Rural Stop Signs Being Installed

Following up on an announcement of a grant by the County Board Chair in the News-Gazette letters several months ago. From the News-Gazette today:

Stop-and-go effort: Signs going up at rural intersections across county
Construction crews began installing 628 stop signs last week at rural intersections across Champaign County.

Once the project is complete, all rural intersections should have at least two-way stop signs.

"The time of year when it's going to be most helpful is when the intersections are blocked by the tall corn," said county engineer Jeff Blue. "We just hope that when the stop signs are installed that people will obey them. If they do, we definitely will have a decrease in the crashes at those intersections."

When the project was approved by the county board in April, Blue said the signs would establish a clear right of way and that federal studies have shown a 22 percent reducation in the crash rate.

Springfield-based TMF Construction received the $171,000 contract to install the stop signs; 90 percent of it is paid for by a federal grant...

TMF has until Dec. 1 to complete the project...

Once the stop signs are installed, it will be up to the township road commissioners to take care of them.

That's "the one downside," said Aaron Esry, a county board member whose district includes the southeastern part of the county. "When they need to be replaced, it will be on the townships themselves."

Full article with additional information here.

The Week Ahead 5/6 - 5/12

*** There's a Special Meeting of the County Board with information being presented and Q&A about the potential sale of the Nursing Home. The meeting is this week on Wednesday May 9th at 7pm (agenda here). More on the board's leaning heading towards a possible vote to sell at the end of the month here: Nursing Home Vote Count. ***

Other Events:

Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:

Champaign Human Relations Commission May 7th at 5:30pm. More information on City of Champaign meeting times here. This commission had previously recommended to the City Council that they remove the exemption to their housing discrimination protections as recommended by the RJTF

Champaign Community Coalition meets Wednesday May 9th from 3:30pm to 5pm at the Champaign Public Library.

Urbana Human Relations Commission meets on May 9th at 5:30pm. More information on Urbana Council Chambers and meeting times here.

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, May 9th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center.

There may be more news again this week on the RJTF Housing Recommendations.
Here are some of the latest updates: I heard about additional meetings with the Mayor of Champaign with representatives of several local organizations. More on that as I learn more. I also heard about the County ACLU talking about writing letters to their City Council members.

Previous updates: There was a meeting earlier between CU Indivisible and the Mayor of Champaign on the issue (more on that here). The issue also came up at the Housing Authority of Champaign County (more from the Reentry Council meeting last month). And there was the County Board vote (more information and links on the Cheat Sheet here) and a recent Smile Politely article have motivated a lot of ideas towards movement.

County Calendar:

*** There's a Special Meeting of the County Board with information being presented and Q&A about the potential sale of the Nursing Home. The meeting is this week on Wednesday May 9th at 7pm (agenda here). More on the board's leaning heading towards a possible vote to sell at the end of the month here: Nursing Home Vote Count. ***


The week kicks off Monday with the County Executive Transition Committee that is establishing the rules and guidelines for the new County Executive form of government. Previous minutes, handouts, and agendas here (under 2018 meetings - note that the most recent minutes are in the next meeting's agenda packet awaiting approval). These meetings are open to the public and held in the Putnam Room (map).

The Facilities and Environment & Land Use Committee meetings (Tuesday and Thursday, respectively) are both streamed live (link below) if you want to see what that's all about. You can also get a pretty good idea from their respective previous agenda packets that Facilities deals with maintaining the County's facilities throughout and the Environment & Land Use deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction.

The Rural Transit Advisory Group deals with issues with rural public transportation in the county. More information including agendas available here. There's a recent quarterly report for anyone who wants to dive into their overview.

The Highway & Transportation Committee meets at the Highway Building and oversees the Highway Department which "bears responsibility for preparing plans, specifications and estimates for County bridges and culverts and supervising construction of same. The Department also supervises the construction and maintenance of all Champaign County highways. In addition, the Department keeps records of contracts, purchases of materials, machinery, etc. and administers the County Motor Fuel Fund, County Bridge Fund, State & Local Bridge Fund and Township Motor Fuel Tax Fund."


