June County Committees

Each month there are a number of Committee meetings that deal with topics such as Facilities, Environment and Land Use, Highway and Transportation funds, etc. The County government is generally much larger and complicated than folks imagine. This can be confusing and confounding for folks just trying to understand how to have their say on a specific issue that may affect them. Democracy is messy and at the local level it takes persistence and learning just to figure out where you can have an impact.

So far this month, before the regular County Board meeting next Thursday:

• Facilities Committee (agenda, video)
• Environment and Land Use Committee (agenda, video)
• Highway and Transportation Committee (agenda, video)
• Committee of the Whole (agenda, video)

The Facilities Committee focuses on the maintenance and building needs of the County. Here is where you would have seen a lot of discussions about potential jail consolidation plans, presentations and overviews of various upkeep and repair projects, etc. At the June meeting, the jail situation was brief and one of resignation. It really sounded as though the plan going forward is to hope and pray that the County can get through the pandemic hurdles and come up with a workable jail plan before they're forced to close the downtown jail. At that point the County would have to find a place to house prisoners separated for safety and legal reasons. And during a pandemic, outside regional jails may outright refuse the infection risk.

With the coronavirus epidemic and economic fallout, there doesn't appear to be any chance of reviving the plans presented earlier this year. An overview of the jail consolidation outlook in February is here with a lot of helpful background information. Below is an excerpt from the last updates from the County May meetings on jail consolidation:

In Board communications, member Stohr advocated an ad hoc committee to look at and possibly revive the jail consolidation plans. Member Harper would vehemently oppose the idea in the regular board meeting's communication portion next week. Jon Rector emphasized the public participation comments on the desperate economic relief needed locally in balance with health concerns. There were other members who spoke on and thanked community members for their efforts to help fellow citizens and other topics...

The jail consolidation issue was brought up again, with all of the concerns about the downtown jail being on the verge of having to be shut down at any time, no current plan to come up with a facilities remedy, and now a situation where other jails are unlikely to accept any prisoners that may need to be segregated or moved elsewhere.

That full Cheat Sheet post here. More information about the consolidation plans falling apart from the March/April meetings here. It was worth noting that some of the glass demand for pandemic related safety barriers has been stretched even more thin by recent looting and window smashing around Champaign-Urbana. No County facilities were damaged in those incidents, however.

The Environment and Land Use Committee (ELUC) often deals with agricultural and zoning issues. This month's focus was on nailing down the language of the cannabis business regulations around towns that may not want certain elements of the industry nearby. In this case there are desires for a 1.5 mile area around such towns where they'd have primary say. There are ongoing disagreements about what that means for the people who live nearby, but aren't represented by those local governments, but rather their County government.

Highway and Transportation deals with a lot of the spending and details of the various road projects and transportation related issues on county roads and integrating transportation with local and State government. 

For your average Joe just wanting to keep up with what's going on in local government, almost all of the work of these committees ends up going through the Committee of the Whole where reports and recommended items are then passed on to the full regular County Board meeting. These steps can be confusing and there are all sorts of rules to ensure that they're done with enough time for public input and opportunities to speak out at each step.

Activists and other folks who have an issue they really care about or could impact them take advantage of these parliamentary steps to pressure County Board members at every step of the way. They do sometimes have more extended discussions and presentations on difficult topics, which can be useful for wrapping one's mind around them.

The Committee of the Whole this month was a bit of a bear, so I'll be doing a separate post on that meeting soon. For folks who can't wait to get their COW fix, I strongly recommend the presentation on the Soil and Water Conservation District local government body (starts at the 28:30 minute mark in the video). It may not sound exciting at first, but they're a government entity created in 1943 in response to the Dust Bowl and have been protecting the last few precious inches of top soil in America.

Their work intersects with our local economy, long term concerns about feeding the population, watershed protection, climate change, and building trust with science in a sector with a lot of traditionalist thinkers.

Drama over malfunctioning property tax systems and accusations of supporting white supremacy rounded off the meeting in ways I'm still figuring out how to write up.

Coronavirus Updates 6/5

It was announced that the daily flyer / announcement updates (see 6/3 informational flyer here) will become a weekly update on Wednesdays. The website will still have daily updated coronavirus information here. Public testing sites like the one at Marketplace Mall will also be open to everyone now, regardless of whether they have symptoms or other factor. WAND had more on the opening of testing to all here.

There was a meeting of the Joint Information Center with some questions from the media after the local updates from C-U Public Health District administrator Julie Pryde and City of Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen. The video of that meeting is available here. Previous videos are available at the C-UPHD website at this link and under the heading "Champaign County Joint Information Center Public Outreach Videos" near the bottom of the page.

A highlight from the questions was an explanation about people who attended the protests and the need to get tested. Administrator Pryde explained how long one should wait to get tested after a possible exposure. The way this infection takes hold and the way PCR tests work, at least 4 days is probably good to avoid a higher chance of a false negative. She reminded listeners that the testing is a tool, not a certainty, however. She encouraged vigilance and safe distancing as in some cases it can take longer (e.g. 14 days).

Mayor Feinen explained her latest Executive Order and how it expanded additional hours for private spaces that would apply to certain businesses. The City is looking to expand outdoor seating options next week. While Urbana is adding some more public music options this week, that's something Champaign isn't doing yet, but also considering.

WAND had an article with an overview of the changes from the State's Phase 2 to Phase 3 with a lot of additional details here. A snippet with a basic overview of Phase 2 and Phase 3 from the public chart:

 

WCCU had an article yesterday specifically looking at Phase 3 guidance for Illinois schools and the very different setting kids will be entering when they return to classes. There was a link to the full guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education here.

