COVID and Health Updates

The News-Gazette had an update on COVID cases in Champaign County this past weekend here. Regular updates on COVID cases and vaccinations is available at the Public Health website here. In today's paper, the News-Gazette noted that roughly a third of Champaign County residents have received vaccine boosters:

About onethird of Champaign County adults eligible for COVID-19 booster shots have received them.

As of Friday, 36,913 booster shots had been given, which is 33.6 percent of Champaign County’s fully vaccinated residents 18 and older, according to Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Deputy Administrator Awais Vaid. About 110,000 Champaign County residents 18 and older have been fully vaccinated and have been urged to get booster shots at least six months past their second Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots or at least two months after the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

That article is available on the eEdition here. WGPU also had updates on their audio segment here.

COVID vaccine clinics for children have begun in the area after recent FDA approval. From WAND:

After the CDC approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children in the 5-11 age range earlier this week, health departments like Champaign-Urbana started making appointments available for the community.

Deputy Administrator for the Champaign Urbana Public Health District Awais Vaid said leaders are excited to see a vulnerable population now able to protect themselves.

"Until now, you know, the big group was the kids who were not eligible. We are really happy right now that the (5-11 age range is) eligible for it," Vaid said. "That means about 16,000 kids in Champaign County become eligible immediately. So we hope that people get these vaccines as soon as possible so that the transmission that we are seeing a lot in the kids right now, we will start to see a decline in that going forward."

That full article here. WCCU had a listing of area vaccine clinics with links to additional information here. WAND also pointed out some concern last month about a rise in local youth cases:

In a concerning trend, Champaign County health officials are seeing a COVID-19 case surge in mostly unvaccinated school children and teens. 

Data shows 90 percent of cases among those in the 12 to 17 age range are among people who didn't get their shot. Health officials said the virus is spreading quickly in schools. 

The epidemiologist for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District said vaccines are crucial to prevent hospitalizations...

CUPHD said it has seen a good turnout for kids to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but it hasn't been enough. 

That full blurb here. A more recent WCCU article highlighted eligible child vaccination rates locally over 15%. In another article WCCU noted that health officials were monitoring ICU bed availability with some concern last month:

As regions across Illinois respond to rising cases of COVID-19, hospitals say they’re on the lookout when it comes to intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability...

Recent data as of November 15 from the Illinois Department of Public Health shows 31 percent of ICU beds are available in Region three which covers Sangamon County. But availability in Region 6 which covers Champaign is at 16 percent.

It’s a concern that other health officials have especially as the holidays approach. 

That full article here.

Other local health news and articles:

• UIUC campus update on COVID last month from Illinois Newsroom.
• UIUC is recommending booster shots, but it is not currently requiring booster documentation as part of its vaccine requirements, according to WCIA.
• Smile Politely had an interview on "Blueprint," a program to increase access to mental health care locally.
• A Smile Politely opinion piece on gender diverse health care and issues of transgender health care needs locally. Regardless of one's own views on these issues, this piece highlighted certain aspects of our local health care system that may come up in future policy and political discussions.

November County Roundup

There is a separate post on the jail consolidation news at the last County Board meeting here (video, agenda packet). This post covers other County government news including: the elimination of the County Recorder office, updates on the appointment power fight between the County Executive and the Board, area homeless shelter updates, and many other items.

This will be the last month for the office of the Champaign County Recorder of Deeds after voters approved of consolidating the office within the Champaign County Clerk's Office. From the News-Gazette:

Under changes approved by voters in April, Ingram’s job will be eliminated, the recorder’s office staff and functions will be rolled into the clerk’s office and County Clerk Aaron Ammons will become clerk and recorder on Jan. 1, 2022.

The change is likely to be fairly seamless for the public, according to Ingram and Ammons.

[Recorder Mike Ingram] said the five staff members in the recorder’s office will remain in the same space at the Brookens Administrative Center in Urbana.

Full article available here.

There was movement in the ongoing dispute on appointment powers between the new County Executive and the County Board chair under the new County Executive form of government. This time it was a unanimous appellate decision in favor of the County Board and chair to make vacancy appointments on the Board. From the News-Gazette:  

The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the board chair — not the county executive — has the authority to make appointments to fill elected offices that are vacated between elections.

In ruling for the board and against County Executive Darlene Kloeppel, the court overturned a local judge’s ruling in Kloeppel’s favor...

[County Board Chairman Kyle Patterson] said his position remains that he will appoint candidates chosen by the party’s central committee to fill vacancies. The appointment of [Wayne Williams] will likely come up in December, he said.

Reached Friday, Kloeppel hadn’t had time yet to read the decision but said she would likely appeal it.

Full article available here.

C-U at Home's plans for additional homeless shelter highlighted some use of federal COVID relief funding use by the County government. From Illinois Newsroom:

C-U at Home is seeking funds to build two, low-barrier shelters for the homeless.

The agency’s current year-round shelter for the homeless reopened in August as a sober shelter after a several-month closure due to staffing issues.

Unlike the agency’s sober shelter at 70 East Washington Street, these two shelters would provide services to those who deal with drug and alcohol addiction.

Kyle Patterson is the chair of the Champaign County Board. He says the board has a key role in funding this initiative.

Patterson says the County Board plans to donate $150,000 using COVID relief funds from the federal government.

More at that full article here. C-U at Home was also in the news recently with a new Executive Director. More at WCIA here. WCCU reported back in October that the Champaign Continuum of Service Providers noted Champaign County's need for more low-barrier housing here.

WCIA also had updates on the C-U at Home emergency winter shelters this year. 

