm at their offices at 205 W. Park Ave. (*** The usual monthly Board of Commissioners meeting has been moved to August 30th next week at 3pm in the same location. ***)
At last month's City of Champaign Study Session of the City Council, the reentry housing issue was raised during public participation (a full write up of the meeting is here and video here). This is following up on the preview of that discussion at the City Council meeting here: Reentry Housing Issue. The News-Gazette had a couple articles following up on the meeting linked on the Cheat Sheet here.

County Calendar:

The Labor/Management Health Insurance Committee deals with benefits issues for County Staff which is probably mostly interesting to County Staff. Agenda and previous meeting's minutes here.

There's also a County Board of Health meeting Tuesday at 5:30pm at the CU Public Health Department building at 201 W. Kenyon Rd (map) in Champaign. Agenda here.

The Veterans Assistance Commission meeting appears to mostly report on the commission itself, but I haven't attended one of these (Update: I have now) to know much about it yet (agenda here). 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.
*** There is a County Board meeting this Thursday. Agenda here. If you'd like to attend a County Board meeting, you can find more information on how to attend here. The agenda suggests that they're expecting appointments to a couple vacant seats as well as honoring some recent resignees. There will be a Visit Champaign presentation and couple Nursing Home related votes (one to reinstate the 12 month budget and another involving purchases not following purchase policy — often additional outlays).

The full 2018 schedule is 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.

http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CAL/2018/180819.pdf

*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







Saturday, August 18, 2018

Aquifer Update

Following up on the Mahomet Aquifer gas leak, new State legislation could help residents get a better warning for such issues in the future. From the News-Gazette yesterday:
Aquifer update: New legal measures part of 'ongoing process'
...
That provision is aimed at preventing a repeat of a 2016 incident in which there was a leak at Peoples Gas' Manlove Field — an underground natural gas storage facility in Champaign County — which wasn't quickly reported to residents and authorities. The leak is said to have contaminated private water wells.

"These poor folks didn't even know it happened for months," said state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, who sponsored the bill in the Senate along with Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign. Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, was one of the house sponsors.

Specifically, the new law requires notification of all private residents, owners and operators of private water systems and businesses within a mile-and-a-half of the boundaries of a natural gas incident to be notified "as soon as practically possible."

The notices to private residents and businesses must be attempted through verbal communication, and if that can't be done, through a notice posted on properties where it can easily be seen.

The bill also requires an annual state inspection of all gas storage fields lying on the footprint of an EPA-designated sole source aquifer to make sure there aren't any deficiencies that could pose a threat to public health.
Full article here.

County Board Roundup

This week there was a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting (what is this?)(agenda here and video here) and some news on a new candidate filing as well as a couple updates on the Nursing Home.

First following up on a previous Cheat Sheet post on the latest Republican to join the Champaign County Board races, the News-Gazette had a short blurb to add Thursday in the print edition:


More on the two District 6 seat races on the Cheat Sheet here.


Nursing Home:

The bid filing required by the buyers for the Nursing Home went through just in time for a state review board deadline to act on it sooner rather than later. From Wednesday's News-Gazette:
County nursing home's potential buyers file bid by deadline
The Evanston companies poised to buy the Champaign County Nursing Home submitted an application to a state review board Friday, just in time for it likely to be considered at the board's next session Oct. 30...

The state board has legal oversight over certain health care construction projects and the closing or sales of certain health care facilities, among them a county-owned nursing home.

Friday was the deadline for applications to be filed for the board's October session. The board doesn't meet again after that until December.

The Champaign County Board approved the sale of the county nursing home for $11 million this past May, and county officials originally anticipated turning over the keys to the new owners at the end of July.
More at the full article here.
The County Board began the preliminary steps to revert back to a 12 month budget for the Nursing home from the 6 month budget fought over previously. The point of contention prior to the sale was between Republican board members who wanted to operate under the assumption the facility would be sold and several Democrats who were still fighting to preserve County ownership. 
Champaign County Board recommends $4.5M budget for nursing home
...
Previously, the county board — months before a decision was made on the home's future — had only approved a six-month budget for the facility.

In May, following months of debate, the county board voted 15-6 to sell the nursing home to Extended Care Clinical LLC and Altitude Health Services Inc., both headquartered in Evanston, for $11 million.

The sale won't close until approximately Oct. 31, according to County Administrator Deb Busey.

That leaves lots of bills to settle in the meantime.

Since current appropriations are insufficient to cover nursing home operations, Busey said the board's action — if ultimately approved — would essentially restore the nursing home to its original 12-month budget, as proposed by the management company during the budget process.

