Rosecrance Merger and Moves

Rosecrance, a major provider of services in the area that works heavily with local government and other agencies is growing and reorganizing. From the News-Gazette yesterday:

There was also information on some of the facilities and moves highlighted by Rosecrance at the June Reentry Council meeting last month. Rosecrance Central Illinois' Executive Director, Chris Gleason, was clarifying an article from the News-Gazette available here. from the minutes (quick abbreviation key: BH is Behavioral Health, CoC in this context I believe is the City of Champaign, RCI is Rosecrance Central Illinois, and SA is Substance Abuse):

CU at Home is hoping to move into the TIMES Center from their Phoenix Drop-In Center. More information on that here.

Active Shooter Drills and Community Action Plans

[UPDATE - WCCU had more on the Champaign Community Coalition meeting with more voices and a video segment here.]

The News-Gazette highlighted two ways the community is responding to the threat of gun violence. First a blurb informing the public that SWAT and Student Resource Officers will be training for active shooter scenarios in a couple local school facilities. While there may be simulated screaming, there is no simulated gun fire expected:

There was also a blurb about the Champaign Community Coalition's meeting yesterday where they were following up on last month's special meeting on gun violence in the community:

More information at the Champaign Community Coalition website.

Reentry Council 7/11

July's Reentry Council was moved back a week due to the July 4th holiday. Today's meeting focused quite a bit on the new bylaws and organization of the Reentry Council going forward. Bruce Barnard who regularly facilitates the meetings had his last meeting last month. His increased responsibilities and time obligations with his work at EIU appeared to be the main factor.

A large portion of the meeting was dedicated to a bit of organizational housekeeping for the year going forward. Annually selected co-chairs were nominated and approved: Claudia Lennhoff of Champaign County Health Care Consumers and Karee Voges, administrator of the Champaign County Jail. Bylaws of the Council were tentatively approved with some typo and grammatical corrections to be submitted. A few quick highlights:

• The Council organization fits certain paramaters required of grant funding rules.
   
• The Sheriff's Office would be represented as a single entity as opposed to with the Jail separate.
   
• The Executive Committee would consist of representatives from the Champaign County Mental Health Board, Rosecrance Central Illinois, Champaign County Sheriff's Office, and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers.
   
• Rules on voting members and voting proxies for representatives were discussed with a possible future amendment to the bylaws to make that easier for organizations.
   
• Task groups created by the Council would be run by Council representatives selected to chair them and start out under default rules of the Council.
   
• Executive Committee organizational details would be worked out by the Executive Committee.
   
• Invitations to Carle, OSF, Land of Lincoln, and the City of Champaign are being considered for representation on the Council. 

I had a quick question on guests, which in the bylaws were in the context of expertise, as opposed to local government observer such as myself. The bylaws were broad enough for the co-chairs to invite almost any guest and allow them discretion on space considerations, needs of the group, and appropriateness. The Designated Citizen Representative was brought up, but will be discussed in the Executive Committee and probably be aimed towards someone with a background in reentry issues.

The regular meeting items addressed before and after all the organizational issues covered the usual approval of the previous minutes and an introduction of Chris Gleason of Rosecrance who was new to the group and catching up with all of the introductions.

Tammy Bond of First Followers highlighted some of the upcoming events and work within the community including training and education opportunities. There's also an upcoming Expungement Summit (more information here). 2016 data from reentry surveys should be available on the First Followers website in the upcoming few weeks.

County Board Chair Pius Weibel noted the County Board's recent approval of the new Rosecrance contract (video of the vote and presentation at the County Board here and agenda here — page 2, item XVI B 1). Rosecrance noted in the Reentry Council meeting that this means they will be getting a new full time case manager who will be working with Becky Griffith's team at the jail, but not onsite at the jail. This is important due to the space limitations at the jail itself.

Other updates were pretty routine. Data on participants, screening, and services being used. The Mental Health Board representative noted that they've completed their work towards allocations and contracts moving forward. The Illinois Department of Corrections will be providing better access to data for people working in reentry. I didn't understand the specifics, but it sounded like a positive move that will help.

The Fair Housing Campaign was discussed with the upcoming presentation by First Followers to the City of Champaign on July 24th. The desired outcome being a study session where the details of removing the exemption to the Human Rights Ordinance could be examined in a way that would help ease the roadblocks faced by people reentering and trying to find housing or their inability to stay with family.

The Housing Authority's goals for reentry pilot programs would be less restrictive if Champaign mirrored Urbana's current housing rights law on the subject. The Reentry Council took a position for such a change in 2016 and recommended to remove the exemption then. The Council again agreed to support removing the exemption and will have representatives at the First Follower's presentation to the City of Champaign on July 24th.

