County Board August Updates

A few points of interest from the agenda packet for tonight's Committee of the Whole meeting include:

• A possible update on the County Clerk and Recorder's Restrictive Covenants Project.
  
  
• Possible updates from the Sheriff's Office on boarding County Jail inmates in other facilities. See latest jail construction update links towards the end of this Cheat Sheet post.
  
  
• An agreement between the County and METCAD for a traffic e-citation system.
  
  
• Numerous appointments related to area drainage districts. You can find additional details about the various Drainage District commissioners on the County Executive's boards and commissions lookup tool.

July County Board Meeting:

A lot of the issues mentioned in last month's Cheat Sheet post came to a head or a vote in the (nearly 4 hour long) July regular meeting (agenda packet). The meeting video on the County's YouTube page appears to begin in the middle of a discussion on the amending the agenda order. There are a couple short clips available before that with partial recordings of the Call to Order, Prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, etc. I'm assuming there was a bit of a technical issue.

The infighting between several County Board members and the County Board Chair continued in the Democratic Caucus meeting and the County Board meeting itself. This resulted in calls during the regular meeting for an official parliamentarian to hold the board to its own rules and civility standards by Republican member Farney. It also resulted in open calls for the Chair’s resignation by members of her own party.

The controversies with the County Auditor were also mixed into those arguments as both the County Board Chair and Auditor made inquiries into the “residency qualifications” of the sole latina member of the Board. Accusations and counter-accusations of racism ensued. The auditor’s role went further as he had directly contacted her landlord, under the guise of his official duties as auditor to “audit her residential qualifications.” He even inquired to see if her rent was paid up, according to copies of the emails he sent.

Jim Dey of the News-Gazette has continued his series of opinion articles on the Democratic Party infighting, including at the July County Board meeting here. Board Member Lokshin wrote a Letter to the Editor expanding on and criticizing the County Auditor's inquiry here.

Referendum and DEIA+ Task Force Votes:

The Board passed ballot referendums to put both the Public Safety Sales Tax ¼ cent tax increase and making the County Auditor’s office an appointed position on the November ballot. They also passed a version of the DEIA+ Task Force that would create a subcommittee of the Labor Committee and Justice & Social Services Committee, as opposed to a new committee. While the Chair remains an ex officio member of this and all other committees, her role in selecting the task force members was more limited with the subcommittee option. 

There were numerous public (e.g. social media) and in-meeting arguments over emails and scheduling meetings in the creation of the DEIA+ Task Force and the recommendations for its members. The Chair believes she was cut out of the process, start to finish, while most of the other board members pointed to email exchanges about scheduling and availability to deny those claims.

A list of those invited to participate in the DEIA+ Task Force were listed on page 99 (page 102 of the PDF file) of the agenda packet. More updates are likely to come on who on that list confirmed their participation and a final roster.

Replacing the County's Case Management System:

A consultant from BerryDunn presented recommendations for replacing and updating the County's case management system, from their Case Management System Study (video jump to link). The good news appears to be that replacing these systems may end up being cheaper than expected (a topic of debate with the need for the increased tax revenue). The bad news from the discussion appeared to be that there is not a one-size fits all solution for different County Offices and their needs.

There was an extended conversation between the County Board members, the BerryDunn consultant, and the Circuit Clerk, on exactly what may be needed moving forward.

More County Government News:

• There is growing controversy about the appropriateness of "mob action" charges against campus protesters by the State's Attorney's Office. The News-Gazette had a recent perspective piece here. The ACLU of Illinois highlighted their concerns with using the "mob action" statute here. There will be a separate Cheat Sheet post on this issue soon.
  
  
• The Broadband Task Force met last week (agenda packet, video, action summary). Mark Sheldon used the Public Comment opportunity to give updates from Pavlov Media. There was a discussion about the funding sources and what areas are eligible for using those funds. It focused quite a bit on the nitty gritty details of Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) eligible homes. These meetings are jargon heavy, so be ready to look up terms like RDOF and ARPA.
  
  
• There was an update on the Satellite Jail construction at this month's County Board's Facilities Committee meeting. The agenda item and presentation is available on the County's youtube page here (jump to link). Construction appears to be coming along and the packet included numerous pictures of a lot of the completed work thus far.
  
