County Board Special Meeting Updates

In addition to the extensive County Board Winter Updates from earlier this week, there were a couple extra meetings right at the end of January this month: a special meeting of the County Board (agenda, addenda, and video) and another meeting of the Opioid Settlement Task Force (agenda, video).

The content of both meetings merits an extra post as opposed to simply updating the previous updates.

County Board Special Meeting:

Chief Deputy Coroner Stephen Thuney was appointed as Champaign County Coroner by what appeared to be a unanimous voice vote. There was a vacancy when Coroner Duane Northrup resigned in November. Thuney is also the Republican candidate for Coroner in the upcoming 2024 election. There are two Democratic candidates vying for the office in the Democratic Party's primary election this March, "Deputy Coroner Laurie Brauer and Champaign funeral home owner Seon Williams," according to the News-Gazette.

There was also a resolution recognizing the service of Kyle Patterson who is retiring his position on the County Board to become the City of Champaign Township Supervisor. More on that in the City of Champaign Winter Updates Cheat Sheet post here.

There was also a discussion on the County collaborating with an area consortium, including other government bodies and Economic Development Corporations, to invest in the Illinois Fermentation and Agricultural Biomanufacturing Tech Hub (iFAB Tech Hub) that would likely draw a great deal of investment and skilled jobs to this and other counties in the area. 

At the beginning of the meeting a typo was fixed via an amendment to this addenda item (the correct and amended amount as passed was $10,000, not $25,000 as printed). Carly McCrory-McKay, Executive Director of Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, presented the details of the hub to the board.

Most of the County Board members appeared excited about the low cost for the County's investment and confident in returns in tax base and economic growth to the community. Board Member Brett Peugh, however, raised concerns that the County has been desperately trying to manage its budget issues and looking to make other cuts and budget maneuvers lately. 

Peugh also argued that some county staff have been denied pay raises to this end. This was disputed by the County Executive Steve Summers and staff who stated that all staff received pay raises this year and last.

The $10,000 iFab Hub funding passed with a voice vote after the discussion.

 

Opioid Settlement Task Force Meeting:

Following up on the previous Cheat Sheet update on the Opioid committee, the members heard another presentation from organizations and experts dealing with the opioid crisis locally. This time the task force heard rom the Champaign County Mental Health Board's Executive Director, Lynn Canfield.

The discussion centered around ensuring that diverse voices from the recovery community are heard from in any solutions that may be decided upon. Staffing issues within substance abuse and mental health service providers were discussed in addition to staffing issues in almost every organization, including the County government, that play a role in substance abuse and mental health programs, funding, and services.

During the staff report, there was a discussion of how best to utilize settlement funds towards transportation and treatment needs in the County. For example there was a specific discussion about how the County's rural transportation service via MTD, C-CARTS, might be able to connect Rantoul residents in recovery to services within Champaign-Urbana. Staffing, specifically with drivers, may again be a difficulty.

Chair Locke explained some of the benefits of the data dashboard of local relevant information from local departments, METCAD, etc. She raised concerns about the efficacy of educational outreach with older D.A.R.E. generation adults in recovery and where funds may be best utilized.

Member Jen Straub raised the idea of a substance abuse council similar to the Champaign County Reentry Council or the Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless, that would bring disparate entities together for collaboration. There was a discussion on how best to do that, how best to ensure that diverse voices of the recovery community aren't lost, and ensuring that such a council didn't divert funding and resources away from clear needs already presented to the Task Force (e.g. medical addiction treatment needs raised by Judge Ben Dyer of the County's Drug Court).

Going forward the task force is looking to hear from the local mental health and substance abuse treatment provider, Rosecrance. The committee will be looking for their input and expectations versus the reality of the services they're providing to the area. A common theme among law enforcement, mental health service providers, and government bodies (local to State officials) is the simple lack of a place to treat some people with severe conditions. This can include serious gaps for folks needing immediate drug treatment when they seize the opportunity to get help or people reentering the community from the criminal justice system.

It can also be the lack of mental health and substance abuse facilities for people who are currently put into the jail facilities because there are no other treatment options available to handle the severity of their circumstances. A recurring theme is that our jail and prison system has become our primary mental health care treatment facilities. Which appears to be born out in the data.

From my own observations in these kinds of mental health committees and boards, there appears to be a frustration that we no longer have the kind of psychiatric facilities that could handle more severe patients anymore. This is matched, however, by serious concerns about not repeating the abuses and mistreatment commonly associated with the same.

The next Opioid Settlement Task Force meeting does not have a set date yet, as it will depend on the availability of a presenter from Rosecrance and meeting room availability.