The News-Gazette's latest update today suggests signs that we could be moving to phase 4 in the central region if outbreaks and cases can be kept under control and within our regional hospital capacities:

To advance to Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase Restore Illinois plan three weeks from now, regions will have to hit the same metrics that they did to move on to Phase 3 last week.

So far, so good for the central region, which includes Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Piatt and Vermilion counties.

More on that at the full article with today's Champaign County updated numbers (including 4 new cases for a cumulative total of 675). WCCU had a brief overview of the County numbers today here. More data from the C-UPHD website here.

I missed the June 1st Board of Health special meeting and update mentioned in my last coronavirus update that covered the previous May meeting. I don't have any additional details on that yet.

A few other recent highlights:

Smile Politely had a quick blurb about a COVID-19 Relief Fund grant and a link to additional information here.

WCIA had an article about the Housing Authority of Champaign County's Youthbuild program providing care packages to seniors as part of COVID-19 assistance.

Unit 4's summer food program is still going on this summer. More details on that from WCIA here.

May County Board Updates

May had a return to many of the County Board committee meetings since the initial coronavirus cancellations and transition to remote meetings on Zoom. While most members are still attending remotely, there are some attending in person at the Brookens Administrative building. Some County Board members have raised safety concerns about the current process. Videos of the May meetings are primarily available on the Champaign County Clerk's YouTube Channel:

• 5/5 Facilities Committee (video, agenda packet)
• 5/7 Environment and Land Use Committee (ELUC) (video, agenda packet)
• 5/8 Highway and Transportation (video, agenda packet)
• 5/12 Committee of the Whole (COW) (video (date typo on YouTube), agenda packet)
• 5/18 County Board of Health (video, agenda, Cheat Sheet post)
• 5/21 Regular County Board meeting (video, agenda packet)

Agenda packets are generally available from the County website "Meeting Info" page by clicking the specific Board or Committee you need information for. This is a handy page to get previous meeting minutes and presentation materials and other handouts.

This post gives overviews and summaries of most of these meetings, but also has an additional reference to the City of Champaign's government that has put out a call highlighting a funding crisis being caused by the Champaign County government (jump to that item below here).

Committee Meeting Overview:

The Facilities meeting covered topics like public safety in County buildings, including the County Courthouse. The News-Gazette had an overview of coronavirus related precautions the Courts are taking to begin jury trials soon:

The first batch of summonses for jurors in a pandemic have been sent out in Champaign County with accommodations in place to make the process as safe as possible.

Those include watching jury orientation from home, only reporting to the courthouse when a trial is set to begin, sitting several feet apart and deliberating in a separate courtroom, not a jury room.

More details at the full article here. There was a more comprehensive overview of reopening the Courts earlier this month. Excerpt:

Pieces of Plexiglas are being installed around the witness stands to shield the court reporter, who is seated right in front of the witness, and to the side of the witness stand, to shield the jurors who sit closest to the witness.

It’s impractical to spread jurors out in the gallery because that would preclude spectators from having a place to sit. And Difanis noted that jurors have to be up close to hear audio clips and see physical evidence.

That full article here. The ELUC meeting was covered in the News-Gazette and looked at cannabis business regulations again. More on that at the News-Gazette here.

The Committee of the Whole (COW):

The Committee of the Whole began with public comments from a local business owner begging for economic relief and highlighting the damage being done to business owners and their livelihoods. The County Clerk made comments about the impact of the coronavirus on the primary election and potential impacts and planning for the 2020 general election.

The COW also had a presentation on the Youth Assessment Center and its work on diversion and restorative justice services. The slide presentation is available here. The video presentation is available here with a direct link.

In Board communications, member Stohr advocated an ad hoc committee to look at and possibly revive the jail consolidation plans. Member Harper would vehemently oppose the idea in the regular board meeting's communication portion next week. Jon Rector emphasized the public participation comments on the desperate economic relief needed locally in balance with health concerns. There were other members who spoke on and thanked community members for their efforts to help fellow citizens and other topics.

After the Treasurer's report, there was a technical discussion about payment penalties being delayed or forgiven, but the topic involved some confusing legal technicalities that I didn't fully understand. Deputy Director of Finance for the County, Tami Ogden and the Treasurer's office explained some of the administrative hurdles and complexities involved with some of the suggestions.

A little bit later there was a 50 minute discussion on mitigating expenses for 2020 and 2021. This discussion had an overview of the County's financial situation (dire) and projected hardships and revenue decreases (severe). There appears to be real concerns among Democrats that austerity measures will go too far and Republicans that the Board may not be prepared to cut deep enough to keep the County government functioning. The discussion appeared sobering to all County Board members who were already looking at difficult budget choices before this crisis. The Finance Committee will be looking at the issues and sacred cows raised during this discussion to bring some options back before the board later.

There was some debate on extending the county disaster proclamation, a dispute about the message it sent for reopening the local economy versus its role in ensuring that the County could receive funding related to the the current coronavirus emergency and other funds. Republicans throughout the meeting emphasized the economic concerns while Democrats emphasized the health concerns. The differing emphasis aligned with assessments of economic and health impacts and interpretation of data that has become a divisive topic in both local and State politics.

The jail consolidation issue was brought up again, with all of the concerns about the downtown jail being on the verge of having to be shut down at any time, no current plan to come up with a facilities remedy, and now a situation where other jails are unlikely to accept any prisoners that may need to be segregated or moved elsewhere.

The video of the meeting cuts off around three and half hours in, but towards the agenda of the agenda items. John Clifford resigned at the end of the COW meeting according to the agenda.

Regular County Board Meeting:

The regular County Board meeting began with multiple public participation speakers on the topic of the coronavirus and its impact. There was a presentation from scientists at the University of Illinois on coronavirus data. Will Kyles, an at-large member of the City of Champaign City Council spoke on the impact on minority owned businesses and the need to consider that impact in reopen policies. Others spoke on impacts to those in addiction recovery, the local health care industry, and our local homeless population.