The full 2018 schedule is on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access

County Board and a Do-over

[UPDATE 4/22 5:50am: The News-Gazette's Tom Kacich had more information on TPgate drama that unfolded at the last County Board meeting. Here's an excerpt from the full article here:

Tempers were short hours earlier when board Chairman C. Pius Weibel, a Champaign Democrat, came to a meeting of the county board Republicans. He said he wanted to explain his decision earlier in the week to unilaterally order the county auditor to make a payment of about $40,000 to vendors who refused to do business with the nursing home unless they were paid immediately.

Among the supplies and services in jeopardy, he said, were toilet paper, hand soap, oxygen services and pest control. Weibel admitted his decision was not in line with a recent county board rule to cover payroll first and then “critical” vendors in an orderly fashion.

“What are you going to do? There was a fire and I put it out,” Weibel said.

“When a tsunami of vendors comes,” said Mahomet Republican Brooks Marsh, “then everything will be an emergency. We can’t allow that.”

Soon it escalated into a shouting match, although that ended quickly.

“It’s not right. It’s not a one-man rule,” Marsh said.

“I don’t like it either,” Weibel said. “But I had to make a choice.”

By the time Weibel left the meeting, they thanked him and apologized for the outburst.]

I was running behind this week, so there's already an update to the County Board post I was working on as well as video on the County Clerk's YouTube page here. The Nursing Home vote at this week's regular County Board meeting (more on that below) appears to need to be taken again at a special meeting this upcoming Tuesday. From the News-Gazette website last night:

County board to reconsider nursing home management vote
Champaign County Board members will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday to reconsider the vote they took Thursday night to reject extending a contract with the firm that manages the county nursing home.

The board voted 10-9, with Republicans in the majority, against extending for an additional two months the county's contract with SAK Management Services through July.

The move jeopardized the operation of the home, which the county is attempting to sell for $11 million to two Evanston-based companies. But any possible sale of the facility likely wouldn't be consummated by July 31...

"We didn't have the votes counted right," he said. "We have to have management at the home. We may not be happy with the management but we have to have management.

Full article on that update here. A lot of the anger stemmed from the Nursing Home running out of Toilet Paper. Traci had a summary write up of the regular April 19th County Board Meeting:

Board approved $336,000 funds from the County Highway Fund for Installation of Stop Signs in Champaign County.  Only 10% will come from county tax dollars as the bulk of the project will be paid for with a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant.  Even though the motion was ultimately approved, there was some concern about the necessity of the stop sign and if stop signs would help prevent auto accidents and death.  Having driven rural roads in Champaign County when the corn is high, I think the $.16 is well spent.  http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-the-editor/2018-03-05/stop-signs-good-response-accidents.html

The County Board's Justice and Social Services committee presented funds from Illinois Counties Association to several local social service agencies including CASA, First Followers, and Champaign County Health Care Consumers.

The Board failed to vote on Resolution No. 2018-98 to approve County Board facilitation of the collection of racial/ethnicity data within the county criminal justice system.  Jim McGuire speaking on behalf of Katie Blakeman, who's office likely would ultimately be responsible for collecting the data, about her reluctance with implementing the program.

Grants approved and received included:
$698,511 from the Secondary Preschool for All Expansion Grant.  The funds will allow expanded Summer classroom programming and enhanced service provision to an additional 51 children and their families.  The grant will also support significant infrastructure improvements including replacement of aging playground equipment and classroom upgrades.
$25,000 from the Pritzker Children's Initiative Planning Grant The funds will be used to update the Community Assessment and identifying strategies to address gaps.
$40,000 from Ameren Illinois to support an Energy-Focused Summer Internship Program for 15 Students

The Motion to Allow the Agreement with SAK Management Services, LLC to Automatically Renew for the Second Renewal Term from June 1, 2018 through July 31, 2018 failed by a vote of 10 to 9.  Motion was called to a vote after vigorous debate about SAK's poor management including a recent incident when they requested emergency funds because, along with other items, they ran out of toilet paper.  The purchase request was sent to Board Chair Pius Weibel and after consulting with Deb Busey, interim County Administrator, he approved of the funds to be spent.  There was no discussion about what if any management company will replace SAK when their contract ends on May 31, 2018. 

