Local Government Updates

We'll be trying out a little bit of a new format to try to have more regular and concise updates moving forward.

General Updates:

Elections:

Election day for this year’s midterms is November 3rd, 2026, with Early Voting starting around October 24th. You can find the local primary election results here on the News-Gazette website. There are new local party chairs, with Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams chairing the Champaign County Democrats and perennial local candidate Jeff Brownfield replacing Susan Mantell in the County GOP.  

Federal Changes / Local Impact:

So-called “work requirements” for food assistance are going into effect. Champaign County Health Care Consumers have a great deal of information and assistance available on how to navigate the new hurdles for those having to prove their eligibility, exemptions, etc.

Gun Violence: The latest updates, including the police chief updates, can usually be found at the monthly Community Coalition meetings available here. There has been a number of recent shootings, many involving minors, in recent weeks. Unsecured guns, lost or stolen from homes and vehicles here and across the country, appear to be a major source for guns used in these types of crimes. Sheriff Heuerman noted that in one recent car theft, at least two guns were taken from a local unlocked vehicle. As we have seen, time and time again, if someone wants a gun, they just have to check enough car door handles in any given parking lot or neighborhood.

There still remain severe challenges in ensuring school attendance across both local school districts here with dozens of kids in each at ongoing and regular risk. There was a detailed discussion on those challenges at the recent Race Relations Subcommittee of the Community Coalition last month.

Local Government Roundup:

Champaign County Government:

The County’s budget process has begun with the Budget Director’s financial forecast presentation at the April County Board meeting. The board is openly considering across-the-board cuts, especially in light of the recent voter referendum supporting cuts to staff and services and opposing any new tax revenues.

The long-delayed Fiscal Year 2024 Audit is still being processed by the external auditor (Clifton, Larson, Allen LLP). There was an update on that process at the last Committee of the Whole (page 54 of the agenda packet). In March there was a presentation on the history of audit issues that led to our current predicament (video and slides).

The expectation is that these continued delays will impact funding, with the county likely missing out on funding it may have otherwise qualified for (e.g. through the state and federal government). The work on the 2025 audit is also being delayed while the County attempts to complete the 2024 audit.

The County Board also passed a one year moratorium on massive “hyperscale” data centers, as part of a process that may lead to blocking their construction here completely. The centers tend to have massive electric and water needs. As the recent mapping of the Mahomet aquifer has confirmed, however, those impacts may still threaten Champaign County if one is built in neighboring counties.

Municipal / School Boards:

City of Champaign: The affordable housing crisis has been a longtime and ongoing issue for the C-U. According to the housing needs assessment report and presentation earlier this year, the City is expected to present “the final document to the stakeholders and to the City Council for approval and moving into the implementation of the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy” this month. 

The annual township board blocked an agenda item for an advisory referendum related to a state law restricting boycotts of Israel. The same referendum passed in Cunningham township at their annual meeting and several other township meetings around the state.

Champaign Park District: The Champaign Parks Foundation is looking for four new members. This organization helps raise money for unmet needs of the park district itself. Elections for Champaign Park District commissioners occur staggered in odd election years, with two commissioner terms expiring in 2027.

City of Urbana: The Alternative Response Task Force (re: policing / 911 calls) had a community engagement event with video available on the Urbana Public TV YouTube page here. President Pearson has been actively working with the stakeholder meetings over the past several months, looking at various alternative response systems around the country and possible local implementations here.

Unit 4:  The Board of Education has approved some of the new cabinet members for the incoming new Superintendent, Dr. Geovanny Ponce, who will begin that role on July 1st of this year. The district approved a separation agreement with former Central High School Principle Montia Gardner, with both sides agreeing not to sue each other in the aftermath of the falling out in a short, but apparently contentious year.

The district renewed its contract for Student Resource Officers. The News-Gazette had details of the contract, including the limitations on officers to issue tickets and other issues here.

MTD: The C-U MTD board will likely have to redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign after a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary).