Next month's meeting will likely be less organizational, though there will be some followup on the bylaws.

Sheriff Candidates on the Trail

Last night it was Democratic candidate Dustin Heuerman at the Champaign Public Library talking to Moms Demand Action. Today it is Republican candidate Allen Jones in a podcast interview with the News-Gazette's Mary Schenk in "Legally Speaking." Here's a brief overview of both (click here to jump to the Jones interview).

Heuerman as Guest Speaker

At the library Heuerman noted that there's no incumbent in this years election and that he believes this gives his campaign a stronger path to victory than previous races. He gave an overview of his education in criminology and law enforcement experience (more details on his campaign website's about page here). He highlighted his LGBT status and promised to increase diversity and thus increase equality in the Sheriff's Office. He pointed to his own experiences there as a deputy as part of the reasons behind his passion to change the current status quo there.

He talked about mending the community-police relationship and used his own mixed family as why he's personally invested in making sure that everyone who interacts with the police is treated fairly, especially in the current cultural environment. He wants to upgrade the quality of the jail, not just for safety, but if the jails are unsafe that could open the office to lawsuits and taxpayer liability when inmates will inevitably sue.

He called for a stronger focus on ethics and administration that encourages more effective law enforcement. He said that we absolutely have to address the violence we're seeing now, but also work with other agencies and the community to prevent the issues that lead to future gun violence and crime. He highlighted mentorship, programs and collaborations involved in the Champaign Community Coalition (Cheat Sheet post on the Coalition here) where he sees a lot of shared ideas.

He closed his pitch by posing the question to the audience if they believed anything was really going to change with another Republican in charge.


Jones Interview

In the News-Gazette podcast interview, Allen highlighted Champaign's awarded status as an "innovator county" on mental health and criminal justice issues as well as his role on those issues within the Sheriff's Office over his career. The News-Gazette had an excerpt on their website here:

What's the idea behind Stepping Up, the 2015 national collaboration between justice and mental-health officials?

(It's) to try to reduce the prevalence of the mentally ill in jail and reduce the length of time they are there.

We received a federal grant at the same time. The Champaign County Board and the Mental Health Board signed on. Since 2015, I've received training and had opportunities to go to the White House on data-driven justice analysis, looking for ways to divert the mentally ill (from the justice system), sharing information, looking at the best diversionary practices.

Champaign County has been recognized as an innovator county, one of 10 counties across the country that have actually started implementing these changes and are being recognized for these changes.

So what have you achieved?

When we received the federal grant, we had a local group of people from Rosecrance, the Mental Health Board, the hospitals, probation, the state's attorney, and citizens from the community who went about trying to determine what services we have in the community. (It's called) system-intercept mapping: Identifying what's there and what's not there. We've completed that process.

What did you learn?

We realized we're missing in a couple places. We really need to have some stronger or more proficient services prior to or at the point of police contact in the community, and having any and all services available where families don't have to call the police is really the desired outcome.

The full interview is available here.

Moms Demand Action 7/10

Moms Demand Action is a national organization for reforming gun policy with a local chapter here in Champaign-Urbana (facebook page here). They have regular monthly meetings and other events, but their main focus heading into the midterm elections is supporting what they call "Gun Sense" candidates. Gun Sense is a shorthand for what they view as common sense solutions to gun violence. More information on that at the Everytown for Gun Safety website on the subject.

 Meeting Highlights
Last night's meeting had guest speakers Esther Patt (local activist and head of the CU Tenants Union) on voter registration and the Democratic candidate for Sheriff, Dustin Heuerman. Esther began the meeting discussing strategies for effective voter registration were discussed as well as the various rules and requirements. The group will be looking for volunteers who will attend group training and commitments to help do the legwork.

Heuerman expressed a commitment to community policing and increasing diversity and equality within the Sheriff's Office. He noted that there is no incumbent this election, which he believes gives his campaign a fighting chance. He laid out his related education, experience, and passion for effective and fair policing (more on his about page on his campaign website).

In the regular agenda updates:

The new iteration of the Gun Dealer Licensing bill has a new name: "The Combating Illegal Gun Trafficking Act" (description and link to full text here). The bill is once again going to the Governor's desk for signature, and again faces an uncertain fate so they're encouraging people to call his office and show their support for his signature.

They highlighted the BeSMART campaign to encourage safe storage and prevent accidental and suicide deaths in the home. More information at the BeSMART website here.

