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.

County Board Updates

There are some County government committee meetings coming up this week (more information on those on the weekly calendar here).

Following up on a previous post previewing the July County Board meeting here, the July meeting (agenda here, video here). There was an economic presentation by the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation that delved into some the current outlooks and challenges, including with the coronavirus pandemic ongoing (direct video link here, slide presentation here). There was a handout from the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce with local business owners and operators and the frustrations they have had with the coronavirus, government response, and the chaos both have caused. Many go into heartrending detail about the hurdles they've faced as the livelihoods and economic survival of themselves and their employees teeters over an uncertain future.

The meeting was perhaps more notable for the frustration on display between Board members than any items on the agenda itself. Many of the items were passed in omnibus and bipartisan votes, including authorizing the intergovernmental agreement on the Douglas County Enterprise Zone that would help that county navigate some tax and Enterprise Zone technicalities for a solar project there (presentation at the January Committee of the Whole available here). Also approved was the contract to Tyler Technologies for the new County government server/software replacement, frequently referred to in meetings as the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System.

Another issue everyone appeared to agree on was rejecting the proposed 6-year Workforce Plan (available on page 72 of the agenda packet, page 75 of the PDF file). Complaints ranged from board members who felt like they or their committees should have been consulted prior to the plan being presented to the board to wanting more input from the workforce itself in developing the plan. Deputy Director of Administration Isak Griffiths defended the process and the plan, but to no avail.

There was some silent protests and angry swearing peppered throughout the meeting as well. County Board member Jon Rector's business logo has often been visible in the background of his Zoom video feed, which has raised concerns about using the County Board for advertising among a couple Democrats on the board. To highlight the issue they changed their Zoom video alternate backgrounds to Rector's business logo:

County Board member Stan Harper took a moment in the middle of the meeting to announce he was going to go on his "semiannual rant and rave about stuff" where he began swearing about how tired he was of people like him being called Nazis and racists. It appeared that the County Executive muted him for violation of the County Board rules. That in turn caused a bipartisan push back about muting board members by the County Executive without some protocol being established by the County Board first. The Executive pushed the meeting along on the grounds that the discussion was off topic on the items being discussed (federal CARES Act election funding which was approved). 

As the meeting was going into closed session, member McGuire complained about the lack of an auditor's report earlier in the meeting. The Executive pointed to the previous auditor items on the agenda as the time to bring it up. County Auditor Danos was on the Zoom call and jumped in and exclaimed that the report is on the County website, "It's done! It's Done!" An argument ensued over the agenda structure and criticisms. There was no Committee of the Whole in July which usually covers reports like this as opposed to the regular meeting.

A handful of board members then struggled to navigate the Zoom setup for the closed meeting live on the County Board meeting feed, sharing phone numbers and codes and a moment where the Chairman of the County Board dropped the f-bomb in frustration for the public to hear (the video is still on the facebook version of the meeting video here).

From the presence requested for the closed meeting, including the Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer, Director of IT, and others it sounded like it may have been related to legal and technical problems with the Treasurer's property tax system. But that's just a guess on my part from the context and the vague closed meeting description in the agenda: "to consider litigation which is pending against or on behalf of Champaign County, and litigation that is probable or imminent against Champaign County."

The Week Ahead: 10/7 - 10/13

*** There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting (What is this?) this Tuesday. Agenda here and addendum here (more information below). More information on how to attend a county board meeting here. ***

Vote By Mail requests are available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started and EARLY VOTING HAS BEGUN! 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.

While most County offices are closed on Columbus Day, Early Voting is still open:

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up. 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 doesn't meet this week. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. The next meeting is October 17th.

The Champaign Community Coalition meeting, this Wednesday, October 10th at 3:30-5pm at the Champaign Public Library. It has recently been focused on the uptick of gun violence in our community. There is certain to have a lot of overlap with criminal justice issues and key players from law enforcement, activist, and social service communities there.

County Calendar:

*** There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting (What is this?) this Tuesday. Agenda here and addendum here. If you'd like to attend a County Board meeting, you can find more information on how to attend here.There is a public hearing on the upcoming 2019 budget beforehand at 6pm. See the Committee of the Whole agenda packet for minutes from the legislative budget hearings to see what has already been discussed.