Early Voting and Candidate Information

[Update 10/17: Including links to the News-Gazette questionnaires as they come out:

• Coroner candidates Laurie Brauer and Steve Thuney]

 

Early Voting has begun for the November 5th, 2004 General Election! Here are a few quick links to the County Clerk's website for your voting information:

• Many Ways to Vote: Early, mail, in-person, etc. links and additional information.
  
  
• Early voting times, dates, and locations from today until election day.
  
  
• My Voter Information: let's you check your voter registration, sample ballots, the status of your mail-in ballot, districts, and more!

VoteChampaign, in collaboration with the local League of Women Voters has a lot of additional information about elections, as well as a non-partisan local Candidate Guide:

The League of Women Voters also held a local candidate forum last week, including candidates for County Coroner, Auditor, and County Board District 5. That video is available on their YouTube page here.

The League also has additional information and voter education events coming up on their website. The League sometimes takes positions on some policy issues, such as the current question on the auditor referendum. The Cheat Sheet does not necessarily take the side of all the perspectives we link. Both candidates for auditor made their arguments against abolishing the elected auditor position in the candidate forum linked above.

There will be a few new Cheat Sheets in the next couple weeks on County government issues, with the latest updates on meetings, issues, and hopefully a little less drama!

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.

Election Updates

A reminder that early voting has already begun for the March 19th, 2024 primary election. There are local, state, and federal races on the ballot from precinct committeepersons to presidential delegates. This post has an update on write-in and other candidates you may see on your ballot in Champaign County. You can see your sample ballot at the Champaign County Clerk's website here. 

This post follows up on a previous election update that included a link to the League of Women Voters candidate forum for Democratic candidates competing to get on the general election ballot for County Coroner in the fall. 

Write-in and Other Candidates:

Tom Kacich had an overview of some write-in candidates folks may find on their ballot within Champaign County for federal and State races (depending on where they fall in those federal and state districts). The Champaign County Clerk's website has a list of the write-in candidates here if you can't access the News-Gazette article:

• United States Representative 15th District - Kevin A. Gaither (Democratic)
• Illinois State Representative 102nd District - Adam Niemerg (Republican)
• Illinois State Representative 102nd District - Edward "Ed" Blade (Republican)
• Illinois State Representative 102nd District - Jim Acklin (Republican)
• County Board District 8 - Latrina Peete (Republican)
• Precinct Committeeperson City of Champaign 12 - Latrina Peete (Republican)
• Precinct Committeeperson Cunningham 23 - Ronald Vlach (Republican)

You'll notice that there a few local government races with write-in candidates on your ballot too, but only if you live in those particular districts. You can look up which districts you are in and get sample ballots for either party's primary races on the Clerk's website here. There is likely a non-partisan ballot available for folks who live in the Northern Piatt Fire Protection District, where there is a referendum question outside of the party primary races.

The VoteChampaign non-partisan voter guide (a project in collaboration with the local League of Women Voters) has information, questionnaire answers and links to more information on contested races within Champaign County. The Republican primary ballot for a representative in the Illinois 13th Congressional District is contested.  We only cover local government on the Cheat Sheet, but there is other local coverage of federal candidates. For example, the Daily Illini had an overview of the Republican federal congressional primary candidates and and an interview with one of them recently for the 13th District here. Arguably the top contested race at the county level in this primary is on the Democratic ballot between two candidates vying for the coroner's office.

Precinct Committeepersons:

People may notice a number of precinct committee races on their ballots, including a handful contested on both the Republican and Democratic party ballots. These local party positions help choose a party chair and have votes in how the local county parties operate. The major parties tend to be "big tent" organizations with internal competing factions and ideologies.

County Board member Jeff Wilson was on the WDWS program "Penny For Your Thoughts" yesterday (2/29/2024) explaining the importance of these committeeperson seats and how their votes are weighed when voting on a party chair or other local party decisions. This applies to both major parties in Champaign County. The countywide precinct committeeperson makeup can determine if a local party apparatus aligns with certain candidates or more conservative, liberal, or moderate ideological views.