January County Board Updates

 

The biggest headlines for the Champaign County Board this past month were on approving the purchase of the County Plaza building for additional County office space. The discussion during the County Board meeting itself, even by supporters, warned of the financial risks and work that would come along with the purchase. From the News-Gazette coverage of the approval vote:

On Thursday night, the county board approved the purchase of the downtown Urbana building for $2 million in a 16-5 vote.

After the sale closes, an estimated $18 million worth of work will need to be put into the building before county offices move in, Kloeppel said.

Included in that tentative estimate will be fixing the building’s leaking roof, updating its mechanicals and making accessibility changes along with remodeling for various county departments that will be moving in, she said.

That full article here. There was additional information from earlier News-Gazette coverage on the proposed purchase:

The County Plaza building is about 88,000 square feet and has five stories plus a basement, Kloeppel said. Efforts to buy it were primarily prompted by the need for a new space for the sheriff’s office, currently at 204 E. Main St., she said.

That building, which also houses one of the county’s jails, is deteriorating. The county board has already approved a $20.4 million plan to relocate the jail to the satellite facility at 502 S. Lierman Ave. and build an addition there.

There are other county offices, among them the public defender, which also need room to expand, and the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission has also indicated it needs more room, Kloeppel said.

That full article here. WCIA had a preview blurb on the County Plaza vote here and a follow up blurb after the vote here.

Other County Board news: 

• District 6 County Board member and Garden Hills resident Samantha Carter contributed to the News-Gazettes ongoing conversation on local gun violence.  

More Champaign County Updates on a separate Cheat Sheet post.

COVID and Health Updates

There has been a great deal of news this past month due to the latest COVID-19 wave and the changing behavior of the Omicron variant. This post starts with some general information and updates, school related updates, and other news and links. 

Illinois Newsroom had a listing of vaccination and testing sites in central Illinois, including Champaign County, in a recent article here. Smile Politely had a listing for C-U testing sites as well here. As always you can get more local information at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District website here and regular updates at their facebook page here.

There were press releases asking asymptomatic people not to go to local hospitals for testing, but to use other testing services in the area. From WCIA:

Champaign-Urbana Public Health District recently posted to Facebook, asking people not to use Carle, OSF, Christie or Promise Healthcare for COVID asymptomatic testing.

Health officials said at this moment, people who should go to these healthcare locations for COVID testing are only the ones with symptoms, have a high-risk exposure or are directed there by a healthcare provider.

According to officials, others should use the Market Place Mall testing site, SHIELD-CU sites (the Stephens Family YMCA, CRCE on the U of I campus, or Parkland College in Building E), The Free Rapid Test site at southeast corner of Springfield & Duncan or Campustown Urgent Care at Wright and Green.

Full article with video segment here.

Schools:

The Omicron variant of the COVID pandemic hit Illinois last month. and has put a strain on hospitalizations locally. In the week before Christmas the C-UPHD was warning of a "tsunami" of new infections and that the local hospitals were being overwhelmed. The News-Gazette editors promoted vaccinations and masking to help mitigate the surge in a recent editorial as well.

Around that same time the University announced a week long delay for in-person classes this year. Earlier in December, the UIUC Chancellor Robert Jones' "State of the University" speech highlighted the school's pandemic strategy heading into the new year. From Illinois Newsroom:

Last year, everyone on campus was required to test for the virus twice a week. Now, with vaccines available, Jones said they’re testing students, faculty and staff on a targeted basis.

“If there’s more than a couple of cases in a day or two or three cases in a week, we do what we call targeted surveillance testing where everybody in that facility does have to test every other day. And that, according to our public health officials, combined with our very high level of vaccination, is the best mitigation step to take at the moment,” Jones said.

Around 94 percent of the University of Illinois students and staff are fully vaccinated. That’s compared to 74 percent of people 18 and over statewide.

Full article here. Text of the address here, video link here (jump to link on COVID section of the address here). The News-Gazette also had an overview of the University's mitigation strategy last month here.

The University also announced COVID testing requirements for upcoming athletic events. WCIA had an overview here.

The local school districts announced their COVID testing policies and requirements heading into the new year. WCIA had an overview for Unit 4 and District 116 (Champaign and Urbana) here.

Other COVID and health news updates:

• Prior to the New Year's Eve celebrations, mayors of both Champaign and Urbana warned residents to avoid large gatherings to help prevent overwhelming the hospital system any further.
• Secretary of State drivers services have been impacted. Details from WCIA here.
• The surge in cases has also affected court appearances in Champaign County.
• The governor "and hospital leaders are asking hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries" according to WICS.
• WICS had coverage of Illinois implementing new CDC quarantine guidelines.
• WCCU highlighted warnings that there may be more cancelations and staffing issues to come.
• Community Foundation of East Central Illinois provided grant money to several area non-profits. More information and links at Smile Politely.

