County Board and Jail Followup

I had some updated information and links from the November County Board meeting (agenda here) and some additional coverage of possible jail consolidation issue at that meeting and in additional Daily Illini coverage. The full video of November's regular County Board meeting was posted earlier last week (previous County Board updates and coverage here). Some highlights from the video include:

• A drainage district commissioner explaining continuing ramifications of the local property tax delays at roughly the 15 minute mark
   
• County Treasurer Laurel Prussing proposing equalizing a part of the tax code to prevent higher fees on the lowest incomes at around the 18 minute mark.
   
• Carol Ammons' presentation on criminal justice reforms (at the 21 minute mark) to avoid the need for jail expansion and provide better outcomes for the community. In the presentation she cites the Champaign County Criminal Justice Assessment: Final Report from September 2014 by the Institute for Law and Policy Planning. It, as well as many other local criminal justice reports are available here from the Champaign County League of Women Voters website.
   
• The debate on marijuana zoning regulations (at the 59 minute mark) in unincorporated parts of the County ended in a suggestion for compromise and sending the issue back to the Environment and Land Use Committee towards proposing a compromise plan. The suggestion is that it would address concerns about dispensaries in smaller communities that oppose them without blocking other types of production and business that could benefit them.
   
• and debate on the County employee rules on cannabis (at the 1:50 mark) which also ended with a compromise proposal with a sunset provision to hash out the policy further in the first half of 2020.

Both compromises were proposed and pushed by Pranjal Vachaspati who also announced his resignation at the end of the meeting. He has new employment out of Boston and will be moving there.

The Daily Illini also had coverage on the problems facing the Champaign County jails this week. From their reporting:

County officials are bringing more attention to the failing and out-of-date conditions of Champaign County’s jails. The downtown jail’s old construction has led to severe deterioration: electronic locks to doors opening seemingly randomly, leaks from the roof, cockroach infestations and a lack of recreational space.

Leah Taylor, member of the Facilities Committee on the county board, said she visited the downtown facility two months ago.

“It’s honestly something out of a horror movie,” Taylor said.

There are two jails in Champaign County: the downtown facility, which opened in 1980, and the Satellite Jail, which is located in Urbana and opened in the mid 1990s, according to county Sheriff Dustin Heuerman.

The downtown facility building is facing more damage, but both are said to lack in rehabilitative programs and recreational spaces that allow inmates to exercise and de-stress with activities.

More at their full coverage here.