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.

County Government Updates

This post has some news updates related to County government and information on upcoming meetings this month. The updates have to do with the Champaign County Circuit Clerk's office outreach on cannabis expungement, the annual homeless population survey, and support for eliminating the office of the Recorder of Deeds.

The Circuit Clerk highlighted additional information people effected by State expungements may be unaware of. There is a push to reach out to folks who may have already benefited or could benefit locally. From WAND:

"We actually have a group of 500 cases where people may not be aware that their records have automatically been expunged," said Champaign County Circuit Clerk Susan McGrath. 

The list of individuals whose convictions were presented to the governor for potential pardons authorizing expungement has already been provided to Champaign County and granted by the Champaign County Court. For an individual who believes they fall into this category, they can get a copy of the order granting their expungement from the Office of the Champaign County Circuit Clerk and a certified docket sheet.

Those individuals can also contact the Circuit Clerk’s Office cccircuitclerk@co.champaign.il.us and provide their name, date of birth, address, cell phone number, case number and/or approximate date of conviction. They are encouraged to make this contact either in person or by email by March 1, 2021.

More details and helpful links at the full article here. The News-Gazette had more coverage here.

The annual point-in-time survey to track homeless people in the area took place last week. WAND had a brief overview:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with the Champaign County Continuum of Services Providers to the Homeless, mandates the Point-in-Time survey allowing homeless service providers to track progress made towards ending homelessness in the community.

Since July, the CSPH has added six new members, bringing the number of organizations involved to 35...

The data collected from the Point-in-Time count will track the needs of people experiencing homelessness and determine how to distribute the federal funding effectively.

More at that full article here. More information on the Champaign County Continuum of Services Providers to the Homeless is available on the Regional Planning Commission website here with meeting information on their webpage here.

The News-Gazette's editorial board is still on board with getting rid of the Recorder's office and so is the current office holder, former County Board member Mike Ingram. From WCIA:

Champaign County Recorder Mike Ingram ran a campaign to do away with his office. Now, he’s preparing a referendum to make that happen...

He says not much would change for employees in his office. The only major change would be that his staff works for a different department head.

Voters will be able to decide on whether or not to merge the two offices or keep them separate in April.

That full blurb here. News-Gazette editorial here. It may be one of the few things most people can agree on these days.

Upcoming Meetings:

There are County Board committee meetings coming up tonight and heading into next week (see the February meeting calendar here). Tonight is the Environment and Land Use Committee (agenda packet) and will be live streamed on the web and facebook. There will be the 2nd part of a 5 part series on waste management. From a previous Cheat Sheet post:

"[January 7th's] Environment and Land Use Committee (ELUC) had Part 1 of a 5 part presentation on waste management issues in the County (agenda here, waste presentation PowerPoint here, and video here). There was also an interesting overview of what the County has to do to get back in compliance on its "noxious weed" responsibilities."

The calendar has a key to the abbreviations, for example the VAC is the Veterans' Assistance Commission . The VAC's facebook page has regular updates on the work they're doing here.

Harvest Updates in December

In agricultural news, there have been some updates on harvests going into December as well as a new statewide coalition to assist veterans getting started in farming. Most recently, WCCU had a blurb and video segment recently with an update on area harvests:

By December, crops across the state are usually fully harvested but due to a wet spring, some farmers are still in the process of harvesting.

They're not alone as farmers in Illinois still have about 10% of their crops to go, which they attribute to a record late planting season.

"I don't think we hardly planted any corn past the first day of May in 20 or 30 years. We planted a lot of corn at the end of May and one field the first of June. That's really late for us in this area," said farmer Garry Niemeyer.

From 2014 until 2018, the average percent of corn harvested by the week of December 1st is 100%.

Link to that blurb and video segment here. The week before, WCIA had an update with a couple farmers who had already completed their harvest:

For a long time, farmers used Thanksgiving as a marker for when they wanted to be finished with harvest. But with the unpredictable weather this season, many of them tried to finish a lot earlier.

Most of them are. Now they’re all putting the finishing touches on their fields to prepare them for next year. Some say the outcome of this harvest was surprisingly good...

While the outcome – or yield – is lower than last year’s past, it’s something farmer Lin Warfel says he can live with because of how prosperous the last 10 years have been.