In other County and area news:

• Smile Politely had an editorial with an analysis of the situation at the County's Animal Control office, raising questions on leadership and local media coverage.
• The recent News-Gazette's Tom's Mailbag column had two items on County government. One addressing the Circuit Clerk's expungement event and the other highlighting the County Clerk's Statements of Economic Interest portal during the previous office transition.
• WAND had updates on the Champaign County Sheriff's community engagement plan. WCCU had additional details here.
• WCIA reports Willard Airport among many Central Illinois airports getting State funding for improvements.
• There has been local and regional coverage of the coming African American Heritage Trail (Chicago Tribune articles are available on ProQuest with some local library cards) being established in Champaign County with the Visit Champaign County and local historians and family members of important pioneers, historical figures, and events here in Champaign County.
• There is a separate Cheat Sheet post on this past month's Champaign County Community Coalition meeting and news.

Jail Updates: Consolidation Approval

 

The compromise jail consolidation plan was approved at the general County Board meeting this past month (video, agenda packet). For other County government updates for November, click here. WCIA had a basic overview and some perspectives here. Excerpt:

The two Champaign County jails will soon be consolidated into one facility.

The vote on the $20 million proposal came after about two hours of heated debate at the Champaign County Board meeting Thursday night...

Here’s what was approved Thursday: A plan to close the downtown jail and add two new pods onto the satellite jail. One will be a designated special needs pod, allowing for separation of rival offenders and preventing COVID-19 spread, among other purposes.

That full article with video segment here. The News-Gazette also had coverage of the approval after the vote:

In voting to move ahead late Thursday, the board also approved funding for the project — $5 million from the county’s allocation of funds from the federal coronavirus relief bill passed in March, $13 million in revenue bonds to be repaid over 20 years and the rest in capital funding.

About a dozen speakers argued against the jail project and the use of some of the county’s federal funds for jail construction.

While Heuerman said the jail population has been rising due to violence in the community, some speakers expressed the belief that the jail population has been declining. Some urged the county to put more money into community programs to reduce crime and to wait to see the impact of a state law ending cash bail that is set to take effect in 2023.

Housing prisoners out of county not only costs the county money, Heuerman said, but also makes it more difficult for those prisoners to meet with their attorneys and for their families to visit them.

That full article here. The News-Gazette editorial board had an opinion generally supporting the compromise plan as necessary here.

Previous recent Cheat Sheet posts have pointed out the debate of using federal ARPA funds for the Jail as opposed to limiting their use to programs that could address community needs. Some activists argue that such investment may alleviate pressure to jail as many people locally. Links:

• November 4th October County Roundup post: includes links and information on jail facilities meetings.
• October 10th Jail Updates post: includes recent discussions on funding the jail consolidation plan.

Community Coalition Updates

The Champaign County Community Coalition had its first in-person meeting since the pandemic interrupted large gathering. The 11/10/2021 meeting video is available here (agenda, meeting notes, and News-Gazette coverage). WCIA had an overview of the November meeting, highlighting the need for stability for people reentering the community from the criminal justice system:

The group of community leaders said helping a formerly incarcerated person successfully re-enter society is the way to close that revolving door and work toward improving the rate of gun violence across the region.

A lack of access to things like housing, jobs, even transportation, health insurance or an ID can hold people back, according to the panelists...

The group shared examples of what’s been changed to improve outcomes. For example, the Housing Authority no longer uses most of the criteria from background screenings to place people in housing. A representative said the data showed it was keeping formerly incarcerated people from having homes after they’ve served their time.

That full article here. Here's an excerpt from the meeting notes with the local police chiefs' reports:

• Champaign Police Department – Interim Chief Henson and Deputy Chief Petrilli 
• Current Interim Chief Henson will be retiring Dec 16, Deputy Chief Petrilli will be taking over as Interim at that point; search for permanent Chief continues, applications are still being accepted
• 3 homicides since last met; Oct 20 -  ongoing but progress has been made, Oct 30 – ongoing, Oct 31 –   ongoing; to date 231 shootings in Champaign and 15 homicides
• Administrative changes – new online reporting system designed for reports where an officer does not need to physically respond 
• CPD has returned to a “district” model. Lieutenants are assigned a district so residents can reach out to the same lieutenant regardless of time of day/shift, to interact with, address concerns, etc. 
• Urbana Police Department – Chief Seraphin
• Since our last meeting on the 13th, 3 shootings in Urbana for total of 93 this year and 8 homicides
• Had a Lieutenant retire and are in the process of the promotional process
• Crisis co-response team has been up and running since mid-Oct; UPD officer (behavior health detective) and Rosecrance crisiscounselor/social worker that follow up with families after an incident occurs 
• Champaign County Sheriff’s Office – Sheriff Heuerman
• Have had 1 shooting incident in the last month
•  Hope to be fully staffed by Jan 1st with full budget, so we’re looking forward to implementing community programs/initiatives
• University of Illinois Police Department – Chief Cary
• Don’t have a lot to update, which is a good thing; did have 1 shooting on the Urbana side of campus
• Crisis co-responder teams, calls for mental health have been upas midterms approach, but our teams have responded and worked to get callers connected to resources
• Parkland Police Department – Chief Matthew Kopmann
• One of the Champaign shootings was very close to campus, so Parkland Administration and counseling offices opened for talking groups
• Black Student Success project in Sept with Donna Tanner-Harold
• Coming up, Karen Simms will be meeting with college relations officer to give Trauma informed criminal justice training for officers and telecommunicators

More information on the meeting from the full meeting notes here. There was also a panel discussion on community violence that begins just before the 50 minute mark in the video. The facilitator, Tracy Parsons, stated that panel discussions like these with local experts and organizers would become a regular feature of the Community Coalition meetings.