A board vote on the appropriation is expected next week.
A few extra details at the full article here. The Committee of the Whole meeting itself went for about two hours and included a presentation from the new Executive Director of the Housing Authority of Champaign County, a concern about voting locations on campus, and a slew of appointments, including a new Deputy and Assistant Deputy Chair of the Justice & Social Services committee that has tried to facilitate the recommendations of the Racial Justice Task Force.

The News-Gazette had a good summary of the concerns about moving campus voting locations due to construction and renovations Thursday:
Proposal to move UI campus polling place draws concerns about overcrowding
Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten's plan to move one precinct's polling place to the Illini Union while its normal location is under renovation has some county board members concerned about overcrowding that could discourage voting.

This week, Hulten proposed transferring the polling site for the Cunningham 3 precinct from the Illinois Street Residence Hall to the Union, because the residence hall is temporarily unavailable due to renovation work in that building, he said.

If the county board approves, Hulten said, cards would be mailed to the voters of Cunningham 3 informing them of their new polling place. The campus precinct is bounded by Green Street on the north, Nevada Street on the south, Lincoln Avenue on the east and Wright Street on the west.

"We will also mail a letter stating the reason for the change and alerting them of the possibility of voting by mail or voting early," he said.

Some board Democrats oppose Hulten's plan, citing long lines at the Illini Union in previous elections — even before Cunningham 3 is potentially added to the mix.

Democrat Chris Stohr said he was an observer at the Illini Union in the general election in 2016.

"The lines there were long," Stohr said. "I counted up to 76 people in line. I don't agree that moving the polling place to the Illini Union would be a good idea..."

"The proportion of Election Day voters in the precinct we are talking about are among the lowest for any of the precincts in the county," Hulten said. "The voters of this precinct take advantage of voting by mail compared with the rest of the precincts in Champaign County."

The full county board is expected to vote on Hulten's proposal at its Aug. 23 meeting.
Full article with more details and arguments here. There appears to be genuine concerns about lines and how that can depress the vote (something the County Clerk agreed with Democrats on). But there are constraints by law and available space that won't budge. Hulten argued that students will gravitate towards the Illini Union as opposed to other proposed additional locations by convenience, traffic patterns and by default knowledge of the option.


Rest of the Committee of the Whole:

The Committee of the Whole also included a presentation by the Housing Authority Executive Director (his Power Point presentation is available here for a quick scan and video link here). He outlined the Moving To Work program and was asked several questions about accessibility to public transportation at housing locations and their main office going forward. The Champaign reentry housing issue was raised as something to be aware of, but not addressed in depth.

With the resignation and move by Robert King, there was an opening in the Deputy Chair position of the Justice & Social Services Committee. Jim McGuire was moved up from the Assistant Deputy Chair position to the Deputy Chair position. Kyle Patterson was appointed to the Assistant Deputy Chair position. There were a litany of other appointments in County government offices approved (full listing available on the agenda).

Some of the preliminary new rules for the upcoming County Executive form of government were distributed among members to peruse. The County Executive Transition Committee was mentioned by Chair Weibel as having some future meetings still to be scheduled to finish that work.

The Nursing Home management contract due to expire September 30th would be extended to the sale date of the Nursing Home if given final approval at the County Board next week.

Everything else voted on or reported in the agenda (outside of some corrections and re-corrections on what was to be on the consent agenda list) went through without additional fuss.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

County Board Updates

The video is up for yesterday night's Committee of the Whole County Board meeting (available here). More on that soon. The Champaign County Clerk announced a new candidate filing for County Board District 6, Republican PJ Trautman:

More on Truatman's decision to join the race here at this post on his personal facebook page. He'll be running against Democrat Charles Young for the seat currently held by Tracy Douglass (recently appointed to the board after Joshua Hartke's resignation and move). More updates to the District 6 election page on the way.

The News-Gazette had a highlight from last night's Committee of the Whole meeting:
Champaign County Board recommends $4.5M budget for nursing home
...
At a committee-of-the-whole meeting Tuesday evening, members recommended appropriating $4,542,946 to the nursing home for an operating budget.

Previously, the county board — months before a decision was made on the home's future — had only approved a six-month budget for the facility...

Since current appropriations are insufficient to cover nursing home operations, [County Administrator Deb Busey] said the board's action — if ultimately approved — would essentially restore the nursing home to its original 12-month budget, as proposed by the management company during the budget process.

