County Board July Updates

July only has a regular County Board meeting. Most months also have a Committee of the Whole or "COW" meeting of the full board and some additional committee meetings (e.g. Facilities). This post covers the June County Board meetings and a special Study Session meeting towards the end of the month.

Public Safety Sales Tax Referendum:

The big news out of the June meetings, and after much deliberation over previous months, was the passage of a resolution to put an increased sales tax measure on the ballot for voters to decide on. From the News-Gazette a few weeks ago:

On Thursday, the county board approved adding a referendum on a “Special County Retailers’ Occupation Tax for Public Safety,” which would add a quarter-cent to the county’s sales-tax rate, to the Nov. 5 ballot.

Proponents say the increase is necessary to support investments such as competitive wages to attract correctional officers for the understaffed juvenile detention center, an additional sheriff’s deputy to support a new mental-health-focused court program and a budget that enables the public defender’s office to hire more expert witnesses...

Board member Brett Peugh acknowledged that the county needs the funds but noted that his constituents who live in a historically Black district will be hit the hardest by the tax and don’t support the measure.

That full article here. WAND had a very brief overview of the sale tax referendum here.

Nursing Home Needs Assessment:

At the June Committee of the Whole meeting, the Advocates for Aging Care group presented the findings of the local needs assessment to the County Board. That full presentation is available here. WCCU had coverage of the group's findings and the need assessment.

Advocates for Aging Care (AAC) along with the Champaign County Board, the Champaign County Health Board, and Champaign-Urbana Public Health District came together to conduct a survey assessing nursing home, rehabilitation, and long-term care facilities in Champaign County.

With over 850 consumer responses and over 50 providers, they found what they expected to be true, that there aren’t enough skilled care beds in Champaign County.

"So in our community, we’ve known by the numbers that we only have about 411 of the 748 beds we need, or are projected to need by the end of 2026 because not only do we have the need now but our older population is growing,” explained Cathy Emanuel with AAC.

That full article here.

More Auditor Drama:

There was a Study Session / Special Meeting of the County Board last month, a few days after their regular monthly meeting (video, agenda packet). The topic was about eliminating the Auditor as an elected position for Champaign County and looking at alternative models. The County Auditor made remarks during the public comment portion of the agenda (video go to link). He spoke in support of keeping the office elected and independent. He took issue with the local League of Women Voters report on a couple points (also here on his facebook page).

The League of Women Voters presented their study from a couple years ago on the benefits and alternatives to having an elected auditor for county governments. Their position predates any of the current drama with the current auditor and views the position as archaic and, in many ways, duplicative. The original study report is available here at the Illinois Public Media Newsroom website. Their presentation on the report from 2 years ago is available on the LWV YouTube page here.

Michelle Jett, the County's Director of Administration, presented and laid out more information on alternatives in other Illinois Counties and some of the nuance of what instituting that would look like in Champaign County if the voters approved it (video jump to link).

Republicans on the County Board seemed less enthusiastic about a ballot referendum on this question now that they've slated a candidate to oppose the current Democratic Party Auditor. There was continued discussion on the appropriate timing of such a referendum and how best to uphold democratic principles in local government.

Chair Carter continued to press the issue of the County Executive and the Executive form of government, but met resistance from within her own party due to the limits of the agenda itself and what the public had been given notice of. This continues some previous contention between the Board Chair and the County Executive's office and staff highlighted in June's Cheat Sheet here.

The meeting left off with planning to discuss the issue as an agenda item on the July regular County Board meeting (there is no Committee of the Whole meeting before the regular meeting in July).

The News-Gazette's Jim Dey has added three more articles to his plethora of Democratic intraparty squabble opinion pieces this month to cover the Auditor and County Board Chair / County Executive drama.

United Sovereign Americans:

At the June regular County Board meeting, there was a series of speakers on behalf of a national group called United Sovereign Americans, including two co-chairs for their Illinois chapter (jump to video link). They read the text of their proposed resolution for the County Board to pass for an "election audit." The version of the resolution they proposed to the DeKalb County Board is available here (starting on page 15 of the PDF file).

There's a separate Cheat Sheet post on this group, its background, and other coverage of it across the country here.

