County Updates

There's been quite a bit of County government news and updates the last couple weeks. This post highlights and links to more information on:

• December County Board Meeting
• County Treasurer backlog and criticisms

In other County government news (click to jump to these items)

• Election Judge recruiting
• Sheriff's Office lawsuit
• State taxing changes that may benefit local government budgets
• The latest Long Range Transportation Plan

The December regular County Board meeting had a report from the Ad Hoc IT Planning Committee with its analysis and recommendations for the County's information technology organization and infrastructure. The report is available at the 43:30 mark on the live streaming link here for now (I'll update when December board meetings are available on the County Clerk's YouTube channel here).

Most of the meeting revolved around concerns with the County Treasurers office, its backlog, staffing issues, and continued difficulties with the new computer system. The News-Gazette had an overview of the issue earlier this month. Excerpts:

Champaign County Executive Darlene Kloeppel has hired an outside accounting firm to help the county treasurer’s office get caught up on a backlog of work.

Kloeppel said she’s using money from her own office’s budget this month to hire the firm of CliftonLarsonAllen to reconcile all 2019 monthly bank statements...

According to a memo Kloeppel sent to the county board earlier this month, work delays in the treasurer’s office have been noted since mid-year.

For example, she said, the deputy director of finance in the county executive’s office wasn’t receiving enough information to prepare monthly financial reports and begin the budgeting process for 2020, and the county auditor’s office was noticing delays with posting revenues.

Hiring the CPA this month to reconcile bank statements was the latest of several steps that have been taken to help the treasurer’s office move forward, according to Kloeppel.

More at the full article here. The full County Executive's memo is available in the Agenda Packet from the Committee of the Whole earlier this month (page 30 of the packet, page 33 of the PDF document) here. It lays out in detail the various problems and attempted resolutions over the past several months.

During public participation of the County Board meeting (at the 17 minute mark in the live streaming link) Vic White, superintendent of Prairieview-Ogden School District highlighted the unusual delays in flow through payments from the County. He complained that he still can't get any answers about the delay. Andrew Larson, superintendent of Unit Seven Schools, also reiterated the financial issues and bond complications the Treasurer's backlogs are causing. He also complained about the need for better communication. He was skeptical of some of the excuses in local news and explained that he has lost confidence in a few of the County offices since the election.

Throughout the meeting, Republicans raised concerns about the Treasurer's backlog and demanding to know the current state of the County's finances. Concerns were raised about grants eventually being put at risk for the Regional Planning Commission (a central hub for services and programs in local government).

A lengthy discussion about the Treasury issues took place during the discussion of the Auditor's second resolution under other business. Member Goss began with technical budget questions for Auditor Danos, but the explanations of the delays only heated up the questioning until the Auditor passed the questions on to Treasurer Prussing herself. She repeatedly explained the staffing problems again, which Goss blamed on poor management. Other Republicans and even Democrat Dillard-Meyer questioned the hold up with pass through payments to the schools. The Treasurer repeatedly blamed problems with the new DEVNET system, a point person for DEVNET being on vacation, and an appeal to her record of saving taxpayer money. This only raised more questions and confusion along the way.

Something notable in its absence was any kind of defense from other Democrats on the Board. On an earlier resolution Member Stohr had complimented the County Clerk's office for its wise use of taxpayer funds, while noting criticisms of other offices may have merit.


Other County Government News:

The County Clerk's office is recruiting for Election Judge's from today's News-Gazette:

Champaign County has 125 election judges signed up for training to work for the March 17, 2020, primaries and needs 350, according to Angela Patton, chief deputy in the county clerk’s office...

Polling places need both Republicans and Democrats serving as election judges, and Champaign County is particularly in need of more Republican judges, Patton said...

Champaign County pays its election judges $200 a day on election days, with hours expected to run from at least 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Judges staffing early voting places are paid $13 an hour, Patton said.

More at the full article at the News-Gazette eEdition here (subscription). More details from the Champaign County Clerk's website here.

The Champaign County Sheriff's Office is facing a lawsuit over a pat down during traffic stop earlier this year. From the News-Gazette last week:

A 27-year-old woman is suing the Champaign County sheriff’s office and accusing a deputy of a highly intrusive pat-down search.

In her five-count federal lawsuit, Wylesha Ayres alleges that her Fourth Amendment right against an unreasonable search was violated and that it inflicted on her “humiliation, degradation, emotional pain and suffering.”...

The sheriff’s office declined to comment, but in its formal response to the lawsuit, it denied that the officers improperly touched Ayres, that they didn’t provide a basis for the search and that they didn’t have reasonable suspicion.

Full article here with a lot more information, details, and web cam footage of the incident available.

Changes to State laws on gas and sales taxes could provide more money to the County and other local government soon. The News-Gazette had coverage on the gas tax increase effects on the County's transportation budget here. WCCU had coverage of how the on-line sales taxes should begin to effect local government bodies here.

And finally, the Regional Planning Commission had a video presentation for their latest Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS) Long Range Transportation Plan with various visions of improved transportation and projects in the area's future. Video link here. Additional information and another video on the planning process are available in the Executive Summary here on the RPC website. A full overview of the Long Range Transportation Plan itself is available here.