Former County Board member and Champaign County Auditor Diane Michaels was sworn in to fill the vacancy left by John Cliffords.

The County Executive delivered her annual report to the County Board, though the video quality and compression made it unreadable from the Zoom app to the live streaming videos for home viewers. The projections started at a worst case scenario, but overall the outlook is looking grim for future revenues. The current budgets were already strained under debt, limited balances, and departments already operating on limited staff. Maintenance, IT, facilities, and other basic needs have been delayed for years and in dire shape (if not flirting with disaster such as with the downtown Jail or unsupported technology).

The County Executive asked County Board members to make sure their priorities and sacred cows were made known so that the upcoming budget cuts could take their concerns into consideration. Funding for the County's reentry programs and staff employment and pay were mentioned in the discussion afterward.

City of Champaign:

The City of Champaign's Mayor raised serious concerns with the Champaign County Board and Treasurer's Office during "Council Comments" of the most recent City Council meeting. at the 27:40 mark in the full video. She argues that social programs in Champaign and through the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission are being threatened due to a lack of an audit required for funding. She explains that we are in jeopardy of losing millions of dollars of that funding and encourages people to contact to their County Board members to address the audit delay. She says they have been receiving letters from funding providers citing the lack of audit for a potential loss of funding.

March / April County Board Updates

The pandemic may have interrupted a lot of plans and activities, but local governments still continued, albeit with more remote access and technology hurdles than usual. The County Board meetings since our last coverage of the regular February meeting have been... interesting... to say the least. The videos are available on the Champaign County Clerk's YouTube Channel here.


March County Board Meetings:

The March Facilities Committee meeting delved into the jail consolidation plans and public concerns again. The video is available here for those interested in where they left off before those plans were canceled.

The last normal County Board meeting was the Committee of the Whole (What is this?) on March 10th. That video is available here and generally focused on the jail consolidation plans that have since fallen apart under the uncertainty of the coronavirus and its detrimental effects on budgets and planning. There was a great deal of public participation and a presentation on the jail consolidation issues, including local activists and State Representative Carol Ammons and the Criminal Justice Collaboration presentation.

There was also an update by Rosecrance on the Champaign County Reentry Council (video link here) and a presentation on the Champaign County Clerk's website updates (video link here).

After that March 10th meeting, the coronavirus news took a dark turn for the rest of the week, from European travel bans to the NBA canceling games and the country beginning to close down. University students were asked to return home and life changed dramatically.

The "regular" County Board meeting for March was done partially in its normal location with initial attempts at social distancing as well as with remote Zoom meeting participation. That chaotic learning process is available on video here. The technical issues, sound problems, alien reverberation noises, etc made the meeting almost unwatchable.

Public participation started around the 25 minute mark (video link here) and began with concerns about the jail and the infection control concerns with the coronavirus. Public participation continued later in the video (due to difficulties with the new Zoom app method of participating) and that video link is here.


April County Board Meetings:

A lot of the meetings in the rest of March and in April were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, including the April Committee of the Whole meeting.

The regular County Board meeting was still a bit of a technical difficulty mess, but improved over the month before (video available here). The main issue of contention at this meeting was about pandemic funds and making them available for immediate use if need be or requiring approval or emergency approval by the County Board. A lot of budget technicalities were discussed about ensuring the funds balances were sufficient to set aside the money for that purpose while ensuring the County's other obligations were paid on time.

In the end half of the funds for pandemic response were made available in case they were needed immediately, with the remaining half available later. In an emergency those funds could be made available by a special meeting of the County Board in roughly 48 hours, if I understood the details correctly.

There seemed to be some concern among Democrats on whether the Republicans were being sticklers on protecting the County's financial situation or being unreasonable due to partisan distrust. There appears to be a division locally mirroring national disputes on the facts and what they mean.

There was a presentation on the Champaign County Financial Forecast that is worth checking out if one is interested in the outlook prior to the coronavirus pandemic basically adding endless uncertainty and wrecking balls through it. The written report is available in PDF format here.

There was also some discussion about extending the contract with Rosecrance on the reentry program and some quick questions about the effect of the coronavirus so far.


May Links:

May meetings are available on the County Clerk's YouTube channel and will be the subject of another post. They're available to watch now, with a bonus meeting of the County Board of Health, available separately here, that had an unusual amount of public participation and questions and answers worth checking out. That meeting and a general coronavirus update is available in a previous post here.

A new County Board member (also former Board member and County auditor, Diane Michaels was seated to fill the vacancy left by John Clifford who resigned at the end of the May Committee of the Whole meeting.

Coronavirus and General Updates

Sometimes the Cheat Sheet doesn't have any posts for days or weeks depending on how busy everyone is and everything going on in the world. The last 12 weeks since we last posted have been an extraordinary time for everyone.

The coronavirus went through some naming conventions and concerns about political correctness versus inflaming racial tensions. Older posts still refer to the likely geographic origin, but the technical names for second severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2 and the coronavirus disease of 2019, or COVID-19, that it causes are a lot to type out.

I'll be referring to the coronavirus currently kicking humanity in the teeth as the coronavirus and qualify any other coronavirus with additional information (e.g. the original SARS or in contrast with less virulent coronaviruses that cause other diseases).

The latest County statistics on the coronavirus here are still available on the C-UPHD website here, with regular updates on their facebook here. There's also a collaborative effort to help businesses during the reopening phases here.

For folks looking for more detailed information and with some spare time on their hands (and coffee), I strongly recommend the last Champaign County Board of Health meeting video here (with a 17 minute delay during logons and Zoom setup). The meeting runs about two and half hours, but it begins with an update by Julie Pryde of the C-U Public Health Department with the latest information on local outbreaks and efforts. If you keep watching beyond that you'll get to see her respond to community and County Board member concerns on a host of issues.