There will also be the National Night Out event in Champaign at Beardsley Park on August 7th from 5-7pm (4-7pm for volunteers tabling). They'll have people there answering basic questions and handing out information as well as free gun locks for attendees who want them.

The Student Activist Organization had four students attending tonight and they gave a heads up about a joint meeting between Moms Demand Action and their organization to be announced soon. More on the Student Activist Organization from a meeting write up on the Cheat Sheet here.

Membership boosting ideas being considered include other times and events for folks who have difficulty making it to the usual Tuesday night monthly meeting. Janice of the survivors group is working on getting more black and brown people to join with outreach and information. She noted that many people who are survivors of gun violence don't know it or don't identify with the term even though they've been affected and impacted by gun violence injuring or threatening them and their loved ones as well. She welcomed other members to join a quilt project the survivors group is working on.

They encouraged members to join the facebook group for regular updates and sign up for e-mail updates if they'd like to get those as well. The Champaign Community Coalition was described and highlighted for its collaborative work with policing agencies, activists, and service providers to address gun violence. More about the Coalition on the Cheat Sheet here. An independent news source on gun violence and solutions was highlighted: The Trace. They also have a facebook page you can follow to get regular updates.

Training across the nation is starting soon, including a few people from this local chapter to learn more about organizing and being effective to changing legislation that they'll bring back to the group. They encouraged members with means to help make such training affordable to others through its program that subsidizes the training via donations for those who need help.

The meeting ended on a matter of life or death: getting out the vote. GOTV activities will be the main push of the group heading into the midterms and they'll be encouraging everyone to get even more active, recognizing the efforts so far and how difficult it will be on everyone.

The meeting adjourned at 8:52pm shortly after the Library warned they'll be closing soon.

HACC and Urbana Disability Housing

[UPDATE: The disability housing agreement was approved by the Urbana City Council at the meeting previewed below. More on that from the News-Gazette yesterday: Urbana council gives initial OK to plan to create housing for disabled]

The Housing Authority of Champaign County (Cheat Sheet post on HACC here) and Urbana are working together on a housing collaboration for residents with disabilities and financial constraints. In today's News-Gazette article it highlights some of the county organizations that work with local governments and in concert with federal and other programs:

Housing for disabled may get boost from grant, other funds
...
The Urbana City Council will vote tonight on entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the Housing Authority of Champaign County. If approved, the HACC will apply for funding — from the Illinois Housing Development Authority — to create up to 24 units of permanent supportive housing.

Cunningham Township supervisor and HACC board member Danielle Chynoweth said the subsidized units, slated for 1606 E. Colorado Ave., would be targeted to single people from vulnerable populations who have mental or physical disabilities...

Chynoweth said local recipients of Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance are rent burdened, by federal standards, if they pay more than $250 a month.

"Even a tiny room in a boarding house is typically $450 and up," Chynoweth said. "I brought the grant opportunity to the HACC because we have extremely insufficient housing for people with disabilities."

There are three organizations in Champaign County that award permanent supportive housing rental vouchers, according to data from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission. They are Rosecrance, the HACC and the CCRPC.

Urbana wouldn't contribute financially to the tax-exempt housing, according to a city staff report. Instead, a combination of the grant, HACC funding and private funding would be used.

More information at the full article here. If you missed some of the drama about Chynoweth being seated on the HACC board of commissioners, here's a quick Cheat Sheet post with links to catch you up: Chynoweth Cleared by HUD for HACC.

Weather Spotters

With the recent concern about when the outdoor tornado sirens are sounded, the News-Gazette highlighted aspects of the local weather spotting programs. The (now updated) protocols are meant to make sure people heed the warnings and avoid "crying wolf" scenario: where an abundance of caution leads to regular warnings where nothing materializes and people ignoring the warnings when the danger actually materializes. From yesterday's News-Gazette:

Spotting trouble: Volunteers carry a heavy load when weather turns severe
...
Like Pesotum, other Champaign County towns outside C-U make their own calls of when to activate severe-weather sirens, though officials rely on weather spotter reports, NWS data and the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency.

"You take that information ... and decide whether to set off the tornado siren," [EMA/ESDA coordinator and weather spotter for Pesotum Robert] Russian said....

It's strictly volunteer work, but around here, there's no shortage of people signing up to watch for severe weather.

In March, more than 100 attended a training session at Parkland College. Director John Dwyer says the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency has trained volunteer spotters across the county, about 38 people, on top of the groups of spotters in individual towns, like Pesotum's.

During the June 10 storm that damaged property on Champaign's west side, Dwyer said about 15 volunteer monitors were reporting what they saw.