  
• Dey had additional opinion pieces on County government and especially Democratic infighting. His column on the infighting at the July County Board meeting was mentioned above. He also had another opinion piece on the auditor referendum here, Board Member Owen no longer running for re-election here, and two more opinion pieces on the County Auditor 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.

County Updates for August

Meeting Coverage:

The News-Gazette had brief coverage of this month's Committee of the Whole meeting (agenda, video) for the County Board:

Coming next Thursday: the start of 2023 county board budget discussions, including the distribution of the second batch of American Rescue Plan funding. At this week’s committee-of-thewhole meeting, members moved forward with placing on a future consent agenda 16 appointments to fill expiring terms for drainage districts and cemetery association boards...

More at the full blurb in the 8/12 "Meeting Minutes" feature with additional appointment names listed.

August's regular County Board meeting (agenda, agenda addendum, video) began with public participation by Dave Beck of AFSCME regarding ongoing negotiations with the County government for a contract. Brad Gould from the Veterans’ Assistance Commission then gave a presentation on "Operation Green Light" to highlight veterans in the community. There was a discussion on getting the process started to officially support the initiative by the County Board.

Member Jim McGuire raised the issue of ballot order and access to sample ballots to ensure Republicans are listed correctly in the assigned order. He had some additional concerns about applications through the Clerk and Recorder's office. Member Jim Goss joined him with concerns on the list of general election polling places in rural areas as well. The vote on polling places fell along partisan lines.

Intergovernmental agreements with the Housing Authority of Champaign County on a few different ARPA funded programs were passed by voice vote without discussion or any apparent opposition.

The rest of the meeting and the bulk of the meeting was taken up by discussion on ARPA related programs, recommendations, and including presentations from the "iRead iCount" program and Habitat For Humanity. There was also a report (with recommendations) from the Broadband Task Force committee on using ARPA funds to fill in the rural gap in broadband internet access. That task force's most recent meetings and documents are available here (August meeting agenda, video).

County Clerk and Recorder Campaign News:

The 2022 campaign for County Clerk and Recorder got a little more interesting with a recent Tom Kacich interview with the Republican candidate, Terrence Stuber. Excerpt:

“2020 did a number on everyone’s faith in the election process, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on. If there are questions like that, something’s wrong,” he said.

But when asked if those questions are valid, Stuber said, “Who knows? Right now, we’re only hearing one side of the story.”

And when asked if Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, Stuber hedged and said only, “I don’t know if he truly was the winner or not, but I do think it is definitely the time to move past it.”

He questioned why so many University of Illinois students vote in local elections, a longtime source of pain and frustration for Republicans whose candidates tend to do poorly in campus precincts.

That full article here. His Democratic opponent and incumbent Aaron Ammons immediately criticized the statements on social media. Excerpts:

Even in the wake of the January 6th attack, the overwhelming evidence of the Jan 6th Committee Hearings, the countless Experienced, Trained Election Officials, Democrats AND Republicans, who have said under oath that there’s no election fraud, numerous Audits, hand Recounts, and a 7 MILLION vote difference, my opponent STILL won’t say Donald Trump Lost the Presidential Election in 2020! And he wants you to trust him counting your votes!! 

The County Clerk’s Job is to administer Fair, Free, and ACCESSIBLE elections but my opponent said in a recent interview with the News Gazette that he would “eliminate” the drop boxes that voters use to return their mail in ballots! You can’t run for an office that requires voter accessibility and campaign on limiting access!? 

... 

It’s views like the ones recently espoused by my Republican opponent that create fertile ground for the misinformation and the disinformation that led to chants of “hang Mike Pence” on the United States Capital grounds just a little over a year ago. 

That full statement from Ammons is available here on his campaign facebook page. Stuber's comments on the Kacich interview on his campaign facebook page noted that the "article is an accurate representation of the time we spent together."

Other County Updates:

• The News-Gazette highlighted Sheriff's Deputy and School Resource Officer Shawn Hallett in their 8/19 "Meeting Minutes" feature.
• Remembering Kent Weeks with the Champaign County Fair board from the News-Gazette.
• The News-Gazette enumerated the tax revenue gained in the first half of 2022 by gambling machines in towns across Champaign County here.
• Bike clearance signs are going up around the County according to WCIA.
• Sheriff's office warnings about tall corn and stopping at rural intersections.
• WCCU reporting that first responders throughout the County are training for mass attacks.
• Smile Politely had local features on the area impact of Monkeypox and climate change.