The meeting then went into closed session to consider litigation which is probable or imminent against Champaign County.

The News-Gazette had coverage in yesterday's paper as well:

County board vote puts nursing home management deal in jeopardy
Republican members of the Champaign County Board on Thursday night voted down automatically renewing a contract with the management company that runs the county nursing home, potentially leaving the facility without a manager at the same time the county is trying to sell it.

The vote to renew the contract with Northfield-based SAK Management failed 10-9 on a party-line vote. Three Democrats — Shana Jo Crews, Stephanie Fortado and James Tinsley — were absent from the meeting, giving board Republicans a rare opportunity to win a partisan vote.

But after the meeting, Republicans wondered if they had gone too far. Their intention, Champaign Republican Jim McGuire explained, was to send a message to SAK after a problem earlier this week when the company had to make a special request to pay a vendor that threatened to cut off service for lack of payment...

County board members approved appropriating $336,000, mostly in federal funds, for the installation of 660 stop signs so that every rural intersection in Champaign County would have two-way coverage.

"If this prevents one death, it's worth it," said Republican Brad Clemmons, who also is the road commissioner in Tolono Township and said he already has placed stop signs at every intersection in his township.

County Engineer Jeff Blue said he hoped the installation of the signs would begin around the Fourth of July.

That article in full with more of the Nursing Home management "dramatics," as they call it, is here.

County Board COW Write Up 4/10

The County Board had its Committee of the Whole this week. I caught it on the County Clerk's YouTube page today. The agenda packet is available here, with addendums and supporting material available on this page. It included a presentation (video here, PowerPoint here) that had a break down of the 5 year forecast. Which overall shows revenue failing to keep up with expenses at an increasingly alarming rate even without the Nursing Home Operation / Disposition that is not part of this forecast other than the impact of loan forgiveness (click to enlarge):

The Racial Justice Task Force recommendations for community engagement (page 17 of the RJTF Final Report) were discussed. McGuire pointed out his opposition based on the fact that many of the ideas will require money and it's not known when in the foreseeable future the County would have funds for this or anything else in the current budget crisis. He voiced general support for the recommendations, noting "a lot of good things in here." He said there may be some overlap with some current community organizations such as the Reentry Council and Champaign Community Coalition, but another issue may be that the board simply doesn't have any place to tell local police departments what to do.

Chair Weibel and others highlighted that at this point the motion is only to facilitate and collaborate towards the goals, not any spending at this point, and not leading other government entities in any actions. Member Hartke suggested a leadership role would be good. Member Esry noted some concerns about ADA compliance with some of the recommendations, but Weibel again pointed out that this motion isn't for implementation yet, merely a call to action to look into facilitating and cooperating with these recommendations. Member Price said it is good for the Board to get its feet in the water on this and that it will take a coalition within the community to pull it off.

It passed by voice vote with what sounded like only a few nays.

Other reports were submitted and filed by voice vote. Nominations passed by voice vote for several appointments. Sheriff proclamations designating the Week of May 6th as National Correctional Officer Week and another designating the Week of May 13th as National Police Week passed by voice vote as well.

One of the finance budget items was rather large and the handful of questions took some explanation from the Highway Department. An Ameren project that required heavy transportation on Staley Road was expected to cause some damage and an agreement was reached beforehand for Ameren to pay the cost of restoring the road to its previous condition after the project. This utilized a before and after survey and a measuring guide known as the "Pavement Condition Index." This motion is to be made available to the Highway Department for that work: $900,000 out of the $1,043,000 paid to the County by Ameren. The funding passed by voice vote.

