County Board Updates into October

This post contains updates on County Board meetings since our last update ahead of the August 13th Committee of the Whole meeting of the County Board. There's a separate post on other County government updates, including County Auditor and Treasurer updates, public safety departments and sales tax issues, and some Regional Planning Commission updates.

Upcoming October Meeting Highlights: (agenda packet)

It's unclear whether there will be reports from the County Auditor and Treasurer at the upcoming Committee of the Whole, given recent news and controversies (see Other County Updates Cheat Sheet post). There appear to be a couple agenda items related to election software in the County Clerk & Recorder's office and increased costs to the State's Attorney's office and its participation in the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Program.

There also appears to be a tentative budget from the County Executive that may elicit some discussion. That budget summary is available in the agenda packet starting on page 74 (page 78 of the PDF). There were several budget related meetings over the past couple months that get into a great deal of detail about budget issues and decisions. See the special budget hearings in August and the special finance meeting in late September below for more on that. 

The most recent Facilities Committee meeting (agenda, video) appeared to confirm that a major first step of the jail consolidation project is almost wrapped up (jump to video link). This would open up the new spaces for use while older spaces are then upgraded.

Below are links and overviews of the August and September meetings of the County Board:

August Meetings:

8/13 Committee of the Whole (video, agenda packet):

The meeting minutes highlighted most of the key moments from this meeting. Auditor George Danos spoke during public participation to oppose the county's referenda on increasing the Public Safety Sales Tax and abolishing the elected auditor position (his current office).

Coroner Steve Thuney gave a report on his office, staffing issues, and other needs in the Coroner's office. Thuney is currently up for re-election with another staff member running against him. See the VoteChampaign non-partisan candidate guide for more details on local races.

The County Clerk & Recorder gave updates on election issues and other projects. The Sheriff gave updates on the jail consolidation project and issues related to housing inmates in other counties during and after that work.

At this meeting initial approval was given for the new record keeping system and the intergovernmental approvals that will need to come with it. Initial discussion of changing the County Board's order of business to honor County employees earlier in the meetings and in a way more convenient for the recipients, their families, and the board to address them when they're on the agenda.

8/15 Special (video, agenda packet):

This was a short meeting where the County Board approved revised language for the ballot referendum related to abolishing the elected auditor position. The language was trimmed to avoid any language that might be challenged as crossing the line from informative to advocacy. The meeting minutes are a concise overview of the public participation and limited discussion that occurred at the meeting that night.

8/22 County Board (video, agenda packet, addendum):

The minutes summarized the public participation, discussion and votes. Experience C-U had a presentation (jump to video link), including topics such as updates on the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail, Destination 2027 (mentioned in their most recent quarterly report), ARPA funded initiatives and more.

Several agenda items and updates were moved up on the amended agenda for the sake of the participant's time:

• There was a discussion with updates from the Opioid Settlement Task Force (jump to video link) and an approved proposal on how to spend some of the funds "for the purchase, renovation, and opening of the C-U at Home Mid-Barrier Campus." You can see the C-U at Home PowerPoint presentation on that here and listen along here starting at the 3 minute mark). There was a roll call vote later to address a point of order on the original voice vote. There haven't been any updates on when the next meeting will be for this task force (the report at this time suggested sometime in September or October).
  
  
• ARPA updates included some discussion about the Small Business grant program among other technical questions. More detailed updates are available in the agenda packet starting on page 176 (page 181 of the PDF).
  
  
• Rural Broadband updates including some modified proposals to better address the expansion goals.

Later in the meeting there was an extended discussion on the updates and delays surrounding the new County Plaza building. It appeared that the contingency spending has been within normal and acceptable levels given the size and type of the project. Limitations to elevator installation services continue to be a factor in delays and a bit of a project bottleneck.

Additional decennial reports are now on file. All of those reports are available here on the County website. There is a Cheat Sheet post with an explanation and overview of the decennial reports from earlier in the year.

8/26-28 Special Budget Hearings:

• Day 1 (agenda, presentation, video). There was public participation opposing the public safety sales tax, campus protest prosecutions, and 
• Day 2 (agenda, presentation, video)
• Day 3 (agenda, presentation, video). There was public participation opposing the increase to the public safety sale tax and the concern that it may weaken support for the low barrier shelter tax issue for the City of Champaign Township.

September Meetings:

9/10 Committee of the Whole (video, agenda packet):

• Communications and Allegations:

This meeting began with some shocking, although admittedly baseless, accusations by Board Member Brett Peugh against his fellow Democrats. During communications he alleged that a dead cat was left on his porch with some sort of feces on it, implying this was done by his own party members in retaliation for disagreements. Peugh made similar allegations during the party caucus meeting and on social media prior to the meeting. He made clear in his social media post that it was simply a "guess" that other Democrats were involved.

This allegation and others have made their way into Jim Dey's series of opinion articles in the News-Gazette on the drama surrounding the Champaign County Democrats. These include allegations by the County Board Chair Samantha Carter that her fellow Democrats may have been involved in a cracked taillight on her car and the auditor claiming his tires were surgically slashed and later partially deflated. 