Later in that same interview, Wilson also commented on local election integrity. He addressed a caller's concern that the local system was rigged and argued that people should volunteer to be election judges and watchers to watch how the process works. He pointed to the chain of custody procedures and bipartisan collaboration in the process to ensure votes are fairly processed and counted.

Gun Violence Updates

This post has links and updates on area gun violence and the latest information on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funded programs intended to address that problem at the County and municipal levels. In general, we're seeing a significant drop in violent crime, shootings, and other gun violence locally, similar to national trends since the pandemic era spikes.

Heads up: The third in a series of training sessions for a mass casualty event will be happening today, Tuesday January 30th, according to the News-Gazette:

Tuesday’s session will operate under the Active Shooter Incident Management plan, a widely used framework that Lack said helps restructure the chain of command and coordinate different agencies to use the same language and procedures in the event of a major emergency...

It will also test how certain departments are delegated to respond to regular calls for service outside of the major event. Each responder will participate in the exercise for an hour before cycling back out to their shift.

Tuesday will be the third and largest training session that local first responders have held in part of a continuing effort to ensure that the agencies are on the same page in the event of a major emergency.

That full article here. More from WCIA and the City of Champaign website here. There's a phrase we hear from first responders, ALICE trainers, and some policy makers that, "it's not a matter of 'if,' but 'when.'"

Gun Violence Updates: 

For general updates on shootings in Champaign County, there are monthly updates by area police chiefs and the Sheriff's office each month at the Champaign County Community Coalition. For example, the Champaign Police Department continues to report reduced shootings and a drop in violent crime. From the News-Gazette coverage of January's Champaign County Community Coalition:

The Champaign Police Department is moving in the right direction and not looking to make any wholesale changes — at least according to Deputy Police Chief Geoffrey Coon...

Champaign saw an almost 50 percent drop in shootings in 2023 compared to 2022 and a nearly 75 percent drop in shootings last year compared to 2021, a release from the city police department said...

Coon pointed to the department’s increased investment in building relationships with community members, as well as the implementation of new technology like license-plate-readers and “old fashioned police work” to the drop in violent crime.

That full article here. Urbana PD presented an crime update to the Urbana City Council in early November (jump to video). A graph from that presentation shows similar drops as in Champaign and national trends:

One can compare the spike and subsequent drop in violent crime in national trends and in each city to evaluate any claims on causes. C-U Citizen Access has previously reported that violent crime and shootings have fallen in both Champaign and Urbana in spite of the policy and ALPR technology differences. Other metropolitan areas saw similar drops in gun violence and violent crime as reported by the Springfield Journal-Register.

ARPA Funding Updates:

A lot of programs attempting to address gun violence or underlying factors got an infusion with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. A quick by the numbers update on ARPA funded projects can be difficult as the funds went to various local government bodies. The latest ARPA updates at the County level show most of those programs are still in the "being implemented" phase (page 65-74 of the January County Board Agenda Packet PDF).

Individual municipalities can be a bit trickier to nail down. The City of Champaign packaged a lot of their ARPA funds towards these issues in their Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint. There was a Study Session report and update on the blueprint programs several months ago here. Since then the City has approved a second round of ARPA funding via that blueprint. The resolution approving that second round of funding had an explanation and breakdown here. They also have a general ARPA explainer page on their website.

Similarly, the City of Urbana has a general concept page describing how it plans to use the ARPA funds, including on matters related to gun violence and issues viewed as underlying causes. More details from the city's approved "ARPA Concept Plan Project List" here. The 2024 budget includes a detailed description of the ARPA funds usage (starting on page 8 of the PDF)

"Lost" and "Stolen" Guns:

The News-Gazette has continued to highlight local reports of lost or stolen firearms in a series highlighting how many legal firearms are entering criminal circulation through neglect, theft, or likely sales/transfers reported as loss or thefts:

In less than three months’ time last summer, Champaign police filed five reports of firearms reported stolen by residents — one from an unlocked truck, another from an unlocked apartment, five more from a home when the owner apparently wasn’t looking. Of the nine guns gone missing, none have been recovered. 