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: 9/30 - 10/6

Vote By Mail requests are available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started and EARLY VOTING HAS BEGUN! 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. local candidate forums on upcoming Friday nights). 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, October 3rd at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

At July'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:

On Monday evening there is the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at the 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, but with the sale of the Nursing Home looming it may have additional related information.

On Tuesday evening there is a Special County Board of Health Meeting at the C-U Public Health District location. A quick agenda summary below and agenda here.

Also on Tuesday is the County Facilities Committee which meets back at Brookens. This committee deals with County facilities maintenance and projects. More information can be found in the meeting agenda packet, including previous minutes to get an idea of what they do.

Thursday has a meeting of the is the Environment & Land Use Committee, which deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction. This week there appears to be some updates on the Mahomet Aquifer Task Force and the Middle Fork River Coal Ash Pit situation. There appears to be some items on solar farm exemptions as well. More at the agenda packet here.


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: 9/16 - 9/22

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

Vote By Mail requests are available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started and early voting begins later next week! 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. local candidate forums on upcoming Friday nights). 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, September 19th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

At July'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:

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


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: 9/9 - 9/15

*** There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this Tuesday. Agenda here and addendum here (more information below). More information on how to attend a county board meeting here. ***

*** This week is Amnesty Week on past due court fines. More here. ***

*** There is an Electoral Board hearing on objections to candidate filings this week. More here. ***

*** The Public Hearing sessions on the Nursing Home sale are this Thursday. ***

Vote By Mail requests are available to voters generally now. Ballot requests for the November 6th, 2018 General Election have already started and early voting begins later this month! 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 doesn't meet this week. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. The next meeting is September 19th.

The Champaign Community Coalition meeting, this Wednesday, September 12th at 3:30-5pm at the Champaign Public Library, it is likely to be again focused on the uptick of gun violence in our community. There is certain to have a lot of overlap with criminal justice issues and key players from law enforcement, activist, and social service communities there.

At July'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:

*** There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting (What is this?) this Tuesday. Agenda here and addendum here. If you'd like to attend a County Board meeting, you can find more information on how to attend here. The items that stand out to me are the Nursing Home items which appear to revolve around debt to vendors if I'm reading it correctly. As we approach the end of the year I imagine the budget information could be worth keeping an eye on as next years budget priorities will soon have to be fought over.

The week kicks off on Monday with a Litigation Committee meeting, but most of that will be in closed session due to the content (agenda packet here).

On Monday evening there is the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at the 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, but with the sale of the Nursing Home looming it may have additional related information.

On Wednesday there is a Mental Health Board study session meeting (agenda packet here). This meeting appears to be focused on their work to improve their evaluation processes for MHB programs. If you're interested in finding out more about county Mental Health and Developmental Disability programs and agencies they can be a bit wonky, however, they are also very interesting if you want to see all of the gears moving to provide care to so many in our community. If you're interested in what an MHB or DDB meeting is like, here are a couple write up examples: Mental Health Board 2018, Developmental Disabilities Board 10/25/2017. 

There is a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday night (upcoming agenda here). Board page here. Now that the new Solar ordinance has passed, the race is on for companies to use it: Solar-farm proposals flare up after Champaign County's zoning change (from the News-Gazette last week).


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: 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: 8/12 - 8/18

*** There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this Tuesday. Agenda here (more information below). More information on what that is and how to attend 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 doesn't meet this week. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. The next meeting is August 22nd.

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:

On Monday evening there is the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at the 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, but with the sale of the Nursing Home looming it may have additional related information.

There is a County Board Committee of the Whole meeting this Tuesday. Agenda here. Among other items it appears that Jim McGuire will move from Assistant Deputy Chair of the Justice & Social Services Committee to Deputy Chair (on Robert King's resignation and move) and Kyle Patterson will become Assistant Deputy Chair. The County Clerk is proposing moving a few polling places due to renovations at one and another becoming unavailable for use by the County. The three locations are on campus where Democrats are already concerned with access. There also appears to be a presentation by the Housing Authority on their "Moving To Work" program on the agenda addendum. More information on what the Committee of the Whole meeting is like and how to attend here.

There is a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday night (upcoming agenda here). Board page here. The solar farm issue has moved to other committees and now to the full county board to decide. Updates on that here: One Step Closer to Solar Farms.