County Board July Updates

 

There were a lot of updates on the Champaign County jail situation, with the closure of the downtown jail and other related safety, space, and jail consolidation plan news. That's in a separate jail update Cheat Sheet post here.

The News-Gazette had coverage previewing the meeting:

Up for consideration by the board Thursday is a recommendation from its Community Violence Prevention Task Force to use some of the county’s federal coronavirus relief funding to make first-year grants to the following organizations for violence-reduction programs, including:

• $500,000 to the new H3 Coalition launched by First Followers.
• $500,000 for DREAAM House.
• $385,000 to the Housing Authority of Champaign County — $300,000 for supportive services and $85,000 for landlord incentives.
• $15,000 to a brand-new organization called A Vision to Succeed.

...

The county is getting $40.7 million in federal funding over two years; the city of Champaign is getting $25.27 million over two years; and the city of Urbana — which hasn’t made decisions yet on how its money will be spent — is getting $13 million over two years.

The county board has pledged $4.1 million for community gun-violence reduction over the two years of its federal funding, with $1.5 million of that being spent this year.

That full article here with more program and budget details. WCIA had coverage from the meeting itself here. Excerpt:

“It’s a collaborative effort, whether you have a lot of not-for-profits and some small business owners that are coming to the table that are putting our heads together and have performed a strategic plan in order to deal with community violence and the wholistic approach,” [Marlon Mitchell of H3 Coalition] said.

County Board members weighed in on the discussion and the proposals were supported by most of them. Patterson said organizations like these help put people on a better path forward.

County Executive Darlene Kloeppel said the next steps forward are contracts and negotiations, but everything has been agreed to. Those contracts are expected to be finalized in about a month.

That full article here. The full meeting was relatively brief, running just over an hour (agenda packet, video). A couple highlights included some question and answer opportunities. One was with Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center Superintendent Keith Willis and its current staffing and space issues (jump to video). The other with Marlon Mitchell answering some more detailed and organization questions about the H3 project (jump to video).

Other County Government Items:

• County Board member Stephanie Fortado got confirmation from County Executive Darlene Kloeppel that next month's regular County Board meeting was likely to have presentations on the rural broadband funding and projects tied to ARPA funds.
• There was an update on the jail consolidation and other facilities projects this week (noted in the action report), but the video doesn't appear to be available yet. The last update was presented at the June facilities meeting (overview in minutes, video). See today's other Cheat Sheet post on other Jail updates from July.
• For those following the County political party organization leadership battles, one current and one former County Board member has been picked to lead the Republican and Democratic Party county organizations. The News-Gazette had coverage here.

County Board Updates Into April

 

Right off the bat, Vote By Mail ballot requests are now available for the upcoming 2022 primary election on June 28th. Early voting for the 2022 primary will begin Thursday, May 19, 2022. More information available at the County Clerk's website here and the VoteChampaign non-partisan local candidate's guide here.

This post has some County Board related news and highlights from the March regular County Board meeting (video link - note: temporary link from livestream, agenda packet) and other Champaign County updates as we head into the month of April. For previous committee updates, check out our County Board updates from February and Early March. Below are also a couple direct links to presentations at the last Facilities Committee meeting on jail consolidation and planning the move of County government offices to the downtown plaza.

The News-Gazette's Tom Kacich had some information on County ARPA money and the overwhelming need for various infrastructure projects throughout the County. It was part of an opinion column, but had a lot of helpful details and numbers for everybody:

Champaign County has set aside $2 million of its $40.8 million bonanza of American Rescue Plan Act funds to help with badly needed sewer, water and drainage projects in small towns and rural areas of the county.

But it’s not nearly enough.

The county board has received formal requests for construction assistance from five villages, a water district and a drainage district. And more applications are expected; the final opportunity to make a request is at the April 7 meeting of the board’s environment and land-use committee. The total amount needed for sewer and water projects in the five villages alone is more than $25 million.

That full article here.

The News-Gazette also had a listing of candidates filing for County offices (Sheriff, Treasurer, Clerk, County Board seats, etc) here. While many candidates are not facing competition in the primary, some are and many more are facing competition in the general election otherwise. More on local candidates from the VoteChampaign non-partisan candidate's guide here (a project in collaboration with the Champaign County League of Women Voters). More on the VoteChampaign project (formerly known as the Champaign County Voters Alliance) here.

