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.

County Board Updates: Summer into Fall

Since our last update earlier this summer, 11 year veteran of the County Board, Stan Harper has resigned. The News-Gazette had coverage here with a biographical article from a couple years back here. John Farney, a former Champaign County Treasurer and Auditor, was appointed to fill the vacancy in the District 3 seat. Long time County Board member Aaron Esry sits in the other District 3 seat. 

There are two seats per County Board districts and vacancies are filled by a member of the same political party that held the seat before, regardless of which party may have majority control over or chairs the board itself.

This Cheat Sheet update highlights a new advocacy group for affordable local nursing home beds, SAFE-T Act / Pretrial Fairness updates as the new law goes into effect, advocacy for affordable jail communication, and other County government news. But it's also approaching 2024 election season and you'll see candidates circulating ballot petitions to get on the primary election ballot. If you would like to be a candidate or support a candidate, the work has already begun. More detailed deadlines and important dates are laid out in the 2024 Illinois Election Calendar here. The County Clerk and Recorder has been promoting Vote by Mail locally and with other area County Clerks in a bipartisan effort in the wider area.

There has been a local push for more nursing home beds in the heart of the county's twin cities, especially with the old Champaign County Nursing home shut down by its new private owners this summer (more on that in a previous Cheat Sheet here). The News-Gazette had coverage of the new collaboration pushing for an assessment of local nursing home bed availability to get the policy process rolling on addressing the issue:

The collaborative is an offshoot of work already begun by a group calling itself Advocates for Nursing Home Care that formed with the closing of one of Champaign County’s few remaining nursing homes, University Rehabilitation Center of C-U, which was formerly the county nursing home in Urbana.

Cathy Emanuel, an organizer of that group, said state public health data is showing a need for 721 nursing home beds in Champaign County (based on population) that will be 310 beds short by the end of this year.

That’s due to the recent closing of University Rehab and a planned reduction in beds at ClarkLindsey’s Meadowbrook Health Center, she said.

That full article here. Earlier News-Gazette coverage of the advocacy group is available here from June and the previous June County Board updates on the Cheat Sheet covered and linked to their large showing at the County Board general meeting that month (jump to that portion of the meeting video here, roughly 10 minutes in).

There was also coverage, including a brief overview by WAND here and an article in WCIA here.

SAFE-T Act and the end of cash bail (via the Pretrial Fairness Act that was a part of the larger SAFE-T Act provisions) went into effect this month. WCCU had an article on the impact in Champaign County earlier this month: 

Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz says the justice system in Champaign County is working well together but there are a few hiccups...

Rietz added she does not believe the SAFE-T Act will change the outcome of the justice system in Champaign County.

“I truly believe that in Champaign County, we've been making these decisions all along, and I really don't see this as changing the end result of our process, just the beginning part of the process,” explained Rietz.

That full article here. WAND had additional coverage of the State grant money heading to the Public Defender's Office to offset some of the additional costs here.

There has also been increased criminal justice reform activity surrounding the Champaign County government's budget and a "Request for Proposal" for jail phone and video call systems contract. Several public commentors appealed to the County Board at the September general meeting (jump to video of those comments here). WILL had coverage explaining the issue with some additional helpful links here. One of the activists, Brian Dolinar, involved had an article in Smile Politely discussing his concerns here.

At the County Board's recent Special Finance Committee of the Whole meeting (full video), there were additional public comments by Brian Dolinar on the phone contract issue and some clarifications by Finance Committee chair Stephanie Fortado on the actual costs of these phone calls: $3.40 flat fee per call plus an addition 13 cents per minute after that (remote video calls have higher costs). 

The Champaign County Sheriff had been publicly stating that the calls cost 13 cents per minute (e.g. quote from WCIA article here). This didn't mesh with the stated experiences and billing examples by family members and activists who received calls from inmates. Fortado's clarification appears to bridge the gap in some of the fees people were seeing in addition to the per minute rates. The Cheat Sheet will be looking deeper into the communication protocols and costs in the weeks ahead.