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: 8/5 - 8/11

For more information on the County Board meeting from last month, check out this Cheat Sheet post with local coverage and a write up: County Board 7/19

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up. 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:

Champaign Human Relations Commission August 6th at 5:30pm. More information on City of Champaign meeting times here. This commission recently reaffirmed its recommendation to the City Council that they remove the exemption to their housing discrimination protections as recommended by the RJTF.

The Champaign Community Coalition meeting, this Wednesday, August 8th at 3:30-5pm at the Champaign Public Library, it is likely to be again focused on the uptick of gun violence in our community. There is certain to have a lot of overlap with criminal justice issues and key players from law enforcement, activist, and social service communities there.

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, August 8th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

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 week kicks off on Tuesday with the Labor/Management Health Insurance Committee. It deals with benefits issues for County Staff which is probably mostly interesting to County Staff. I don't have a link to the agenda and previous meeting minutes yet. (Previous meeting agenda along with earlier meeting minutes here.)

The Facilities Committee later that same day deals with County facilities maintenance and projects. More information can be found in the meeting agenda packet, including previous minutes to get an idea of what they do.

Thursday has a meeting of the is the Environment & Land Use Committee, which deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction. This week they will be looking at revised rules for solar farms after a preliminary vote last month. More at the agenda packet here (additional details start on package page 33, or page 35 of the PDF file).

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

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

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

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

Where is Brookens?

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

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

The Week Ahead 7/29 - 8/4

For more information on this month's County Board meeting from last week, check out this Cheat Sheet post with local coverage and a write up: County Board 7/19

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up. 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 doesn't meet this week. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. The next meeting is August 8th.

At last Tuesday'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 week kicks off on Tuesday with a Litigation Committee meeting, but most of that will be in closed session due to the content (agenda packet here).

Also on Tuesday there is a meeting of the Lincoln Legacy Committee:

The Lincoln Legacy Committee is a collaborative committee of the Champaign County Forest Preserve and the Champaign County Board formed for the purpose of promoting the Bicentennial Celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birth through the creation of exhibits at the Champaign County Courthouse and the Museum of the Grand Prairie. The committee continues its work with other Lincoln-related projects.

The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday doesn't appear to have an agenda up yet. The solar farm issues appear to be waiting for the 30 day review period for the full County Board. More on that at this Cheat Sheet post. Other recent Cheat Sheet posts on solar issues include a U of I solar farm tour, proposed solar farm locations, and concerns about pollinators.

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: 7/22 - 7/28

For more information on this month's County Board meeting from last week, check out this Cheat Sheet post with local coverage and a write up: County Board 7/19

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up. 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:

Champaign City Council Study Session w/ First Followers Presentation July 24th at the Champaign City Council chambers (more info and how to attend here) at 7pm. This relates to the housing ordinance issue and the exemption (more information on that here and a recent letter to the editor by the CU Tenants Union here). Support among local organizations continues to grow.

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, July 25th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

The Housing Authority of Champaign County Board of Commissioners has its monthly meeting Thursday July 26th at 3pm at their offices at 205 W. Park Ave (agenda here when available).

The Housing Authority of Champaign County's new Executive Director reaffirmed the board's focus on expanding reentry opportunities in the community and the problems exacerbated when people with conviction histories are denied access to housing. He pointed out that HACC is still working with the Champaign County Reentry Council towards that end and he is reaching out to community organizations and government bodies in the area to work together on that and other issues.

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.

On Wednesday there is the Developmental Disability board (agenda packet here). If you're interested in finding out more about county Mental Health and Developmental Disability programs and agencies they can be a bit wonky. They are, however, very interesting if you want to see all of the gears moving to provide care to so many in our community. If you're interested in what an MHB or DDB meeting is like, here are a couple write up examples: Mental Health Board 2018, Developmental Disabilities Board 10/25/2017. 

The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday doesn't appear to be addressing any solar farm issues this week (upcoming agenda here). Board page here. The solar farm issues appear to have mostly moved on to the Environment and Land Use Committee that's waiting for the 30 day review period to move their preliminarily approved rules to the full County Board. More on that at this Cheat Sheet post. Other recent Cheat Sheet posts on solar issues include a U of I solar farm tour, proposed solar farm locations, and concerns about pollinators.

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