September Roundup: Evictions and Jail Updates

As folks can certainly tell, we're still very much behind and finding it impossible to keep up with all the recent changes, pandemic related issues, and news coverage. In some ways there's more local government information easily accessible and available than ever. Unfortunately the pandemic also really affected availability and shook up everyone's lives. Hopefully we'll be able to get back up to a regular schedule of coverage again soon. Here's a quick County Roundup of news and issues:

Some of the biggest news is that the eviction moratorium has expired and eviction cases have already begun to flow through the local courts. From WCIA earlier this week:

After a year and a half, the pause on evictions in Illinois is now officially over. That means anyone who hasn’t been able to keep up with rent can face being kicked out of their home.

“It’s absolutely terrifying, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and these are people,” Corinne Chamberlain, from Danville, said...

On Monday, and Tuesday, no cases were filed. Wednesday, there were two. Then, Thursday, 28 evictions were filed, and Friday, four.

Judge Olstead said Thursday’s cases came from the same law firm. He expects a large case load come Monday morning. 57 are on the docket.

Full article available here with links to previous articles on the topic. Assistance information from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission is available here. There was brief coverage of a local protest in the Daily Illini earlier in September here.

From the News-Gazette last week:

Community violence interventions, expanding broadband internet service and help for stormwater drainage issues are among the projects Champaign County Democrats are prioritizing for the use of about $41 million in federal funding the county will get over two years.

The Champaign County Board has received dozens of requests for use of the funds the county will be allocated from the coronavirus relief bill that Congress passed in March, and has devoted several sessions to hearing from community groups, county department heads and members of the public explaining why their projects should be funded...

Republican board member Brad Passalacqua said Republicans haven’t drafted a formal proposal for where the $41 million should be spent, but have made their views known at public meetings.

Republicans support a significant amount of the funds going to solve some of the problems with the county jail in downtown Urbana and the satellite jail and for much-needed broadband infrastructure throughout the county, he said.

Full article here. The jail situation continues to be a crisis situation that needs to be resolved before a court ruling or other event forces the close of the downtown jail. Taking money from relief funds meant for the area's most vulnerable population for jail consolidation costs may be a political non-starter however. More on the Sheriff's ask and the committee seeking to address the issue from WCIA here.

Other County government related news items from this last month:

• Champaign County Circuit Clerk's amnesty week for fines and fees is coming up.
• A local immigration task force was honored for its local work with immigrants.
• The Champaign County Forest Preserve District has a new director.
• County Board of Review vacancy update from 9/14/2021. More from WCIA here.
• Drainage projects that could use federal relief funding presented to the Environment and Land Use Committee.
• More on County district maps now that the delayed census data is available.

Catching Up - June County Updates

Sometimes the Cheat Sheet gets behind and we have to catch up. The process involved can be helpful to anyone wanting to get caught up on what's been going on at the County Board and other County government bodies lately. Over the last few years we've attended and watched endless local government and organization meetings with notes filling up the filing cabinet. When we don't have anyone available, we have to play catch up, and we start with the local press. To jump to information on other resources, click one of the links below:

• County Board and Government Resources
• County Board Members
• Other Organization Meetings

Local Press:

The local press can be complicated for activists on various issues or political ideologies, but as a general rule I'd encourage supporting the local paper. For those with serious grievances, one might have to rely on access through their local library's online tools. For most people, a simple key word search for Champaign County Board on the website will do (sorting by "start time" so you get recent articles as opposed to years ago):

You can usually get more hits by searching from within the News-Gazette's eEdition tools, but you'll have to skip over a lot of Section D legal notices too! Here's a list of County Board articles and updates in June:

• The Board of Review seats are now all vacant after ongoing appointment battles and recent resignations. 
• An earlier article had more general coverage of the June County Board meeting here, including highlighting the support for rural broadband internet expansion. It is missing coverage of the mental health care related vote that failed to pass, however (see more on that below).
• There was additional coverage of the discussions behind the feasibility and fairness of extra compensation for County employees who had to work in-person during the pandemic.

There's almost always some hidden gems in the search results that might not appear related to the County Board in the preview text. There's usually an article or two related to County government, if not necessarily County Board business:

• Barbara Scott, a former elected Champaign County Board member, died.
• Jonathon Westfield died. He was active in local politics, a former police officer, and criminal justice issues including coordinator at the Youth Assessment Center.
• There was a profile of Champaign County Auditor George Danos.
• And there was some concern over profanity at a board meeting and YouTube rules addressed in an article and a letter to the editor.

The May and April County Board updates are covered in a separate post here.

