County Updates for August

Meeting Coverage:

The News-Gazette had brief coverage of this month's Committee of the Whole meeting (agenda, video) for the County Board:

Coming next Thursday: the start of 2023 county board budget discussions, including the distribution of the second batch of American Rescue Plan funding. At this week’s committee-of-thewhole meeting, members moved forward with placing on a future consent agenda 16 appointments to fill expiring terms for drainage districts and cemetery association boards...

More at the full blurb in the 8/12 "Meeting Minutes" feature with additional appointment names listed.

August's regular County Board meeting (agenda, agenda addendum, video) began with public participation by Dave Beck of AFSCME regarding ongoing negotiations with the County government for a contract. Brad Gould from the Veterans’ Assistance Commission then gave a presentation on "Operation Green Light" to highlight veterans in the community. There was a discussion on getting the process started to officially support the initiative by the County Board.

Member Jim McGuire raised the issue of ballot order and access to sample ballots to ensure Republicans are listed correctly in the assigned order. He had some additional concerns about applications through the Clerk and Recorder's office. Member Jim Goss joined him with concerns on the list of general election polling places in rural areas as well. The vote on polling places fell along partisan lines.

Intergovernmental agreements with the Housing Authority of Champaign County on a few different ARPA funded programs were passed by voice vote without discussion or any apparent opposition.

The rest of the meeting and the bulk of the meeting was taken up by discussion on ARPA related programs, recommendations, and including presentations from the "iRead iCount" program and Habitat For Humanity. There was also a report (with recommendations) from the Broadband Task Force committee on using ARPA funds to fill in the rural gap in broadband internet access. That task force's most recent meetings and documents are available here (August meeting agenda, video).

County Clerk and Recorder Campaign News:

The 2022 campaign for County Clerk and Recorder got a little more interesting with a recent Tom Kacich interview with the Republican candidate, Terrence Stuber. Excerpt:

“2020 did a number on everyone’s faith in the election process, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on. If there are questions like that, something’s wrong,” he said.

But when asked if those questions are valid, Stuber said, “Who knows? Right now, we’re only hearing one side of the story.”

And when asked if Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, Stuber hedged and said only, “I don’t know if he truly was the winner or not, but I do think it is definitely the time to move past it.”

He questioned why so many University of Illinois students vote in local elections, a longtime source of pain and frustration for Republicans whose candidates tend to do poorly in campus precincts.

That full article here. His Democratic opponent and incumbent Aaron Ammons immediately criticized the statements on social media. Excerpts:

Even in the wake of the January 6th attack, the overwhelming evidence of the Jan 6th Committee Hearings, the countless Experienced, Trained Election Officials, Democrats AND Republicans, who have said under oath that there’s no election fraud, numerous Audits, hand Recounts, and a 7 MILLION vote difference, my opponent STILL won’t say Donald Trump Lost the Presidential Election in 2020! And he wants you to trust him counting your votes!! 

The County Clerk’s Job is to administer Fair, Free, and ACCESSIBLE elections but my opponent said in a recent interview with the News Gazette that he would “eliminate” the drop boxes that voters use to return their mail in ballots! You can’t run for an office that requires voter accessibility and campaign on limiting access!? 

... 

It’s views like the ones recently espoused by my Republican opponent that create fertile ground for the misinformation and the disinformation that led to chants of “hang Mike Pence” on the United States Capital grounds just a little over a year ago. 

That full statement from Ammons is available here on his campaign facebook page. Stuber's comments on the Kacich interview on his campaign facebook page noted that the "article is an accurate representation of the time we spent together."

Other County Updates:

• The News-Gazette highlighted Sheriff's Deputy and School Resource Officer Shawn Hallett in their 8/19 "Meeting Minutes" feature.
• Remembering Kent Weeks with the Champaign County Fair board from the News-Gazette.
• The News-Gazette enumerated the tax revenue gained in the first half of 2022 by gambling machines in towns across Champaign County here.
• Bike clearance signs are going up around the County according to WCIA.
• Sheriff's office warnings about tall corn and stopping at rural intersections.
• WCCU reporting that first responders throughout the County are training for mass attacks.
• Smile Politely had local features on the area impact of Monkeypox and climate change.

Area Gun Violence Updates:

Some of the latest updates on local gun violence can be found with the monthly Champaign County Community Coalition meeting (latest Police Chief Updates just after the 28 minute mark in the video here). The News-Gazette covered the topic of unruly late night gatherings raised in the update here. The News-Gazette had an overview of the July meeting updates here, that got into the details of the recent decreases in gun violence from the high spikes in recent years. Excerpt:

Local police chiefs and staff, city officials and program leaders led another packed monthly coalition meeting on Wednesday in its second-ever gathering at the Radisson Hotel in Urbana.

An early focus: Area police departments are detecting a decreased level of community gun violence compared to last year’s record pace.

• For Jan. 1-July 11, 2022, Champaign police reported a 51 percent decrease in confirmed shootings compared to the same period last year (145 shootings versus 71 shootings).
• In Urbana, there’s been a near 52 percent drop in the same period (54 shootings versus 26 shootings), interim Chief Richard Surles said. So far, Urbana has seen two gun homicides this year; there were 10 in all of 2021.