There was also a community event discussing local gun violence. The Coalition facebook page described it as the "launch of Illinois Public Media's new quarterly series "News, Brews & Beatz!"(video here). Smile Politely described the event in a preview:

“It Takes a Village: What C-U is Doing to Combat Gun Violence”. Illinois Public Media News and Public Affairs Director, Reginald Hardwick, and Facilitator of the Champaign County Community Coalition, Tracy Parsons will be facilitating, and participants include:

• Karen Crawford Simms, Founder of Trauma & Resilience Initiative, Inc.
• Nathan Stephens, Professor in School of Social Work at Illinois State University
• Missy Richland, Spoken Word Artist
• Dj-I.c.Dre’ (Andre' Gray), TableFunk Muzik Group LLC

In other news:

Earlier in November the Champaign County Sheriff expressed hope that the County would receive some State funding towards addressing area gun violence here. From WCCU:

Champaign County is hoping to receive some of the state funding that will be allocated to curb gun violence.

On Monday, Governor JB Pritzker, D-Illinois, declared gun violence a public health crisis. He unveiled a $250 million state investment to implement a public safety plan...

The plan will provide the money over the course of three years and is aimed at focusing on high-risk youth, violence prevention, and youth development programs.

[Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman] believes some of the money will come to the community.

That full article here. WCCU also highlighted local law enforcement concerns with the increased number of shots fired with extended ammunition magazines being used in local gun violence.

November's City of Champaign updates on the C-U Local Cheat Sheet include a lot of additional information and links on Champaign Police hiring and staffing challenges.

It would be a whole other project to keep up with various gun violence, arrests, and related activities in the area. For just a quick look at a few of the gun violence related stories this month, the Daily Illini had stories involving campus, Champaign and Urbana:

• Three weekends of firearm related arrests by the University of Illinois Police.
• Urbana sees shooting right outside Carle Hospital. 
• Champaign gun incidents over Halloween weekend.

Illinois Newsroom had coverage on the two recent threats at local high schools here.

More community coalition and community violence related news article recently:

• The local United Way has grants available for programs addressing community violence. From Smile Politely.
• Smile Politely also reported that the C-U Trauma and Resiliency Initiative is hiring for various community support positions.

October County Roundup

There was a lot going on at the County level this month. I'm still not caught up with the latest on the Jail discussions, but there are links to last night's meeting below. Redistricting and budgeting priorities once again dominated the conversations.

The News-Gazette had coverage of the discussions going into the federal relief funds (ARPA) and how the various Board members were prioritizing plans from progressive projects to local facility needs. Excerpt from the News-Gazette coverage earlier this month:

While board Democrats are noting the categories of projects they want to prioritize, specific projects within those categories will need to be studied before projects can proceed, Patterson said.

A substantial amount of the federal money will be spent on county facilities, he said, and while the jail is one of those facilities in need of attention, it’s unlikely that a large portion of the $41 million would go toward a jail project...

Republican board member Brad Passalacqua said Republicans haven’t drafted a formal proposal for where the $41 million should be spent, but have made their views known at public meetings.

Republicans support a significant amount of the funds going to solve some of the problems with the county jail in downtown Urbana and the satellite jail and for much-needed broadband infrastructure throughout the county, he said.

That full article here. WCIA had a more extensive look at the jail consolidation needs and cost issues earlier in October here. There was a Jail Facilities Committee meeting last night, but I haven't had a chance to review it yet. The video is available here on the County's YouTube channel.

In addition to the latest jail discussion updates, the Board approved funding for two more Sheriff's deputies. Republicans had pushed for adding funding for four more deputies during the debates on budget and need. Excerpt from the News-Gazette coverage prior to the regular Board meeting vote:

Heuerman said his recommendation would be to add four deputies, but he welcomed the addition of two more.

“We could always use more deputies,” the sheriff said Wednesday. “I could absolutely use the four.”

The additional two deputies had been negotiated as part of the budgeting process with County Executive Darlene Kloeppel based on what money the county has available, he said.

Heuerman said adding two deputies will cost the county $242,000, including salary, benefits, equipment and training.

That full article here. WCIA's coverage, including a video segment, also noted the Sheriff's hope that the additional funding for two more deputies may come with the next budget.

Another big issue this month was finally working out the last details of the County Board district map with the late census data. The delayed census meant that the various proposed maps were working off of estimates to meet the usual deadlines. There was a lot of fighting within the local Democratic party in addition to disputes with the Republicans leading up to this point. The final map was approved over the objections of the Democratic County Executive and Republicans on the board. The News-Gazette had the map and coverage of the disagreements. Excerpt:

[County Board member Jim Goss] said Friday that while Democrats did their job in coming up with a map that equalized population variance among districts, this latest map also leaves his district, District 1, with an area of 388 square miles.

“It’s just ridiculously large,” he said.

Under the new map, seven board districts favor Democratic candidates, three favor Republicans, and one, District 5 in northwest Champaign, is a toss-up.

That full article here. The News-Gazette also had an article previewing this month's map debate here. Illinois Newsroom had coverage of the latest map approval here.

There was a Victory over Violence town hall and panel discussion including local activists, organizations, and the Champaign County Sheriff. The full video is available on the Champaign Government TV channel online here.

The News-Gazette also had an overview of the history and latest updates on the Champaign County Crime Stoppers program. Excerpt:

Today, the process is significantly more sophisticated.

When calls come in, they’re routed to a company in Canada called Northern Communications, where identifying information is stripped. A random number is then given to the caller, who is answered by employees of a company called Alternative Answers. Information is taken down and recorded in an app called “P3 Tips.” Tipsters can also submit directly to the app or at champaigncountycrimestoppers.com.

The fact that calls are routed to Canada is not random happenstance. Canadian law protects the information that might identify a tipster, Geoff Coon, the agency’s current law-enforcement coordinator.