Some highlight's from that update last week included details on the the 19 local outbreaks in Champaign County. There were over 700 people in quarantine (potentially exposed and avoiding contact and further spread) and 188 people in isolation (confirmed infected and avoiding contact with others). The low hospitalization rates due to the lower ages of many of those who have been exposed.

Critically, our local region, including Champaign County, is in a "sweet spot" according to Pryde when it comes to our hospital capacity in the cities and overall infection rates and treatment needs. This means that we're on track to move to Phase 3 of the reopening process. This next step allows other classes of businesses to open along with essential businesses and relaxes some other areas of the Stay at Home Executive Order. She answered numerous questions and addressed several concerns about the timing and process of this.

Phase 3 has a minimum period of 28 days (or two incubation cycles) to ensure that changes to the mitigation policy are being done safely. With the exponential nature of out of control infections, lives hang in the balance between being patient enough to have accurate data and acting quickly enough to control outbreaks before they get out of hand. An exhausting and constant effort that has been going on locally since the beginning of the year.

One of the issues that came up was child care access expanding in Phase 3, which would be necessary for many parents, but there were concerns about needing more details. Illinois Newsroom had a blurb on that this morning:

Child care facilities  will be able to operate again once Illinois enters the third phase of its reopening plan, which is expected Friday. Maria Whalen is president and CEO of Illinois Action for Children’s, which offered input into the plan to reopen child care centers. “I think that this is a plan that recognizes that at the end of the day, we’re talking about children who are being cared for in congregate settings,” said Whalen.  Newly reopened child care facilities will limit rooms sizes to eight for infants and 10 for others. There are now new sanitation and social distancing requirements. Children over the age of 2 will wear face covering when possible.

More information will probably be available as policy meets reality next week.

The meeting ended by adding an additional June 1st Meeting at 5:30pm (with Zoom meeting information for people to attend remotely to be made available on the Champaign County website later). It will be for additional public participation and updates prior to the regular meeting scheduled on June 16th. 

I'll try to get more updates and information on the Cheat Sheet going forward. I apologize for the long break while adjusting to the every changing landscape on how local governments were adapting and a tsunami of news and information that we just couldn't keep up with. I have a huge to do list on updates and information on how people can still participate in local government. Good luck and stay safe, everybody!

Downstate Coronavirus Updates

A lot of the updates on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and the related Covid-19 illness have been international, national or specific to the Chicago area. Downstate news has been general preparations and precautions. This post has updates more applicable statewide and specifically downstate and local. It includes updates on safety measures for voters, laboratory testing downstate, impacts to agriculture downstate, an update from Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's Julie Pryde, and University updates (students returning from abroad, role in response coordination, and more).

In today's News-Gazette they highlight various safety measures being taken at polling places to avoid spreading flu or coronavirus. Excerpt with just some of the precautions and procedures:

That office had already developed an emergency management plan for elections that includes flu and pandemic scenarios, she said.

So all polling places — and early voting locations — in Champaign County are being supplied with hand sanitizer, masks, antibacterial wipes, gloves and Lysol disinfectant spray, she said.

Election judges are being asked to wipe down pens and other surfaces as time allows, and they’re welcome to wear protective masks and gloves if they want, Patton said.

More precautions and accommodations at that full article in the eEdition here (subscription).


WCIA had coverage on two labs being added downstate for testing and the possibility of drive-through testing in the future to allow greater testing with reduced exposure risk (e.g. in waiting rooms). Excerpt:

[Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Illinois Department of Public Health director] said the agency is considering drive-thru style testing where people can pull up and be tested in their cars, eliminating the risk of spreading the virus. For now, new labs in Springfield and Carbondale are open in addition to the original testing lab in Chicago.

While 22 people in Illinois are awaiting test results, Ezike said 116 people have been tested for the virus in total. Only four people have been diagnosed with the illness, no one has died of the aliment in Illinois yet.

More at that full article here. WCCU had more on the Springfield lab here and a more statewide assessment on the continued low risk in the State here.


There have been ongoing economic concerns and affects on global trade, but also specifically with Illinois and farming businesses. From Capitol Illinois News last month (also ran in the News-Gazette here - subscription):

After a promising trade deal with China last month gave farmers hope amid an intense trade war, the deadly Wuhan coronavirus currently overwhelming China is also damaging its economy.

The country’s economic slump is now sowing fears that China might not be able to buy all of the $32 billion of U.S. agricultural goods it promised for 2020, including soybeans from Illinois, America’s top soybean-producing state.

A lot more additional information in that article here. WCCU had more on this last week:

The outbreak of the coronavirus is impacting U.S. trade and the stock market, with the effects trickling down to hit local farmers.

China is one of the nation’s biggest trade partners, especially for farmers. Local farmers have seen less trade with China recently.

"Farmers have been hurt over the last two years with the tariffs and right at the brink of when we thought we were gonna be able to get past this, the coronavirus hits," said Somnath Bhattacharya, the dean of UIS College of Business and Management.

That full article with video segment here.


Local Updates:

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's Director Julie Pryde had a quick update in an interview with Elizabeth Hess available here from Urbana Public Television.

The C-UPHD has regular updates on its facebook page here and additional information on the coronavirus on their website here.


University Updates:

A lot of students will be returning from their studies abroad in Italy and South Korea according to the Daily Illini. Excerpt from the Daily Illini article on South Korea students abroad:

These new requirements will affect 15 study abroad students in South Korea and 137 study abroad students in Italy.

Additionally, any University-related travel to China, Iran, Italy or the Daegu region of South Korea has been restricted.

Although it is only required that students in Italy and South Korea return at this time, the University is offering all 852 study abroad students to end their program early.