Last month brought a particular drop in gun incidents: There was only one confirmed shooting in Urbana this June, and 29 days elapsed until the next one on July 5. Meanwhile, the Urbana Police Department has arrested 12 people for homicide in 2022.

That full article here. Earlier this month the Cheat Sheet had updates on the closing of the downtown Jail and boarding adult and juvenile prisoners outside of the county due to staff and space issues.

Police Staffing

The News-Gazette's weekly "Meeting Minutes" feature on 7/29 included updates on police staffing in Champaign-Urbana, the County Sheriff's office (eEdition link with chart. For the website link click here) and many other local towns and neighboring County offices (subscription eEdition link). The cities of Champaign and Urbana both have the largest vacancy gaps to fill. At the time of this article it showed roughly 30 openings in Champaign and Urbana, but just a handful of openings across the County Sheriff's Office, Rantoul PD, UIPD, and Parkland police combined (this has likely changed some in the last month).

The University of Illinois Police Department is taking over some of the patrol duties in the Champaign areas of campus town to help alleviate the stress on the CPD's staffing shortage. Illinois Newsroom had more details about that agreement here. Excerpt:

Faced with a shortage of officers, the city of Champaign will pay $840,000 per year to the U of I  for the patrol services. 

U of I Assistant Police Chief Tim Hetrick said the new patrols will operate from Neil Street to the city’s eastern border at Wright Street, and south from Springfield Avenue to Windsor Road. He said two officers will be on duty for each shift...

The Champaign City Council voted last April to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the university to provide the patrol services for two years (with an option for a third).

More at the full article here.

The University of Illinois Police Department also had updates on its crisis response pilot program. From the News-Gazette earlier this month:

Last academic year was the pilot for the University of Illinois Police Department’s new co-response model for mental health calls, which pairs UI behavioral detectives with trained social workers.

As part of the Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help initiative, or REACH team, social workers called crisis responders ride along on patrol and show up to scenes of mental distress, taking the lead on interventions.

After a promising first year, the police department is seeking additional funds to hire at least one more crisis responder to fill coverage gaps... 

The UI police department is working with research groups in and out of the university to publish information about what they’ve learned, to inform other crisis responders. The department just created a qualitative survey tool to send out to the individuals contacted by REACH.

That full article here.

Beyond Champaign County

The local drop in gun violence from previous highs in recent years appears to mirror trends throughout Illinois and nationally:

• Chicago Tribune from last month: "Cautious optimism as Chicago sees statistical decline in gun violence, even as downtown takes spotlight for crime in the first half of 2022"
• And from the New York Times earlier this month: "A Drop in Murders: Despite the grim headlines, 2022 is less violent so far than last year."

County Board July Updates

 

There were a lot of updates on the Champaign County jail situation, with the closure of the downtown jail and other related safety, space, and jail consolidation plan news. That's in a separate jail update Cheat Sheet post here.

The News-Gazette had coverage previewing the meeting:

Up for consideration by the board Thursday is a recommendation from its Community Violence Prevention Task Force to use some of the county’s federal coronavirus relief funding to make first-year grants to the following organizations for violence-reduction programs, including:

• $500,000 to the new H3 Coalition launched by First Followers.
• $500,000 for DREAAM House.
• $385,000 to the Housing Authority of Champaign County — $300,000 for supportive services and $85,000 for landlord incentives.
• $15,000 to a brand-new organization called A Vision to Succeed.

...

The county is getting $40.7 million in federal funding over two years; the city of Champaign is getting $25.27 million over two years; and the city of Urbana — which hasn’t made decisions yet on how its money will be spent — is getting $13 million over two years.

The county board has pledged $4.1 million for community gun-violence reduction over the two years of its federal funding, with $1.5 million of that being spent this year.

That full article here with more program and budget details. WCIA had coverage from the meeting itself here. Excerpt:

“It’s a collaborative effort, whether you have a lot of not-for-profits and some small business owners that are coming to the table that are putting our heads together and have performed a strategic plan in order to deal with community violence and the wholistic approach,” [Marlon Mitchell of H3 Coalition] said.

County Board members weighed in on the discussion and the proposals were supported by most of them. Patterson said organizations like these help put people on a better path forward.

County Executive Darlene Kloeppel said the next steps forward are contracts and negotiations, but everything has been agreed to. Those contracts are expected to be finalized in about a month.

That full article here. The full meeting was relatively brief, running just over an hour (agenda packet, video). A couple highlights included some question and answer opportunities. One was with Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center Superintendent Keith Willis and its current staffing and space issues (jump to video). The other with Marlon Mitchell answering some more detailed and organization questions about the H3 project (jump to video).

Other County Government Items:

• County Board member Stephanie Fortado got confirmation from County Executive Darlene Kloeppel that next month's regular County Board meeting was likely to have presentations on the rural broadband funding and projects tied to ARPA funds.
• There was an update on the jail consolidation and other facilities projects this week (noted in the action report), but the video doesn't appear to be available yet. The last update was presented at the June facilities meeting (overview in minutes, video). See today's other Cheat Sheet post on other Jail updates from July.
• For those following the County political party organization leadership battles, one current and one former County Board member has been picked to lead the Republican and Democratic Party county organizations. The News-Gazette had coverage here.