March Regular County Board Meeting:

It was picture day for the County Board, so you'll notice folks a bit more dressed up than usual in the meeting video. The in-person meeting also started off with a rededication of the Shields-Carter Meeting Room now that the room and entrance signs have been updated.

Here are some items discussed and some links to jump directly to that part of the meeting:

• Independent audit report by Baker Tilly on the County's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Full CAFR here on the County Auditor's webpage. The presentation begins about 9 minutes into the meeting here.
• There was some technical discussion on committing ARPA funds in steps to ensure flexibility for any unused funds. While the overall spending will likely not be impacted, the County Board will have an opportunity to approve the next round of funding on (e.g. on next year's budget) depending on the ongoing need. This discussion was had on both Rural Housing Rehabilitation Assistance (25 minutes into the meeting here) and the Champaign County Crime Stoppers gun bounty program (about 32 minutes into the meeting here).
• There was also an update and presentation from the Project Manager on ARPA related projects (see page of 42 (page 45 of the PDF file) of the agenda packet here).
• There was also a presentation on the Clark Lindsey Village proposal (PowerPoint presentation here, County Executive's memo on the proposal on the agenda packet here on page 48, page 51 of the PDF file). A couple board members raised concerns about labor rights and a possible conflict with the County's stated values. The presentation and discussion begin at the 55 minute mark in the video here.

The April 5th Facilities meeting (agenda here) will also have updates on the new County Plaza space and Jail consolidation planning. At the March meeting there were updates on those same two big County issues:

• Updates on the process for planning use for the new County Plaza space.
• Updates on the jail consolidation design plans and process.

The April 7th Environment and Land Use Committee will be looking at various proposals / recommendations for ARPA funds (agenda here, additional information on ARPA proposals here).

Other Champaign County News and Updates:

• Registration for the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event for Champaign County coming up early in April. More information and links from Smile Politely here.
• An article on Community Foundation of East Central Illinois, a group helping connect those wanting to do more in their community with various area boards and committees, also from Smile Politely here. 
• WCCU coverage on the rural home repair assistance approved by the County Board in March.
• Preview coverage by WCIA of some of the windfarm discussions in the last County Zoning Board meeting (agenda here, lots of additional material at the Zoning Board of Appeal page here for the March 31st meeting).
• WCIA coverage of a recent award of grant money to the Champaign County Forest Preserve District.
• Local weather and how it may impact the planting schedule this year from the News-Gazette. In related County Board and farming news, board member Stan Harper was named Farm Leader of the Year. 

Other County Updates

Champaign County Crime Stoppers has increased its reward payment for certain violent crimes, including gun related crimes. From the News-Gazette:

Sharing a tip that helps solve homicides and felony gun crimes in Champaign County will now yield a much higher reward.

Champaign County Crime Stoppers announced Wednesday it will now pay a $5,000 cash reward for tips leading to an arrest in a homicide and a $2,500 reward for tips leading to an arrest in a felony involving a firearm...

The organization previously paid a maximum reward of $1,000.

That full article here and similar coverage from WCIA here. For more updates on local violent crime and thefts, check out the latest Community Coalition meetings. News-Gazette coverage of the February meeting here.

The leader of the Ford County militia group, that firebombed a Minnesota mosque and attempted to firebomb a women's clinic here locally in Champaign, pleaded guilty to various federal charges related to the local incident. Hari has already been convicted and sentenced for crimes related to the mosque bombing. From the News-Gazette last month:

Hari’s plea agreement in Urbana wraps up four years of work by government agents against the former Ford County sheriff’s deputy turned leader of a Muslim-hating militia group dubbed “The Patriot Freedom Fighters,” later changed to “The White Rabbits.”

[Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller] laid out for Long a summary of the Illinois case.

He said Hari’s leadership of the small band of followers, based in tiny Clarence in northern Ford County, wreaked havoc in several Illinois communities, including Champaign, Watseka, Mount Vernon and Effingham, and reached into Indiana...

The plan to firebomb the Champaign clinic fizzled — literally — when the PVC pipe stuffed with an ignitable powder did not catch fire. Morris admitted he broke a window at the clinic and put the homemade bomb inside. Hari had rented the truck that took the would-be arsonists to the office.

