County Board 10/24: Jails and Infighting

The October regular County Board meeting (agenda and meeting info here, video here) drew a lot of public interest on the hot topic of jail consolidation. The local Champaign County Democratic Party took the opportunity to put some of its internal infighting on display for the larger audience. For the most recent information on the updated jail consolidation plan, the Cheat Sheet has a recent post that has links to presentations and specifics to the current and previous 2015 version of the plan here. At this Board meeting it sounded like there would be some updated plan documentation made available to the Board and the public soon. I'll add that when it becomes available.

Due to ongoing budget matters, the previous County Board didn't adjourn, but was in recess. Tonight's board meeting was a continuation of that meeting, which also recessed until the November meeting next month. I don't know the full implications of a recess versus an adjournment. I'll note any oddities beyond record keeping if I find them.

The public participation portion of Board meetings doesn't usually hit its one hour overall limit (with 5 minutes allowed for each speaker), but tonight it did. Most of the comments were about the jail, with many expressing frustration at the price tag to maintain a jail system that continues mass incarceration issues locally. There were familiar faces from previous jail expansion debates versus groups like Build Programs Not Jails asking the board to look at the recommendations of its own community task forces, including the recent Racial Justice Task Force. The Board didn't vote to approve any jail plan at this meeting, the agenda item being changed to "discussion only" on an the addendum. WILL had a nice overview of the Jail issue that night:

An updated proposal for county jail consolidation was brought before the full Champaign County Board for the first time Thursday night. Now county board members must decide how to deal with both a pressing need --- and a daunting price tag.

The plan, from Reifsteck Reid, the firm of Champaign architect Charles Reifsteck, is an update of a previous plan presented to the county board in 2015. As outlined by Reifsteck at Thursday night’s meeting, the plan calls for closing the rundown jail and sheriff’s office built in the 1980’s in downtown Urbana. The 1990’s satellite jail in east Urbana would renovated and expanded to replace the downtown jail’s capacity and the sheriff’s offices. In addition, its design would allow flexibility in separating inmate populations and providing space for inmate visitations and programs.

County board members are trying to come to grips with its cost: $47 million (compared to $32 million for the 2015 jail plan) to close the rundown jail and sheriff’s office in downtown Urbana, and enlarge and modernize the newer satellite jail. The rebuilt jail’s capacity would be 283 inmates, twelve less than the two present jails.

Full article here with some brief perspectives and takes. A more detailed presentation of the plan is available at this Cheat Sheet post. The Sheriff responded to many of the concerns in his comments to the board. When the video is available, I'll link it here because he addresses a lot of shared reform goals with local activists, but also the bureaucratic momentum of the current system. He explains the legal and logistical reality he's dealing with in that context. There was also some good discussion on the possible costs of delay, million plus annual costs of housing inmates elsewhere if the downtown jail is forced closed due to regulatory shortfalls, etc.

A new board member was appointed to fill a vacancy in District 10 and was the source for the other half of the drama tonight, in both public comments and from the board itself. The News-Gazette had an overview of that in their coverage:

The Democratic Party’s 13-9 majority on the Champaign County Board was restored Thursday night after board members decided by voice vote to appoint Connie Dillard-Myers to the vacant District 10 seat.

The decision was not without controversy.

Last week, County Board Chairman Giraldo Rosales opted to nominate Dillard-Myers over Mary King, who had been recommended by District 10’s Democratic precinct committeemen.

Rosales, who made history by becoming the first Latino chairman of the Champaign County Board, said it was important to have minority voices on the board...

King, who was passed over by Rosales, was critical of the decision.

More at the full article here. It's difficult for me to follow the political drama given the differing perspectives over what happened and why. Some, like the County Democratic Party Chair and her allies, were arguing for diversity and inclusion while insinuating some Democrats weren't committed to a diverse board. Others, including some Precinct Committeepersons, felt it was payback over an appointment under a previous Democratic Chair and why one candidate was chosen over another. Of course it's more complicated than that with new and established political personalities colliding in the current political environment, but I'll leave that to others to figure out.

In an addendum to her oath of office, Connie Dillard-Myers added, "...even though I'm being watched." in reference to wording about extra scrutiny from member Thorsland due to the appointment process being interpreted as an ominous warning by her supporters. People can speculate about how that bodes for future tensions.

Another issue that came up during public participation and the meeting itself was a Board of Review appointment that was held up. The candidate, Paul Sailor, is currently serving on the board while the confirmation is pending, but asked that the board take the uncertainty out of it. Member McGuire reiterated that request. The Board of Review does important work required for the County's tax cycle and Sailor warned of a logistical nightmare if it suddenly lost a third of its people (he is one of three members). More on the Board of Review here.

A personnel matter was raised in the Treasurer's office due to the chief deputy treasurer being on leave. Republicans and a handful of Democrats on the board voted against funding for a temporary staffer to help in that absence. Member Patterson took a moment towards the end of the meeting to complain that no Democrats had raised the issue in their caucus prior to the meeting and nobody justified their no vote during the opportunity for discussion prior to voting. He had a list of adjectives ranging from "disappointed" to "cowardice" for the move.

Prior to the regular County Board meeting there was a "Truth in Taxation" meeting required for tax levy changes (video here). If I'm reading the information from the agenda packet correctly, the increased levy (overall money to be spent) this year has an overall slightly lower tax rate (for property owners) to pay it. For an overview on tax levies versus tax rates, see this older Cheat Sheet post. Here's the data from the agenda packet (click to enlarge):