That full article here. Other articles in the series highlighted similar issues in Rantoul and Danville and another recent article highlighted vehicle thefts.

County Public Transportation Updates

WARNING: This post may use and link to references heavy on abbreviations and local government jargon. The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission has a handy abbreviation reference list (with agency names at the bottom) here.

At the last County Board meeting, there was a long explanation of the bureaucratic hurdles and timeframes that can undermine perfectly good projects. In this case, installing some public transportation shelters in Rantoul as part of the rural transit program here in Champaign County (jump to video link of the presentation here). The presenter who goes into great detail about the regulatory steps and timelines was Rita Morocoima-Black, Planning and Community Development Director at the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (RPC).

RPC's website has a basic description of that function:

The Regional Planning program of RPC provides planning-related technical services to local governments throughout its service area. These services include a range of programs which address policy analysis, planning processes, demographic, economic, environmental and geospatial information analysis, and technical analysis. Most services are either contractual or funded and governed through intergovernmental agreements.

If one goes to the committees and meetings page of the RPC website, they'll find that the Regional Planning Commission is primarily made up of representatives of local governments: village presidents, mayors, the Champaign County Executive, etc. It has a long local history, especially with transportation planning, and now has multiple divisions and works to coordinate intergovernmental agreements and programs across the area.

You'll hear RPC mentioned a lot in local government meetings because it is often at the center of programs that run across government jurisdictions. This is, of course, a very common occurrence in any county dealing with local units of government, but especially in counties with "twin city" population centers.

You'll also hear the long RPC acronym for transportation planning thrown around a lot in this context: CUUATS. I'm pretty sure only the people who work at CUUATS (and not even all of them) can readily ramble off what it stands for with 100% accuracy. If you have to google it, every time, you're not alone. It stands for Champaign Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study and also has a long history within the RPC.

But the County Board Agenda said "Rural Transit Advisory Group"

This County Board presentation, for example, was a presentation on the Rural Transit Advisory Group, which was established by the county to oversee the collaboration between the Champaign County government and the MTD (local mass transit district) for County wide and rural services. In basic terms, the County gets public transportation funding for services around the County and works with MTD to provide many of the services.

In the complicated realm of federal grants, Illinois Department of Transportation regulations, and working across various local government bodies and transit districts, this is only one piece of the puzzle, however.

Rita Morocoima-Black wears many hats in this bureaucratic overlap. As a recent CUUATS agenda packet points out, she's variously listed as: 

• Planning and Community Development Director for RPC (the overarching planning commission in Champaign County)
• Transportation Planning Manger for CUUATS (the transportation planning group within RPC)
• Also acting as bit of a liaison with the County's Rural Transit Advisory Group (RTAG).

At the heart of all this is transportation planning. In spite of all the acronyms, committees, and paperwork, this is all about connecting real funding to real transportation projects.

When you're dealing with federal, State, County, and local government bureaucracies all operating with their own tax bases, regulations, and authority, however there's not just simple agreement. The written agreements tend to establish a working relationship to protect the interests of everyone involved. They're often heavily scrutinized before and after, especially if voters or an interested party think any tax money was wasted or mishandled!

Staying Informed

Unless it's your job or you have a lot of time and coffee, the average voter couldn't possibly keep up with all of the details and meetings involved with just these organizations and related boards, committees, and groups. And that's just for the County's public transportation planning, funding and spending. 

You have to choose your level of interest and commitment to this issue:

• If you simply follow the County Board meetings, you'll get very general updates from all of these commissions and groups from time to time. And that's probably enough for your average voter.
  
  
• If you're more generally interested in area transportation planning and budgets, you might consider going through the CUUATS Policy Committee (remember, the transportation planning group within RPC!) documents or even attending one of their meetings.
  
  
• And if you're extremely interested in public transportation policy within Champaign County, you can also follow the CUUATS Technical Committee meetings and documents as well as the MTD's own meetings and documents that include their C-CARTS program and even more glorious acronyms. The Champaign-County Area Rural Transit System or C-CARTS is a real public transportation system at the end of all this planning, funding, agreements, and appropriations.