Students, faculty and staff members returning from any countries under the Center for Disease Control Levels 2 or 3 travel advisories will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

That full article here. The article on the situation in Italy is here. WCIA had additional coverage on students returning abroad here.


The University also has a role in coordinating the coronavirus response across the State. From WCCU yesterday:

The University of Illinois System is helping to coordinate the coronavirus response with a new COVID-19 Planning and Response Team.

U of I universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield, as well as regional campuses across the state, will make up the team...

The team will be led by Dr. Robert A. Barish, vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

That full article available from WCCU here with video segment.


The 21st Show had a audio segment on how Universities and smaller airports are responding to the coronavirus outbreak here. The guest list includes:

• Nathan Thomas, Vice President of Student Affairs at Bradley University
• Gene Olson, Director of Airports for Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria
• Chris Brooke, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Ilinios Urbana-Champaign 

Full audio clip here.

Candidate Information

I've updated some of the local race information with additional links to candidate interviews and news coverage. Here's just a bit of what has been added:

In the County Board District 6 and District 10 races, Smile Politely has had interviews with the Democratic Primary candidates. In District 6 they have interviews for Dr. Charles Young and DeShawn Williams. And in District 10 they have interviews for Connie Dillard-Myers and Mary King.

Smile Politely started out with an overview of the Judicial races in the primary:

In just over a month, on March 17th, Champaign County and the rest of the State of Illinois will have their primary election. Though the Presidential election is obviously important to focus on, it’s equally pressing to consider our options at the local level. If you’re not one that pays attention to politics in general, you probably have a tendency to overlook these races until there are a bunch of names on a ballot, some of which you might recognize from yard signs. I was once this person. We don’t want you to be that person, so we’ll spend the next couple of weeks highlighting a few of the races that you should be paying attention to. Smile Politely does not do endorsements, so it’s up to you to sort out who you feel should represent you in these county level offices. First up, the race for circuit judge in Champaign County. 

More at the full article here. More at our Judges page here. The News-Gazette had coverage of the latest State bar polls where legal peers rate judicial candidiates:

Of seven lawyers running for two Champaign County judgeships, three have been not recommended for office by their legal colleagues.

Of the four Democrats who want to be their party’s candidate for the vacant seat of now-retired Judge Michael Jones, Urbana attorney Ruth Wyman was “not recommended” in the Illinois State Bar Association poll released Friday afternoon, netting the lowest rating of any judicial candidate in the Sixth Judicial Circuit...

The lawyers who choose to fill out the ballots are asked to also rate candidates on their integrity, impartiality, legal ability, temperament, court management skills, health and sensitivity to diversity and bias.

More at the full article here, including some comments by those candidates who explained their disappointment with the poll and how voters should interpret the results. The article gets into the general methodology of these polls where one could understand where their arguments are coming from.

There are still a lot of opportunities to learn more about the candidates in the Champaign County Voters Alliance non-partisan candidate guide, from their campaign links, or at one of the many meet and greet events happening all over the area. Generally if you look at the candidate's social media or website they'll have the latest information on upcoming events you can attend.

This past week there were two meet and greet events that involved County candidates for office and more than a little drama. I'm still trying to piece together exactly what happened at the downtown and campus events, but so far it seems that the county candidates were caught in the middle of local party factionalism. The downtown incident had more to do with the U.S. Congressional race and the Party divisions at that level. The campus incident appeared to involve the local County Democratic Party leadership clashing with student leaders. More details to come as (or if) I can sort through the rumors and verify anything informative.

Local Coronavirus Preparation Updates

With the latest updates nationally with community spread incidents on the West Coast, it's worth highlighting some local information sources and coverage about how to prepare for an increasing number of cases in the United States. The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District put out this informational flyer for the public:

More information available from their facebook post and facebook page for updates. The CDC has the national updates here. Some of the basics in that flyer were also reiterated in Tom's Mailbag today. WCCU had some coverage yesterday:

While there are no known cases in the C-U area, the virus is known to spread quickly around the world.

Now, the Champaign Urbana Public Health District is warning residents in the Champaign area to prepare for the spreading of the virus.

In a Facebook post, it tells people to prepare to stay in their homes for at least two weeks, in case you get sick.

More at that full article here with a video segment. The News-Gazette had additional information on preparation yesterday here:

Preparing for coronavirus? 'It's not as simple as slapping a mask on your face'
...
[Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde] urged everyone looking to buy N-95 respirator masks to consider that these masks are going to be most urgently needed by health care workers and supply is running low.

She and Healy also advised taking similar precautions used to help prevent the spread of flu.

While there’s not a coronavirus vaccine, there are other protective steps, among them washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, disinfecting surfaces touched by sick people, staying home when you’re sick, covering up coughing and sneezes and staying alert to updates from public health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That full article here.

Champaign County Updates

This week had a lot of updates in the news related to Champaign County government. This post has links and coverage including:

• More Republican duplicate ballot concerns with the County Clerk's office.
• Housing Authority highlights that minimum wage growth isn't keeping up with housing costs.
• NOAA Weather Radio outage additional information.
• Champaign County Drug Court being re-certified.
• An overview of the State's Attorney's courtroom duties and restitution process.
• Update on the upcoming make-up Hazardous Waste Disposal event. 

Vote-by-Mail Duplicate Ballot Concerns:

Republicans have seized on social media reports that voters have been receiving duplicate Vote-by-Mail ballots. In the discussion on the facebook group, Spotted in Chambana, and the County Party's facebook post here, they also highlighted the ongoing delay in posting the generic specimen ballot. That sample ballot has since made available on the Clerk's website here. The primary complaint was the potential for multiple votes with the ballots and potential costs to the county. From WCIA yesterday:

It is Illinois law for every jurisdiction to report their early voting totals to the State Board of Elections. It is so others can cross check and make sure no one is registered in two different counties.