In other budget news, a new associate judge was approved for Champaign County. The downside is that the County budget that was already over $700,000 in the red now also has to find room for a new clerk for that judge, as required by law. This was also discussed in the Special Finance meeting (agenda packet, video) last night. News-Gazette coverage on that meeting and the likely increase of the budget deficit here.

Other County Government News:

• Champaign County Coroner to resign in order to take job with Mahomet-Seymour schools, according to the News-Gazette. WCCU also had a blurb on this news here.
  
  
• The last general County Board meeting included a presentation on the Mahomet Aquifer mapping project (video here, presentation slides here).

• Farm Bureau to help with building up rural broadband, according to WCIA.
  
  
• Champaign County bicycle safety issues growing as use increasing, according to WRSP.  
  
  
• Last month, the News-Gazette reported that a special prosecutor was denied in a domestic battery case involving a Sheriff's deputy. As of that reporting, he is due back in court in early November.
  
  
• The new Champaign County Humane Society facility was quickly overwhelmed by increased need and promoted adoption discounts, according to the News-Gazette. The initial community response was highlighted by Jim Dey in his News-Gazette column.
  
  
• Getting to know Champaign County court security officer by the News-Gazette.
  
  
• Updates on Champaign County's Drug Court and recertification by the State, from the News-Gazette.

May County Board Updates

 

The May County Board meeting approved a solar farm on private property, but opposed by the local Homer government and many residents. Public participation at the meeting had representatives of the Village of Homer and the solar farm company make their cases (jump to video here). The County Board discussion before the vote actually involved a diverse range of opinions and philosophies behind the different members (jump to that point in the meeting video here). 

The Republicans weighed the impact and desires of the community with the private property rights. The Democrats had more internal disagreement about prioritizing private property rights versus greater needs of the community and world. There were also some back and forth on issues like long term climate change and more immediate world hunger issues depending on our regional agricultural world breadbasket.

The full meeting agenda packet and video are available now, and the minutes will be available on the County website at a later date.

There was also a detailed breakdown and spreadsheets of County ARPA federal relief spending and projects in the agenda packet (page 160 of the packet, page 164 of the PDF file here). There was a more brief oral update towards the end of the County Board meeting itself. 

For a more detailed look at the remaining spending decisions, I recommend the long, but extremely detailed discussion at the latest Prevent Violence Task Force meeting. They go through the remaining funds, timetables and time limits to use the funding, and break down the projects by committee member support and projects to be funded. The agenda packet for that meeting also includes the minutes from the previous committee meeting and an overview of the presentations at that time. The News-Gazette had an overview of area ARPA spending in a March article here.

Other Meeting Highlights:

• There is ongoing discussion on how the county should proceed in purchasing additional facilities for Animal Control (from the old Human Society owned facility that was on county land). Board members are looking at the tradeoffs and complications with exposing the unique facility to the market as opposed to purchasing based on (but under) the appraisals. 
  
  
• The Board will be setting up a committee to look at using the county's opioid settlement funds when they're made available in the future. The general plan as laid out by chair Patterson was for a few members from each side of the aisle to hear from stakeholders at these meetings.

Other County Updates:

More on the Nursing Home today on the News-Gazette front page this morning (article also has some additional County Board related information):

With another local nursing home gone, a group calling itself Advocates for Nursing Home Care sees a crisis ahead — not enough longterm- care beds in Champaign County at a time aging baby boomers are going to need them most.

It’s an issue the group’s founder, Cathy Emanuel of Champaign, said she confronted recently when her late husband needed nursing home care.

“We’re already finding that many of the people involved have friends or loved ones who have to go out of the community, because there aren’t enough beds locally,” she said.

Of immediate concern to Emanuel and more than 50 other members of the new group is the closure of the 243-bed University Rehabilitation Center — formerly the Champaign County Nursing Home until it was sold in 2019.

