County Government Roundup

The past month included various updates from different County offices and agencies that are highlighted below. Topics range from facilities maintenance, marijuana legalization, Drug Court, to election equipment and security:

The Juvenile Detention Center will likely have a new roof soon. From the News-Gazette earlier in May:

Champaign County's Juvenile Detention Center could have a new roof by the end of the summer.

The Champaign County Board's facilities committee spent Tuesday night talking about updating the center's roof.

Facilities Director Dana Brenner said the Juvenile Detention Center, at 400 S. Art Bartell Road, U, was built in 1998 and still has its original roof, which was built to last 20 years.

Brenner said the roof has begun pulling away from the parapet, and it leaks when it rains...

In other business, the committee decided to hold an upcoming meeting on the downtown county jail facility. Sheriff Dustin Heuerman will be invited to participate.

Full article here. The board approved the bid in the May County Board meeting and the details are listed in the full agenda packet here (page 132, page 136 of the PDF).


Marijuana legalization at the State level has had County Officials explaining how the change could affect us locally:

• Smile Politely had an interview with the Circuit Clerk on the subject including criminal record relief information.
• The County's State's Attorney and Sheriff were quoted in a News-Gazette "Big 10" article on the subject today.
• Earlier this month there were State's Attorney and Circuit Clerk interviews as well covered in a Cheat Sheet post here.

There was a News-Gazette article highlighting the Drug Court and one person's experience through that process here. More information on the Drug Court presented by the judge and coordinator who oversee it here is a video presentation about it from the January Committee of the Whole meeting. The recent News-Gazette article also had some basic Drug Court data:

The County Clerk had been making noise in local media this past month about election equipment upgrades. Beyond ongoing budget constraints, a new political dimension has been added with the County Clerk's office changing hands from a Republican to a Democrat. From a Cheat Sheet post on April's Committee of the Whole meeting:

The debate also covered previous equipment issues raised by the prior Republican County Clerk and accusations both directions about hypocrisy of a long standing issue that the board made the previous clerk make do with. Several Democratic members argued the security and technology concerns with elections has only grown with the equipment becoming more outdated and unsecure. Member Goss emphasized the importance of qualified people over software and made a dig at the recent property tax bill delays and new Democratic office holders...

The Finance Chair report was delivered by a visibly irritated member Goss. He criticized the "highly paid" County officeholders for failing to attend County Board meetings again, specifically targeting the Treasurer and calling her incompetent outright. He criticized the County Clerk for being too busy lobbying to get the taxes right and complained that if the shoe was on the other foot they'd be screaming at the previous Republican office holders and not blaming old software. He reiterated concerns about the debt and pointed to mail in ballots as a sensible alternative to some of the election needs.

The County Clerk continues to press the case that the situation has grown worse with some equipment no longer being manufactured or supported. This makes replacement and security upgrades impossible for some items. WCIA had a short blurb and video segment here a couple weeks ago. The News-Gazette had more last week:

Thirteen of the machines used to count votes at individual precincts have broken over the years, he said, adding: "We have to cannibalize those machines for parts to keep our remaining tabulation machines in operation."

Ammons said his department also needs laptops, printers and software.

He declined to provide a final price tag — "It's still under negotiations," he said — but county board Chair Giraldo Rosales said Ammons is asking for roughly $700,000.

Rosales said he wasn't sure where funding for the equipment and software will come from.

"Just because you want more out of the pie, that doesn't make the pie any bigger," Rosales said...

Another major need for the county election division, he added, is voter assisted terminals, to comply with standards set in the Americans With Disabilities Act.

That full article here.