According to the state, Champaign County and Alexander County are the only ones who have not been recorded. The practice is part of a 2005 law that has those records available online for state and local political committees. Former County Clerk Mark Shelden remembers the procedure when he was in the office. He says when they talk about security measures, he is not sure why they have not taken care of this one...

Shelden brought up the scenario that right now, someone who has voted in Champaign County can register in another county and they would not be able to tell they already filled out a ballot. County Clerk Aaron Ammons declined to comment on the response from Republicans and the lack of early voting records with the state.

Full article here. The Republicans posted images of the reporting system and an explanation of their concerns here on the County Party's facebook account. On the Spotted in Chambana thread, County Board Member Mike Ingram weighed in on the duplicate ballot issue:

As one of the people who allocates money to the clerk's office, you better believe we're pissed off about this. There's a glitch in this old clerk website that will send out as many ballots as are requested, not catching doubles. Meaning if you forgot that you'd already requested and requested another, you'd get both. Or if you hit refresh or thought the page didn't load, it'll generate another. We're paying for a very expensive new website for the clerk and I can't wait for it to be done because everything we find out about it now is a problem. It's been patched together on an old system for years. Seems like security all checks out, but there's quirks like this everywhere.

Either way, only one ballot gets counted. These are all coded uniquely to the voter, so if a second one came back from you it would throw up an alert. I've been very curious about stuff like this and that part of the system is good, thankfully. Apparently this is a thing that has happened a few times in the past.

That comment link here with a lot of Q & A replies. The question remains if the additional concerns the Republicans are raising now allow the potential for multiple votes by the same person in some situations including or regardless of the duplicate ballots. The concerns appear speculative at this point, but I'm still waiting to get more information.

Housing Authority on Affordable Housing Crisis:

The Housing Authority of Champaign County (HACC) was in the news this week pointing out that the modest increases in Illinois' minimum wage aren't enough to make up for the increasing costs of housing. WAND had a basic overview and video segment:

On Tuesday, the Housing Authority of Champaign County held a panel to discuss affordable housing.

One of the main topics discussed was affordable housing and the barriers being faced in Champaign. Even though construction costs for housing developments are remaining stagnant, housing prices themselves continue to be on the rise.

Right now, the average person makes about $10 per hour, and in order to live in most apartments in Champaign, a person should be making close to $16 per hour.

That full article here. A bit more from the News-Gazette:

And while [Sheila Dodd, manager of the city of Urbana’s grants management department, has] been glad to see Illinois’ gradual increase in minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, Dodd said, she fears the cost of housing will continue to rise along with it.

Those burdened by unaffordable rents face difficult budget decisions, such as paying for housing or food, and can they afford health care, said Chad Hoffman, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County...

While construction costs for new housing development are relatively stagnant, housing prices continue to rise and government regulations often unnecessarily inflate construction and housing rehab costs, according to the housing authority.

That full article here. The HACC had a brief description and photos on their facebook page here.

NOAA Weather Radio Outage Updates:

Today's web version of Tom's Mailbag has an additional item on the NOAA weather radio outage and the complications that led to it. The cabling for such a high power antenna appears to be one of the primary issues mentioned before, but it appears to go far beyond replacing the coaxial cable to your cable box:

"A year ago January during the high winds a section of the weather transmitter coax came loose. The copper from that coax became exposed and when it touched the tower it created a problem for DWS on full power. So quickly we got our tower crew up to patch up the coax and fix the broken standoffs that keep the coax from touching the live tower.  Unfortunately our fix while helping NOAA/NWS did not let us return to full power on a day in day out basis.

"So when severe weather season began I made the decision we’d limp through this situation until tornado season passed.

"We finally got an understanding with the NOAA contracts division that they had to be off the tower ahead of the 2020 severe weather season.  We found them a new site that the Lincoln office loved. Unfortunately the government played hardball on the contract terms with Sharad Tak, my former boss who owned WKIO from 1984 thru 2000. He still owns the tower site on Neil across from WCIA.

More at that full Mailbag article here. WCCU's recent update included a note about the timing involved:

Timing is everything because as we flip the calendar ahead another month, this 40-year-old technology needs to be up and running, ready for anything.

"Because we're entering a very critical time of the year with thunderstorm season approaching", Miller adds.

The National Weather Service says the NOAA Weather Radio Transmitter in Champaign covering East Central Illinois could be out of commission for the next six months.

That full article here.

Other Updates:

The News-Gazette had an article on the Champaign County Drug Court being certified by the State prior to Judge Ford's retirement here. It included some information on Ford's Successor:

Ford has already persuaded Presiding Judge Tom Difanis to have Judge Randy Rosenbaum be his successor in drug court.

It should be an easy transition for Rosenbaum, who has filled in as the drug court judge while Ford took care of medical issues.

Additionally, when Rosenbaum was Champaign County public defender prior to his 2016 appointment to the bench, he served as his office’s representative in drug court.

That full article here.

A couple recent Tom's Mailbag articles had information about the State's Attorney Office including on the Crime Victim Restitution process and the courtroom duties of our State's Attorney.

And finally there have been some updates on the Hazardous Waste disposal make-up event being run by the IEPA with the cooperation of local governments in Champaign County. The opportunity for those who signed up, but weren't able to participate due to delays at the last event have had their opportunity to sign up for this one first. Registration is now open to the general public. More information at the registration page here:

Another IEPA-sponsored one-day Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event in Champaign County will take place on Saturday, April 4, 2020 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Market Place Mall (click this map link for exact drop-off location; you must use the designated Entrance on the day of the event!)  It is open to all Illinois residents; however, residents must register for an appointment in order to attend.  To prevent the long wait times experienced during the Oct 2019 event, the hazardous waste contractor for the collection will provide additional drop-off lines, more staff, and fewer residents will be registered in each time slot.