"It's a good core group of folks who are very vigilant," Dwyer said. "The public has no idea how many folks are dedicated to doing what they can for public safety. It's a whole big, collaborative system that's trying to do what's best for the public in a situation that could be very fast ... fast developing."

Just as NWS radar can't pick up everything, weather spotters can't be everywhere, making collaboration crucial. The county's 80-plus warning sirens — intended to alert people outdoors to get inside — shouldn't be activated unless a tornado is either confirmed or highly probable to develop, officials say...

If Hilberg could offer one piece of advice to everyone in the area, it would be this: Just as every home should have a smoke detector, it would be wise to invest in a weather radio. They're available for as little as $30.

Do not rely only your cellphone, he cautioned. 

A lot more information about tornadoes, weather spotters and spotting, as well as warning technology and protocols at the full article. Parkland's 2018 Weather Spotting Training video is on-line at the college's YouTube channel. More information about the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency is available here at their website.

The Week Ahead: 7/8 - 7/14

*** July's County calendar will likely have a lot of cancellations outside of the regular County Board meeting. Also, Build Programs Not Jails did not meet on July 4th. BPNJ meetings will resume every other Wednesday starting July 11th. More info below.  ***

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 meets Wednesday, July 11th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are usually every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. Last week's meeting got moved due to the July 4th holiday disrupting public transportation. Meetings will continue every other Wednesday, e.g. the meeting after next will be on July 25th and so on.

The Champaign Community Coalition meeting, this Wednesday, July 11th at 3:30-5pm at the Champaign Public Library, will be focused on gun violence in a follow up of its special meeting with the community 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.

Later this month — likely at the July 24th Champaign City Council Study Session (more info here) — there will likely be a presentation on the housing 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.

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. I'll probably have some follow up on this later this week after the Reentry Council meeting on Wednesday.

County Calendar:

On Monday evening there is the Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting at 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.

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

The County Board of Health will be having a special meeting about the tentative 2019 budget proposal of the county contract. It looks like that information will be presented at the meeting according to the agenda. As noted in a recent Cheat Sheet post on health inspections, "The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District covers both the Champaign and Cunningham townships, essentially the borders of Champaign-Urbana. The county covers the rest."

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. 

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

Master Naturalist Training

More information from the Master Naturalist Program's website and facebook page at the links. An excerpt from today's News-Gazette blurb on it:

Registration open for Master Naturalist program's fall classes
Registration is open for a Master Naturalist training program that will kick off in August.

The East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Program is open to all area residents and is sponsored by University of Illinois Extension, the Champaign County Forest Preserve District, the Champaign Park District and the Urbana Park District.

Master Naturalists are trained to protect natural areas and teach others about Illinois' natural history, environment and conservation. They learn about Illinois ecosystems from experts in the field, said Extension Horticulture Educator Ryan Pankau, who organizes the training.

Members are actively engaged with nature, gathering prairie seeds, giving tours, taking care of trails, collecting data on wildlife populations and much more.

More at the full blurb here.

Objections and County Electoral Boards

[UPDATE - Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten has told me that the July 26th hearing is open to the public. Normal Courthouse security procedures apply (i.e. no phones or laptops). I don't have a specific time yet, but will update later.]

If you follow your County Clerk's twitter feed, you may have noticed that an objection was filed against Cathy Emanuel, a recent independent candidate filing in the race for County Board District 4:

So, what's going on, and what exactly is an Electoral Board? Well, when people fill out and submit an objection (in triplicate!) to the election authority that oversees a particular election, the appropriate electoral board is the one that considers it. In general: the statewide candidate objections will be heard by the State Officers Electoral Board, county candidate objections will be heard by the County Officers Electoral Board, municipal candidates will be heard by the municipal electoral board, with some rules to cover the oddball edges and special circumstances (all laid out here in legalese in the IL Compiled Statutes).

So at the County level here, that'd be the County Clerk, the County State's Attorney, and the County Circuit Clerk, with the County Clerk chair. Each can designate an assistant to sit on the board in their place. And what, you may ask, happens if the objection is to themselves as a candidate or some such conflict? The law says the County Treasurer or the County Sheriff will sit in depending on the situation/eligibility.

The decisions aren't arbitrary and appear to be guided by law and precedent and subject to judicial review. In fact, if you do a word search through the State of Illinois Candidate's Guide, you'll find numerous references to precedent from Electoral Board rulings.

I'll be updating with further information on whether such hearings are open to the public and if so, how to attend. I'm also looking to see if the records of such hearings are available as well.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, and this is just my best understanding as a layman. I'll update with corrections and additional information as needed.