That full article at the News-Gazette's eEdition here. More in a Nursing Home Updates post here.

There will also be another post (to be linked when available) on the current jail and juvenile detention facilities, staffing issues, and other updates soon.

County Board Updates: February and Early March

There was quite a bit going on this month with the County Board for political wonks. The upcoming Committee of the Whole doesn't have much in the way of fireworks on the agenda (video now available here), though perhaps there will be more arguments about food reimbursement rules (more on that below). But this past month or so had a lot of news on the fight over how an Executive Form of County Government should be run, ARPA funding for cover crops through the Environment and Land Use Committee and some Animal Control safety rules to prevent any more euthanasia mistakes and tragedies.

There was some possible legislative solutions to the ongoing legal dispute on the appointment power under our new Executive Form of County government. From the News-Gazette:

That bill (SB 1015) would effectively impact only the two counties in Illinois that have a county-executive form of government, Champaign and Will. But it could affect any others that adopt that form of government in the future.

The bill states that in counties “other than Champaign County operating under the county-executive form of government,” a vacancy is to be filled by appointment of the county executive, with the advice and consent of the county board.

Specifically in Champaign County, it states, the elected county board chair makes the appointment with the advice and consent of the full board. 

That full article here. It goes on to explain that Will County would like to continue its tradition of appointment via their County Executive. The Champaign case is currently being appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court after the Board's latest victory in the courts. If they ultimately prevail through the courts or more uniform legislation in their favor, I'm not sure where that will leave Will County's options. 

The local coverage in Will County suggests they may be more concerned about how the language may still impact them (e.g. on how the Executive's office is organized) in articles here and here (it appears to have a paywall with zero free articles, but a cheaper trial option). From the latest article:

Will County Board members voiced specific concerns about legislation pushed by County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant which could change the way county government functions.

During a meeting on Tuesday, members of the Legislative & Judicial Committee discussed aj amendment to SB 1015, which has already passed the Illinois Senate to the surprise of many county officials on Feb. 24. The bill still needs to pass the House of Representatives to become law...

[Mitch Schaben, Bertino-Tarrant’s chief of staff] also addressed the proposed change to give the county executive control over the “internal operations of the county executive’s office and procure the necessary equipment, materials and services to perform the duties of the office.” Schaben said it’s the same language used for the duties of other countywide elected officials, though board members have argued the executive doesn’t have the same authority as a treasurer or sheriff.

That full article here. A few days prior, there was an article that delved more into the nitty gritty of the Will County Board's concerns about the legislation and the process in both parties.

There was some discussion about the various rules on paying for meals, using a county credit card, and a new Board of Review member's charges (since reimbursed). From the News-Gazette:

But for [Champaign County Auditor George Danos], these purchases — along with some county board members’ recent chastising of the county’s Board of Review chairman for using a county credit card to purchase two staff meals — demonstrate a need for the county to rewrite what he calls an “incomplete and outdated” purchasing policy....

What is clear is if a county department has a line item in its budget for employee recognition expenses, the expenses are permitted, according to Kloeppel.

For departments that don’t have a line item for that purpose, as is the case with the Board of Review, the purchases aren’t permitted, she said.

That full article here. The incident that started this discussion was reported on by the News-Gazette last month here. A quick overview noted that the County was reimbursed as soon as the new Review Board member was made aware of the rule:

The purchases, one for $18.63 from Jimmy John’s and the other for $140 for a year-end celebratory meal from Biaggi’s, were made with the supervisor of assessment’s county credit card.

At Thursday’s county board meeting, Bergee said he reimbursed the county before the credit-card bill arrived after speaking to County Executive Darlene Kloeppel, who told him it was against policy to use a county credit card for meals.