FOIAd police records show that the auditor simply had a low pressure indicator and had picked up a nail in the tread. In the report the auditor states a conspiracy by other Democrats to retaliate against him with this nail in his tire. He refers to a previous "surgically precise slashing" that appears to have gone unreported to police at this time. No evidence of any person, Democrats or otherwise, being involved in the tire deflation.

Other Democrats have expressed disbelief and extreme skepticisms that any of these incidents involved politics or retaliation. In the case of the auditor's nail in the tire, some doubt any other person was involved at all as opposed to a common road hazard. There are two extensive opinion articles by Marti Wilkinson overviewing the auditor controversy and some of his tire retaliation claims, including the police report. It also includes some response by the auditor himself here.

In other intraparty drama, Board Member Rodriguez called for a future formal vote to remove the chair due to behavior she deemed inconducive with being able to properly conduct meetings. She noted she didn't want to take the item up tonight with the chair absent and unable to respond.

• Rest of the 9/10 COW Meeting:

At this meeting there was a presentation by the Regional Planning Commission and their legal department about the expansion of the Head Start program to neighboring counties. There was a technical conversation about past practice versus best practice when it comes to the specific language of authorizing the RPC to use certain grant funds. Board members and RPC representatives appeared to agree on a process going forward to ensure the proper "findings" and intergovernmental agreements are covered on the County Board's end.

There was a discussion and approval of the new employee health insurance and benefits plan for FY2025.

There was also some irritation about the lack of an auditor's report given the upcoming deadlines and ongoing issues expressed by former County Auditor and current County Board member J.J. Farney.

The public portion of the meeting ended as the board when into closed session to discuss litigation before they adjourned.

9/19 County Board (video, agenda packet, there's a number of additional documents and addendum as well):

• Democratic Party Caucus:

Prior to the regular County Board member on September 19th, the News-Gazette ran another Jim Dey opinion piece on the intraparty drama, specifically about Member Rodriguez's call to remove the chair at the last COW meeting. Other media showed up to the regular meeting expecting the "shootout" he believed was planned. The issue, however, was not on the agenda.

During the Democratic Party's caucus meeting ahead of the County Board meeting, it was made clear that the item was not on the agenda or planned to be added to the agenda as an action item that night. Illinois State Representative Carol Ammons (D-103rd) and her husband County Clerk and Recorder Aaron Ammons both spoke against removing Chair Carter at this or any future meeting. 

Representative Ammons noted that she was addressing the caucus instead of the media with her concerns at this time. She expressed her hope that she would not need to comment publicly on the matter, noting the news vans in the parking lot at the moment. Both Ammons warned of the precedent such a removal might set.

Chair Carter made a statement reiterating her belief that she has asked for help and never received it, that she has given respect, but never has been respected back. She also brought up the cracked taillight on her car. She argued her intentions were always to unify, not to divide people. The rest of the agenda was an overview of the upcoming County Board agenda (including some duplicated complaints about the auditor covered below).

• Regular County Board Meeting:

Once again, a number of agenda items were moved up for the sake of presenters' time. Many of them would otherwise have to wait through unrelated meeting items for a long while. Public participation began with both a character reference in support and a critic of Chair Carter. Another speaker complained about mysterious explosions near Mahomet and his frustration in getting the noise issue resolved.

The Vice President Blanton Bondurant of the local NAACP Champaign County Branch spoke about his concerns related to the County Executive and the treatment of the Chair Carter. He demanded answers to his previous questions in writing prior to the meeting requested by the County Executive. He stated his concerns about the proof of residency for Board Member Rodriguez and argued that it should be a simple matter for her to present papers establishing her residency. 

Member Rodriguez audibly scoffed at the demand to see her papers, causing a tense and awkward moment (as back and forth interactions are not allowed by County Board rules during public participation). Mr. Bondurant reiterated his demand for written answers to his previous list of questions from the County Executive. Executive Summers acknowledged that he would respond to that inquiry.

During communications, Chair Carter denied any racism behind her questioning of Member Rodriguez's residential qualifications. She noted a long history of the County Board's problems, racism, not listening to certain voices, and other issues. She denied that she had done anything wrong, but was open to conversation, coffee and mediation.

County Executive Summers noted that there was no leadership vote on the agenda or being added tonight. Rodriguez reiterated her concerns with the Chair, others board members she believed have asked Carter to resign as Chair, and that she believed she had the votes to remove her if the vote was held tonight.

The ARPA funding updates are available in the agenda packet starting on page 115 (page 118 of the PDF). I didn't catch this meeting in person and the video appeared to skip a bit during the ARPA discussion.

There was a long discussion of the frustrations with the auditor and references to the auditor's letter that the current audit was going to be late again. Members Farney and Fortado both spoke at length of the late notice of the issues he claimed to be having in delivering a complete audit to the external auditor. In addition to the lateness, there appears to be ongoing concerns about a lack of timely communication about the problems he says he is having, and denial of assistance offered to help with those issues.

The possible financial ramifications of a late audit begin with warnings, but quickly escalate over time to include a great deal of additional planning and work by other departments. At this point in time the county has not lost any money or faced any stop payments. Board members discussed the timeline of cascading repercussions depending on how late the audit ends up being.

There was a disagreement on the auditor's language on a budget item regarding the advertising spending about county referenda. It appeared to include a legal opinion about the spending which was discussed at length by board members and staff as to whether the language could be amended. Ultimately the item failed, with only Member Cowert and Chair Carter voting in favor of passage. It's unclear how this spending approval will be addressed going forward.