“About 15% less than average, and the last 10 years, really good average, last two years were really really good, set records, and we’re down from the records,” said Warfel...

Now the wait begins to see what they’ll make from what they sell, but the waiting game won’t end until next summer.

Full article with additional interviews and information, including trade issues and federal offsets here. The Illinois Farm Bureau had their news affiliate with a wider overview recently on their webpage:

Better luck next year? Harvest to spill over into 2020
...
Issues with poor field conditions and low test weights also continue to be compounded by high crop drying demands and tight propane supplies, which eased in recent weeks at some locations due to emergency deliveries...

So, what’s left to run through the system to complete the 2019 harvest? Based on the most recent USDA crop estimates, approximately 1.4 billion bushels of corn and 137 million bushels of beans remained in the field as of Dec. 1.

In the Midwest, 7% of corn in Illinois and Indiana and 8% of the crop in Iowa was unharvested Dec. 1. The harvest delays are more severe to the north and west with a dire situation unfolding in North Dakota, where just 36% of corn was harvested as of last week after that region was hit with another major snowstorm. 

Full article here.

In other news, WCIA had a recent blurb on the announcement of an Illinois statewide chapter of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, which describes itself as a "nonprofit organization assisting veterans–and currently serving members–of the Armed Forces to embark on careers in agriculture." The announcement came at the Illinois Farm Bureau's annual meeting. A lot more information and details and links are available from the FarmWeekNow story here. Excerpt:

The resources include information about programs the veterans may not be aware of, [Retired Army Reserve Maj. Amy Hess] noted. [National Farmer Veteran Coalition President Gary Matteson] added the coalition also has a fellowship fund which has distributed more than $2.5 million in small grants of up to $5,000. Grants may be used to add a new process, build fences or to expand a farming operation...

Matteson emphasized the Farmer Veteran Coalition is “aggressively ecumenical” with representatives from all types of agriculture, all sizes of farms, different farm organizations, and conventional and organic agriculture. “We insist on that broad representation,” he said. “Our goal is to help them be the best at whatever they want to be.”

More at that article here and the coalition website here.

State and Local Resource Fair and disABILITY Resource Expo

Two events are coming up this March for people who are looking to find information and ask questions about resources that may be available for themselves or family members on everything from health care, disabilities, employment, aging issues, veterans in need, and more. The first event involves State and local agencies and organizations this Thursday, March 14th. From Champaign County government facebook page:

"The Illinois State Treasurer's Office is partnering with the Champaign County Supervisor of Assessment's office to provide Champaign area residents one-stop access to local and statewide agencies. All are welcome to attend this event on Thursday, March 14th.

The following organizations will be at the event to provide you with information and assistance:

• Senior Resource Center at Family Service
• Champaign County Health Care Consumers
• Health Alliance
• Illinois Dept. on Aging
• City of Champaign Township
• Illinois Comptroller's Office
• Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs Office
• Illinois Home Care Ombudsman Program
• IlliniCare Health
• Veteran’s Assistance Commission
• Board of Review (Champaign)
• Molina Healthcare
• Illinois Dept. of Employment Security
• Illinois Epilepsy Foundation
• Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White's Office (not mobile services, informational table)
• Champaign County Supervisor of Assessments"

Also later this month: the disABILITY Resource Expo on March 30. More information on that event here. Their mission statement: "To provide full access to information and resources from a wide variety of agencies and organizations, to promote a better quality of life for people with disabilities in Champaign County and East Central Illinois." They have a searchable interactive resource guide on their website here.

County Updates: Veterans Assistance and Deputy Exec

The Champaign County Veterans Assistance Commission (Cheatsheet post with additional information here) once again had to turn away some veterans seeking assistance due to a need for additional funding. From CU-CitizenAccess.org, "a community online news and information project devoted to investigative and enterprise coverage of social, justice and economic issues in east central Illinois.":

Veterans Assistance Commission can’t meet demand for help
Due to a tight budget, Champaign County Veterans Assistance Commission has had to turn away 138 veterans so far this year requesting financial help.

Last year they turned away 151 veterans.

The organization  receives funding from Champaign County. They provide temporary financial assistance to veterans, including helping with mortgage or rent payments, utility payments, and food and family essentials.