A board vote on the appropriation is expected next week.
Full article here. More on last night's meeting coming soon.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Area Substitute Teachers


The News-Gazette highlighted area school district difficulties in filling substitute teacher positions as well as some of the changes at the State and local level. From today's paper:
Area districts finding there's no substitute for reliable replacement teachers
...
This past summer, the state passed legislation to address those shortages. Among other things, it:

— Provides reciprocity for comparable and valid educator licenses from other states, making it easier for out-of-state applicants to teach in Illinois.

— Creates a short-term license so people who have an associate degree or have earned at least 60 hours toward a degree from an accredited institution of higher education can sub.

— Allows teachers with lapsed professional educator's licenses to qualify for a substitute-teaching license.

— Increases the number of days retired teachers can work from 100 to 120 without jeopardizing their pension benefits.

"Those are big changes, and we want to promote them so we can increase our pool," said Hoopeston Area Superintendent Suzi Hesser. "We'll take them whether they have a bachelor's degree or an associate degree, as long as they will be effective with our students."

This year, several districts increased their daily base pay for substitute teachers to be more competitive. They include DeLand-Weldon, Fisher and Villa Grove, whose rates went from $80 to $90, and Mahomet-Seymour, whose base went from $90 to $100, making it one of eight districts in Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Piatt and Vermilion counties to offer $100 or more.


More at the full article here, including a closer look at two balanced-calendar schools and Urbana's substitute teacher situation.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Active Shooter Fears and More School Police

Smaller communities around the area have been adding or talking about adding additional armed officers in their schools like some of the larger cities already do. Some have even been training for the possibility of the law being changed to allow school staff to carry their own firearms in school. The concerns revolve around, but are not limited to, concerns about active shootings that have occurred in areas where people gather. From children's schools such as the recent Valentine's Day attack in Parkland, Florida to Churches to concerts, etc. From the News-Gazette today:
Districts see need for school resource officer as 'unfortunately ... a sign of the times'
...
While the area's more urban school districts — Champaign, Urbana, Danville and Rantoul — have had SROs for years, smaller districts across East Central Illinois are starting to take steps to add officers.

At least seven area districts — including Mahomet-Seymour, Monticello, Villa Grove and Piatt County's four public districts — will have sworn police officers walking their school hallways for the first time this school year, with officials all citing safety concerns as the chief reason for taking the step.

More at the full article here with specific examples and highlights around the County and the East Central Illinois region. This bit from the County Sheriff's SRO stood out to me:
Champaign County Sheriff's Deputy Alicia Maxey is starting her 19th year as an SRO at St. Joseph-Ogden High and the two nearby elementary districts, St. Joseph and Prarieview-Ogden.

Her position, and that of another SRO at Tolono Unity, came to be because of a grant through the sheriff's office the year after what was at the time the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history — the 1999 massacre at Columbine High in Littleton, Colo.

You can't measure prevention, Maxey says, but she is certain that SROs make a difference.

"Having a squad car in front of the building and an officer in the building has got to deter something — it has to," she said.
It should be noted that some of the school shooting mentioned spanning two decades had armed officers on the school grounds with varying results. A key concern of many with our mass incarceration system is disparate disciplinary treatment in our own local districts and how that can add to the school to prison pipeline here at home and the country in general.

Previous posts on the area communities preparing teachers and students to survive active shooters: Preparing Kids to Survive Active Shooters and Saving Local Kids from Bleeding Out.

The Week Ahead: 8/12 - 8/18

*** There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this Tuesday. Agenda here (more information below). More information on what that is and how to attend here. *** 


Vote By Mail is available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started! More information on Vote By Mail in Champaign County here. Ballot request direct link for residents here. More information on County elections (including checking your registration, sample ballots when available, and early voting times and locations) at our Elections page.

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up (e.g. recent meeting of Republican Women of Champaign County and Democratic Party Meet and Greet for County Candidates). Check out your preferred candidates and you will likely see campaign, canvassing, or voter registration events in the area. Many are using facebook to more easily share event information and reminders. Check out the Champaign County Voter Alliance's preliminary general election candidate guide to see who is running. We'll be updating County race information from the primary election to the general soon.
 
Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:
Build Programs Not Jails doesn't meet this week. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. The next meeting is August 22nd.
At last month's City of Champaign Study Session of the City Council, the reentry housing issue was raised during public participation (a full write up of the meeting is here and video here). This is following up on the preview of that discussion at the City Council meeting here: Reentry Housing Issue. The News-Gazette had a couple articles following up on the meeting linked on the Cheat Sheet here.