Additional decennial reports are now on file. All of those reports are available here on the County website. There is a Cheat Sheet post with an explanation and overview of the decennial reports from earlier in the year.

9/24 Special Finance Meeting (video, agenda) spent a couple hours discussing the FY2025 budget and decisions facing the County Board going forward in the budget process. For a detailed overview of the items discussed, you can see a draft of the minutes from that meeting in the upcoming COW agenda packet starting on page 6 (page 10 of the PDF)

County Board July Updates

July only has a regular County Board meeting. Most months also have a Committee of the Whole or "COW" meeting of the full board and some additional committee meetings (e.g. Facilities). This post covers the June County Board meetings and a special Study Session meeting towards the end of the month.

Public Safety Sales Tax Referendum:

The big news out of the June meetings, and after much deliberation over previous months, was the passage of a resolution to put an increased sales tax measure on the ballot for voters to decide on. From the News-Gazette a few weeks ago:

On Thursday, the county board approved adding a referendum on a “Special County Retailers’ Occupation Tax for Public Safety,” which would add a quarter-cent to the county’s sales-tax rate, to the Nov. 5 ballot.

Proponents say the increase is necessary to support investments such as competitive wages to attract correctional officers for the understaffed juvenile detention center, an additional sheriff’s deputy to support a new mental-health-focused court program and a budget that enables the public defender’s office to hire more expert witnesses...

Board member Brett Peugh acknowledged that the county needs the funds but noted that his constituents who live in a historically Black district will be hit the hardest by the tax and don’t support the measure.

That full article here. WAND had a very brief overview of the sale tax referendum here.

Nursing Home Needs Assessment:

At the June Committee of the Whole meeting, the Advocates for Aging Care group presented the findings of the local needs assessment to the County Board. That full presentation is available here. WCCU had coverage of the group's findings and the need assessment.

Advocates for Aging Care (AAC) along with the Champaign County Board, the Champaign County Health Board, and Champaign-Urbana Public Health District came together to conduct a survey assessing nursing home, rehabilitation, and long-term care facilities in Champaign County.

With over 850 consumer responses and over 50 providers, they found what they expected to be true, that there aren’t enough skilled care beds in Champaign County.

"So in our community, we’ve known by the numbers that we only have about 411 of the 748 beds we need, or are projected to need by the end of 2026 because not only do we have the need now but our older population is growing,” explained Cathy Emanuel with AAC.

That full article here.

More Auditor Drama:

There was a Study Session / Special Meeting of the County Board last month, a few days after their regular monthly meeting (video, agenda packet). The topic was about eliminating the Auditor as an elected position for Champaign County and looking at alternative models. The County Auditor made remarks during the public comment portion of the agenda (video go to link). He spoke in support of keeping the office elected and independent. He took issue with the local League of Women Voters report on a couple points (also here on his facebook page).

The League of Women Voters presented their study from a couple years ago on the benefits and alternatives to having an elected auditor for county governments. Their position predates any of the current drama with the current auditor and views the position as archaic and, in many ways, duplicative. The original study report is available here at the Illinois Public Media Newsroom website. Their presentation on the report from 2 years ago is available on the LWV YouTube page here.

Michelle Jett, the County's Director of Administration, presented and laid out more information on alternatives in other Illinois Counties and some of the nuance of what instituting that would look like in Champaign County if the voters approved it (video jump to link).

Republicans on the County Board seemed less enthusiastic about a ballot referendum on this question now that they've slated a candidate to oppose the current Democratic Party Auditor. There was continued discussion on the appropriate timing of such a referendum and how best to uphold democratic principles in local government.

Chair Carter continued to press the issue of the County Executive and the Executive form of government, but met resistance from within her own party due to the limits of the agenda itself and what the public had been given notice of. This continues some previous contention between the Board Chair and the County Executive's office and staff highlighted in June's Cheat Sheet here.

The meeting left off with planning to discuss the issue as an agenda item on the July regular County Board meeting (there is no Committee of the Whole meeting before the regular meeting in July).

The News-Gazette's Jim Dey has added three more articles to his plethora of Democratic intraparty squabble opinion pieces this month to cover the Auditor and County Board Chair / County Executive drama.

United Sovereign Americans:

At the June regular County Board meeting, there was a series of speakers on behalf of a national group called United Sovereign Americans, including two co-chairs for their Illinois chapter (jump to video link). They read the text of their proposed resolution for the County Board to pass for an "election audit." The version of the resolution they proposed to the DeKalb County Board is available here (starting on page 15 of the PDF file).

There's a separate Cheat Sheet post on this group, its background, and other coverage of it across the country here.

Rural Broadband Updates:

There was another presentation at the most recent Broadband Task Force this week. After last month's presentation, there were concerns about the need to lay fiberoptic cable to begin to lay the groundwork for broadband expansion to rural towns and areas. The presentation this month focused on initial ideas to lay cable to Royal, Ogden, Homer, and Sidney and the details of how many households may be close enough to get connected to those lines.

There was also a long discussion about the types of funding available, from federal (e.g. RDOF versus ARPA) to ongoing concerns that the State funding may not be awarded to these projects here locally.

