Early Voting Data

Tucked in an article about a former County Board member, notorious for railing against bureaucracy, dealing with a bureaucratic nightmare about his proof of citizenship and retirement benefits was some Early Voting election data from the County Clerk:

Tom Kacich: It's a red-tape 'fiasco'
...

Early voting

Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten reports that the number of vote-by-mail requests for the March 20 primary election is "three to four times" higher than it was for the comparable primary in 2014.

As of Tuesday afternoon, he said he had 1,963 requests for vote-by-mail ballots, and 1,217 of them were for Democratic ballots.

Conversely, there had also been 160 in-person early voters at the clerk's office in Urbana by Tuesday afternoon, and 74 of them requested Republican ballots.

Hulten said his office is promoting early voting because the University of Illinois and most area school districts will be out of session during the week of the primary.

Also a good reminder that Early Voting and Vote-By-Mail has begun. If you want to make sure you're registered to vote 28 days before the election, you still have time. More information on County elections with sample ballots, links to local candidate guides and news coverage at our Elections page.

Committee of the Whole and RJTF Recommendations

[UPDATE: YouTube video of the Committee of the Whole meeting is already up here. The agenda here can help navigating the timeline. Direct link to the RJTF housing report and votes here.]

In board news following the Committee of the Whole yesterday, funding for the Nursing Home insurance was passed, adding to the debt it owes the county or part of the cost of the county owning the home (depending on which board member you ask). Board member Tinsley who was the subject of a erroneous lawsuit about unpaid fines from an earlier chapter in his life found that they were paid by an anonymous act of generosity.

More about Nursing Home debt and charitable donation funds towards the bottom of the News-Gazette article. For criminal justice reform advocates following the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations, in what I believe was unanimous approval, urged both the City of Champaign and Housing Authority of Champaign County to stop discrimination against felons (direct link to video of the RJTF housing report and votes here.):

Champaign County Board votes to pay nursing home's insurance costs
...
The board also approved, on a voice vote, two recommendations that called for changes in local policies affecting people with criminal convictions.

The first urges the Housing Authority of Champaign County to change its policies regarding applicants with criminal conviction records, and the second urges the city of Champaign to repeal a part of the city code that says that a renter with a forcible felony or felony drug conviction can be lawfully denied housing until he or she has lived outside of jail for at least five years without another related conviction.

Treasurer: Will Home Make Payroll?

The new County treasurer continued espouse his financial concerns about the Nursing Home and whether SAK, the company managing it, will struggle to make payroll again. From the News-Gazette: 

County treasurer: Financial challenges keep coming for nursing home
A $150,000 short-term advance payment to the Champaign County Nursing Home has been repaid, but more difficult financial times lie ahead for the institution, the county treasurer warns.

The loan from county collector funds, needed to help meet payroll two weeks ago, has been repaid, said County Treasurer John Farney. The advance had to come from emergency funds, he said, not from county general funds that would have required county board action.

There's another payroll of about $240,000 coming up later this week, he said, and the nursing home had only about $160,000 on hand Monday morning.

"They haven't told me yet whether they're going to need help," Farney said of the management company, SAK Management Services LLC, which runs the facility.

But SAK officials said Monday night that a $130,000 payment from Moline Healthcare is expected this week and would be sufficient to cover the shortfall.

Bail Reform Implementation

There was a bit of grumbling about Chicago causing trouble for downstaters, but overall that seems to be the long and short of the Bail Reform Act here in Champaign county. From the N-G article on it today:

 “Bail reform is legislation designed for Cook County, and the rest of us have to say, ‘OK, OK,’” said Champaign County Presiding Judge Tom Difanis.

A Chicago Tribune story published in June, when the law was signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, said the legislation reflected a general consensus among criminal justice advocates, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx — that the state’s cash bail system is unfair to poor people.

For example, the story cited 2015 numbers from Dart that showed more than 1,000 inmates in his jail had served more time in custody than they were ultimately sentenced to because of their inability to post bail.

Difanis noted that laws sometimes get passed affecting the whole state to serve the interests of Cook County.

“It fixes problems we don’t have,” said Difanis, noting that the Urbana jail population recently has been as low as 130. “We have a capacity of over 300.”
...
Difanis contends — and jail administrator Capt. Karee Voges agrees — that Champaign County judges usually set reasonable bonds from the get-go so that defendants without means can be released soon after arrest. Judges are painfully aware that Sheriff Dan Walsh doesn’t want taxpayers incurring the expense and potential liability of housing a shoplifter alongside an accused murderer.