Previous Cheat Sheet coverage on the event here. Local coverage from WCIA on open slots here and from WCCU here.

February County Board and Committee Meetings

The County Clerk's YouTube channel has the various County Board and committee meeting videos up for the month of February:

• Facilities Committee 2/4: Video, agenda packet and Cheat Sheet post here.
• Environmental and Land Use Committee 2/6: Video and agenda packet.
• County Board Committee of the Whole 2/11: Video, agenda packet and Cheat Sheet post here.
• Regular County Board Meeting 2/20: Video and agenda packet.

There's also a video of one of the County Board of Review meetings (video here, agenda here) for anyone interested in seeing that board in action, though for an unusual circumstance. In this meeting they're looking at the charitable organization exemption for local hospitals in light of a recent ruling (more on that at this recent Cheat Sheet post here). The Board of Review's normal duties are explained on their web page here. Excerpt:

The Board of Review reviews property tax assessments in the County.  Three (3) members are appointed by the County Board after passing an exam administered by the State of Illinois.  The Board of Review meets each June to select a Chair and Secretary and to formulate and publish rules and regulations for that year's session...

Other duties of the Board of Review include the following:  intra-County equalization of property values, representing the County in all State of Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board proceedings, adding omitted properties to the tax rolls, acting on exemption requests and performing sales ratio studies.

More information, including more meeting documents here. I don't entirely understand the Board of Review yet, so that'll almost certainly be a future Cheat Sheet post. I'm especially curious where more current minutes are kept and if they're more detailed than older ones I've found, like this annual one from 2015.

There was an earlier Cheat Sheet post on the February Committee of the Whole meeting here.

The February 20th regular County Board meeting was a culmination of earlier work and discussions in the Environment and Land Use Committee on Solar farm regulations changes. Two versions of the revised regulations similarly addressed concerns about timing and the ability of localities to have sufficient notification and ability to respond to possible solar farm projects near their communities. They differed on how far outside their municipal borders and into unincorporated County jurisdiction that the balance of County versus local concerns was weighed in the process.

In both the ELUC committee and the regular County Board meeting, the issue came down to a 1.5 mile versus a half mile where the nearby municipality had greater influence on weather the solar farm would be placed there. Municipal concerns included future expansion and growth, which over the 20+ years of some solar farms could be highly unpredictable. The Mayor of St. Joseph attended both meetings (she had a five minute overview in the regular meeting here, but she spoke at length to the ELUC here) and explained those concerns in detail. There were also letters and input by proxy by other towns and villages in the County.

Another concern raised by some Democrats on the board was representation, since the unincorporated areas can't vote for the representatives in those nearby municipalities, the County has a role in representing and prioritizing their interests. Some of the nuance included whether a municipality had a Continuous Urban Growth Area (CUGA) that would give additional consideration to planned future growth. There's a wonky explanation here. Excerpt:

CUGA represents areas with multiple planning jurisdictions that are destined for urban type land uses. Area inclusion within a CUGA is largely dependent on physical feasibility and established planning for expanding sanitary sewer service. CUGA is defined as unincorporated land within the County that meets one of the following criteria:

• Land designated for urban land use on the future land use map of an adopted municipal comprehensive land use plan, intergovernmental plan or special area plan, and located within the service area of a public sanitary sewer system with existing sewer service or sewer service planned to be available in the near- to mid-term (over a period of the next five years or so).
• Land to be annexed by a municipality and located within the service area of a public sanitary sewer system with existing sewer service or sewer service planned to be available in the near- to mid-term (over a period of the next five years or so); or
• Land surrounded by incorporated land or other urban land within the County

The nuance gets even more complicated since we're mainly talking about the default process for solar farm approval. Exemptions can still be made by the County Board, but these bills differed in what distances and situations exemptions would be made versus a more straightforward approval process.

Localities would still have the ability to protest and make their case against developments they don't want, but depending on the distance they'd essentially have more leverage closer to their borders than other areas.

In the end the Democrats passed the version that weighed the County's interest more up to the half-mile of the municipality. Republicans, Chairman Giraldo Rosales and Connie Dillard-Myers appeared to join the Republicans in wanting to weigh the municipal interests more out to 1.5 miles out.


Other Issues:

The jail consolidation plans were discussed at length in the Facilities committee meeting (at the 11 minute mark in the video). For activists concerned about consolidation plans and what the hurdles and pressures specifically are, the full discussion is nearly an hour long, but addresses a lot of critical questions and issues.

The meeting documents included a letter from the Sheriff explaining some of his response to potential reform impacts on future jail populations raised by criminal justice reform activists including State Representative Carol Ammons (Cheat Sheet post including video link for recent panel event here). That full letter is here. While backing reforms in future possible legislation, he highlights the urgency of the current situation under current law, especially in the downtown jail:

At the regular County Board meeting the public participation also included advocates for criminal justice reforms to avoid adding overall bed space to the satellite jail that could create systemic and budget pressures to fill.

A concern raised by Member Goss at the COW about the County Clerk's polling place location in his district was answered and explained it appeared to everyone's satisfaction to avoid another move and the costs of reissuing new registration ID cards.

Towards the end in New Business, Member Fortado uged expediting the selection of a replacement Treasurer. There appears to have been an expectation by some for a decision sooner rather than later. She expressed disappointment it hadn't been brought to resolution at this meeting. (the YouTube video is cut off, but the streaming buffer link still has it at the 1:42:33 mark here).