More County Government News:

• There are indications that the old Champaign County Nursing Home building may have a prospective buyer, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• There was a presentation on the cover crop ARPA funded project and updates at the June COW (jump to video link).
  
  
• President Minnie Pearson of the NAACP Champaign County Branch spoke shared some concerns about the treatment of the County Board Chair by other board members and others (jump to video link). She insisted that board members treat each other with respect.
  
  
• WCIA had coverage of local efforts around the county to put on Independence Day parades, fireworks, and other events. They also had an overview of the county's main July 4th celebration organization this year.
  
  
• WCIA also had coverage of the removal of a very full animal barnyard near the City of Champaign, but within the County's jurisdiction after a long ordeal by neighbors.
  
  
• The Daily Illini had coverage of the local County tourism organization Experience C-U's collaboration with Champaign County African American Heritage Trail and others for local African American heritage murals.
  
  
• The acronym laden county organization for coordinating homelessness service providers in Champaign County (The RPC's CSPH) has found increased homelessness in Champaign County in 2024.

County Board Updates into June

There continued to be a great deal of drama between Auditor and a great deal of the rest of the County government. Recent public statements by those involved appear to put the Auditor at odds with many of the staff of the County Auditor’s office itself, most of the County Board members of both parties, the County Executive, and the administrative staff under the Executive). This culminated in a County Board censure of the County Auditor for alleged mistreatment of staff, pornographic material on a work computer, and other criticisms of his work (or allegedly the lack thereof). From the News-Gazette:

After at least a month of discussion on the subject, the Champaign County Board has voted to censure county auditor George Danos for alleged failure to act as an "independent watchdog" of taxpayer funds and actions "unbecoming an elected official."

...

"The actions of Champaign County Auditor, George P. Danos, have created a work environment the County Board does not condone or support," the resolution states. "... The Champaign County Board seeks to make Champaign County government a safe working environment, free of harassment and misconduct for all employees."

Voting for the resolution: Elly Hanauer-Friedman, Jennifer Locke, Jenny Lokshin, Diane Michaels, Don Owen, Emily Rodriguez, Jilmala Rogers, Ed Sexton, Mike Smith, Chris Stohr, Jennifer Straub, Leah Taylor, Jeff Wilson, John Farney and Stephanie Fortado voted for the resolution.

That full article here. We had a previous Cheat Sheet post on the controversies surrounding the Auditor back in April here. The Auditor gave his perspective and answered many questions about the accusations in the censure resolution on WDWS' "Penny for your Thoughts" radio show this past week (in the second hour of the June 5th episode here). The conservative opinions editor of the News-Gazette, Jim Dey, has also taken an interest in the local Democratic Party infighting with no less than seven opinion articles focused on the dispute in the last two months.

May County Board Regular Meeting:

The last regular County Board meeting (video, agenda packet) lasted over 5 hours due to a great number of presentations on a variety of important programs and topics, as well as public comments in support of looking at the contract / bidding process for minority owned contractors and sub-contractors. Highlights with video links:

• Public Participation included several comments in support of looking at the process of awarding contracts, ensuring minority owned businesses are given proper consideration per the County's own equity goals (go to video link).
  
  
• Presentation on the Racial Covenant Project out of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office (go to video link).
  
  
• Updates on the wider H3 program from many of the organizers behind that and the local First Followers Reentry program (go to video link).
  
  
• Updates on C-CARTS (Champaign-County Area Rural Transit System) funding and projects (go to video link). Staff from C-CARTS had been waiting well over 4 hours by the time their funding item came up and they had a chance to speak on it.

The meeting also went on to cover some contentious issues such as the salaries for countywide offices and their historical imbalances. The new salaries would continue to be imbalanced between the countywide elected office holders. The meeting ended on a long discussion and vote to censure the County Auditor (jump to video link) that was covered in the News-Gazette article mentioned above.

During board member Communications, Chair Carter expressed her ongoing frustration that she is facing racism within the County government and a double standard by her own colleagues. Some of the frustrations appeared intertwined with the County Board's concerns with the Auditor's office. A heated moment came when she complained about the behavior others during and after the 4/4 Special Finance Committee Meeting disagreement. She had previously publicly apologized for her own behavior in that incident (at the 4/9 Committee of the Whole a few days later).

There were repeated points of order and admonishments not to criticize other board members during meetings per the County Board's rules. Carter yelled over the admonishments and received some applause from the audience when she finished her statement.

April County Board and Committee Meetings Roundup:

• 4/4 Special Finance Committee Meeting: the only agenda item for this meeting was discussing a response to the public FOIA information on the County Auditor. The agenda packet also included that same FOIAd information that had been made public.
  
  County Board Member John Farney made a point of order early in this meeting that the County Board Chair, Samantha Carter, took issue with (jump to video). While it appeared that the point of order was mundane, the gestures, yelling, and other behavior during this moment has become the subject of further apologies and arguments.
  
  
• 4/9 Committee of the Whole: This meeting began with admonishment by various board members about Samantha Carter's behavior at the 4/4 special meeting. Chair Carter apologized, noted some ongoing frustrations, but assured the board that it wouldn't happen again. Bruce Hannon was honored as the "eternal keeper of the clock" for the County Court House (see more on that later in this post below). There were updates on the Reentry Program by Rosecrance (jump to video here) and the censure process regarding the auditor.
  