The commission receives a budget of $80,000 each year from Champaign County. However, they recently received a $5,000 donation from veteran’s group called Hometown Heroes...

According to the commission annual report, 52 percent of the budget goes towards helping veterans with their rent, 6 percent towards helping with mortgage and 42 percent goes towards helping with utilities.

Gould said that he asks Champaign County every year for more money, but is unable to get it. However, he said he understands that the county  also has a tight budget...

The commission offers other forms of aid as well. They have their own food pantry, where they can give bags of food to people who need it. The commission website also states that they provide advocacy, and information, referral and location of discharge documents.

They also can provide passes for bus service, Gould said.

Maggio said that veterans can ask for assistance for however long they need it for.

In order to receive the services from the commission, however, veterans have to be eligible. According to Section 2 of the Military Veteran’s Assistance Act, a person must have served in the Armed Forces of the U.S., and must have left on an honorable discharge.

Full article here with a lot more additional information.

In other County government news, the Deputy Executive position (voted on this week at the County Board meeting) looks like it will be filled by the head of another local community organization. From the News-Gazette:

Courage Connection director chosen as Champaign County deputy admin
Isak Griffiths, the executive director of Champaign-based Courage Connection, is leaving that agency next month to fill the newly created deputy director of administration position for Champaign County.

County Executive Darlene Kloeppel said Griffiths will begin her new job Jan. 22.

Griffiths will support her office and primarily be responsible for personnel and human-resources development, Kloeppel said...

Griffiths is an Air Force veteran with both a bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Illinois. Before coming to Courage Connection, she managed her own leadership development business, facilitated Dale Carnegie training programs and developed systems, programs and training courses in the library systems and telecommunications industries, according to the agency.

More at the full article here.

Veterans Assistance Commission

On "The Week Ahead" posts I've sometimes referred to a Veterans Assistance Commission meeting that I had yet to attend and gave the best description I had from the County website. For example from this week's post:

The Veterans Assistance Commission meeting appears to mostly report on the commission itself, but I haven't attended one of these to know much about it yet (agenda here). Here's a description from the website of what this board oversees:

The Veteran's Assistance Commission (VAC) of Champaign County is a distinct unit of local government created by State Law and funded by Champaign County. The VAC is a temporary financial assistance program designed to help veterans that find themselves in need. The VAC is managed by a Board of Directors who are veterans representing the various veteran organizations in Champaign County.

Well, I finally made it to that one and found out that there's additional information and access through their new facebook page available here: https://www.facebook.com/ChampaignCountyVAC/. The local VFW Post 630 also has a brief information page here.

The programs are mainly funded by the county, but they're able to do additional work with funds raised in the community, for example the recent riders event (WCIA article and video here):

A motorcycle club made up of veterans donated $5,000 to the county's Veterans Assistant Commission.

The program helps veterans who are struggling to pay their bills. The American Legion Riders Post 568 raised the money at an event earlier this month.

Last year, they gave the commission about $4,200, which allowed the program to help an extra 27 veterans pay their bills around the holidays.

Commission employees say the $5,000 donation will allow them to help even more veterans this year.

They work with local veterans organizations, including a monthly Veteran Food Pantry with the VFW and members of those organizations make up the commission members. They have most of the organizations represented, but they are looking for someone to fill a vacant position if you know a veterans organization member who might be interested.

The commission works out of the Brookens Administrative Center and has an office just to the left of the front desk down a little hallway there. They're in office 3D (map) to see veterans who need information or assistance. The commission used to meet in the Putman meeting room, but has recently moved across the way from their office in the 3F meeting room (again, just to the left of the front desk at Brookens).

The group's mission, meetings, and even the budget are very straightforward. One extra agenda item includes a salute to the flag at the end of the meeting.

In additional news brought up at the meeting, a Veterans Legal Clinic has been set up at U of I that is offering legal services to Veterans who might not otherwise be able to afford it, including for Discharge Upgrades (e.g. for those who should have received medical discharges, but were separated on other grounds). More on that program here. Contact information for the Veterans Legal Clinic include a phone number 217-244-9494 and e-mail clinic@law.illinois.edu.