More at the full article here. As a previous Cheat Sheet post noted, the local attack preceded the end of surgical abortion services at that local Clinic, and the last of such services in Champaign County and much of the surrounding region. WCIA also had an overview of the guilty plea here.

There has been an update on early work by area County recorders investigating racial covenants in property deeds, including here in Champaign County. WAND had coverage on the new State law that may make it easier to remove the currently unenforceable, but offensive, language from the official paper work. Excerpt:

Full article here. Previous WAND coverage on area racial covenants here and the second part here.

WAND News extensively reported on this topic and similar issues in a 2021 I-TEAM report. WAND News reporter Doug Wolfe uncovered real estate deeds and other documents dating back to the 1930s and 1940s that discriminated against minorities while allowing whites to get bank loans for homes. County recorders helped Wolfe find restrictive racial covenants and racial restrictions in real estate records that still existed in 2021.

[State Sen. Adriane Johnson (D-Buffalo Grove)] believes the new law will make life easier for those who want their property records updated. 

“Although racial restrictive covenants are no longer enforceable, residents have been forced to jump through hoops to strike the harmful and antiquated provisions from their property records,” Johnson said. “By empowering homeowners to easily remove racist language from their property deeds, our state is taking steps to combat a painful relic of the historical harms done to our communities of color and to root out racism in all of our institutions.”

Other County News and Updates:

• A class action lawsuit has been filed over the methane gas leak in the local aquifer, according to Illinois Newsroom.
• The Champaign County African American Heritage Trail being developed by local history experts and Champaign County's tourism organization Visit Champaign put on a presentation on local African-American history. Blurb from WCIA here. Full video of the presentation here. The initial part of the presentation is about the development of the project. To jump directly to the local history presentation, click here.
• A nature preserve is expanding outside of Villa Grove according to WCIA. More information on the organization behind preserving and restoring tallgrass prairie here at the Grand Prairie Friends webpage.
• Smile Politely highlighted a USA Today investigative article on Champaign County farm runoff and the environmental impact in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Fox Illinois recently posted unemployment data comparing the area Metropolitan Statistical Areas, including Champaign-Urbana and adjacent areas (e.g. Ford and Piatt County), with Springfield MSA and Carbondale-Marion MSA. For more information and maps of the Illinois MSAs, check out the Illinois Department of Employment Security page here.
• High Champaign and Piatt County soybean and corn yields per acre were reported in the News-Gazette.
• Champaign County's water won a recent regional taste test according to WCIA.

County Board Updates: February and Early March

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Champaign County Updates

 

The possible nighttime white out conditions with the recent severe winter storm forced County crews to halt road clearing operations overnight according to WCIA:

Champaign County Highway Department will cease plow operations from 6 p.m. Wednesday until 6 a.m. Thursday due to the forecasted high winds and white out conditions.

Officials said based on the information that they have received from the National Weather Service, winds will continue to gust at 35 MPH to 40 MPH on Thursday...

Champaign County Highway Department will have plows stationed throughout the county overnight to aid in emergency calls if needed.

Full blurb here.

Petitions for local candidates in the upcoming midterm elections are circulating. It's a good time to help your favorite candidates get on the ballot and get to know who is in the running. From WCIA earlier last month:

Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons asks everyone to be prepared for an influx of people — who want to run for office — bringing a petition to their doors.

Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, Ammons asks all candidates to be masked and bring along hand sanitizer to use in between homes, not just for handwashing but for cleaning pens in between signatures...

The Illinois Primary is set for June 28 this year.

That full article here. 

If you want to learn more about how to be an effective member of a local board and get more involved in your community or a local organization, there is a free "Board Bootcamp" course coming up this month. From Smile Politely:

If you are a new, current, or prospective board member for a nonprofit organization, The Center for Nonprofit Excellence at the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois encourages you to attend their Board Bootcamp, a now quarterly offering that is designed to help create effective boards. 

The first session of the year is on February 23rd from 4 to 5 p.m. and will take place over Zoom. The focus will be on recruiting new board members.

Full blurb here. More information available at the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois website here.

In other Champaign County government news:

• January Champaign County Board Updates Cheat Sheet post.
• See our Cheat Sheet post on the latest updates on the Champaign County Courthouse. Includes updates on the cell phone ban, severe weather closings, and more here.
• Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman spoke to WCIA about initiatives to expand access to mental health care before a situation becomes an issue for law enforcement or the jail.
• The Champaign County Forest Preserve District has a bit of a scavenger hunt available when the weather clears up again. From WCIA.
• What towns and areas are defined as "rural" can have a major impact on where federal dollars go to local government and projects. From Illinois Newsroom.