Rural Broadband Updates:

There was another presentation at the most recent Broadband Task Force this week. After last month's presentation, there were concerns about the need to lay fiberoptic cable to begin to lay the groundwork for broadband expansion to rural towns and areas. The presentation this month focused on initial ideas to lay cable to Royal, Ogden, Homer, and Sidney and the details of how many households may be close enough to get connected to those lines.

There was also a long discussion about the types of funding available, from federal (e.g. RDOF versus ARPA) to ongoing concerns that the State funding may not be awarded to these projects here locally.

More County Government News:

• There are indications that the old Champaign County Nursing Home building may have a prospective buyer, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• There was a presentation on the cover crop ARPA funded project and updates at the June COW (jump to video link).
  
  
• President Minnie Pearson of the NAACP Champaign County Branch spoke shared some concerns about the treatment of the County Board Chair by other board members and others (jump to video link). She insisted that board members treat each other with respect.
  
  
• WCIA had coverage of local efforts around the county to put on Independence Day parades, fireworks, and other events. They also had an overview of the county's main July 4th celebration organization this year.
  
  
• WCIA also had coverage of the removal of a very full animal barnyard near the City of Champaign, but within the County's jurisdiction after a long ordeal by neighbors.
  
  
• The Daily Illini had coverage of the local County tourism organization Experience C-U's collaboration with Champaign County African American Heritage Trail and others for local African American heritage murals.
  
  
• The acronym laden county organization for coordinating homelessness service providers in Champaign County (The RPC's CSPH) has found increased homelessness in Champaign County in 2024.

United Sovereign Americans

Snippet of LA Times Coverage 5/10/2024

At the June regular County Board meeting, there was a series of speakers on behalf of a national group called United Sovereign Americans, including two co-chairs for their Illinois chapter (jump to video link). They read the text of their proposed resolution for the County Board to pass for an "election audit." The version of the resolution they proposed to the DeKalb County Board is available here (starting on page 15 of the PDF file).

In spite of the name, it does not appear to be affiliated with the far more notorious "sovereign citizens" movement. The LA Times however had a front page article on the group, however, stating:

United Sovereign Americans is part of a cottage industry of far-right election deniers that has sown disinformation since Trump lost his reelection bid. The group aims to scrutinize elections with a legal strategy that can “throw massive amounts of sand in their gears,” [Marly Hornik, co-founder of United Sovereign Americans] said during a February presentation in Orange County.

While the Illinois group here described their activities as attempting to rebuild faith in the election system, many of their statements here and across the country openly question election integrity. The figure that brought the group national from its early and legally troubled years in New York, Harry Haury, is himself a long time part of the "Stop the Steal" movement and participant in debunked election disinformation such as the "2,000 Mules" documentary, according to the LA Times.

The group is extremely litigious in addition to promoting election conspiracies and sowing doubt about the integrity of American voting systems across the United States. The Baltimore Sun noted in its coverage of its Maryland Lawsuit that the group was bragging about "actively preparing litigation in 23 states." On the flip side, the LA Times also highlighted a lawsuit against an LA County Prosecutor last year for relying on "election denier" groups and conspiracy theorists for a case.

This included a description of United Sovereign Americans Co-Founder Harry Haury and his business associate as having "deep ties to the 'Stop the Steal' movement" and related election disinformation efforts.

Champaign County has its own history of political and legal battles over ensuring the County Clerk runs local elections fairly. There are some legitimate concerns about how to spend limited human and financial resources to ensure that everyone who wants to vote can do so without being unfairly burdened. Often that comes down to issues like rural access and transportation issues, high density districts and campus dealing with excessively long lines, and issues of fairness.

Sometimes it's a matter of ensuring protocol and precedent are adhered to, with each party tending to be a bit more critical of the other, and counter-accusations of partisanship (or worse) by the sitting County Clerk over the years.

The reader can decide for themselves if they agree with the concerns raised by a group like United Sovereign Citizens or if they share some of the more mainstream media criticisms of them. It may be worth considering if their solution would be helpful to the ongoing local battles over election integrity and fairness, or just drag us into some national fight far removed from those more tangible local issues.