County Calendar:

On Monday evening there is the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at the 6:30pm time (agenda here). From the previous month's minutes in this month's agenda packet you can see this is more of a managerial board discussing financials and marketing more than policy or politics, but with the sale of the Nursing Home looming it may have additional related information.

There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this Tuesday. Agenda here. Among other items it appears that Jim McGuire will move from Assistant Deputy Chair of the Justice & Social Services Committee to Deputy Chair (on Robert King's resignation and move) and Kyle Patterson will become Assistant Deputy Chair. The County Clerk is proposing moving a few polling places due to renovations at one and another becoming unavailable for use by the County. The three locations are on campus where Democrats are already concerned with access. There also appears to be a presentation by the Housing Authority on their "Moving To Work" program on the agenda addendum. More information on what the Committee of the Whole meeting is like and how to attend here.

There is a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday night (upcoming agenda here). Board page here. The solar farm issue has moved to other committees and now to the full county board to decide. Updates on that here: One Step Closer to Solar Farms.

The full 2018 schedule is 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.

http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CAL/2018/180812.pdf

*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







Saturday, August 11, 2018

Republican Women of Champaign County


The local county GOP announced a new group meeting today named and for the Republican Women of Champaign County. The group hopes to help support Republican women running for GOP political offices, but also connect Republican women to campaign activities and organization tools. Men can be members, but they can't be on the governing board or have an organizational vote. They hope to become federated with the state level Illinois Federation of Republican Women which would open up more avenues to share resources and funding opportunities.

Today's meeting was led by Linda Yoakum (also president of the state level IFRW) and Republican Mayor of Savoy Joan Dykstra. They introduced themselves and explained the purpose and mission of the group before introducing their guest speaker, Andrew Minik, the RNC field director for Illinois' 13th Congressional District. He talked about his previous work with Turning Point USA on campus and how he went from being asked to be a treasurer for the group to a couple years later being heavily involved in Republican politics and working for the RNC.

The presentation was split up talking about being on the "front lines of the culture war" on campus and the political struggles faced by conservatives contending with generally more liberal University culture from students to the administration and some of the colleges and staff. He explained the importance of canvassing and the human factor of getting out the vote. On that much local partisans can certainly agree. Reaching out and talking to people and getting to know their concerns and needs is the most effective way to help turnout.

A lot of the discussion was geared towards the federal congressional race between Republican incumbent Rodney Davis and Democratic challenger Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, but down ballot races such as the County Board races and coordinating to help get information out in canvassing about them was also raised. Republican Richard J. Montgomery, candidate for the County District 6 seat against Democratic primary winner Mike Ingram was there. The guys from the Champaign County Voter Alliance were there as well and let me know that Montgomery has a Questionnaire in on their candidate guide, so I'll have updates coming soon.

Overall the women of the group appeared very passionate and excited to take on the Democrats in the ground game of the upcoming midterms. In this often purple county within a contested congressional district, it appears that both parties are very activated and ready to put in the work.

There's an event for some of the Democratic Party candidates for county offices tonight in Savoy tonight at 6:30pm (event details here). If you're wanting to get involved on either side there are endless opportunities to get involved with your favorite candidate or any number of local conservative and progressive organizations as we approach November. They're already knocking on doors across the various districts!

Vote by Mail requests are available from the County Clerk now (no reason needed). For more information on candidates, check out the non-partisan Champaign County Voter Alliance candidate guide for candidates on the ballot here in Champaign County.

Friday, August 10, 2018

One Step Closer to Solar Farms


Following up on the previous step: Another Step Towards Solar Farms and a post on a Solar Farm Tour. The next step will be a vote at the full county board later this month. From the News-Gazette today:
Champaign County Board committee OKs zoning change for solar farms
Solar farms could soon become a reality in rural Champaign County.

On Thursday night, the county board's Environment and Land Use Committee voted 4-0 to recommend amending the zoning ordinance to allow photovoltaic solar farms on certain agricultural properties. The amendment that was approved would require solar-farm companies to provide a letter of credit covering the eventual costs of decommissioning solar farms no longer in use.

Photovoltaic solar energy produces power by the use of cells that generate electricity when struck by light.

Similar to a wind farm, establishment of a PV solar farm would require a special permit from the Champaign County Board that is only allowed in AG-1 and AG-2 agricultural zoning districts.

The full county board will consider final approval of the ordinance amendment on Aug. 23.

In the event that the proposal passes, the first solar farm public hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 30.
Full article here.