The Week Ahead: 8/19 - 8/25

*** There is a County Board meeting this Thursday. Agenda here (more information below). More information on how to attend a county board meeting here. *** 

Vote By Mail is available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started! More information on Vote By Mail in Champaign County here. Ballot request direct link for residents here. More information on County elections (including checking your registration, sample ballots when available, and early voting times and locations) at our Elections page.

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up (e.g. recent meeting of Republican Women of Champaign County and Democratic Party Meet and Greet for County Candidates). Check out your preferred candidates and you will likely see campaign, canvassing, or voter registration events in the area. Many are using facebook to more easily share event information and reminders. Check out the Champaign County Voter Alliance's preliminary general election candidate guide to see who is running. We'll be updating County race information from the primary election to the general soon.
 
Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, August 22nd at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

The Housing Authority of Champaign County has a special Moving To Work public hearing this week Thursday August 23rd at 2pm at their offices at 205 W. Park Ave. (*** The usual monthly Board of Commissioners meeting has been moved to August 30th next week at 3pm in the same location. ***)

At last month's City of Champaign Study Session of the City Council, the reentry housing issue was raised during public participation (a full write up of the meeting is here and video here). This is following up on the preview of that discussion at the City Council meeting here: Reentry Housing Issue. The News-Gazette had a couple articles following up on the meeting linked on the Cheat Sheet here.

County Calendar:

The Labor/Management Health Insurance Committee deals with benefits issues for County Staff which is probably mostly interesting to County Staff. Agenda and previous meeting's minutes here.

There's also a County Board of Health meeting Tuesday at 5:30pm at the CU Public Health Department building at 201 W. Kenyon Rd (map) in Champaign. Agenda here.

The Veterans Assistance Commission meeting appears to mostly report on the commission itself, but I haven't attended one of these (Update: I have now) to know much about it yet (agenda here). Here's a description from the website of what this board oversees:

The Veteran's Assistance Commission (VAC) of Champaign County is a distinct unit of local government created by State Law and funded by Champaign County. The VAC is a temporary financial assistance program designed to help veterans that find themselves in need. The VAC is managed by a Board of Directors who are veterans representing the various veteran organizations in Champaign County.

*** There is a County Board meeting this Thursday. Agenda here. If you'd like to attend a County Board meeting, you can find more information on how to attend here. The agenda suggests that they're expecting appointments to a couple vacant seats as well as honoring some recent resignees. There will be a Visit Champaign presentation and couple Nursing Home related votes (one to reinstate the 12 month budget and another involving purchases not following purchase policy — often additional outlays).

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

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

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

Where is Brookens?

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

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

The Week Ahead 5/13 - 5/19

*** There's a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this week. It will be meeting (agenda packet here and I believe a Nursing Home budget item on the addendum here) Tuesday at 6:30pm. They will discuss a grant application for the Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grant. More information on that here.

There's almost certainly going to be Nursing Home discussions on the potential upcoming vote to sell and budget/personnel ramifications if they do not. This will be the first full meeting with the County Board since meeting publicly with the companies behind the sole minimum bid at Special Meeting. More on the board's leaning heading towards a possible vote to sell at the end of the month here: Nursing Home Vote Count. ***

Blurb from the News-Gazette today previewing the Nursing Home discussion:
 

Other Events:

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

Build Programs Not Jails doesn't meet this week, but next week it will be at its regular time, 7pm at the IMC.

First Followers is having an event: An Evening with Susan Burton. From the facebook event link: "Susan Burton, the founder of New Way of Life, a model reentry program for women, will speak about her experiences as a formerly incarcerated person, an individual in recovery and a movement builder in the fight against mass incarceration. The author of the recent best seller, Becoming Ms. Burton, she is an inspiration to all those who value social justice." It's likely local reentry issues such as the housing issue may come up and be addressed.
CU Indivisible will be having a general meeting (facebook event here) which will be addressing its work and collaboration with other local groups on the RJTF housing recommendations. This will include updates on another meeting together with Esther Patt of the Champaign Urbana Tenant Union to discuss the issue with with Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen.