Downtown Jail Closure and Boarding Out of County

 

The biggest news on the Champaign County jail situation is that the crumbling downtown jail has finally been closed. From WCIA: 

The Champaign County Sheriff’s Office announced the closure of the county jail in downtown Urbana.

The department secured funding from the Champaign County Board to move 70 inmates from the jail in 2021 with the intent of closing the facility due to safety and security concerns.

The department said, however, due to the increase in arrests for violent crime, the closure did not happen when planned. The department said this is a concern because of the dilapidated facility also has a staffing shortage of correctional officers. The Champaign County Board approved additional funding to house 70 inmates out of county last month.

That WCIA article here. Previous Cheat Sheet posts have gone into detail about conditions, out of date standards, safety issues, and more including inspection reports and photos here (page 7 of the PDF file). The upside of the move is getting both people incarcerated there and working there out of that dangerous environment. The downside is that leaves the County with expensive capacity issues. From the News-Gazette:

Closing the downtown facility is expected to increase security and safety for staff and inmates, and allow for 12 employees — among them nine correctional officers — to be relocated to the satellite facility, according to the sheriff.

The county is planning to build an addition to the satellite jail to make up for some lost space downtown, if a divided Urbana City Council votes Monday to approve a special-use permit necessary to proceed with that project...

With the satellite facility not large enough to accommodate all inmates in Champaign County, the cost of boarding prisoners in other counties — currently Kankakee and Macon — is expected to exceed $2 million this year.

That full article here.

There was a bit of intragovernmental drama with jail expansion opponents on the Urbana City Council looking at their options to approve or decline the "special use" From the News-Gazette:

The planned expansion of Champaign County’s satellite jail is on solid ground after the Urbana City Council narrowly approved a special-use permit needed to begin construction...

The permit for architecture firm Reifsteck Reid to continue work on a future addition to the satellite jail passed 4-3 Monday night. Council members Christopher Evans, Jaya Kolisetty and Grace Wilken voted “no” — all of them voted not to put the permit to a vote at last week’s committee-of-the-whole meeting...

Council members were charged to determine whether this use was “conducive to public convenience at the location”; that it was designed, located to and proposed to be operated in ways that will not be “unreasonably injurious” to the district or public welfare; and that the proposed use would fit the regulations and standards of the district in which it will be located.

That full article here. For opponents of the current jail consolidation plan, this could have been seen as an opportunity to delay or even eventually scuttle that plan. The fragility of the plan's future lies in the years of political battles to reach an agreement. The plan was probably only made possible, at this very specific moment in time, because of the pandemic related ARPA funds and shifting political power on the County Board among Republicans in the minority and different Democratic Party factions.

For supporters, the legal argument that a jail wouldn't be appropriate at a location where a jail was previously approved and already exists highlighted how this would be a political power play. They could appeal to process and their arguments for necessity.

For opponents, there are decades of demands towards eliminating mass incarceration starting right here at home. Urbana City Council alderman Christopher Evans argued passionately about his view that this expansion is unnecessary ongoing reforms and alternatives (see more in this public comment thread where Evans discusses the issue with the local States Attorney and others). He points to recommendations from the Community Violence Task Force report from nearly a decade ago, including:

Recommendation #3 Develop a System of Care for Behavioral Health Services...

"Increase crisis response and intervention in collaboration with local law enforcement that would include developing additional options to jail for persons in crisis, such as a Community-Based Mental Health Crisis Center (possibly including detoxification services) or development of proactive psychiatric advance directives for times of individual crisis"

That full Community Violence Task Force report is available here. One can see sporadic accomplishments or lack thereof on many of the details within those recommendations over the following decade. This included the Racial Justice Task Force, which itself recommended a County level coordinating committee and citizen involved oversight committee to see these recommendations through.

The Juvenile Detention Facility has also been dealing with staff shortages. From the News-Gazette last month:

Citing a “chronic and persistent staffing shortage,” the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center in Urbana started sending its inmates to three other counties this week, but only temporarily.

Court Services Director Mike Williams said he and others in the judicial system have been working for months to rectify the staffing deficiency that has plagued the east Urbana jail for minors ages 13 to 17 for the past 18 months.

For the next 90 days, those detainees instead will be held at juvenile detention centers in Vernon Hills in Lake County, about 170 miles north of Urbana; Joliet in Will County, about 114 miles north of Urbana; and in Normal in McLean County, about 60 miles to the west.

That full article available here with a lot of details on background and costs. At the last County Board meeting there was a question and answer opportunity with Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center Superintendent Keith Willis and its current staffing and space issues (jump to video).

For more News-Gazette coverage of the Urbana City Council votes on the jail consolidation "special use" permit:

• Urbana council leaves county jail expansion project up in air; vote scheduled for July 11
• Editorial | Council's issue is issuing permit, not revisiting jail expansion
• Expansion of jail's a go after 4-3 Urbana council vote