The Environment and Land Use Committee will be considering using some of the County's ARPA funds towards incentivizing cover crop planting locally to help with various related agricultural issues. More from the News-Gazette last month. The minutes from the February ELUC meeting had an overview of the discussion on page 2 and 3 of the latest meeting's Agenda Packet. Excerpt:

It was felt that this needs to go back to the caucuses for discussion and then come back to ELUC in March and then take to the full County Board after that. There were some unanswered questions from tonight that we should let Mr. Uken and the Farm Bureau do some research and come back as an agenda item again next month to discuss in more detail. It would also give the rural districts time to discuss the various water projects and what they may want to fund.

The discussion continued in the March meeting a couple days ago (available on the County's YouTube page here around the 10:33 minute mark). By the end of that discussion there appeared to be some technical changes (dates and total funding) to fit within the ARPA guidelines left to resolve for the next ELUC meeting.

There was also an update to the County's Animal Control Ordinance on euthanasia decisions. The rule follows a widely publicized mistake at Animal Control over the holidays the year before. From the News-Gazette:

More than a year after a dog was accidentally euthanized while being detained in Champaign County’s animal-control facility, the county board is poised to vote on a resolution in which a double-check safety procedure is named after the deceased dog.

“Dada’s Rule” would require that two animal-control officers sign off on any euthanasia before proceeding — a practice County Executive Darlene Kloeppel said has already been in effect for many months.  

More at the full article here. The resolution text is available on page 68 of the Agenda Packet and passed at the February 24th meeting. 

Other County Government Updates

This post includes updates on housing assistance, the Forest Preserve District, animal control, and a number of Sheriff's Office and corrections news links.

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission is offering assistance to many local residents who may need help with their water or sewer bills. From the News-Gazette:

Income-eligible households in Champaign County with past-due water or sewer bills or disconnections can apply for help from a temporary assistance program.

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission will be accepting applications for the Water/Wastewater Assistance Program on a first-come, first-served basis through May 31, 2022, or until the funding is gone.

The program, intended to help homeowners and renters avoid shut-offs, will provide a one-time payment that will go directly to the applicants’ water or sewer companies.

Full blurb here. More information at the RPC website here. WCIA had more details and qualifying information. There are more updates on rental and mortgage assistance and homeless services in another C-U Local Cheat Sheet post this month here.

The News-Gazette had updates on the progress of Champaign County Forest Preserve District projects benefiting from the recently approved tax revenue boost here. Smile Politely also had an article on Lorrie Pearson, the Executive Director of the Forest Preserve District, last month here.

County animal officials were in the news this past month advocating for reforms in the law to prevent and more effectively deal with cases of animal abuse. From the News-Gazette:

A new Illinois law that prevents anyone who has committed two or more animal cruelty felonies from living in the same household or having custody of an animal is a good start but doesn’t go far enough.

That’s the opinion of several Champaign County officials who deal with such cases.

County veterinarian Dr. Susan Norris, the new director of county animal control, Heather Soder, and Assistant State’s Attorney Troy Lozar said the law, which goes into effect in 2022, is too weak.

More at the full article here.

The Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center is looking for job applications to be detention officers. Described as a way to work with youth and have an impact on the local gun violence problem, the position may be far from what one may expect. From the News-Gazette:

“You have to have a lot of energy. You have to be open-minded. You can’t have prejudged notions,” he said. “You have to be fair, consistent, have great communication and listening skills, great decision-making skills. You’ve got to have common sense. You have to have a bachelor’s degree.”

If that job description fits you or someone you know, [superintendent Keith Willis] and his boss, Mike Williams, director of court services for Champaign County, beg you or that person to apply...

“I’m looking for all walks of life, whether you are interested in criminal justice or … recreation management,” he said. “Our job encompasses a corrections, sociology, psychology, mental health, education mindset. We do all those things.”

More at that full article here. Link to the application here. You can also contact superintendent Keith Willis at kwillis@co.champaign.il.us or (217) 384-3780. Their office website with additional information is here.