And of course that's just where you might start on this particular issue. For more specific concerns about rural public transit in this town or the other, you might have your own local committee, commission, or village group to work with!

If you live in Rantoul and really want to find another funding path for building those public transportation shelters at June's County Board meeting, hopefully this post helps a little!

[UPDATE 6/29: The MTD Board also approved the intergovernmental agreements with the County on their side at their 6/28/2023 meeting. That is covered on a Cheat Sheet C-U Local post here.]

June County Board Updates

 

At this month's County Board meeting they had to break out extra chairs for the audience who packed the house. The overwhelming majority had come out to show their support for the County to lead on making sure their were quality nursing home beds available to families in Champaign-Urbana. A recent letter to the editor in the News-Gazette mirrored many of the concerns vocalized during the meeting's public participation. 

Speakers emphasized the need for the County to ensure beds are available, a needs assessment is carried out, and that they show leadership on finding a solution. With the sale and now closure of the County's old Nursing Home facility and other local reductions in beds, families are insisting there is a growing local need. There was more about the nursing home organization at the Cheat Sheet posts on May County Board Updates as well as last month's Nursing Home Updates post.

The County gave a local City of Champaign project a funding boost with some the County's allotment of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The News-Gazette highlighted the issue prior to the vote. Excerpt:

The money would come from part of the approximately $40 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding the county has been receiving over two years. It’s intended to help pay for sidewalk and lighting improvements in Garden Hills, a neighborhood on the city’s northwest side, according to the resolution going to the board.

In an April 12 letter to Summers, Champaign City Manager Dorothy David said phases two and three of the Garden Hills project were estimated to run $39.7 million, but it’s anticipated final costs will run significantly higher due to the high rate of inflation.

Full article here. More on the Garden Hills improvement project at the City of Champaign website here. Smile Politely had an editorial arguing for the need to invest ARPA funds towards projects like Garden Hills improvement two years ago. There was an update on the project presented to the City Council a couple months ago, with a written report available here.

In other related County ARPA spending, there was a Kathy's Mailbag question on the timeline for rural broadband projects coming to fruition. Unfortunately, for those familiar with the government process, she notes that the county is still finalizing the contracts:

Michelle Jett, Director of Administration in the County Executive’s office, said the Champaign County Board has committed $10 million to expanding broadband access “and is in the final stages of finalizing contracts for installation to begin.”

According to a memo distributed to county board members in early May, Volo Broadband and Nextlink were chosen to complete the build-out in the unserved and underserved portions of rural Champaign County. Generally speaking, Nextlink will provide broadband service across the northern and far southern tiers of Champaign County, while Volo mostly will serve rural customers across the middle of the county.

More at that Mailbag article here.

There is also a special meeting on 6/27 for a time sensitive intergovernmental agreement between the Circuit Clerk's office and the Illinoid Department of Healthcare and Family Services. More on that from the agenda packet here. Relevant excerpt:

For several years the Champaign County Clerk has had a contract with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to provide access to various court records to HFS to facilitate the child support services they provide to their clientele. In addition, the Clerk’s office also receives payment for the provision of copies of child support orders entered by the Court based upon a formula established by HFS for that purpose. People who receive services from HFS for this purpose do not have to receive benefits from HFS to qualify for this assistance

Other Champaign County Updates:

• Kathy's Mailbag had additional information on how Champaign County Crime Stoppers selects the Crime of the Week to highlight among the various law enforcement jurisdictions.
• Comparing May unemployment rates between Champaign County (3.7%) and other counties, Champaign (3.6%) and Urbana (3.8%) contrasted with other metropolitan areas. The News-Gazette article also included changes from last May.
• The News-Gazette also had updates this past week on the ongoing drought conditions. Some local fire departments are warning against using personal fireworks this year due to the increased risk of fire.
• The News-Gazette highlighted the open appointment slot and duties of board members on the sanitary district boards. For more Champaign County appointment openings, see the appointment web page or current listings here.

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.