Another Step Towards Solar Farms

Solar farms in Champaign County inched closer to reality with last night's Environment and Land Use Committee meeting (agenda here, video will be available from the County Clerk YouTube channel here when available with "Environment and Land Use" in the description.) From today's News-Gazette:

Champaign County Board panel advances solar-farm proposal
...
The Champaign County Board's Environment and Land Use Committee unanimously voted Thursday night to begin a 30-day review period for a proposal allowing photovoltaic solar farms on certain agricultural properties. The proposal would require amending county zoning ordinances...

Similar to a wind farm, a solar farm would require a special permit — only allowed in AG-1 and AG-2 agricultural zoning districts — from the county board...

[Zoning administrator John] Hall said there are seven solar-farm applications pending overall in Champaign County.

Under the proposal, no solar farm would be allowed within any contiguous urban growth area or within a half-mile of any zoned municipality, except as may be necessary to connect to an existing electrical substation.

The proposal also includes protections to existing drainage district tiles.

And if a solar farm is ever decommissioned, the proposal calls for the land to be reclaimed for agricultural use.

Two more steps are needed before the proposal could receive approval:

First, following the 30-day review period, the committee would have to vote to forward the amendment to the full county board; that vote is currently set for Aug. 9.

Then, if approved, the county board could take a final vote at its Aug. 23 meeting.

Full article here. This follows the Zoning Board's preliminary approval of rules for solar farms (more on that here). Here's a background article that lays out concerns about noise, topsoil, and other issues the potential solar farm raised (don't let the "wind" in the title throw you): Sidney resident offers cautionary tale on wind farms.

Champaign Community Coalition Update

Following up on last week's special meeting on gun violence, seeking community input and action to curb the spike in gun violence this year, the News-Gazette had a blurb about next steps and the upcoming Champaign Community Coalition Meeting next week:

More information on the meeting on July 11th here and more information about the Champaign Community Coalition at their website here. There is also a Cheat Sheet post on the Coalition and even an example meeting write up to get an idea of what they're like here: Champaign Community Coalition.

Economy Roundup: DPI and Airport Concerns

Governor Rauner's awkward apology tour with local officials may have grabbed the most headlines and social media posts of him looking even more awkward on a bus... but a serious economic issue having to do with concerns over the future Discovery Partners Institute may have gone overlooked in the madness. From Sunday's News-Gazette:

Tom Kacich | Gov. Rauner's words bolster nagging fears about DPI
...
But there was more to worry about in Rauner's remarks, that nagging concern that local leaders have about the proposed Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago's South Loop, where the UI is supposed to lead a multi-university research institute. They worry that the talent, leadership and money at the Urbana campus might be shifted to Chicago. Rauner's comments didn't help.

"We can start some companies there" in Champaign-Urbana, Rauner said, "but what we need to do is help the University of Illinois expand in Chicago, expand into Rockford and Peoria, that have large economic systems and great, great companies already ... and a diverse, large workforce and then use their innovation and technology and ability, get their students integrated in the local economy, and we can boom. If we get the U of I to open a campus here down on Roosevelt Road, which is what we're striving to do and get them to partner with UC, Northwestern, Tel Aviv and Technion in Israel, their new partners for this, we can have some of the great innovation and some of the fastest-growing companies right here in the state of Illinois."

Rauner's talk of a campus on Roosevelt Road flies in the face of assurances from others that this would not become another UI campus. And it worries others, like Fox, who think the Urbana campus and community need to be more aggressive in fighting for state support.

More at the full article here. If that wasn't concerning enough, United Airlines broke the bad news this week that they won't continue service here. From Tuesday's News-Gazette:

United cancels service at Willard; pilot shortage cited
Barely a year after Willard Airport added flights from United Airlines, the carrier is canceling service at the University of Illinois-owned facility.

Willard Executive Director Gene Cossey confirmed the cancellation Monday.

“September 4 will be their last day of service for a while,” he said. “At this point, we don’t know what their plans will be after that.”

He blamed a nationwide pilot shortage...

Just last week, area officials touted a 10-year record in enplanements and adding service from United at Willard in countering Gov. Bruce Rauner’s remarks in a radio interview about Champaign-Urbana not being able to retain tech businesses because it had “no convenient transportation” and other perceived issues. (Rauner apologized to C-U officials and is set to visit three area businesses Tuesday.)

The United service appeared to be doing well, adding customers without taking away from American...

In May, Cossey said there’s plenty of demand for new flights and airlines.

“There’s a million people a year who want to fly in and out of our area, and we only have about 300,000 seats,” Cossey said in May.

Full article on that here.