Other County government news and updates:

• CU-CitizenAccess had an article delving into the history and recent arrest of a Champaign County Sheriff's Deputy.
• A Tom's Mailbag column included some current and comparison data on how many folks in the Champaign County jail system end up transferred to the Illinois Department of Corrections prison system.
• WCIA had an overview of the Champaign County Sheriff's holiday DUI enforcement work. There was an earlier blurb on WCIA about seat belt enforcement results over Thanksgiving.
• In local gun violence related news, there were also discussions for raising rewards for tips through the Champaign County Crime Stoppers program to build off of the ongoing "gun bounty" work. The Champaign Coroner weighed in with another area coroner on dealing with so many young victims of gun violence and their families in the aftermath.

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.

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.

January County Board Meeting

The regular meeting of the Champaign County Board was this week (agenda packet, video). Click these links for previous Cheat Sheet posts on Committee meetings earlier this month here and last week's Committee of the Whole and Special meeting here. The January meeting came on the heels of a ruling on the the longstanding disagreement on the appointment power of the County Executive in her favor. From the News-Gazette earlier this week:

A legal dispute between Champaign County’s first elected county executive, Darlene Kloeppel, and the county board over executive authority has been decided in Kloeppel’s favor...

The county board hasn’t contested Kloeppel’s authority to make appointments to non-elected vacancies. In filling elected position vacancies, however, the board has relied on the state election code, which states unexpired terms of elected officials should be filled by the appointment of the county board chair with the advice and consent of the county board.

The board contended that the plain language of that statute controls language in the county-executive law, Bohm wrote, but that fails to take into consideration that the county-executive law was passed more recently than the election code.

Full article here. This had left a previous appointment to fill a vacancy on the board in a bit of limbo. Former County Administrator and Deb Busey served as a parliamentarian in case of complicated protocol issues arose. A vote to confirm the appointment of the previous appointee, Cameron Raab, maintained the status quo without any fuss. Some board members facial expressions appeared to ask what the point was of this protracted battle that changed nothing in the short term.

The News-Gazette's conservative opinion columnist Jim Dey had overflowing praise for the ruling as "persuasive," "a tour de force, a clear and concise examination of all the issues involved and a thoughtful rationale..." that leaves one wondering if he's merely a glowing fan of the new Republican Judge. More likely, Republicans are looking at the long term ramifications and the original conservative intentions of the County Executive as a Republican check on a Democratic County Board. The position was designed by and for the popular former County Clerk Gordy Hulten who compared the position to being President of the County. Dey only went as far as describing it as "akin to having a mayor for the county."

When the political tides change, we may see another reversal of who wants to keep the County Executive Form of government, and who wants to revert back to having an appointed County Administrator.

After the appointment was approved, Board Member McGuire called on folks to help others with access to the vaccine. Some of the methods for gaining access use technology which can be difficult for some, especially many elderly people at greater risk. He was also hoping for more detailed breakdowns of vaccination progress among categories such as age groups and Nursing Home residents. The health department's vaccination dashboard has more general data, but includes the current phases and eligibility here.

Appointment votes on a few other boards and commissions fell down mostly party lines. Democrats blocked an appointment to the Mental Health Board, seeking a different candidate to be nominated. Republicans voted against another MHB nominee, but didn't have enough votes to block him.

The Auditor had a presentation for folks interested in the nitty-gritty of the previous year's budget, CAFR (what's this?) and process. It's available at the 45 minute mark in the video. The presentation slides are available here on the County website.

There was an issue with a public participation earlier in the meeting, with one person unable to be heard due to a technical issue. The Board voted to allow Amanda Dixon the opportunity to comment later in the meeting with a vote at around the 54 minute mark. She expressed her frustrations about Animal Control and other authorities not taking her complaints about a pet hording couple seriously until they had caused serious harm to the animals.