  
• 4/11 Labor Committee: This meeting (agenda packet, minutes) was almost entirely about the auditor, proposed censure language, and the priority of the committee's intent to protect County staff in the Auditor's office who lack many labor protections afforded County employees in other departments. There is a separate Cheat Sheet post that got into the weeds of that meeting and the Auditor issues here. I wasn't able to cover May's Labor Committee meeting, and it appears that the only media coverage was an opinion piece by Jim Dey here. It also centered on censure language (agenda packet including a new proposed censure resolution, tentative minutes of the May meeting are available in the June Labor committee agenda packet).
  
  
• 4/18 County Board Regular Meeting: This meeting included a presentation by the County Auditor with his own interpretation of the County's financial situation and dispute on the budget projections. There was a separate Cheat Sheet post on this dispute over budget forecasts as part of the budget process and the Public Safety Sales Tax here.
  
  
• 4/23 County Board Special Meeting / Study Session: This meeting (agenda packet, video) was focused on addressing board member questions about a referendum to increase the Public Safety Sales Tax by a quarter cent. In the end, it was decided that the County Board's intent was to move forward with putting the question on the ballot. There would still have to be additional approval by the County Board itself.

Bruce Hannon, Eternal Keeper of the Clock:

The County Board passed a resolution to dedicate the courthouse clock as the "Bruce Hannon Memorial Clock" at the April Regular Meeting. From the News-Gazette:

“Bruce Hannon was instrumental in forming the Citizens Committee to Restore the Clock and Bell Tower at the Champaign County Courthouse in 2001 and became Chair of said Committee,” county officials said. “... Under his leadership, the Clock and Bell Tower Committee raised $1.15 million of non-public funds by private donations to underwrite the re-construction of the historic tower at the Champaign County Courthouse and to restore the Clock therein.”

...

A plaque will be placed at the site and a dedication ceremony will be held at a later date.

Steve Beckett, a local lawyer and former Champaign County Board member who was part of the clock tower committee, said Hannon had a gift for persuading people to get involved with different projects, including the clock tower restoration.

That full article here. Steve Becket's full remarks in at the April Committee of the Whole meeting in favor of the resolution, and a touching story of Bruce Hannon's clock work in the community that made him a legend, are available here at the County government's YouTube page.

 

More County Government News:

• There was a 6/10 meeting of the County Board's Broadband Task Force (agenda packet, video starting after the staff resolved some serious technical issues with the sound), which included some presentations and a long discussion on the rural broadband goals. It appears that a lack of state funding had seriously reduced the number of households the VOLO project had hoped to reach. State funding appeared to be an issue with Nextlink's goals as well. The discussion by Task Force members afterwards appeared to highlight a number of technical disagreements and concerns about the lack of progress.
  
  
• Tom Kacich had a profile of the new Champaign County Republican Chair in the News-Gazette.
  
  
• Savoy voted to go ahead with an agreement with the Champaign County government towards its viaduct project, according to WCIA. There was an additional article previewing the vote with more information here.

County Board Updates into November

 

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

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

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

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

Public Hearings and Regular County Board Meeting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Both items passed, again along partisan lines.

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming County Board Meetings / Head's Up:

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

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 Updates

In addition to a followup on the July County Board meeting available here, there was some other County government related news worth checking out recently:

• Updates on the County "home rule" issue
• Court updates on electronic reminders and Judge appointments
• County Clerk dispute with Rantoul officials
• Champaign County Community Coalition meeting online

A County "home rule" referendum won't be on this year's ballot. From WCIA:

The question of giving Champaign County home rule will not be on the ballot this election.

Supporters say that’s because they couldn’t get enough support for it. They would need 500 signatures for it to be on the ballot. Today is the filing deadline. Supporter and county board candidate Emily Rodriguez say she’ll be trying again in 2022. She believes home rule is what the county needs to recover losses from covid-19.

Full blurb with video segment here. More on the home rule issue including a public presentation on the issue by the supporters on the Cheat Sheet here. The County Executive had a recent article explaining home rule in the News-Gazette here as well.

The Champaign County Court House is offering electronic reminders for court cases. From the News-Gazette last week:

Champaign County Circuit Clerk Katie Blakeman announced Thursday that people who have court cases in Champaign County may now receive text or email reminders of their next court dates by filling out a form at champaigncircuitclerk.org...

“Court-date reminders have been proven to significantly improve court-appearance rates, reducing the need to issue warrants for failure to appear,” she added. “We intend to closely monitor appearance rates following implementation and report on the success of the program.”

...

Blakeman said the idea of providing reminders to court participants was a recommendation from the Racial Justice Task Force report presented to the Champaign County Board in October 2017. She said she hopes to get money from the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission to expand the messaging platform to include multiple languages and chat assistance for issues like parking and transportation.

Full article here. In other Court updates, another Circuit Judge has been added to the local bench. From today's News-Gazette:

[Judge Sam Limentato] has been an attorney since 1994; he’s had a robust civil practice in Champaign with Ken Torricelli for the last 20 years. He will take on the family-law docket that Judge Randy Rosenbaum has administered for the last few years.