The Bail Reform Act came up recently at the Champaign County Board where there was a presentation and some Q&A about what Champaign already had implemented and the overall limited changes the new State law would have here. Here's the relevant excerpt from that meeting and links to the presentation:

The board then moved on to the Bail Reform Act presentation by States Attorney Julia Rietz and Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Allen Jones. It is state legislation that affects the county in some ways, but in others the county had already implemented reforms on their own. The presentation video is twenty five minutes (direct link here) followed by questions from the board beginning at roughly the hour mark here.

Vermilion River Toxic Coal Ash Drainage

Following up on this concerning issue recently brought up in a committee meeting and also the subject of local and State news mentioned here on the Cheat Sheet...

I have more information now that the County Board Environment and Land Use Committee meeting video is up with the presentation here. Pardon the wait. I wasn't able to attend in person and had to wait for the YouTube video on the County Clerk's channel. If you watch you can see it was brief, so one might get more information from the links on their agenda packet to their FAQ page on the matter as well as the official report linked on the Eco-Justice Collaborative's main page. Both were referenced in the meeting via a memo in the Agenda Packet (from page 4 of the packet):

 

Most of the information you see here is only really powerful if you show up. If you want to see what you can do about this follow them on facebook and attend an event when you see one. Or go to their main page and check out their volunteer opportunities under the "About" tab.

The Week Ahead 2/11 - 2/17

REMINDER: Voting has begun! Early voting and Vote-by-Mail!

Other Events:

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

Darlene Kloeppel doesn't have any this week.

Gordy Hulten has one this week:
— 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, St. Joseph Village Hall, 207 E. Lincoln, St. Joseph. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/407200713062319/

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

The Champaign County Community Coalition meets Wednesday, February 14 at 3:30-5:00pm at the Champaign Public Library (more meeting information here).

Build Programs Not Jails meets at the IMC (more info) at 7pm this Wednesday, February 14th as well.

Champaign County Board Committee of the Whole (COW) will have speakers reporting on the subject this week. More information below.

Candidate Forums this Monday and Wednesday: Republican Primary County Clerk, Sheriff, Sixth Circuit races. Democratic Primary County Board District 6 and 10, and 104th House races.

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 meet your Attorney General candidates at the IMC this week! The bottom of Tom Kacich articles like today's event list here or the candidates' campaign facebook pages are good places to look.

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:

The week kicks off with the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at a new time (discussed and approved last month). From last month's agenda packet you can see this is more of a managerial board discussing financials and marketing more than policy or politics.

This month's COW will dive into subjects related to the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations. There has been a lot of interest across various groups and individuals in the community to turn those recommendations into a reality and implement them. County Board member Robert King chairs the Justice & Social Services Committee and hopes to organize that committee towards that goal. A quick overview of that committee's part of the agenda Tuesday:

The Rural Transit Advisory Group deals with issues with rural public transportation in the county. There's a quarterly report if anyone wants to dive into their overview. The Zoning Board of Appeals is probably self-explanatory.

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

Bambenek Erroneously Sues for Probe

[UPDATE: The N-G has updated the article to point out that Bambenek's lawsuit was factually incorrect. Tinsley had no felony conviction. He paid a fine from a misdemeanor plea deal from 2010 today and appears to be square with the County now. From what I gathered from other Democratic Party board members, the distortion may have been intentional and an attempt to get a vacancy on the board rather. Which, to anyone familiar with Bambenek will probably surprise exactly nobody. Updated the title with all apologies to Mr. Tinsley for highlighting the erroneous information. (originally posted at 6:41am)]

John Bambenek, familiar to online political communities locally, is asking for an special prosecutor to investigate County Board member James Tinsley's legitimacy as a board member along with his previous determinative votes. From today's News-Gazette:

Lawsuit calls for probe into county board member's drug conviction
Champaign County Board member James Tinsley should be investigated and possibly removed from office for failing to pay more than $1,100 in fees and fines stemming from a drug conviction in 2010, according to a lawsuit filed in Champaign County Circuit Court.

The suit was filed pro se by John Bambenek, a former Champaign school board member and one-time Republican candidate for state senator who now serves on the Illinois Community College Board and is a lecturer at the University of Illinois...

Bambenek also sent a notice to all county board members Thursday, warning them that any action Tinsley is a part of "is legally suspect."

"This means, for instance, any 11-11 votes of the county board could be legally challenged and overturned in court. In order to limit the amount of potential legal challenges this situation creates, I recommend you take appropriate steps," he wrote.

Coal Ash Cleanup in the News

Today's News-Gazette had an AP story about the industry fighting clean-up orders and costs that reminded me of our local coal ash problem leaking toxic waste into the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. Here's the relevant AP excerpts:

Eighteen states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, national coal industry interests and more than a dozen other groups are urging an appeals court to overturn a coal ash cleanup order at a federal utility's Tennessee plant, contending the decision will have wide-reaching, expensive consequences.