That full article here. WCIA reported that there were some unusual thefts of weather research equipment highlighted by the Crime Stoppers program this month here.

There were many other County items in the news this month as well:

• C-U at Home homeless shelters are extending their hours according to WCIA.

• The eviction moratorium has ended, spurring local protests reported on by the Daily Illini as well as WCCU.

• Smile Politely has links for the public health district's Community Needs Survey here.

• Central Illinois on track to a record harvest this year from Illinois Newsroom.

• WCIA had an investigative report on habitual offenders and the criminal justice system in Central Illinois, including Champaign County.

• The News-Gazette had an interview with the new executive director of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District.

• Proposed County staff bonuses in the new budget (still pending final approval), also from the News-Gazette.

• MTD updates, including staff shortages and a new zero-emission bus from the Daily Illini. More on the hydrogen bus from Illinois Newsroom here.

• More Democratic infighting and dirty laundry shared in conservative Jim Dey's opinion columns in the News-Gazette.

• Illinois Newsroom also had a great deal of news on the news itself, declining newspapers and alternative media, etc. There's a list of the latest articles under the "journalism" tag on their site here.

Jail Updates

There have been a number of recent special committee meetings involving jail consolidation planning and funding. I only briefly touched on the subject in the September Roundup last week. For folks wanting more information on the decisions coming up in the next couple months, here is some additional information and helpful links:

The latest "jail committee" meetings. These are special meetings of the County Board's Facilities Committee and delve more into the planning and facility needs:

• 10/6/2021 Jail Committee Video on the County's YouTube channel This meeting got into more details about potential funding scenarios with bonds up to $20 million (scenario overviews start on page 10 of the PDF file here). Brief overview from the Action Report here.
• 9/8/2021 Jail Committee Video. Action Report brief here.

The latest special Finance Committee of the Whole meetings dealing with a lot of the ARPA federal emergency relief funds available to the County:

• 9/30/2021 special Finance Committee of the Whole meeting video. The agenda packet included a list of proposed ARPA funded projects starting on page 3 (page 4 of the PDF file here). During the meeting there was discussion on what direction to give staff on the budget (though no actual votes were taken to appropriate any money at this time). Many Republican County board members advocated for using ARPA funds to ensure the jail consolidation needs were finally addressed. Democrats generally agreed with the need for jail consolidation, but disagreed on whether or how much ARPA funding should go towards paying for it.

Earlier this year the County Board had a presentation from the Sheriff on the safety issues at the downtown and satellite jail facilities. From a January cheat sheet post with links to the video and written reports:

January's Facilities Committee, which usually deals with more mundane planning and projects for the vast properties the County government owns and operates, was a good start. With a new County Board the Champaign County Sheriff had an overview of the Main and Satellite jail buildings, safety issues, and pandemic updates. The agenda packet with safety inspections on both facilities is available here. The full meeting video is available here.

The dire state of the downtown jail means it could be shut down at any time due to non-compliance and other safety issues. The current satellite jail is not currently able to meet the needs required to safely separate and house the entire population. There are both concerns of violence, medical needs and safety issues for staff and those being held in the facilities.

The funding for any consolidation plans was already controversial. There has been a long local fight about whether to invest funds into more jail facilities or local programs and services in the build up to the current crisis (a look at our Jail page that hasn't been updated in a while covers some of the earlier bases). The division is mostly along more subtle and incremental criminal justice reform ideas and those communities and organizations wanting significant action to curtail mass incarceration policies over the past couple generations. The NAACP report on local criminal justice issues is probably a good general place to start on that topic locally.

The opposition to jail funding has generally been an argument to finally address the needs of traditionally underserved communities instead of using the criminal justice system as the only tool to address the problems that emerge from their segregation and neglect. The support of the jail funding has generally been viewing those solutions as long term, while dealing with the current criminal justice system needs. Over the years both sides of the issue often feel that lack of action and support has led to the current jail and violence crises.

Using the federal emergency relief funds may technically apply to a project like jail consolidation under the funding rules. Given the impact of the pandemic to vulnerable communities, however, the use of those funds for a jail instead of the needs of those communities is untenable to some. It provides a funding option to get the jail consolidation project done for a county with almost no wiggle room in its budget already.

In spite of the County Jail being the responsibility of the County government, there was also some open talk of the cities of Champaign and Urbana possibly chipping in with their ARPA funding, given the overlap of use and need. Given the statutory separation of responsibility, however, this would likely be a non-starter with either City government according to some in that same committee conversation.

There does appear to be some signs towards a compromise of some ARPA funding and borrowing to make it happen among Democrats and Republicans on the board. It may end up being a compromise where nobody is happy, but perhaps avoids a bigger catastrophe.

September Roundup: Evictions and Jail Updates

As folks can certainly tell, we're still very much behind and finding it impossible to keep up with all the recent changes, pandemic related issues, and news coverage. In some ways there's more local government information easily accessible and available than ever. Unfortunately the pandemic also really affected availability and shook up everyone's lives. Hopefully we'll be able to get back up to a regular schedule of coverage again soon. Here's a quick County Roundup of news and issues:

Some of the biggest news is that the eviction moratorium has expired and eviction cases have already begun to flow through the local courts. From WCIA earlier this week:

After a year and a half, the pause on evictions in Illinois is now officially over. That means anyone who hasn’t been able to keep up with rent can face being kicked out of their home.

“It’s absolutely terrifying, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and these are people,” Corinne Chamberlain, from Danville, said...

On Monday, and Tuesday, no cases were filed. Wednesday, there were two. Then, Thursday, 28 evictions were filed, and Friday, four.

Judge Olstead said Thursday’s cases came from the same law firm. He expects a large case load come Monday morning. 57 are on the docket.