The recent retirements of Ladd and fellow jurist Jeff Ford have meant the shuffling of judicial assignments that will need even more tweaking this fall when Tom Difanis retires from the bench after 25 years as a judge and 19 as state’s attorney before that...

Besides Ladd, there were 10 other judges from the Sixth Circuit present for Limentato’s swearing-in.

Among them was Ben Dyer, who was sworn in June 1 to fill Jeff Ford’s seat. He and Limentato were selected at the same time in May by Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman for their respective resident judgeships.

Both men will have to run in 2022 in Champaign County only for their seats. Limentato plans to run as a Republican and Dyer as a Democrat.

Full article available at the News-Gazette eEdition here (subscription).

The Champaign County Clerk is still demanding an apology for accusations made by Rantoul officials, blaming him for something that appears to have been their responsibility. The Clerk believes that the reasons for blaming him include the fact that he is an African-American in the position. This may be one of the issues that led to County Board member Stan Harper's self-described rant at the July Board meeting (more on that here). More on the dust up between the County Clerk and Rantoul officials from the News-Gazette:

The county clerk said Ramage made “grossly false” comments about him and his office regarding whether Rantoul’s Tax Increment Financing District 1 would come off the tax rolls this year or next year. Because Rantoul City Schools and Rantoul Township High officials thought it wouldn’t come off until next year, they did not levy for the additional money.

The two districts lost the opportunity to levy against nearly $700,000 in equalized assessed value. They will not be able to levy for that amount in years to come, either.

Ammons said it is neither his nor his office’s responsibility to oversee such matters. But officials from both districts said the county clerk’s office had provided such information in the past.

The state’s attorney’s office advised Ammons that he should “in no way advise, guide or track TIFs for any district,” he said. “My office was being blamed for not doing a job we’re not responsible for doing.”

Full article with additional information here.

And finally, a reminder that the Champaign County Community Coalition is continuing to hold meetings online with updates from local efforts against gun violence, police chiefs reports and other presentations for opportunities to get involved in local criminal justice reforms and social services. July's meeting is available here at their facebook page (also on their website with agenda and power points here). More information available on their website here. including on their next meeting coming up August 12th at 3:30pm (streamed live on facebook and Zoom and available afterward as well).

County Home Rule Proposal

County Board member Stephanie Fortado and County Board candidate Emily Rodriguez have been doing public outreach on the idea of making the County government a "home rule" entity. This post tries to break down what that means, links to some of their arguments and explanations, and also a recent public Zoom discussion on the topic (video here).

The Illinois Association of County Board Members has an explanation of home rule that could be a little confusing for Champaign residents. We're one of only two counties outside of Cook County that have an Executive Form of County government. When we adopted that form, we specifically excluded the "home rule" part of it. From their website:

A county which has a chief executive officer is considered a "home rule unit". A county-wide referendum is required to establish this plan. Home rule counties have broad authority to provide for local government issues. The advantage of this designation is that, except as limited by State law, home rule counties may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs, including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; to license; and to borrow money and levy taxes.

Cook County is the only home rule county in Illinois. Will County voters elected to go to a county executive form without home rule in 1988. Champaign County voters approved restructure to executive form in 2016.

More at that page here. Essentially we have the additional elected Executive office instead of an administrator that operates as an extension of the County Board's authority. A little more division of power, but without the additional home rule authorities.

Fortado and Rodriguez make their case for the change to home rule for the County in this Medium article here. Here's an excerpt of their descriptions of home rule from that article:

In Illinois, a home rule unit can exercise any power and perform any function unless it is specifically prohibited from doing so by state law. We can restructure our budget to reflect our values. We can get affordable housing, increase treatment for substance use disorder, shrink the jail population, and build a meaningful partnership between the County and local trade unions — and much more. Here, we’ll outline what home rule could mean for Champaign County’s recovery, and what it would take to get home rule on the ballot in the upcoming General Election.

What is Home Rule?

Home rule units have a more flexible system of power that can be used to address complex social, economic, and environmental problems at the local level. Like most legal concepts in the United States, we imported the concept of home rule from England. It was a part of a larger labor movement in the 1870s to secure internal autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire. In fact, Illinois home rule powers are among the broadest and strongest in the nation. Here’s what the home rule provision in our State Constitution says:

“[a] home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; to license; to tax; and to incur debt., (Ill. Const. of 1970, art. VII § 6[a]).

Except for county governments, home rule is the default-mode of authority for most forms of local government in Illinois with a population greater than 25,000. Therefore, Champaign and Urbana became home rule units automatically when the State Constitution was rewritten in 1970. County governments, on the other hand, must adopt home rule by public referendum. It requires a petition with 500 votes to get home rule on the ballot and a simple majority to pass.

That full article with their arguments here. It goes on to make the case for some political issues that they feel could be better addressed with home rule authority.

Their virtual Town Hall for Home Rule is available on YouTube here. Their slide presentation is available on Google Docs here. They also had a form for anyone interested in their efforts, updates, or ask questions here. You can jump to the Q & A portion of the Town Hall here.

Back in 2016, the idea of adding home rule to the County Executive form of government proposal was raised as a possibility. A WILL article at the time highlighted some of the political division on why:

Cook County has a similar arrangement with its elected County Board President. But Cook County has something that Will County --- and the Champaign County executive proposal --- do not have: home rule powers.