Other local news sources can be more hit or miss on something as specific as the business of the local County Board, but tend to pick up other angles on bigger news items or additional news not picked up by other outlets. WCIA has a "Champaign County" local news page here where you can keep loading articles further back in time or a simple keyword search. For example, from WCIA's coverage in June:

• More details about the Board of Review situation, resignations, and documentation.
• Additional coverage on Jonathon Westfield.
• Updates on the Delta variant of COVID from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District including a recent update yesterday and one earlier this month here.

Other area television news stations include WAND and WICS/WCCU which often have some local coverage in Champaign County. WAND's search function is similar to the News-Gazette website. WICS's Fox Illinois web search feature is a bit more limited and will mix in some older results relevant to the keywords as well. For June there was a County government related story worth noting from WICS here:

• There Sheriff's office hired a social worker as part of its new justice diversion program.

Between the local newspaper and one of the local tv news station searches you'll probably get a decent gist of what's happening when checking out the agenda of the next County Board or committee meetings you're interested in.

There is almost always more out there if you've got the time or have another preferred local news source. Some good examples of sources we cite regularly here on the Cheat Sheet include the Daily Illini, Smile Politely, and Illinois Newsroom / WILL. Here's some County news item examples that pop up in basic keyword searchers in June:

• DI: HUD emergency housing voucher updates with the Housing Authority of Champaign County.
• DI: Updates on the MTD terminal expansion project.
• SP: Vaccine programs for underserved communities.
• SP: Information on the Champaign County Forest Preserve District and League of Women Voters Summer Concert series.
• SP: Information on the limited Independence Day festivities and fireworks this year.
• IN: Overdoses and homicides are up in Champaign County and Illinois generally.
• IN: More details on the County Board's process towards expanding rural broadband.

As you can see, broader search keywords (e.g. Champaign County) on these websites will pop up other local government bodies and issues from the MTD to the Forest Preserve to the Housing Authority. All of which have unique relationships and collaborations with local government, funding sources, and governing bodies.

Of course the most comprehensive source of information about the County Board and County government is directly from the source.

County Board and Government Resources:

Meeting information, including agendas, agenda packets, minutes, etc are available on the County website here. We have some basic information on the overall structure of the County government under the Executive Form of County Government here. The general flow of County Board meetings each month tends to start with committee meetings where a smaller group of County Board members look at a set of issues and items and make recommendations or move resolutions towards the full board for a vote. The Committee of the Whole meetings are generally the next step where all the committee and other resolutions before the board are either moved to the full regular meeting of the County Board for a final vote or discussed, amended, etc.

The regular County Board meeting tends to pass uncontroversial items with unanimous support from the Committee of the Whole before moving on to other votes that can be contentious or pass fairly easily. Certain votes, like budget votes that increase spending, can often require a supermajority to pass.

June's regular County Board meeting agenda packet is available here. The most recent videos of the County Board meetings are available on the County's facebook page (and later the County Clerk's YouTube channel here after it is processed). The June regular County Board meeting is available here.

Even with the beginning of the meeting cut off, the video of just this meeting is over two and half hours long. For folks with limited time, jumping to agenda items of interest can be a bit of a guess and test. I have a process of jumping ahead and listening to hear which agenda item the Board is on to see if I jumped too far, or not far enough.

The debate on the mental health funding resolutions begins just before the 1:42 (hour:minute) mark on the facebook video here with a reading of the first resolution. The resolutions were discussed and voted on together. Both required 15 votes to pass. The agenda had a long description of the item purpose:

This [American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)] funding will be utilized by the CCMHB to expand grant funding for local agencies providing mental health and substance abuse treatment services to individuals and families in Champaign County. This expanded grant funding will allow local agencies to continue to strive to meet the growing need for these services in Champaign County. The CCMHB grant year runs from July 1 through June 30. In order to provide consistent, uninterrupted grant funding for these local agencies throughout the entirety of the upcoming grant year, 50% of the ARPA funding will be utilized from July 1 through December 31 of FY21. The remaining 50% of ARPA funds will be utilized from January 1 through June 30 of FY22.

The debate and discussion revolved around the timing and a disagreement about why this specific ARPA funding needs to be approved so quickly compared to other funding to be discussed in future meetings. This approval would only be for a small percentage of the overall funding, but related to programs and grants that need more immediate funding. It failed mostly along partisan lines with Democrats in support and Republicans opposing.

A deeper dive into the details of this resolution and the programs involved is available in the agenda packet on pages 98-122 (pages 103 through 127 of the PDF).