In a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals brief this week, the states argued that the order at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Gallatin Fossil Plant would broadly expand federal oversight into groundwater pollution historically regulated by states. More citizen lawsuits will almost certainly be filed and they will require coal ash cleanups elsewhere, costing utility ratepayers tens of billions of dollars, attorneys for the states wrote.

It references an example fight:

The uproar by the group of other largely Republican states stands in contrast to Tennessee, where environmental regulators have their own lawsuit pending against the Tennessee Valley Authority over pollution at Gallatin. Tennessee environmental regulators also say the Gallatin cleanup shouldn't cost ratepayers any more money or take as long as the nation's largest public utility has estimated.

TVA initially said the project would cost $2 billion. Newer estimates factoring in an onsite landfill range below $1 billion. The utility's timeline says it will take 24 years to move the ash to an onsite landfill.

The utility has contended that capping the waste where it sits would be less expensive and avoid a possible larger spill from moving the ash. But capping the ash isn't an option under the court order.

If toxic coal ash pollution sounds familiar, I mentioned it this week's "The Week Ahead" post:

[T]he Environment & Land Use deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction. I'm interested in the "Update regarding Coal Ash in Floodplain of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River" from the Environment & Land Use Committee because that sounded just awful. Seriously, toxic sludge oozing into the Vermilion River (from the Chicago Tribune)

 From that Chicago Tribune article:

Before Dynegy closed the plant in 2011, the two companies deposited more than 3.3 million cubic yards of coal ash into pits next to the river — enough to fill the Empire State Building nearly 2½ times. Testing by Dynegy and the Prairie Rivers Network shows the multicolored waste oozing into the water contains dangerous levels of heavy metals found in coal ash, including arsenic, chromium, iron, lead and manganese.

“This toxic waste needs to be cleaned up,” said Andrew Rehn, water resources engineer for the network, based in Champaign. “We want to make sure that Dynegy can’t just walk away from its responsibility. We all have a right to a clean Vermilion River.”

So if you hate toxic waste about as much as you hate insane unexpected costs to tax payers. This is one story to follow.

More recent news on this involved the formation of the Protect the Middle Fork group:

Group formed to push Dynegy to move coal ash away from Middle Fork
A small group of people who love the Middle Fork River have formed a new grass-roots group to push the Dynegy energy company to move tons of coal ash away from the National Scenic River.

"We are people who simply care about the Middle Fork and want to make sure the right thing is done, so our local river is not polluted by coal ash," said Kristin Camp, whose new group, Protect the Middle Fork, is holding in conjunction with Eco-Justice Collaborative its first meeting that's open to the public at 7 p.m. today in the Danville municipal building, 17 W. Main St., Danville.

They're inviting anyone who wants more information about the coal-ash issue along the Middle Fork.

Jimmy John YAC Donation

The owner of Jimmy John's had made a donation to the Youth Assessment Center that deals with youth diversion here in conjunction with the Champaign County criminal justice system. From the News-Gazette today:

Youth Assessment Center plans to open in new location in spring
Plans are falling into place for the new location of Champaign County's juvenile-diversion program, with an open date set for spring.

Thanks to a $50,000 donation in December from Jimmy John Liautaud, the county's Youth Assessment Center can afford three years of rent in its new location. Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz said the center will move from its current location on Randolph Street to a building near the driver services facility in the Round Barn Center complex by the intersection of Mattis and Springfield avenues.

Dalitso Sulamoyo, CEO of the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, which manages the center, said it needs to leave its current location by the end of March.

"We're hoping to have access to our new location by March 1," Sulamoyo said Thursday, "and then be fully settled in by the beginning of April."

VOTING BEGINS TODAY

Early voting and voting by mail starts today. From the N-G:

Ready, set, vote: Early balloting for March 20 primary begins today
...
But voting will begin today in Champaign, Vermilion, Piatt and Douglas counties, authorities said Wednesday.

Registered voters also can vote by mail, Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten noted, by calling his office at 217-384-3724, by emailing his office at mail@champaigncountyclerk.com or by filling out a request to vote by mail form on the county clerk's website.

No excuse is needed to vote early, Hulten said.

"Voters can begin voting today, by mail or in person, for any reason and take advantage of the convenience," he said.

For now, early voting in Champaign County is available only at the county clerk's office at 1776 E. Washington St., Urbana, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Voting hours and locations will expand the week before the election, though. The county clerk's office will be open until 7 p.m. every weeknight. And eight other remote voting sites will open on March 13, a week before Election Day, and will offer early voting the Saturday and Sunday before Election Day.