Among other things, home rule governments can raise taxes without asking the voters through a tax referendum. That’s not a popular concept with groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau. But Petrie says the challenges Champaign County faces with its nursing home, its county jail and the maintenance of county buildings in general, are financial challenges that will need new revenue.

“So it is a bit antithetical to know that the Farm Bureau  and the Chamber are only putting forth a referendum for an elected county executive because they want things to happen, but they have not given any provision for the county to raise money,” said [former Champaign County Board Chair Pattsi] Petrie.

That full article here, including a bit more background on the original Executive Form debate. Rodriguez brings up the historical conservative opposition in the Town Hall presentation here. The issue of "home rule" was raised in the District 8 primary debate between Rodriguez and current board Chair Giraldo Rosales who lost in March. It was raised in the League of Women Voters candidate panels with that video here. In a Cheat Sheet overview here, I highlighted some of the other accusations raised in that panel discussion. Rodriguez pushed for adopting home rule and why, while Rosales mostly dismissed it as empty rhetoric.

In addition to this push to make the County Executive Form of government a home rule entity, there has been an opposite push to abandon the County Executive Form of government altogether in a step back to a County Administrator under the authority of the County Board. More on that from a Cheat Sheet post from earlier this year here.

The Executive Form of government was supported by Republicans and conservative groups initially when it was viewed as a sure bet that a Republican would win the elected office. This would give a Republican veto over the Democratic majority County Board. That sure bet candidate who was groomed for and helped plan the position with those groups was former Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten. From that Cheat Sheet post on why conservatives might now oppose the Executive Form of government they created:

The surprise victory by Democratic Darlene Kloeppel was a shock to many, including Hulten who dismissed the possibility as realistic prior to the election. Since that election his and Republican Party desires to have veto power over the Democratic majority County Board have disappeared.

What has happened since has been frustrating and confusing for many Democrats hoping to consolidate those gains towards more political victories after the 2018 "blue wave" as they like to call it. Instead the Republicans have formed a coalition with self-described pragmatic Democrats on the County Board and elected Giraldo Rosales as Chairman of that coalition majority.

The Chairman and the Republican coalition have acted as an interim check on the Democratic Party's majority on some of the very issues Republicans hoped Hulten would play as County Executive. This appears to be a limited and temporary solution to their original goals, however. The ability to elect a Republican County Executive in a couple years is far from certain. The fractured Democratic party may be infighting before a primary election now, but that's not certain to continue either. The coalition some Democrats have formed with Republicans is causing serious resentments and bizarre power moves that could result in a very different situation heading towards or after the general election.

That full post is available here. Readers can make up their own mind on the motivations and the plausibility of the explanations in contrast with the power interests. I leave it to voters to decide if home rule is a good option for the county or their own interests.

June County Board COW

Following up on the County Board's June committee meetings (Cheat Sheet overview here), the Committee of the Whole (agenda, video) is generally the next step in the process for items to get approval to the full board for a final full vote. It's another step that allows public input and pressure for issues and agenda items the public may be concerned about or impacted by.

At the June Committee of the Whole, the public input began with concerns about tax disbursements by the Mahomet-Seymour School District Superintendent, Lindsey Hall. Delays could mean additional costs and headaches to school districts again as their Fiscal Year comes to an end in June. John Bambenek raised some additional concerns with the County Treasurer's property tax system that has added more anxiety to the process after recent failures and delays over the past couple years.

There were also public comments pressing for a local reopening strategy beyond the State mandated regional phases and timelines. Speakers pointed to other examples, both international, in neighboring states and neighboring counties to urge better alternatives to current policy. Annie Murray of Pear Tree Estate once again spoke of the economic strain compounded by being unable to compete with businesses in nearby counties that have opened beyond State guidelines.

The Committee of the Whole meeting is also an opportunity for informational presentations. June's meeting had an overview presentation on the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District local government body (starts at the 20 minute mark in the video). A letter with more details along with the slide presentation is available on the County website here.

I recommend checking out the presentation as it lays out an often overlooked but critical part of local government. It deals with protecting watersheds and preventing soil erosion, but those are very critical issues to prevent future crises. This impacts our economy, our ability to feed an ever-growing population, clean water consumption, recharging aquifers, climate change, and so on. A quick summary from their about page:

The Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District is a local unit of government which has been in existence since 1943.  It is governed by a five person board of directors, elected by landowners and land occupants within the District.  The Directors, themselves landowners or land occupants, are given the responsibility of developing and administering a comprehensive natural resource conservation plan.  The District receives its operating funds from The Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Champaign County Board.

And from the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts about page:

In the early 1930s, along with the greatest depression this nation ever experienced, came an equally unparalleled ecological disaster known as the Dust Bowl. Following a severe and sustained drought in the Great Plains, the region’s soil began to erode and blow away, creating huge black dust storms that blotted out the sun and swallowed the countryside...

On Capitol Hill, while testifying about the erosion problem, soil scientist Hugh Hammond Bennett threw back the curtains to reveal a sky blackened by dust. Congress unanimously passed legislation declaring soil and water conservation a national policy and priority.

It's difficult to explain how important those last few inches of topsoil are to the people who depend on the land for their livelihood and survival. Their monthly meetings are open to the public, typically in the evening depending on farming schedules. Contact their office in Champaign for additional information to attend.