County Board Members:

Beyond the arguments you might hear in the County Board and committee meetings themselves, County Board members are generally happy to explain their votes and positions on issues from previous meetings. You can contact them from their contact information on the County website here and district maps on the County Clerk's website here (currently more up to date than the Cheat Sheet with Samantha Carter joining the Board). If you follow them on social media, you might get long arguments on various subjects or links to more information and resources.

Often Republicans and Democrats will simply complain about the other being partisan or political, like Board member Jim Goss criticizing the Democratic majority's redistricting vote last month. This month Democrats complained about the Mental Health care vote, such as on board member Jennifer Traub's public facebook page that took issue with a few Republicans leaving without putting their name to a no vote. Board member Samantha Carter echoed the frustration on her own public page and shared a longer criticism of the Republican no votes and not voting.

One can sometimes find some public comments or even extended arguments by board members on various local social media groups and neighborhood apps as well.

Other Organization Meetings:

Following up with the various impacted organizations and communities related to or directly affected by County Board votes is probably one of the more difficult and time consuming end of catching up on County Board business. It's also probably one of the most important. It'll be interesting to see if there's any discussion on this contentious funding vote in the upcoming Mental Health Board meetings next month at the end of July. 

The previous MHB meeting in June, just prior to the regular County Board meeting had some discussion on the violence in the community as it relates to mental health starting with MHB President Joseph Omo-Osagie and then Executive Director Lynn Canfield at around the 9:15 mark in the meeting video (agenda available here). Lynn Canfield's report directly addressed the County Board resolution, the doubts about whether the vote may succeed, and what that may mean going forward.

Follow up on the rural broadband issue will likely be simpler to follow up as the Board works through the issue in study sessions like the one last night (agenda packet available under the Committee of the Whole page). That meeting video (the first fully in person County Board meeting since the pandemic) is available here. It has presentations on the County's role in broadband expansion, groups and service providers with introductory information on the topic. This is working towards work that will be done by the "broadband committee" going forward.

It's definitely a challenge to keep up with all of the various local government and organizations related to local government on the County level and the C-U Local Cheat Sheet. The goal is still to help make it easier to stay informed and involved in your local government.

County Updates

The lottery for candidate order on the upcoming primary election ballots was held yesterday and the County's seriously aging IT infrastructure was highlighted. First, the News-Gazette had coverage of the ballot order lottery:

In each of those four races — for Champaign County circuit clerk and three county board seats — there were two Democratic candidates who came to the clerk’s office on the same day, at the same time, during the filing period to run in the primaries next year.

As a result of the lottery, names on the Democratic primary ballot for the following four offices will be listed in this order:

— Circuit Clerk: Robert Burkhalter, followed by Susan McGrath.

— County board District 6: DeShawn Williams, then Charles Young.

— County board District 8: Giraldo Rosales, then Emily Rodriguez.

— County board District 10: Connie Dillard-Myers, then Mary King.

Full article here. WCIA also had a short blurb here. For more information, including studies on ballot order effect, Mother Jones had an excellent article here that explains how the effect varies for low information versus high information (e.g. presidential) elections. From their cited study:

Across all twenty-four contests, the effect is invariably positive and, with two exceptions in runoff elections, statistically significant. The smallest effects are found in high-profile, high information races: the Republican primary for U.S. Senator, which featured the incumbent, John Cornyn; the governor’s race, which featured long-time Attorney General Greg Abbott; and Land Commissioner, which featured well-known political newcomer George P. Bush. In these races the ballot order effect is only one or two percentage points.

Larger estimates obtain for most “medium-profile, medium-information” races such as Comptroller, Railroad Commissioner, or the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator. Most of these fall in a fairly tight band that ranges from three to five percentage points. Estimates are even larger in the low-profile, low-information judicial elections, generally ranging from seven to ten percentage points. Overall, the ballot order effect tends to be larger in contests that receive less attention and in which voters are likely to know less about the candidates on the ballot.

For a close local primary race without major controversies or attention, ballot order can make a serious difference. That full article here.

WILL had coverage on some of the serious problems with aging information technology at the county. Excerpts from what is, frankly, a logistically dire technology situation:

For city and county governments, maintaining infrastructure applies to buildings, roads and vehicles. But in recent years, that list has increasingly included information technology. In Champaign County, local officials are trying to come to grips with what they need to keep their IT up to date.

Champaign County’s director of IT, Andy Rhodes, got started with the county’s computer systems in the 1980’s. Back then, IBM’s AS/400 platform (later rebranded as the IBM System i) was new, and some of the software running on it was custom-made for the task at hand. Today, Champaign County still relies on a version of the AS/400 and those custom-made programs, and the one county employee who knows the programming language they’re written in. He's the county's senior business applications developer, Bill Simmering. Rhodes introduced him at the first meeting of a special county board IT planning committee...