Full article available here with links to previous articles on the topic. Assistance information from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission is available here. There was brief coverage of a local protest in the Daily Illini earlier in September here.

From the News-Gazette last week:

Community violence interventions, expanding broadband internet service and help for stormwater drainage issues are among the projects Champaign County Democrats are prioritizing for the use of about $41 million in federal funding the county will get over two years.

The Champaign County Board has received dozens of requests for use of the funds the county will be allocated from the coronavirus relief bill that Congress passed in March, and has devoted several sessions to hearing from community groups, county department heads and members of the public explaining why their projects should be funded...

Republican board member Brad Passalacqua said Republicans haven’t drafted a formal proposal for where the $41 million should be spent, but have made their views known at public meetings.

Republicans support a significant amount of the funds going to solve some of the problems with the county jail in downtown Urbana and the satellite jail and for much-needed broadband infrastructure throughout the county, he said.

Full article here. The jail situation continues to be a crisis situation that needs to be resolved before a court ruling or other event forces the close of the downtown jail. Taking money from relief funds meant for the area's most vulnerable population for jail consolidation costs may be a political non-starter however. More on the Sheriff's ask and the committee seeking to address the issue from WCIA here.

Other County government related news items from this last month:

• Champaign County Circuit Clerk's amnesty week for fines and fees is coming up.
• A local immigration task force was honored for its local work with immigrants.
• The Champaign County Forest Preserve District has a new director.
• County Board of Review vacancy update from 9/14/2021. More from WCIA here.
• Drainage projects that could use federal relief funding presented to the Environment and Land Use Committee.
• More on County district maps now that the delayed census data is available.

Catching Up - June County Updates

Sometimes the Cheat Sheet gets behind and we have to catch up. The process involved can be helpful to anyone wanting to get caught up on what's been going on at the County Board and other County government bodies lately. Over the last few years we've attended and watched endless local government and organization meetings with notes filling up the filing cabinet. When we don't have anyone available, we have to play catch up, and we start with the local press. To jump to information on other resources, click one of the links below:

• County Board and Government Resources
• County Board Members
• Other Organization Meetings

Local Press:

The local press can be complicated for activists on various issues or political ideologies, but as a general rule I'd encourage supporting the local paper. For those with serious grievances, one might have to rely on access through their local library's online tools. For most people, a simple key word search for Champaign County Board on the website will do (sorting by "start time" so you get recent articles as opposed to years ago):

You can usually get more hits by searching from within the News-Gazette's eEdition tools, but you'll have to skip over a lot of Section D legal notices too! Here's a list of County Board articles and updates in June:

• The Board of Review seats are now all vacant after ongoing appointment battles and recent resignations. 
• An earlier article had more general coverage of the June County Board meeting here, including highlighting the support for rural broadband internet expansion. It is missing coverage of the mental health care related vote that failed to pass, however (see more on that below).
• There was additional coverage of the discussions behind the feasibility and fairness of extra compensation for County employees who had to work in-person during the pandemic.

There's almost always some hidden gems in the search results that might not appear related to the County Board in the preview text. There's usually an article or two related to County government, if not necessarily County Board business:

• Barbara Scott, a former elected Champaign County Board member, died.
• Jonathon Westfield died. He was active in local politics, a former police officer, and criminal justice issues including coordinator at the Youth Assessment Center.
• There was a profile of Champaign County Auditor George Danos.
• And there was some concern over profanity at a board meeting and YouTube rules addressed in an article and a letter to the editor.

The May and April County Board updates are covered in a separate post here.

Other local news sources can be more hit or miss on something as specific as the business of the local County Board, but tend to pick up other angles on bigger news items or additional news not picked up by other outlets. WCIA has a "Champaign County" local news page here where you can keep loading articles further back in time or a simple keyword search. For example, from WCIA's coverage in June:

• More details about the Board of Review situation, resignations, and documentation.
• Additional coverage on Jonathon Westfield.
• Updates on the Delta variant of COVID from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District including a recent update yesterday and one earlier this month here.

Other area television news stations include WAND and WICS/WCCU which often have some local coverage in Champaign County. WAND's search function is similar to the News-Gazette website. WICS's Fox Illinois web search feature is a bit more limited and will mix in some older results relevant to the keywords as well. For June there was a County government related story worth noting from WICS here:

• There Sheriff's office hired a social worker as part of its new justice diversion program.

Between the local newspaper and one of the local tv news station searches you'll probably get a decent gist of what's happening when checking out the agenda of the next County Board or committee meetings you're interested in.

There is almost always more out there if you've got the time or have another preferred local news source. Some good examples of sources we cite regularly here on the Cheat Sheet include the Daily Illini, Smile Politely, and Illinois Newsroom / WILL. Here's some County news item examples that pop up in basic keyword searchers in June:

• DI: HUD emergency housing voucher updates with the Housing Authority of Champaign County.
• DI: Updates on the MTD terminal expansion project.
• SP: Vaccine programs for underserved communities.
• SP: Information on the Champaign County Forest Preserve District and League of Women Voters Summer Concert series.
• SP: Information on the limited Independence Day festivities and fireworks this year.
• IN: Overdoses and homicides are up in Champaign County and Illinois generally.
• IN: More details on the County Board's process towards expanding rural broadband.

As you can see, broader search keywords (e.g. Champaign County) on these websites will pop up other local government bodies and issues from the MTD to the Forest Preserve to the Housing Authority. All of which have unique relationships and collaborations with local government, funding sources, and governing bodies.

Of course the most comprehensive source of information about the County Board and County government is directly from the source.