Other County Updates

This post covers some other County news items in the news recently, including the return of surgical abortions to Champaign County, more local housing program funding, resources for those impacted by this summer's drought conditions, and a couple other County government items. There have also been other Cheat Sheet posts recently specifically on:

• Election Updates and Candidate Forums 
• County Board Updates into November: including coverage and links to all of October's County Board and committee meetings.
• Area Gun Violence Updates into November

Surgical abortion is available again in Champaign County according to Illinois Newsroom:

Doctors began performing abortions on patients at the renovated Planned Parenthood clinic in Champaign earlier this month. But on Wednesday morning, the doctors and patients were absent, as reporters and visiting politicians were given a tour of the health center, where surgical abortions have resumed after several years...

The Planned Parenthood clinic in Champaign had stopped performing surgical abortions several years ago, and only offered medical abortions, prescribing medications for women to take at home to end a pregnancy. But earlier this month, the clinic began offering surgical abortions once again in a newly renovated first-floor health center...

Whitaker says the Champaign clinic has seen patients from eleven states since Roe v. Wade was overturned, with the majority of out-of-state patients coming from nearby Indiana. Planned Parenthood officials say Indiana patients have made up about eleven percent of the Champaign clinic’s clientele since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling.

That full article here. This was similarly reported in the News-Gazette earlier this month and noted in a earlier Cheat Sheet post on health updates. In that post it was noted that surgical abortions had ceased in Champaign County and region with another womens clinic that ended its services soon after it was targeted in a series of white nationalist terrorist attacks by a militant group out of Ford County (more on that in a previous Cheat Sheet post here).

The News-Gazette's eEdition had coverage of local housing programs getting funding through the Champaign County Housing Authority. Excerpts:

It’s been a good stretch for the housing authority, with the announcement of seven figures’ worth of state and local funding and a slew of national honors...

United Way of Champaign County funding of $75,000 (to provide YouthBuild programming and certifications for 12 students) and $33,000 (to the Housing Authority’s self-sufficiency program, including the installation of video doorbells at Oakwood Trace Apartments).

Also, seven of the Lily Walton-led agency’s programs were honored by the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. The three recognized with awards of both merit and excellence: YouthBuild Transitional Housing Programs, the Healthy Beginnings Initiative and the SHIFT Family Self-Sufficiency Program.

That full article with more details here. 

Severe drought (D2) conditions over the late summer led to Champaign County being considered a natural disaster area. From Illinois Newsroom:

After severe droughts in July and August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated Champaign and Vermilion counties as primary natural disaster areas.

With that announcement, farmers with 30% crop loss, can apply for low-interest, emergency loans. This can help replace equipment or refinance certain debts...

[John Gehrke, head of the USDA Illinois Farm Service Agency's loan program] said he’s seen “fairly strong” crop yields statewide, but that some areas, like Champaign and Vermilion counties, were particularly impacted by the summer droughts.

That full article with links for the local USDA FSA office and loan options here. More data and descriptions from the National Integrated Drought Information System here.

Other Champaign County Updates:

• Opioid lawsuit settlement money coming to the Champaign County government according to the News-Gazette. This was discussed at the recent Regular County Board meeting.
• Tom Kacich looked at whether Champaign County should even continue to have a County Executive form of government going forward in the News-Gazette. He refers to the local League of Women Voters group that has argued against keeping the unusual form of government here. Their arguments were covered by Illinois Newsroom here including links to their full report and presentation.

County Board Updates into November

 

Earlier this month there was a Cheat Sheet post with some initial County Board updates heading into the Committee of the Whole and Regular County Board meetings. One involved the new owner of the former Champaign County Nursing Home requesting a change to the terms of the agreement that they maintain the facility as a local nursing home. The County Board unanimously shot that request down in no uncertain terms. The News-Gazette had coverage here: "Champaign County Board to nursing home owners on sale: 'Hell no!'"

That still leaves the possibility that the new owners may still try to close or find some other way to sell the nursing home. The News-Gazette also noted that they haven't been paying property taxes on the nursing home property, which can be indicative of intentions to leave that to sale negotiations.