The meeting ended in closed session to discuss litigation issues, which I believe was related to the property tax ruling given the news that emerged from the Board of Review afterward in support of an appeal decision. More on that here. One issue that was raised before the Board went into closed session was the timing on the agenda. It had apparently been placed at the beginning of the meeting as lawyers were waiting and possibly billing waiting for it at the end. I couldn't tell if that was just a possible concern or a definite cost issue at the time. The discussion happened at the 1:44 mark on the video (cut off on the YouTube channel, but still available on the streaming buffer here).

County Updates

This post covers recent Board of Review decisions on hospital property tax exemptions, the County Executive in the news on appointments and referendums, and the County's NOAA weather radio station being down and unavailable for possibly months.


Hospital Property Taxes:

In the recent Court decision granting Carle Hospital charitable organization exemptions on disputed property taxes over several past years, there remained a question on a decision whether or not to appeal by the County Board of Review. Previous updates on the ruling available at this Cheat Sheet post from earlier this month. A News-Gazette article previewed the two decisions facing the Board of Review on 2019 exemptions going forward and whether to appeal the decision on previous years:

Nearly a week after a judge found the Carle health system was entitled to charitable property tax exemptions for 2005 to 2011, the Champaign County Board of Review faces a decision about what to do with Carle’s property tax exemption requests for tax year 2019.

In a brief hearing before the board Monday, county Assistant State’s Attorney Joel Fletcher said local taxing authorities haven’t yet determined whether they will appeal the decision on the prior years’ exemptions.

That full article here. OSF Hospital believes that decision will aid their case for exemptions on hospital properties locally as well. They recently urged local governments to consider the recent court rulings as indicative that the law is on their side. More on that in another News-Gazette article here. The Board of Review's decisions were covered in Saturday's News-Gazette:

Champaign County isn’t ready to walk away from a long-standing dispute with the Carle health system over property taxes.

The county and its board of review will appeal the Feb. 5 circuit court decision that restored seven years worth of charitable property-tax exemptions on four of Carle’s Urbana properties, among them Carle Foundation Hospital, according to county Assistant State’s Attorney Joel Fletcher...

In the decision earlier this month, Champaign County Judge Randy Rosenbaum found Carle was entitled to partial charitable exemptions for tax years 2005-2011 on the four Urbana properties...

Based on that ruling, the board of review further voted to recommend to the state Department of Revenue that property tax exemptions sought by both Carle and OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center properties for tax year 2019 be approved, Fletcher said. Most of those properties are in Urbana.

That full article here with additional information on other specific items.


County Executive:

Yesterday the News-Gazette highlighted the ongoing appointment dispute between the Champaign County Executive Darlene Kloeppel and the County Board Chairman Giraldo Rosales. Both appear to believe that under the new Executive Form of Government that they are the presiding officer who should be making appointment decisions for County office vacancies, such as that of the County Treasurer's replacement. The State's Attorney, Julia Rietz, agreed with the County Board Chairman that in that case, State law gives him appointment authority. Kloeppel still disagrees and may be looking for additional information and guidance from outside the County:

Kloeppel said she disagrees with Rietz’s opinion on this issue, and she’s consulted her own attorney.

The legal question is whether the county executive’s authority is limited to exactly what’s specified in the county executive statute, or whether the split between executive and legislative functions under the county executive form of government supersedes other references throughout state statutes to certain functions of a county board chairman as the chief elected officer of a county, she said.

Kloeppel said she’s prepared to take the issue of appointment-making authority to court, if necessary. For now, she’s waiting to see what Attorney General Kwame Raoul has to say in response to a request for an opinion on county executive powers and duties from Will County, which also has an elected county executive.

More at that full article at the News-Gazette's eEdition here (subscription). The article points out that Kloeppel, given the urgency of filling the position, is not interfering with the appointment of the replacement Treasurer while looking for a more definitive answer on the question for the future.


The County Executive also had more information about how County government works in her ongoing guest commentary series in the News-Gazette. Last week she discussed County referendums, their requirements, limits, and other details. One relevant issue with some of the County Board primary races is changing government structure or funding services. Excerpt:

Referendums can also address the way the local government operates in ways that state law allows. In Champaign County, the county recorder, auditor and coroner are currently elected instead of appointed, and in 2016, creation of the office of the county executive created a three-branch government for checks and balances. Others can change the board structure, such as determining the number of elected board members, electing board members by district or at large, and establishing term limits. These types of referendums are usually for political reasons, although sometimes cost effectiveness or process efficiencies can be a factor as well.

Referendums also can raise funds for the addition of services or discontinue these services.

For example, in Champaign County, the mental-health board and the board for the care and treatment of persons with developmental disabilities were created by referendums that committing additional property-tax revenue for these special purposes. In 2020, the mental-health board will have revenue of $5.74 million ($28.58 per capita) and the developmental-disabilities board is budgeted at $4.37 million ($21.75 per capita) with which to fund local services. You can check out their activities at co.champaign.il.us/mhbddb/mhbddb.php.

Full article with all sorts of helpful information here.


NOAA Weather Radio:

From the weather service website:

NOAA Weather Radio station WXJ-76 in Champaign, serving east central Illinois on a frequency of 162.550 MHz, will be out of service for an extended period of time, effective immediately.

This outage is due to a damaged coaxial cable, which connects the radio transmitter to the antenna. In addition, a new tower location must be secured to prevent future damage to cabling, which could result in additional future long-term outages. The station will remain offline as the National Weather Service works to relocate the weather radio transmitter to a new tower...

While the entire process could take up to six months, we are working to get the NOAA Weather Radio broadcast online as soon as possible.

Several nearby NOAA Weather Radio transmitters also serve portions of the WXJ-76 listening area. None of these cover Champaign County (fringes of the county may receive a signal at times, but not reliable enough to use warning alarm tones). 

More information at the weather service website here. WCCU's coverage had a concise list of alternate frequencies and geographic coverage descriptions for neighboring counties here.