County Board and Government Resources:

Meeting information, including agendas, agenda packets, minutes, etc are available on the County website here. We have some basic information on the overall structure of the County government under the Executive Form of County Government here. The general flow of County Board meetings each month tends to start with committee meetings where a smaller group of County Board members look at a set of issues and items and make recommendations or move resolutions towards the full board for a vote. The Committee of the Whole meetings are generally the next step where all the committee and other resolutions before the board are either moved to the full regular meeting of the County Board for a final vote or discussed, amended, etc.

The regular County Board meeting tends to pass uncontroversial items with unanimous support from the Committee of the Whole before moving on to other votes that can be contentious or pass fairly easily. Certain votes, like budget votes that increase spending, can often require a supermajority to pass.

June's regular County Board meeting agenda packet is available here. The most recent videos of the County Board meetings are available on the County's facebook page (and later the County Clerk's YouTube channel here after it is processed). The June regular County Board meeting is available here.

Even with the beginning of the meeting cut off, the video of just this meeting is over two and half hours long. For folks with limited time, jumping to agenda items of interest can be a bit of a guess and test. I have a process of jumping ahead and listening to hear which agenda item the Board is on to see if I jumped too far, or not far enough.

The debate on the mental health funding resolutions begins just before the 1:42 (hour:minute) mark on the facebook video here with a reading of the first resolution. The resolutions were discussed and voted on together. Both required 15 votes to pass. The agenda had a long description of the item purpose:

This [American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)] funding will be utilized by the CCMHB to expand grant funding for local agencies providing mental health and substance abuse treatment services to individuals and families in Champaign County. This expanded grant funding will allow local agencies to continue to strive to meet the growing need for these services in Champaign County. The CCMHB grant year runs from July 1 through June 30. In order to provide consistent, uninterrupted grant funding for these local agencies throughout the entirety of the upcoming grant year, 50% of the ARPA funding will be utilized from July 1 through December 31 of FY21. The remaining 50% of ARPA funds will be utilized from January 1 through June 30 of FY22.

The debate and discussion revolved around the timing and a disagreement about why this specific ARPA funding needs to be approved so quickly compared to other funding to be discussed in future meetings. This approval would only be for a small percentage of the overall funding, but related to programs and grants that need more immediate funding. It failed mostly along partisan lines with Democrats in support and Republicans opposing.

A deeper dive into the details of this resolution and the programs involved is available in the agenda packet on pages 98-122 (pages 103 through 127 of the PDF).

County Board Members:

Beyond the arguments you might hear in the County Board and committee meetings themselves, County Board members are generally happy to explain their votes and positions on issues from previous meetings. You can contact them from their contact information on the County website here and district maps on the County Clerk's website here (currently more up to date than the Cheat Sheet with Samantha Carter joining the Board). If you follow them on social media, you might get long arguments on various subjects or links to more information and resources.

Often Republicans and Democrats will simply complain about the other being partisan or political, like Board member Jim Goss criticizing the Democratic majority's redistricting vote last month. This month Democrats complained about the Mental Health care vote, such as on board member Jennifer Traub's public facebook page that took issue with a few Republicans leaving without putting their name to a no vote. Board member Samantha Carter echoed the frustration on her own public page and shared a longer criticism of the Republican no votes and not voting.

One can sometimes find some public comments or even extended arguments by board members on various local social media groups and neighborhood apps as well.

Other Organization Meetings:

Following up with the various impacted organizations and communities related to or directly affected by County Board votes is probably one of the more difficult and time consuming end of catching up on County Board business. It's also probably one of the most important. It'll be interesting to see if there's any discussion on this contentious funding vote in the upcoming Mental Health Board meetings next month at the end of July. 

The previous MHB meeting in June, just prior to the regular County Board meeting had some discussion on the violence in the community as it relates to mental health starting with MHB President Joseph Omo-Osagie and then Executive Director Lynn Canfield at around the 9:15 mark in the meeting video (agenda available here). Lynn Canfield's report directly addressed the County Board resolution, the doubts about whether the vote may succeed, and what that may mean going forward.

Follow up on the rural broadband issue will likely be simpler to follow up as the Board works through the issue in study sessions like the one last night (agenda packet available under the Committee of the Whole page). That meeting video (the first fully in person County Board meeting since the pandemic) is available here. It has presentations on the County's role in broadband expansion, groups and service providers with introductory information on the topic. This is working towards work that will be done by the "broadband committee" going forward.

It's definitely a challenge to keep up with all of the various local government and organizations related to local government on the County level and the C-U Local Cheat Sheet. The goal is still to help make it easier to stay informed and involved in your local government.

May and April County Board Roundup

The most recent June update on the County Board is available here.

In April, the County Board:

• Seated a new County Board member Samantha Carter sworn in as recently appointed member Cameron Raab had to resign after moving to a new local home that is outside the District 6 boundaries. 
• Renamed the Shields Meeting Room (also known as Meeting Room 1 and the primary meeting area for the County Board) to the "Shields-Carter Meeting Room" to additionally honor Champaign County Board Member, Lloyd Carter Jr.
• There was also a lot of the ground work for May's redistricting map fight with two tracks of County Board members and the County Executive working group also working on maps and asking for public input.
• Board members explained threats and safety concerns on why some listed the County's administrative building as their address.
• The County Board sought input on reforms to the County's Animal Control department (WCIA. More from WICS here).
• The Municipal Consolidated Election results for many local governments were certified. Smile Politely's editorial board had analysis of the results here.

The April Committee of the Whole agenda packet is available here, minutes here, and the video is available here. 

The April regular County Board meeting links: agenda packet, minutes, and video. The County Clerk's presentation slides on election cost savings are available here. There was a brief discussion of why the County Board videos are no longer available at the IBM streaming link. From the minutes:

Board Chair Patterson asked why the meetings are no longer being streamed via IBM, leaving Facebook Live as the only available streaming of the meetings, and that not all past meetings are available on Facebook. County Executive Kloeppel stated IBM has ceased operations and the County is exploring other options; the unavailability of past meetings is due to technical issues with the recording.