The meeting quickly delved into some partisan drama, which is covered below. For those who'd rather skip to the Treasurer's report and the IT and server updates for the County, click here to jump to that part.


County Clerk versus the Board:

After that presentation, the County Board ran through some appointments on the agenda, but quickly got to the County Clerk report and a heated exchange between the County Clerk and County Board member Jim Goss. It started off with Goss asking a series of questions that appeared to come off as adversarial or prosecutorial to the County Clerk who asked for a more direct question. County Clerk Aaron Ammons began his first response speaking about the George Floyd death, protests, and national conversation. He highlighted the lack of attention to the issue so far, especially by Mr. Goss. He expressed his frustration with Goss' line of questioning and pressed for him to ask his "real question."

There was then a back and forth about responsibility for the tax cycle and previous tax issues relating to the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, the Champaign Public Library and the County Clerks office. Goss pressed for a public answer for what the Clerk described as lengthy matters already worked out with those tax bodies.

Accusations of political gamesmanship met accusations of mistakes followed. This included a statement of previous grievances by the Clerk that the GOP had orchestrated an exodus out of the Clerk's office after being a solidly Republican office for years. With any mistakes being dismissed as a natural consequence of the office being sabotaged and condemned. Goss denied knowing anyone in the office or sabotaging the Clerk's office.

Goss stopped his questioning and County Board member Rector, who had the committee chair control of the floor, attempted to move on while encouraging other elected officials to join County Board meetings. Ammons began reading a statement in response about the subject he was expecting to talk about, with details about a Rantoul TIF (what's a TIF?) issue that had apparently been a public dispute in The Rantoul Press.

Ammons gave his side of the Rantoul story to those disagreements, which went on for several minutes before Rector cut him off to move the meeting forward. Ammons became frustrated that Rector was cutting him off and not allowing him to finish his statement and there was a struggle for control of the floor. After a brief comment by member Stohr Rector appeared to have been ready to move on and apologized for having to cut Clerk Ammons off. The situation escalated again (video link here).

Ammons disagreed with the decision and explanation. Ammons then complained that the Republicans attack and appear to hate him so much. He asked whether it was because he was a Democrat or because he was black. He then accused member Goss of defending Nazis in the white nationalist Patriot Front group that has put up pro-fascist material locally.

At that point Republicans demanded they shut him off, called points of order and denounced charges of racism. Ammons stated that he wasn't making charges for stating facts. A multitude of voices started chiming in over the Zoom meeting and Chairman Rosales finally pushed the agenda forward.

As the meeting continued, Clerk Ammons stayed on the Zoom meeting, visibly frustrated at times in his camera window. At the end of the meeting, during Other Business, member Ingram commented on the George Floyd protests and the need to listen to and support other voices in the community. Then he left an open ended question to Ammons about his thoughts on the Rantoul situation.

Ammons began speaking about the accusations against him with only a slightly noticeable grumble from the Republicans on the audio. County Board Chair Rosales interrupted after he mentioned that the attacks came from both Republicans and Democrats and he admonished Ammons not to personalize it. This immediately raised tensions as they were on either side of the recent local party infighting. Republican member McGuire then jumped in to demand a stop to the statement, but Rosales asked him to let Ammons finish.

Ammons continued until he got into the topic of the protests and the changes he saw in Mahomet at those protests. He described Mahomet as a predominately white sundown town that had given him hope for change. He ended his remarks by saying it was a sign of the end of people like member Goss and County Recorder (and long time local Republican party leader) Mark Sheldon. He told them to enjoy their "last hurrah." Chairman Rosales quickly thanked him for his comments and immediately adjourned the meeting.


Other highlights beyond the drama:

The Treasurer's report was deeply concerning and went into details of two week delays and the public dealing with erroneous filing and fee messages on systems that still need to be updated for the correct information to show up. The Treasurer and staff explained the complications and various systems involved in the process and how they're doing that work with limited staff and while attempting to correct previous problems under the previous Treasurer Prussing.

More local news stories have broken about more problems and concerns with the Treasurer's Office, including a union dispute in today's News-Gazette and delays and notification problems in yesterday's paper:

This is a system that was inherited by [Treasurer Marisol] Hughes, who was appointed treasurer three months ago after the resignation of former county treasurer Laurel Prussing. The state’s pandemic lockdown began two weeks after Hughes took office.

Another big issue has been that some taxpayers who voluntarily sign up for the option of having their tax payments automatically withdrawn from their bank accounts don’t let the treasurer’s office know when they’ve sold their properties.

And for anyone who assumes the treasurer’s office would know a property has been sold, “there is no way for us to know,” [Chief Deputy Treasurer Alejandra] Aguero said.

That full article, which basically mirrored the meeting discussion, here. In the meeting the staff noted that the phones to the office ring nonstop throughout business hours.


There was also an overview of the recommended Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system from Tyler Technologies to replace the antiquated server and software the County runs much of its data and work through. The new cloud based system would fit well under the budget assumptions of the technology plan put forth last year to get the County out of the technological lurch. Video of that discussion in the meeting is available here with a direct link. The technology plan report was on page 78 of the December County Board meeting agenda packet here (page 82 of the PDF file). The questions and answers portion on that report is available from the December meeting video here at the 43 minute mark.