There appeared to be some other members of the public attempting to comment as well, but the vote to make an exception was only for the speaker who had the earlier technical issue by name. After last week's nearly 5 hour long COW meeting, there didn't appear to be a willingness to have an extended late night public comment opening.

The meeting ended with a bipartisan statement of appreciation of Deb Busey helping as a parliamentarian and her long time dedication to the County government.

County Board Roundup: Recorder, Appointments, Animal Control

This past week the County Board had a Committee of the Whole meeting, a special meeting, and a court ruling on appointments. The discussion and votes mostly revolved around appointments and a referendum on eliminating the County Recorder office by merging it with the County Clerk's office. There was also some discussion on the Animal Control office and its handling of euthanasia cases after a tragic mistake over Christmas.

The Committee of the Whole (video, agenda packet here) was a marathon meeting lasting nearly 5 hours. Most of the public comments revolved around the outrage of the Animal Control euthanasia error and some input on how best to eliminate the Recorder's office. The News-Gazette had an overview of the Recorder referendum approved a couple days later at the special meeting (video, agenda):

The long-debated question of whether Champaign County should eliminate the elected office of recorder of deeds is now set to head to voters.

At a special meeting Thursday night, the county board approved putting the question on the April 6 ballot.

Specifically, voters will be asked if the office of Champaign County recorder shall be eliminated, with all duties and responsibilities of that office being transferred to the county clerk’s office, at the end of this year.

Full article here with a brief overview of what the Recorder office does and how those duties are often part of a County Clerk's office in Illinois counties. Most of the discussion in this week's meetings revolved around the technical issues of how long it would take to transfer the responsibilities of the office and ultimately end the elected office overseeing it. A compromise for the end of this year won out in the end.

Of the long discussions and arguments about appointments, probably the most important point was that appointed positions are difficult to fill and the County needs more applicants and interest.

If you are interested in learning more and applying for a vacancy, start on the Board Appointments page: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyExecutive/Appointments.php

The County Executive also has appointment news on the Executive's News page: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyExecutive/countyexecnewsreleases.php

This page lists the different appointed bodies overseen by the Board. To find a current opening, start by clicking on the “Vacant Appointments” tab.

The appointments links on the County website can be a bit circular and confusing as the appointment authority has changed with the new County Executive form of government. This has been a subject of lawsuits, including the most recent ruling establishing the Executive as the clear appointment authority, with the County Board's authority to advise and consent to those nominations. The News-Gazette highlighted a potential hiccup with a recent vacancy appointment to the board itself:

Whether it will have any impact on the recent appointment of Cameron Raab to fill the other District 6 seat formerly held by Mike Ingram, who resigned after being elected county recorder of deeds in November, remains to be seen.

Kloeppel vetoed Raab’s appointment, but her veto was ignored and Raab was seated as a new board member.

Kloeppel said Friday she could potentially appoint Raab herself, or she could let her veto stand — in which case the board could override it — or she could contest the appointment, though that would require going back to court.

That full article with more details and background here. Other appointment discussions included more legal technicalities about statutory requirements for partisan balance on the Board of Review (an overview of the Board of Review is available at a previous Cheat Sheet post here).

The discussion on the Animal Control Department didn't result in any substantive votes or changes, but there have been a couple updates in the local news about new protocols to hopefully prevent any further errors and allay concerns with the public. Illinois Newsroom had an overview of the discussions and copies of memos on the subject:

Both County Executive Darlene Kloeppel and Animal Control director Stephanie Joos issued memos reporting on the incident (they can be seen below, following this article). In her report, Joos said she’s taken steps to prevent future mistakes. Because there was confusion over the description of Dada, additional fields have been added to the department’s loss report form, so staff can provide more details. And kennel cages at the department’s pound will have additional signs showing the status of each animal.

“These new measures have been implemented to assure this will not happen again,” Joos wrote in the memo.

That full article here. WCIA had additional coverage with a short video segment here.