There is money identified for some of the projects in Champaign County’s new IT plan. Those are the ones in the new county budget that starts in January 2020. They include financial software, the county’s oldest, dating back to the 1970’s. That’s one of the software packages running on the AS/400, which is itself slated for replacement in a couple of years by a new version of the same platform. Andy Rhodes, the IT director, says there aren’t many software packages suited to their needs being made for the AS/400 these days, but Champaign County still needs it to run the old software. And as long as the county needs the AS/400, they’ll need Bill Simmering, who’s expected to be available in retirement, to help out  on a part-time basis.

Full article here.

HAZMAT, Champaign FD and the Marathon Terminal

Earlier this month, Tom's Mailbag had information on the history and safety issues with the big Marathon Champaign Terminal on the west side of town where you may have seen giant tanks and been stuck behind fuel trucks coming and going. The part that stood out to me was the collaboration with local government and safety in case of a spill or accident. They listed details of their response plans and regular training and collaboration with Champaign County Emergency Management Agency and the City of Champaign Fire Department, which is part of MABAS 28 regional response for HAZMAT and other collaborations as well:

— Utilization of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) System to constantly monitor pipelines and check for potential pipeline leaks. If a potential leak is detected, an Operations Center systems analyst is immediately alerted so that the line is shut down.

— Development and maintenance of an Emergency Response Plan (OPA 90) that details our response strategies.

— Utilization of the company's Corporate Emergency Response Team to ensure an organized response, utilizing best practices.

— Conducting HAZWOPER training for employees so that they can respond quickly and effectively to ensure the safety of themselves and the public.

— Conducting annual emergency response tabletop and equipment deployment exercises to ensure preparedness.

— Formation of the Rapid Ecological Assessment Countermeasure Team to coordinate the ecological activities associated with an emergency response."
...
John Dwyer, the coordinator for the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency, said his organization has a general "hazmat response plan" for hazardous materials incidents.

Dwyer said Marathon also sponsors regular pipeline training seminars for first responders and excavators who work in the area.

Champaign Fire Chief Gary Ludwig said his department has "an excellent working relationship with the Marathon plant in Champaign. They consider safety a priority as much as we do. We regularly and often meet with them and train with them.

More information at the full article here, including more background and details.

League of Women Voters: Observer Reports

The last League of Women Voters meeting was a series of their annual Observer Reports. The reports are available from Urbana Public Television's YouTube channel here:

Here's a list of links to the government entities covered and the LWV reports on them:

• Champaign Public Library Board of Trustees and LWV report
   
• Champaign Park District Board and LWV report
   
• Urbana City Council and LWV report
   
• Urbana Plan Commission and LWV report
   
• Urbana School Board and LWV report
   
• Regional Planning Commission and LWV report
   
• MTD and LWV report
   
• Urbana & Champaign Sanitary District and LWV report

A couple highlights for people looking for appointment opportunities. The Urbana Plan Commission had a recent vacancy, though I don't see it on the Urbana Mayor's list of open commission seats here. I don't know if that means it has already been filled or just isn't listed yet. Another position will be opening up on the Urbana & Champaign Sanitary District, including its very controversial pay schedule, in June. Those seats are appointed by the Champaign County Board with more information on that here.

For more information on the League of Women Voters of Champaign County, visit their website and check out their annual meeting coming up this Saturday, May 4, 9:00am - 1:00pm, St Matthews Lutheran Church on Philo Rd., Urbana.

County Jail Updates

Here's a few news items involving the Champaign County Jail this past month:

First a quick reminder that applications for the Sheriff's scholarship are due next week: more info here.
 
The new County Board and Sheriff along with jail staff toured the jail facilities. From the News-Gazette earlier in February:

Champaign County Board facilities committee gets firsthand look at jails
Champaign County's new sheriff and new county board leadership have begun the process of addressing the needs of an aging jail built in 1980 and a second jail, built in 1996, that is bursting at the seams to meet modern needs...

The visit was billed as the first step in helping the county respond to ongoing needs at the two facilities.

Off and on, the possible closure of the older downtown site and the renovation and expansion of the other site have been discussed...

Jail staff first led the board members on a tour of the satellite site, including booking, the holding area, video court, visitation room, the B-Pod, the A-Pod, kitchen, laundry, medical unit, mental health office and control room.

Then the committee toured the downtown site's visitation area, living units, classroom, library and indoor recreation area.

Jail staff said the rise of gun violence, gangs and people with mental health issues have created modern challenges perhaps not anticipated when the satellite facility was built.

"By statute, we are in charge of providing a safe, healthy and clean facility for all the people who come here," Heuerman said. "It is difficult to expand our offerings given the time and space restraints that we have." 