May:

The big news from May was the Champaign County district map fight which ended with the Democratic majority choosing the map they preferred over the County Executive's veto (and support of her own redistricting group's recommendations). From the News-Gazette:

As expected, all 14 board Democrats at the Friday evening meeting again voted in favor of the reapportionment map they’d voted for May 20, easily overriding Kloeppel’s veto.

The new map, called the “equity” map, will affect the next decade’s worth of board elections by adjusting boundaries for the 11 districts.

The work of Democratic board Chairman Kyle Patterson, the equity map designates two districts, 6 and 11 in northern Champaign and Urbana, as majority-minority districts intended to maximize minority-voter impact.

More at the full article here. It details Republican complaints on the timing of the Special Meeting for the veto and some technical issues on census requirements that could cause legal problems depending on how closely the late Census data matches two different estimates used by the redistricting maps. Illinois Newsroom had more coverage on the redistricting issue and the veto override here.

There is additional coverage of May County Board meeting specifically over the redistricting map fight from the News-Gazette here and WCIA here.

Links for the Committee of the Whole meeting: agenda packet, minutes, and video.

Links for the regular County Board meeting: agenda packet and video.

There was also the first "Finance Committee Study Session" which had a great deal of community input on various uses for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief funds coming to the County: agenda packet, minutes, and video. The minutes have run down of the public input at the meeting here on page two. The agenda packet also has public input in the form of numerous letters sent to the committee starting on page two of the packet.

Reentry Council and Summit of Hope

There was a virtual "Summit of Hope" for reentry programs and services available in Champaign County last month. It involved many participants and service providers who work with the Champaign County Reentry Council. The Reentry Council has also had a couple meetings since the last update on the Cheat Sheet in January. A quick reminder of what the Reentry Council is:

The purpose of the Reentry Council of Champaign County is to provide a means of communication and coordination among community organizations, public officials, advocates, and others involved in the community response to persons returning to Champaign County from incarceration in federal prison, state prison, or the county jail. The Council also receives and reviews data regarding jail bookings, jail-based screenings, and connections to services for the purpose of coordinating community services and planning. The Council receives regular reports from organizations providing reentry and related services, reviews funding opportunities, and recommends actions which will enhance public safety, reduce recidivism, and improve outcomes for those returning from incarceration and their families.

The February Reentry Council meeting had program updates and information on the March virtual "Summit of Hope" event. The April Reentry Council meeting had a couple new faces. Alicia Beck joined as the new Parkland College SWFT director. Among the many programs SWFT offers, Director Beck says they're looking for more people interested in their Construction program. Lieutenant Cory Koker of the Urbana Police Department joined the Council (Lieutenant Joel Sanders is now Chief at another police department). As a leader for the Urbana PD's Crisis Intervention Team (More on CIT and mental health). he's likely to be a critical player in the One Door pilot program being implemented by Urbana and in collaboration with Champaign.

There were two presentations this month at the Reentry Council. The first was by Stephanie Cockrell, Executive Director of The Well Experience. She highlighted the ReNew HER program and other services for Black women and teenage girls. The programs include trauma informed and culturally relevant care that include reentry and other services for well being.

The second presentation was by Caleb Brooks with Navis Health and the upcoming official opening of two homes for substance abuse detox services. The openings will be on April 15th in two Champaign locations.

Summit of Hope

The full video of the Champaign County virtual Summit of Hope event is available on the Champaign County Community Coalition's facebook page here. It is a series of presentations on the latest services and programs available for people reentering the community from incarceration. The State's program webpage has a brief general description:

The Summit of Hope is a community expo that will bring service providers together to provide the necessary services and resources to ex-offenders with the mission to guide and assist ex-offenders with community services to ensure reintegration into the community while reducing recidivism...

Each participant is assisted by a volunteer who guides each parolee through the maze of services and exhibits. Services that will be offered include: State identification, counseling, transportation, food, clothing, shelter, child support services, primary health care referrals, screening for blood pressure, vision, HIV testing and care, veterans’ information, Social Security Administration, employment services, mock interviews, education/training services and a variety of other social service agencies and you. Numerous faith-based organizations will also lend a helping hand to assist this group to get back on the right track and to stay there.

The pandemic restrictions limited the event to a virtual event this year, but it is hoped that eventually an in-person event can be had to better assist locally. The Education Justice Project has reentry services guides here. The Champaign County Sheriff's Office and Rosecrance also offer printed fliers (generally available with the free materials in the jail waiting room) with local services. First Followers Reentry Program can also help connect people to various services and assistance.

March County Roundup

Early voting has started for everyone in Champaign County for the Consolidated General Election (times and locations available here from the County Clerk's website). A non-partisan candidate guide is available here and more voter information here. More on the Champaign Counter Voter Alliance and election turnout information by Fox Illinois, yesterday here.

We may be a step closer to having a functional weather radio tower again in Champaign County. From WAND:

The U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) has signed a new tower lease to restore NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) WXJ-76 service to Champaign and Piatt counties.

Champaign and Piatt counties have had little to no NWR service since the previous tower became inoperable on Feb. 20, 2020...

According to NOAA, the next step is for a structural analysis to be done soon to ensure the new tower location can support the NOAA Weather Radio Transmitter antenna and associated equipment. Once the structural analysis is done, NOAA will then execute the lease with the tower owner. Once the lease is executed, the installation of equipment can take place.

Full article here. Previous updates here. Last summer it looked like they had found a tower, but that fell through.