In other Champaign County news:

• The Champaign County Humane Society raised $17,000 during the Betty White Challenge event according to WCIA.
• Champaign County home sales hit record numbers according to WCIA.
• The Eastern Illinois Foodbank announced a warehouse expansion. From WCIA.
• Update on Miss Champaign County Erica Johnson looking towards the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen competition.  
• A recent Tom's Mailbag question was asking about the Champaign "snow hole" with recent snowfall appearing to miss our area (prior to the severe winter weather warnings this past week).
• That same Tom's Mailbag column addressed fire station needs in Champaign and Urbana. In Champaign they gave an overview of the existing locations meeting current standards, but possibly some expansion issues in the future.
• Champaign County Restaurant Week coverage from WAND. More on restaurant week events and updates with the severe weather at their website here and facebook event page here.

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.

COVID Updates

There's always news and information about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic coming out every day. It has been a challenge both to keep up with it all and picking a time to highlight that information here. This post provides a recent news roundup and informational links.

As school sports programs are ramping up, there's an increased need to look out for the long term effects and damage COVID may have caused to those children who have had it, even if asymptomatic. From the News-Gazette today:

As school sports have been ramping back up, a local doctor is advising kids who have had COVID-19 recently to get a medical checkup before they return to play.

And by recently, that means having COVID-19 within six weeks of any planned return to sports, according to Dr. Jerrad Zimmerman, a sports-medicine doctor at Carle.

Some kids who had COVID-19 less recently — even many months ago — may also need to be checked out before a return to sports if they have some lingering symptoms, among them fatigue or breathing issues, that may signal a heart risk, he said.

Full article here.

The Daily Illini had an overview of the precautions suggested for the variants now circulating in Illinois and locally contrasted with current local policy:

Many researchers have suggested to double mask and avoid in-person eating, while the county has opened up in-person dining, including limited space at dining halls. The B117 variant, the variant that resulted in the UK’s third lockdown, stands as a threat to the safety of students. 

“There is definitely a disconnect between researchers’ concerns about more infectious variants and public policy, not just in the county but in the nation as a whole,” said Nigel Goldenfeld, professor in Grainger. “The criteria for relaxing tiered mitigation levels are heavily based on hospital occupancy and downward case trends and were developed at a time when there was no awareness of rapidly emerging more transmissible and deadly variants such as B117.”

That full article here.

There are some volunteer opportunities that have been in the news related to the pandemic:

• The CRIS Healthy-Aging Center is looking for volunteers to help with vaccine outreach. Details from WICS here. 
• The Hope Center offers groceries to those in need (more information from WCIA here). To get involved with the Silver Hearts they have volunteer information here. The University has information on its Food Assistance and Well-Being program here.
• Carle Friends program to help people in isolation stay socially connected. Details and links from WAND here.

Other recent local news updates related to COVID:

• The Champaign County Courthouse is going to be welcoming back jurors and jury trials according to News-Gazette coverage today.
• This month saw the expansion of vaccine access in smaller towns and rural areas in Champaign County according to WICS earlier this month.
• Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker toured local facilities here earlier this month. Coverage from Illinois Newsroom here.
• The VA in Danville has been doing outreach to eligible veterans for the vaccine according to WAND.
• CU at Home and public health have been working together to ensure access to the vaccine by homeless members of the community. More that from WCIA here.
• Outreach to local immigrant communities and the New American Center at the campus YMCA was covered by WICS here.

General Updates:

The latest Champaign County COVID data is available from the C-UPHD website here.

The latest updates on vaccinations is available from their website here. The News-Gazettes data updates on vaccination included a helpful chart on 1st and 2nd doses locally by Ben Zigterman:

Full article and more data here.

There are also regular updates with the C-UPHD Administrator Julie Pryde on Urbana Public Television (UPTV6 YouTube Channel here). The most recent interview with Elizabeth Hess is available here from February 22nd.

The Daily Illini also had a recent overview of local contact tracing for anyone interested in how that system works here.

WCIA had an overview of all of the extra work and overtime that has had to be put in at the C-UPHD here.