Full article here. The County Sheriff, State's Attorney, and Public Health Administrator were among those on a panel discussing the likely legalization of marijuana in the future. More details on that event here: 'Let's face it: This is probably going to happen.' A relevant excerpt:

Of the 198 people in the county jail, [State's Attorney Julia Rietz] said that only five of them are there on cannabis charges, and all five of them face additional charges, such as gun possession or aggravated domestic battery.

 A couple worrisome news items popped up this past week involving a case of tuberculosis and malfunctioning doors. First from the News-Gazette:

Champaign County Jail inmate tests positive for tuberculosis
An inmate at the Champaign County Jail has tested positive for tuberculosis, according to the sheriff's office.

The inmate is hospitalized and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District already has an investigation under way, according to health district Administrator Julie Pryde...

The sheriff's office said jail staff have been working to identify those who were in contact with the inmate and with the public health district to administer TB tests to anyone who may have been in contact.

People at greatest risk for catching TB from someone with the disease are those who have been in close contact, such as a cellmate, Pryde said.

and from WCIA (video segment at link):

Malfunctioning doors latest issue at jail
Problems at the downtown jail have been going on for several years. The building was built in the early 80s and county officials say it's in very bad shape.

"The older jail, which is the downtown jail, has pretty much outlived its life span."

Now, another issue has sprouted up. The decades-old jail's door panels are malfunctioning, unlocking and sometimes opening different, unintended doors at random times.

The sheriff says they're expecting it to be fixed next week. The doors malfunctioning are just the latest problem they're having to try to slap a Band-Aid on...

Discussions over what to do with the downtown jail have been going on for years. They're not at capacity right now, but the state of the jail wouldn't allow for the needs of more inmates to be filled.

Full article with video segment here. WCIA had an additional article and video segment on the County's plan to start dealing with long neglected facility maintenance here. I've added it to links in an earlier post with News-Gazette coverage and Facilities Committee meeting links:

March County Facilities Meeting: News-Gazette coverage of Youth Detention Center's potential new roof. This is one of many facility maintenance issues the county has been delaying due to budget crunches.

For more resources and posts on the jail, check our Jail Issues page setup prior to last year's County election.

County Roundup

It's catch up time for the Cheat Sheet! We've been running behind, but will have a bunch of overviews of February local government information as we get swinging in March.

Here's are County Board meeting links and coverage for the last month as well as a couple quick March County news items from to get things going:

February County Board Meetings:

• Committee of the Whole: Video, Agenda, News-Gazette Coverage on solar farm approval,


• County Board 2/21/2019 (regular meeting): Video, Agenda Packet, Addendum, News-Gazette Coverage with highlights of the Nursing Home sale delays cause more consternation as the Nursing Home rating drops to the lowest level.


• Study Session: Video (not yet available), Agenda (more information in Handouts), News-Gazette Coverage, Bonus: Champaign County Government Strategic Planning Overview

March County Facilities Meeting: News-Gazette coverage of Youth Detention Center's potential new roof. This is one of many facility maintenance issues the county has been delaying due to budget crunches. WCIA had an additional article and video segment on the County's plan to start dealing with long neglected facility maintenance here.

Emergency Management News:

• News-Gazette coverage of Champaign County Emergency Management Agency advice on weather radios and having at least two sources for receiving emergency notifications.
  
• METCAD will likely be hiring in the Spring. METCAD is the agency that does a great deal of the area emergency dispatch for emergency services. Information available from Tom's Mailbag and the City of Champaign website. METCAD is a collaboration of local governments, including the City of Champaign which manages the personnel. From Tom's Mailbag last week:
  

  "Our hiring is done through the city of Champaign Human Resources, as we are employees of the city. Our requirements include a high school diploma or equivalent, ability to pass a data entry test that equates to about 30-35 words per minute with 90 percent accuracy, and the ability to earn a passing score on our telecommunicator aptitude test," she said. "We have some preferred qualifications as well: prior dispatch experience, customer service experience, and experience working with computers...
  
  "We are currently exploring some updates to this process to make sure that we are visible and accessible to those looking for a career in emergency communications and that we are finding good people to fill the openings we have. We plan to hire again in the spring and people can always check the city of Champaign website (champaignil.gov) to see when we start accepting applications."

  More details at the News-Gazette article here.

Aquifer Task Force Report

The Mahomet Aquifer Task Force issued a final report this week including recommendations to improve the safety and protect our regional source for drinking water. Here's a quick blurb from the News-Gazette earlier this week:

$19.8M plan: Map water using helicopters
The latest tool for protecting our area’s source of drinking water: helicopters.