There was a closed session about some pending litigation. When the board returned to open session they agreed that the addendum item on the Nursing Home shortfall would no longer need to be addressed due to the contents of that closed session.

The Board of Review annual report was submitted and the Treasurer's reports were presented. Several items about a positive set of resolutions involving mobile homes and taxes that apparently is helpful to the County from what little I could understand all passed by voice vote.

The Deputy County Administrator Tami Ogden went through the Five Year Forecast report presentation available here (PowerPoint here). Aa2 Negative Outlook from Moody's Rating, July 2017 was probably a somber, but concise, summary from the report:

The negative outlook reflects the expectation that without material changes to operating revenues or expenditures continued support of the county nursing home will likely continue to weaken the county's reserve position, placing downward pressure on the rating. 

The Question and Answers are after Ms. Ogden's presentation and start here. A bit of obligatory stating the obvious on the dire situation along with some answers that involved how needed upgrades to the server systems really need to know how the Nursing Home situation is being resolved or not in order to plan replacements and/or upgrades. Chair Weibel had a question about possible increased income from solar farms. Apparently the assessment will probably be higher than the previous farmland, but upon further questions it appears that nothing specific is certain yet.

After that the rest of the agenda was run through with no new business and a quick addition to the consent agenda of a couple items and then an immediate adjournment.

Rural Rail and Stop Signs

A couple rural County issues were in the headlines today. The first environmental in the courts and the second to do with rural intersections and stop signs (after a recent tragedy):

Rail company to pay for fuel spill
Union Pacific has been ordered to pay nearly $80,000 over a 2015 fuel spill near Sidney.

Champaign County Judge Michael Jones signed off on a consent order, which ends a lawsuit brought against the railroad company by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The order states that the railroad company must pay a flat fine of $70,000, plus about another $18,000, to reimburse the state for its expenses related to the cleanup.

In May 2015, a Union Pacific train spilled 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel about one mile south of Sidney. The fuel flowed into the Salt Fork River, according to Madigan’s lawsuit.

The bit on rural intersection stop-signs was from the County Board chairman in the Letters to the Editor highlight box:

Stop signs good response to accidents
In response to the Feb. 25 letter from Ellen Nuss, the Champaign County Board, of which I am the chair, has discussed the problem of vehicular crashes at rural intersections for some time. These discussions included the desire to reduce the number of crashes.

The installation of stop signs has historically significantly reduced the number of crashes at intersections that lack signage indicating the right of way. Stop signs give a clear indication of the right of way at intersections.

Recently, the county received a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant from the Federal Highway Administration through the Illinois Department of Transportation to install two-way stop sign control at all of the rural intersections within Champaign County. The installation of the stop signs should be initiated this summer.

As far as a “mandate,” the board has mandated that the highway department spend the funding for what it is supposed to used for — in this case, the installation of stop signs for increasing safety.

County taxes are being used to pay for 10 percent of this $336,000 project.

The local match, plus the prorated federal taxes that Champaign County citizens pay for this project, amount to a little over 16 cents per county citizen — a very small cost to increase the safety of rural drivers. C. PIUS WEIBEL Chairman, Champaign County Board

The Week Ahead 1/7 - 1/13

I'm posting an image link to the clickable PDF weekly calendar at the County main website again:

There's a special County Board Meeting before the regularly scheduled Committee of the Whole Board Meeting this Tuesday at 6pm dealing with Nursing Home issues, specially whether to let the broker start receiving bids to sell it. Post with links to the recent N-G article on that here. The agenda lists the various votes:

The 6:30pm Committee of the Whole agenda afterward looks a bit sparse beyond the usual reports and oddball budget items, so the special meeting may be where the fireworks happen... or perhaps just where the fuses get lit. We'll see Tuesday!

The 2018 schedule is up on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access