The controversial issues in the Committee of the Whole meeting were mostly fought out in the public comments (jump to video link). Many came out to speak against changing the terms of the Nursing Home contract and on a couple of issue statements on the agenda that night. When the Board took up the issue statement resolutions later — on Biden having won the election and the other on abortion access as reproductive freedom — their votes mostly fell along partisan lines with a few Republicans joining the Democrats in support. The exact language of the resolutions can be found on the last pages 91-93 of the agenda packet PDF file here. The real argument by Board Members on those issue statements came during the Regular County Board meeting, covered below.

There was also a drawing of lots for the redistricted County Board after the 2020 Census. All County Board seats are up for election this year, but future elections will be staggered. Some seats will initially be up for election again in 2 years and others in 4 years to create the new staggered 4 year terms for all from then on. The process was difficult to follow, but you can watch how it played out with lots being drawn out of a big red hat, here in the meeting video.

Public Hearings and Regular County Board Meeting:

There was a very brief special meeting (agenda, video) before the regular meeting explaining the increased tax levy and giving the public an opportunity to weigh in (there were no public comments at this public hearing). The short summary is that the overall property tax money coming in will increase due to inflation and new properties, but the tax rate for homeowners is essentially unchanged (and even slightly lower). See the Cheat Sheet post on Tax Levies versus Tax Rates here.

The Regular County Board meeting also had its own public hearing on the agenda to allow public input specifically on the $20,000,000 bond issue related to the jail consolidation and County Plaza facility work. There was no public or board member input during this public hearing either.

There was a specific agenda item for the public to speak specifically on the County's upcoming budget, also with no takers.

Regular public participation agenda item had members of the public speaking in support of the resolution in support of reproductive rights, including Kathy Shannon (Unit 4 school member), former County Board members Jenny Putnam and Mike Ingram, and Urbana City Council alderwoman Chaundra Bishop. 

Tessa Kirby also spoke about the an abandoned property in the area town of Seymour that's becoming a neglected hazard with serious animal control issues.

After public participation there were a few presentations, one was an update from the auditor and another the annual report from Champaign County Area Rural Public Transportation System (C-CARTS). An additional presentation was also included on the Champaign County Airborne Geologic Mapping Project (cited research information on The Future of Science of the Mahomet Aquifer). That last presentation was originally listed later towards the end of the agenda, but moved up to the beginning.

The issue statements on the agenda (referred by vote from the Committee of the Whole and primarily addressed in public comments then) passed the Regular Board meeting as well. During the discussion of the first (election issues) vote, Republican Board Member Passalacqua explained his no vote on the issue statements was against the politics of putting them on the agenda before an election, not anything related to a stance for or against the statements themselves. Democratic Board Member Fortado argued that the context makes these issue statement important to vote on, both as a process and in substance. Fortado had noted her general opposition to issue statements under other circumstances in her Committee of the Whole comments. 

The discussion mostly continued along the same lines from Democrats. Republican Board Member Goss accused Democrats of being "election deniers" in 2016 and stated he opposes these agenda items as a nonsense vote and the other irrelevant in Illinois. Other Republicans questioned the timing, politics, or necessity of these items as opposed to questioning the substance.

Republican Board Member Esry walked out prior to the vote, taking issue with the "crap" from Democratic Board Member Carter's arguments for the need. The parliamentary rules broke down as there were remarks back and forth regardless of who had the floor. The discussion was much shorter (but similar) for the second item (abortion issues).

Both items passed, again along partisan lines.

In an additional discussion item later in agenda, there was an update on the opioid settlement from the lawsuit Champaign County was a part of (see page 88 of the agenda packet PDF). Excerpt:

With very short notice, we have been informed that this week the county will receive two payments of $69,822.78 and $73,380.34. Additional payments will be made to the county over a time period of up to 18 years, and amounts will vary based on several calculations being done at the national level.

No board action is required at this time, but in future years the board can address allocation of these funds within the parameters that will be provided. 

