There's a lot going on with Champaign County government offices in general this month. From Amnesty Week in the Circuit Clerk's office to a lot of Champaign County Sheriff's Office updates, health care, housing, and history!
The Champaign County Circuit Clerk is hosting its annual "Amnesty Week" according to WCIA:
Starting October 11 to the 21, if you have delinquent tickets, you can settle them with the city.
Amnesty Week is hosted by the Champaign County Circuit Clerk’s office. Suppose you have a balance on any criminal, traffic, DUI, ordinance violation(s), or conservation violation(s); you can pay off your balance without any late or collection fees. Officials said this does not apply to any fines and costs already paid or tax refunds used against what is due.
That full article here. More information from the Circuit Clerk's website here.
The News-Gazette's 9/16 "Meeting Minutes" feature highlighted a CSSO Lieutenant's FBI training graduation:
Just back from Quantico, Va.: newly minted FBI National Academy graduate and Champaign County sheriff’s Lt. Dave Sherrick (right). The 22-year department veteran, who serves as the administrative support lieutenant in the Law Enforcement Division, spent 10 weeks learning about advanced communication, leadership and officer resiliency, among other topics.
That blurb with photo is available at the News-Gazette's eEdition here. WCIA also had a short blurb on the same story here.
The 9/2 "Meeting Minutes" feature had an article on area corrections hiring. Excerpt related to Champaign County:
Current openings: 16 correctional officers (of 50), two sergeants (of eight)...
Sheriff says: Staff shortages aren’t unique to Champaign County, Dustin Heuerman has learned in conversations with fellow sheriffs in similar-sized cities: “One is down 15 correctional officers and the other is down 10. Sheriffs across the state are struggling to find quality staff to help fill our vacant positions.”
Unlike police and fire departments, Heuerman says, “the corrections division has never had a robust list of interested applicants, which makes it difficult to replace employees leaving in a timely manner.”
That full article is also available on the eEdition here. WCIA had additional coverage on low morale and staff shortages in Champaign County corrections:
Some Champaign County correctional officers say morale is low among jail workers. It’s been hard to hire and keep employees. So, they want to start negotiating for a better contract. Their current one expires in December...
They’re down 16 officers, and [union representative] Micah McMahon said it’s been taking a toll on their physical and mental health. That’s why he went to the County Board meeting Tuesday night and asked to start the negotiation process...
McMahon said some officers are working 12-16 extra hours of overtime per week and haven’t taken a regular day off for a while. He said closing the downtown jail helped, but housing is still limited.
That full article with video segment here. In a somewhat related story, the Champaign County Bailout Coalition was in the news attempting to protect the scope of the SAFE-T Act reforms on cash bail and pretrial detention. WCIA had coverage with a video segment here. County Board member Emily Rodriguez was also interviewed. WCCU had a recent article that suggested the reforms might help a bit with some of the staffing issues in the local jail and another article looking at how the reformed process may work (including comments by the Champaign County State's Attorney).
C-U Publich Health District employees formed a union and expressed some of their frustrations with working conditions throughout the pandemic.
More at the full WAND article here with additional links to more information and the News-Gazette's coverage with more details from their FOIA request here.
Additional County area health updates are in a separate Cheat Sheet post here.
Other County Updates:
- Illinois Newsroom had coverage of one of the area judicial election races between Democrat Chad Beckett and Republican Sam Limentato here.
- The News-Gazette had some of the latest news on the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail project working with MTD, Visit Champaign County, and other local organizations.
- WCIA highlighted some upcoming activities with the Champaign County Forest Preserve District.
- WCIA highlighted the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission – Workforce Development Division.
- WCIA also highlighted the Housing Authority of Champaign County's YouthBuild program in coverage here.
- Additional events at this year's Pride celebration from WAND.
- Electronic recycling collection registration is available, but as of yesterday only by phone and not on-line. The phone number is 217-403-4780. More information from Smile Politely here.
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