An advisory group of local elected officials and community members has recommended the state commit $19.8 million to the UI’s Prairie Research Institute for helicopterbased time-domain electromagnetics, or H-TEM technology, to better map the Mahomet Aquifer.

Doing so will “give us a much clearer view of what’s underground,” said state Sen. Chapin Rose, RMahomet, a member of the Mahomet Aquifer Task Force, which has spent

months studying issues concerning the primary source of drinking water for 500,000 central Illinoisans.

Among the group’s other recommendations, which now go to state lawmakers:

➜ Establish a public body to manage the aquifer long-term.

➜ If the aquifer is contaminated, there should be trust-fund money available to start clean-up right away.

➜ Inspectors should be trained to better detect problem areas like erosion, landslides and seeps.

So far the final report appears to have been given to the legislature and governor's office, but only the draft version is available online at the task force webpage. I'll update with links once I find a copy of the final report. NowDecatur had a more expansive highlight of the final report:

Highlights from the report include recommending the General Assembly provide $19.8 million to the Prairie Research Institute to use helicopter-based time-domain electromagnetics (HTEM technology) to more accurately map and characterize the Mahomet Aquifer to aid in identifying the connections with other aquifers and surface waters.

“That’ll give us a much clearer view of what’s underground, providing detailed data of what’s in and around the Mahomet Aquifer,” Rose said. “For example, if any old landfills above the Aquifer have failed and run the risk of contaminating the water. Also, the laser study can potentially help us find where the natural gas bubble is from the Peoples Gas natural gas leak. The data from this technology will help us deal with all sorts of issues and identity other potential threats to the Aquifer.”

The Task Force also recommends that a public body be established to manage the Aquifer long-term. This body would be responsible for responding to future issues, among other duties, and the report made a number of suggestions for future study for such a body...

Other recommendations include:

• Establishing a trust fund to cover the cost of remediation in the event of a significant environmental incident so immediate remediation can begin;
     
• Requiring companies storing natural gas underground to consult with third-party environmental experts in the event of a significant environmental incident to certify corrective plans and conduct oversight of the cleanup;
     
• Training inspectors to use the detailed terrain model templates and instruct staff on how to annotate these images with defects such as depressions, erosion, landslides, barren areas, leachate seeps, trees, and vegetation anomalies;
     
• Implementing the recommendations listed and providing additional funding ($1 million for one-time equipment purchase and additional $2.3 million annually) to PRI to deploy state-of-the-art monitoring networks and create the analytical capability to identify emerging contaminants of concern.

More at the full article here.

Urbana FD is County's 2nd Class 1 ISO

In news that helps lower your insurance costs (for homes and businesses) a variety of local government and agencies have made it possible for Urbana Fire Department to join Champaign Fire Department's last few years with a Class 1 ISO rating. From the News-Gazette today:

Urbana Fire Department joins Champaign among top rated in nation
For fire departments, earning a Class 1 rating from the Insurance Services Office is the dream. The inspections are so rigorous that this year, just 305 of the more than 46,000 departments certified by the agency across the country earned that designation.

Only 16 of them are in Illinois — and Champaign County now has two, as the Urbana Fire Department has joined its sister agency across Wright Street in the exclusive Class 1 club...

Though full of confidence, Urbana's department wasn't in for an easy inspection. In calculating its Public Protection Rating, the ISO looks at four factors: the fire department, the needed fire flow — the amount of water an engine needs to put out a fire — water supply and distribution, and emergency communications. So it's not just the fire department that gets scrutinized with a fine-toothed comb every year, but also METCAD and Illinois American Water.

The ISO grades communities on a 100-point scale, and anything above 90 earns a Class 1 rating. Urbana got a 90.92 this year, with the fire department scoring 42.02 out of 50, Illinois American Water scoring 36.65 out of 40 and METCAD scoring 9.55 out of 10.

That 9.55 score elated METCAD Director Ralph Caldwell.

"Obviously, it's stressful, because our evaluation impacts other organizations, not just METCAD," Caldwell said. "But we pride ourselves in doing the right thing at the right time and meeting their guidelines to get first responders to the scene quickly. We scored very high, but we couldn't have done it without everyone else. We're one family. We're brothers and sisters."

Full article with additional information here. Champaign County's METCAD system handles calls for 25 Fire Departments including Champaign and Urbana Fire Departments as part of its emergency dispatch services. This is on top of their services to 12 area police departments. It's an impressive collaborative agency with employees of the City of Champaign, an Urbana location, in a County building, and U of I phone systems. Its board has administrative and public safety representatives from local governments, the University of Illinois and rural representatives of police and fire departments.

The two fire departments are also part of MABAS 28 regional response for HAZMAT and other collaborations as well.