There were also some materials related to ARPA funding, unallocated funds and the budget in the agenda packet after that as well. Kathy Larson had a report on those items with board discussion towards the end of the meeting video here. There appeared to be far more ideological agreement across party lines on programs with the local Park Districts, Habitat for Humanity, etc. with unallocated funds moving forward.

The County Executive explained that the meeting wasn't adjourned, but recessed due to the ongoing public budget review. This appears to be primarily a parliamentary concern, so the next Regular Board meeting will essentially continue from this one. Board watchers may not notice any significant difference on the agenda other than the wording at the beginning and end, however.

Upcoming County Board Meetings / Head's Up:

This month's calendar starts off with a Facilities Committee on the very 1st day of the month (agenda).

Area Gun Violence Updates into November

There have been a lot of updates since our last roundup of area gun violence coverage and issues back in August. Last week there were a few updates specific to the City of Champaign posted on the C-U Local Cheat Sheet here. For the very latest Police Chiefs Reports at the Champaign Community Coalition meeting this past month jump to the 4:30 minute and mark of the latest meeting video here. The News-Gazette had an overview:, including an excerpt on the County numbers where the Sheriff's department primarily operates:

The numbers of Champaign County gun violence incidents in 2022 continue to pale in comparison to the grim totals of last year.

According to local police departments, the number of confirmed shootings in the county is down more than 50 percent compared to this time last year...

Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman had four new shootings to report from the last month, though all resulted in property damage and no injuries. So far, the sheriff’s office has confirmed 12 shootings, also about half the total from this time last year.

That full article here. WCIA had a round up on gun violence prior to that meeting here. As pointed out earlier in the year, this falls in line with many national trends and federal data pointed out in the New York Times: "A Drop in Murders: Despite the grim headlines, 2022 is less violent so far than last year." 

Long story short, the disruptions and upheaval that may have led to the recent years spike in gun violence may be receding a bit. It's too early to tell if we're heading back to earlier gun violence trendlines in some sort of "new normal." Those "normal" pre-pandemic violent crime trendlines were pretty high and unacceptable for most folks before, however.

In recent news a 12 year old was seriously injured in a shooting that capped off some sort of traffic altercation in Champaign. The News-Gazette had additional coverage at the time of the incident here.

WCIA highlighted some local efforts to identify possible school shooting threats before they happen. 

There’s been an emphasis lately on school shooting response training and preparation. Champaign and Ford County law enforcement agencies and school districts Thursday instead focused on ways to prevent the trigger from ever being pulled.

Members of the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) spent three hours training county and city officials on decades of research that’s resulted in a plan to address concerning behavior before it’s too late...

A school shooting hasn’t happened to date in the districts (St. Joseph and Tolono) under the sheriff’s jurisdiction, but it has happened in central Illinois. Those in Mattoon, in Coles County, recall Sept. 20, 2017, when a 15-year-old student fired a gun in the cafeteria hitting a fellow student.

That full article has a video segment and a lot more additional information here. In the months since Uvalde school shooting in Texas there has been a lot of continued criticism and introspection on emergency response to such incidents. In St. Louis, a few hours down the road, a mass shooting highlighted a situation where the family appeared to do everything right in getting a troubled youth into criminal justice and mental health interventions, including having his weapon removed from the household, but did not avert tragedy. 

WCIA also highlighted a couple organizations collaborating on local gun violence issues here in Champaign County, including some organization towards applying for additional grant money and future collaborations:

In Champaign County, several groups continue working together to reduce crime. 

Leaders feel that working together through conversations and educational programs will help make the community safer. 

James Kilgore, the director of advocacy and outreach with First Followers, said the City of Champaign is helping him and his organization fill the gaps. Taren Nance, Urbana High School’s principal and the Anti-Violence Collective founder, said he’s working directly with his students.

More at that full article here. H3 and other local efforts were also the focus of County funding initiatives covered in a previous County Board Update on the Cheat Sheet here.

Other Gun Violence Updates:

• WCIA highlighted the SPOTLITE online database on the use of lethal force by police departments here and across the State of Illinois. 

• The News-Gazette also looked at the City of Champaign's efforts, including private security, to reduce late-night shooting incidents in downtown.