Handy links from our own Election information page:

Upcoming Elections:
Primary: March 20, 2018
General: November 6, 2018

Your Sample Ballots / Your Voter Registration Information (available now!): https://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/elections/voter-information

Vote by Mail (applications and submissions available now): https://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/elections/vote-by-mail

Early Voting Information (already started): https://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/elections/early-voting

More voter information for registration, voting, and Candidate Guide from the Champaign County Voter Alliance

And from the Champaign County Clerk today:

https://twitter.com/ChampCtyClerk/status/954035527925288975

https://twitter.com/ChampCtyClerk/status/961606782161489920

N-G Primary Questionnaires

[UPDATE: Added today's questionnaire for the County Board District 6 race on 2/6.]
[UPDATE x2: Added today's questionnaire for the County Board District 10 race on 2/7.]
[UPDATE x3 and 4: just because it's part of the series and local too, here's the link for the questionnaires for 104th House District candidates in the Democratic primary and the 101st House District candidates in the Republican primary... if that applies to your ballot.]

The News-Gazette announced it will be publishing questionnaires from the contested primary races in the upcoming March 20th 2018 election in today's "Top of the Morning" blurb:

We’re publishing responses to questionnaires given to candidates in all contested races for the March 20 primary. As early voting begins Thursday, we’re trying to get as many up by then as we can.

The answers are straight from the candidates’ pens, with the questions devised by our 40-plus-year political writer, TOM KACICH.

A new one will appear on our home page each weekday, with pictures like the ones shown here. The first two, above, are live now, and the third, below, goes live Tuesday morning.

I'll be adding links to these on the Elections page and race pages as they become available and adding them to the bottom of this post as well.

First we have the Republican primary for Champaign County Clerk between Matt Grandone and Jon Rector here: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-01-31/primary-2018-questionnaires-champaign-county-clerk-republicans.html

Additional Cheat Sheet information on this race here.
Champaign County Voter Alliance Candidate Guide information here.

Second we have the Republican primary for Champaign County Sheriff between Allen Jones and Greg Worrell here: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-02-05/primary-2018-questionnaires-champaign-county-sheriff-republicans.html

Additional Cheat Sheet information on this race here.
Champaign County Voter Alliance Candidate Guide information here.


Yesterday's update on District 6:

On Tuesday we have the Democratic primary for County Board District 6 between incumbent Pattsi Petrie and challengers Mike Ingram and Charles Young http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-02-06/primary-2018-questionnaires-champaign-county-board-district-6-democrats.html

Additional Cheat Sheet information on this race here.
Champaign County Voter Alliance Candidate Guide information here.


And Today's update on District 10:

On Wednesday we have the Democratic primary for County Board District 10 between Tanisha King-Taylor and appointed incumbent Chris Stohr: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-02-07/primary-2018-questionnaires-champaign-county-board-district-10-democrats.html

Additional Cheat Sheet information on this race here.
Champaign County Voter Alliance Candidate Guide information here.

Sample Ballots are Available

Sample ballots are available for the March 20th, 2018 primary from the Champaign County Clerk Website here: https://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/elections/voter-information

This also lets you verify your voter registration and find your polling place.

For more information on candidates, check out the Champaign Counter Voter Alliance candidate guide: http://www.votechampaign.org/guidefinal.php

For more information about County Election races here, you can either start at the Elections page, or select from the various offices pages on the right side (web browser) or top (mobile) of the page.

For more information about County issues such as the Nursing Home and Jails, including recent news, there are issue links at the top of the page.

Urbana at Odds with HACC

Following up on this post about the Housing Authority of Champaign County and its new director and likewise transitioning website (with some information on the intergovernmental agency), there's already some new news due to an appointment and a claimed conflict of interest. From today's News-Gazette:

Mayor sticking with HACC nominee
On Monday night, Mayor Diane Marlin refused to comply with the Housing Authority of Champaign County, which rejected her appointment to its board, and urged the group to improve its transparency.

In addition, the appointee – Cunningham Township supervisor Danielle Chynoweth – said the HACC is misrepresenting the reason behind her appointment’s rejection....

The HACC had a special board meeting on Jan. 30 to approve the appointment of its new director, David Northern, according to its press release announcing the new hire. Both Malrin and Chynoweth say Chynoweth was not notified about this meeting and did not attend.

“This is arguably the single most important action the board can take,” Marlin said. “The vote should be repeated in a properlynoticed meeting to eliminate any possibility that the action was null and void.”

In addition, Marlin said the special meeting included discussion on keeping Chynoweth from being officialy seated on the board. But Marlin said a 1997 intergovernmental agreement, which governs the board’s appointment process and bylaws, doesn’t allow that.

“If the board determines that a commissioner is guilty of neglect of duty or malfeasance, it can request that the appointing authority – city or county – remove the commissioner,” Marlin said. “This line of authority is clearly stated in the 1997 intergovernmental agreement.”

The N-G has the full article here. It looks like the new director has a new legal battle on his hands with Urbana. More information when we have it.