The Champaign County Board's Committee of the Whole (what is this?) was this week. The video is currently available through the live stream website's buffer here. It will be available on the Champaign County Clerk's YouTube Channel when posted here.
Public participation started with Dr. Dorothy Vura-Weis with an overview of jail programs, including community initiated services. Chairman Rosales asked if she had a website with all of that information, but she suggested the County create one.
Nathan Poulosky, a Democratic Precinct Committeeman for Cunningham 22 chastised Chairman Rosales for dismissing PCs as lazy and not attending meetings when explaining his appointment of Cynthia Fears at a previous County Board meeting. He argued it was insulting and hypocritical for the Chairman to question the dedication of PCs when he appoints people who didn't attend meetings.
Sheriff's Presentation:
The Sheriff presented his annual report (see previous Cheat Sheet post on that here) at the 13:35 minute mark in the video. There was an extended question and answer afterwards starting at the 24 minute mark. Topics ranged from the type of inmates housed at any given time, data collection hurdles, and some budget notes by the County Executive and what they meant.
Chairman Rosales towards the end of the Q & A, at around the 40:40 minute mark in the video, reiterated a campaign point against his opponent. He repeated his position against the County being an entity that provides services (a topic from the candidates forum and a disagreement at a recent local Democratic Party meeting).
Mahomet-Seymore CUSD Letter and Treasurer Updates:
The County Board received a letter to the County Treasurer's office that it expects interest earned on delayed pass-through funding to be paid to the district. The letter is available in the full agenda packet here on page 9(page 13 of the PDF). There was a question as to whether such a payment is past practice or required by statute, but staff was looking into that. Member Fortado suggested a possible public and formal response from the board to the letter at a later time.
Chairman Rosales reminded people that applications are still be accepted for a replacement Treasurer to be appointed until February 15th and he will make his decision soon after that date.
Honoring Brian Kelly:
The board honored the life and service of Chief Deputy in the Circuit Clerk's office, Brian Kelly. More on his life and service in the News-Gazette here. Circuit Clerk Katie Blakeman thanked the board and shared a bit of Kelly's sense of humor. The video of the reading of the resolution and comments begins at the 49 minute mark.
Other Items:
Steve Summers summarized the current status of the Facilities Committee work on jail consolidation options. More on that at a previous Cheat Sheet post here.
There was some discussion about the primary polling locations between some Republicans on the County Board and a staff member from the County Clerk's office about whether a polling location at Lake of the Woods required a more in depth process given the size of the location and the difference between having a polling location at the Elk Wood's Pavilion versus Pavilion #1. There seemed to be some disagreement on whether there was proper public notice of the change that was being approved. The resolution passed over some audible Republican nays afterward.
There was some discussion about the appropriateness of the County Executive announcing applications were being taken for the County's Supervisor of Assessment position where there is not currently a vacancy. Member Rector emphasized the requirements to notify the position holder before replacing them. The County Executive apologized for the confusion and insisted she had every intention of appointing the same person to the same position for the next term and that she would just be looking at applications to gauge interest for the position. Rector took issue with the plausibility of that explanation, beyond it being just confusing. Member Young reiterated his concerns about the appointing powers of the County Executive and the need for oversight.
A couple later items brought up the situation with the Treasurer's office again, with an estimate of the 10s of millions of dollars still owed to school districts raised by Member Goss and the Auditor and others discussing the overtime, accumulation of comp hours, and hard work by the staff and others in trying to resolve the problems remaining at the office.
Finally, there was a brief discussion about an infrastructure related TIF expansion that requires the County Board's sign off as part of the approval process. An attempt to explain Tax Increment Financing is available here. There was a bit of discussion by the board by those who don't like TIF financing of projects on why they opposed or would make an exception for this particular item. It passed with Member Thorsland in opposition. The item, once approved at the regular County Board meeting will be in the hands of the State of Illinois afterward.
The meeting adjourned at 8:14pm.
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