In other news relevant to Champaign County government:

• The Champaign-Urbana Health District in cooperation with Carle Hospital and the United Way released its latest community health plan (coverage from WAND here). The full 2021-2023 Community Health Improvement Plan document is available here and is worth at least skimming for all sorts of local data maps and useful information beyond health care.

• The recording of the Champaign County Summit of Hope for reentry programs and services from earlier this month is available on the Champaign County Community Coalition's facebook page here.

• The latest Champaign County vaccination updates were covered by the Daily Illini here.

• The Champaign County Forest Preserve is still raising funds for its "Peninsula" accessibility project. More on that from the News-Gazette here.

• A ballot error incorrectly describing a race for two year terms as for four year terms was noted by WCIA, but isn't considered to have any significant impact on voting itself according to the County Clerk. The News-Gazette had additional coverage on the error and voting in the County here.

• Champaign County Crime Stoppers has a scholarship opportunity for local youths. More on that from WAND here and the Crime Stoppers website here.

• The University's saliva testing program for local communities was advancing. WAND had coverage on that here. The County Executive noted that a third of the County Staff had been vaccinated and they had arranged a contract with OSF for rapid COVID testing available for staff at the end of the March regular County Board meeting.

• Savoy has the possibility of becoming another "home rule" locality in Champaign County on the April 6th ballot this election. Illinois Newsroom has coverage of that here.

There are still some openings and vacancies among the appointed positions in the County. The list is available on the County Executive's page here. Information on how to submit an application is available here. An overview of County appointments information is available here on the Cheat Sheet.

County Board Updates

March was a busy month for local government, and the Champaign County Board was no exception. The biggest issue had to do with the continued delays related to the County's finances. County Board members from both parties appeared to give credit to the improving situation in the Treasurer's office under the newly elected C.J. Johnson, but the fallout from her fellow Democratic Party predecessors has left the Auditor facing questions about his role as an "independent watchdog for taxpayers." Programs that depend on timely audit reports have been put in jeopardy by delays. From the News-Gazette a couple week ago:

Champaign County is facing a potential freeze on its state and federal grant funding because the 2019 county audit remains unfinished.

The county’s Regional Planning Commission and Children’s Advocacy Center have already received notices of a funding suspension from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and County Executive Darlene Kloeppel said more county offices could potentially receive similar notices...

At a special session of the RPC board meeting Friday morning, CEO Dalitso Sulamoyo said the bulk of its $34 million budget — about 90 percent — comes from federal and state grant money, some of which helps pay for critical services for some of the county’s most vulnerable people.

That full article with a lot of additional information here. The RPC's Dalitso Sulamoyo also spoke during public participation at the beginning of the regular County Board meeting (at the 10:25 mark in the video here).

The County Board has approved temporary funding to ensure the RPC continues to function, but it remains critical for the overdue audit to be completed as soon as possible to prevent further loss of reputation and program funding. More from the News-Gazette after the regular County Board meeting (agenda, other handouts, addendum and auditor memo available here, video):

Champaign County will make a short-term loan of up to $5.3 million to the county Regional Planning Commission to help the agency through a state and federal funding freeze resulting from the county’s overdue 2019 audit.

The county board approved the move Thursday night, but not before some Republican members chastised Democratic Auditor George Danos about the late audit and called on him to resign...

Of the $5.3 million loan being made to the RPC from the county’s general fund, $2 million will be covered by reserves and the balance will come from a general-obligation promissory note not to exceed $3.3 million.

The county will pay up to 4.4 percent interest and a $10,000 bond counsel fee on the note, according to Deputy Finance Director Tami Ogden.

That full article here. In coverage following up on this situation, the RPC's executive noted that these issues may arise again if the audit work isn't completed by May 1st. WCIA also had coverage on the audit issue with video segments here and here.

The debate on changing the Deputy Treasurer position and paygrade to better reflect the actual duties of the office was mainly during the Committee of the Whole meeting on March 9th (agenda, video). The position hadn't been reevaluated since 2009. Many of the concerns involved whether one looked at this like a raise for the duties previous office holders held before, or correcting the pay for an office that has long been underpaid for the actual duties it performs compared to its description and paygrade. The board eventually approved the changes, with an additional compromise (lower on the pay scale than the mid-point proposed).

At this same Committee of the Whole meeting, Wayne Williams, Cunningham Township Assessor, raised concerns about redistricting delays because of the 2020 Census data delays. He encouraged approval of the new maps by the statutory deadlines regardless of the Census delays. There was also a helpful presentation for understanding the County's FY2020 Budget with a slides and breakdowns for folks who want to get into the nitty gritty of the County's financial situation. It included an overview of the Nursing Home issues related to the budget still (presentation slides, video at 1:16:40 mark)

Other March Committee Meetings:

The Facilities Committee (agenda, video) is still reviewing and approving the various projects to repair the roof and HVAC damage from the hail storm that damaged numerous County buildings as well as a large project for the Satellite Jail's outdated system (on a similar schedule to the hail damage process). Some RPC staff were complaining about air quality and related medical concerns at one of their offices in a County facility. Testing is being conducted to pinpoint the problem.

The Downtown Jail came up in regards to the indoor recreation room that is currently out of service and need extensive work to be safe and usable again. This raised the issue of how long the Downtown Jail will be operational at all. It remains possible for the facility to be shutdown at any time due to legal and safety issues. Dana Brenner, Facilities Director, expressed his hope that the Downtown Jail facility remains operational at least for the next year. There is currently no workable alternative or plan being actively considered to deal with its sudden closure. This remains a serious problem for the County government. Complicating this is a great deal of vocal of opposition for more investment or expansion of incarceration systems locally and across the nation.

The Environment and Land Use Committee (agenda, video) had part 3 of 5 of its waste management overview (starts at the 11:45 mark of the video).