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

County Calendar:

*** There's a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this week. It will be meeting (agenda packet here and I believe a Nursing Home budget item on the addendum here) at 6:30pm. They will discuss a grant application for the Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grant. More information on that here. There's almost certainly going to be Nursing Home discussions on the potential upcoming vote to sell and ramifications if they do not. This will be the first full meeting with the County Board since meeting publicly with the companies behind the sole minimum bid at Special Meeting.  ***


The week kicks off with the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at it's new 6:30pm time (agenda here). From the previous month's minutes in this month's agenda packet you can see this is more of a managerial board discussing financials and marketing more than policy or politics.

The Labor/Management Health Insurance Committee deals with benefits issues for County Staff which is probably mostly interesting to County Staff.

The Veterans Assistance Commission meeting appears to mostly report on the commission itself, but I haven't attended one of these to know much about it yet. Here's a description from the website of what this board oversees:

The Veteran's Assistance Commission (VAC) of Champaign County is a distinct unit of local government created by State Law and funded by Champaign County. The VAC is a temporary financial assistance program designed to help veterans that find themselves in need. The VAC is managed by a Board of Directors who are veterans representing the various veteran organizations in Champaign County.

The Mental Health Board Study Session (agenda packet here) will be getting into information from agencies and others. This appears to be about funding to local programs by the Mental Health Board and the various grants and funding that go through it.


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

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

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

Where is Brookens?

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

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

The Week Ahead 2/18 - 2/24

REMINDER: Voting has begun! Early voting and Vote-by-Mail! Your chance to register or change your registration 28 days before the election ends this week. Sample ballots are available here. 

Other Events:

County Executive Candidate Town Halls: More from the N-G

Darlene Kloeppel has one this week:
— 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, Tolono Public Library, 111 E. Main St., Tolono. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/162994354491122/

Gordy Hulten has one this week that wasn't in the original N-G article:
— 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20 Tolono Town Hall, 117 E. Holden, Tolono. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2101906040041685/

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

The Housing Authority of Champaign County (and their new website up, but still in progress) Board meets Thursday Feb. 22 at 3pm at the 205 W. Park Ave HACC office.

Champaign City Council meeting Feb. 20 at 7pm in the Council Chambers of the City Building, 102 N Neil Street.

Both of the above meetings come on the heals of the Champaign County Board vote to urge both to change their housing rules that discriminate against those re-entering the community from the criminal justice system based on the RJTF recommendations.

There are candidate events happening for races up and down the Democratic and Republican ballot, so get your sample ballot, read about and meet the candidates. e.g. if you're a Democrat you could have met your Attorney General candidates at the IMC last week! Video of that event here. Candidate websites and social media links at the CCVA Candidate Guide is a good place to start looking at candidates.

Make a plan to vote. Election day itself falls within Spring Break if you're going to be out of town. Early voting and Vote-by-Mail have begun.


County Calendar:

This week ends with a regular County Board meeting. But, from the agenda packet, one will notice that outside of the consent agenda there only appears to be some smaller expenses to approve. A consent agenda is a parliamentary device used to consolidate non-controversial and routine business into one unanimous vote. From the Board rules:

Items  included  in  the  Consent  Agenda  shall  be  items  that  the County Board Chair believes will be unanimously adopted without discussion.  Motions to go into closed session may not be included in the Consent Agenda.

For those tracking the RJTF recommendations, they'll find the resolutions urging changes to HACC and City of Champaign ordinances and housing added to the consent agenda in last week's Committee of the Whole vote.

The week starts off with the Presidents Day holiday on Monday and the resumption of the County Executive Transition Committee Tuesday to make new Board rules and pave the way for the new County Executive form of government. The Veterans Assistance Commission meeting appears to mostly report on the commission itself, but I haven't attended one of these to know much about it yet. Here's a description from the website of what this board oversees:

The Veteran's Assistance Commission (VAC) of Champaign County is a distinct unit of local government created by State Law and funded by Champaign County. The VAC is a temporary financial assistance program designed to help veterans that find themselves in need. The VAC is managed by a Board of Directors who are veterans representing the various veteran organizations in Champaign County.

For an idea of what they entail click Developmental Disability Board or Mental Health Board links here to see what the meetings entail with example posts on each. The Litigation Committee meeting is mostly closed to discuss pending litigation.

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

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

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

Where is Brookens?

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

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