June Local Government Updates

There is a separate post highlighting some of the local Juneteenth events, as well as some other event information for June and in general here. 

Issue highlights:

Gun Violence: There have been numerous incidents of gun violence in recent weeks. The Police Chief Updates at the June 10th Community Coalition meeting will likely be the best source for more general updates. That meeting starts at 3:30pm, but will also be available online as early as the next day at this link.

Homelessness: Both the City of Champaign and the CSPH (Champaign County Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless, operating out of the Regional Planning Commission) are developing strategic plans on the issue. The CSPH process involves the national consulting firm Homebase and is working towards “a community-wide plan to achieve functional zero homelessness by 2028.” 

A draft version of the City of Champaign’s Homelessness Prevention Blueprint was included in the Study Session report on May 26th (starting on page 32 of the report here). The City’s planning already includes a proposal for a new “homelessness and community services manager” position. The position and its duties are expected to evolve, with decisions on permanently funding the position after the initial three years. I’d expect the final vote(s) on the finalized blueprint to happen with the Fiscal Year 2026/27 budget votes this July.

Aging Care: There will be a public hearing on an application by Advocates for Aging Care for 120-licensed skilled nursing beds, as part of its efforts to address the local need. The hearing will be held at the Savoy City Council Board Room (611 N. Dunlap) on Tuesday, June 9th from 1:00-4:00 pm. Those wishing to submit a letter of support must submit them no later than June 20th. AAC's flyer is information, regardless of your views on the topic (click to enlarge):

Champaign County Health Care Consumers has a lot of additional information on the project being proposed and discussed at this Public Hearing here. 

Municipal and other Local Government:

City of Champaign: See the highlight on the homelessness blueprint above. There is additional information on the homelessness blueprint and public input efforts at the Engage Champaign website here. The C-U Reparations Coalition will be attending city council meetings in both Champaign (6/16) and Urbana (6/15) this month. They will be pushing for the cities to support establishing and funding a Champaign County Reparations Commission for African Americans. Like many modern reparations movements, the efforts are aimed at education and addressing harms that are often far more local and recent in nature.

There were positive updates, both organizational and financial with the City of Champaign Township and the Strides Center earlier this week (that video presentation is available here). The Council also recognized Gun Violence Prevention Week with a proclamation highlighting local organizations and organizers attempting to implement the gun violence prevention blueprint.

City of Urbana: Chaundra Bishop has passed away. Last month’s report noted that she had resigned for health reasons related to her extended battle with cancer.

There will be a vote at the next City Council meeting for the final approval of the “community engagement and violence prevention office” at Sunnycrest Mall. The News-Gazette had a brief overview of the concept and the opposition by two Aldermen. There was an Urbana Police presentation at the March 23rd City Council Meeting on the proposed office and team (video of that presentation here).

There has been a controversy about a possible apartment complex project in a West Urbana neighborhood. Smile Politely has had a couple articles on it, including one that took a stance in favor of supporting the project and another opposed. Local officials like Danielle Chynoweth have come out publicly in favor of the project as a necessary step towards addressing the general housing shortage and its impact on affordable housing as well. Alderman Christopher Evans has posted a four part opposition on social media (example from Smile Politely comments on facebook here: part 1 of 4).

The next stakeholders session of the Alternative Response Task Force will be June 11th at the IMC from 3:30 to 5pm.

MTD: Last month’s report pointed out that the C-U MTD board will redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign. There appears to have been a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary). There will be new Annexation Public Hearing on Monday, June 22nd at 5pm, held at Curtis Road Church of God in Champaign

June Events Highlight: Juneteenth and Jettie Rhodes Community Events

I'd like to start off by highlighting a few of the many Juneteenth celebrations and activities happening this year, as well as the annual Jettie Rhodes event. People may have different opinions on these events. Some are clearly more secular in nature and others more overtly religious depending on your own preferences and interest. 

For our purposes at the Cheat Sheet, they tend to involve a great deal of local political information and outreach: from tabling by various organizations, voter registration events, and often a lot of education on local issues and advocacy. 

This list is in order of starting date/time. The flyers are by city location:

• June 13th, 12pm-3pm: Champaign Park District Juneteenth celebration including a lot of tabling and other events.
  
  
• June 19th, 10am-3pm: DREAAM hosting a Freedom Bike Ride, festival, basketball shootout, and voter registration events at Stratton Elementary campus. 
  
  
• June 19th, 2:30pm-5pm: The Well Experience is hosting a parade and celebration in Urbana starting and occurring at the Sunnycrest Mall parking lot.
  
  
• June 19th, 6pm-8pm: Champaign Park District hosting a free concert at Douglass Park. 
  
  
• June 27th, 12pm-4pm: Jettie Rhodes Day which will include tabling and other events.
  
  
• Wednesdays in June, 6pm: Juneteenth Bible Study via Zoom featuring AME pastors from Champaign, Bloomington, and Minneapolis.

Click to enlarge the images for the event flyers.

Champaign:

 

Urbana:

 

Online:

There are some events in June for Pride month, but the larger local Pride Fest event usually occurs in the fall here when the students are in town. For more information on local Pride events, reach out to the Uniting Pride Center. The UP Center is generally a good starting point for events and organizing around LGBT and related issues.

Of course there are always a lot more events going on locally, many may be directly related to your political interests or issues that you care about. It can be difficult to keep up with everything going on and many organizers struggle to get the word out on their events to a wider audience. 

The Champaign County Community Coalition may be a good starting point for most people learning about all the organizations and organizers out there related to local issues: on everything from gun violence to rental assistance, from youth programs to the need for nursing home beds.

Local Government Updates

We'll be trying out a little bit of a new format to try to have more regular and concise updates moving forward.

General Updates:

Elections:

Election day for this year’s midterms is November 3rd, 2026, with Early Voting starting around October 24th. You can find the local primary election results here on the News-Gazette website. There are new local party chairs, with Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams chairing the Champaign County Democrats and perennial local candidate Jeff Brownfield replacing Susan Mantell in the County GOP.  

Federal Changes / Local Impact:

So-called “work requirements” for food assistance are going into effect. Champaign County Health Care Consumers have a great deal of information and assistance available on how to navigate the new hurdles for those having to prove their eligibility, exemptions, etc.

Gun Violence: The latest updates, including the police chief updates, can usually be found at the monthly Community Coalition meetings available here. There has been a number of recent shootings, many involving minors, in recent weeks. Unsecured guns, lost or stolen from homes and vehicles here and across the country, appear to be a major source for guns used in these types of crimes. Sheriff Heuerman noted that in one recent car theft, at least two guns were taken from a local unlocked vehicle. As we have seen, time and time again, if someone wants a gun, they just have to check enough car door handles in any given parking lot or neighborhood.

There still remain severe challenges in ensuring school attendance across both local school districts here with dozens of kids in each at ongoing and regular risk. There was a detailed discussion on those challenges at the recent Race Relations Subcommittee of the Community Coalition last month.

Local Government Roundup:

Municipal / School Boards:

City of Champaign: The affordable housing crisis has been a longtime and ongoing issue for the C-U. According to the housing needs assessment report and presentation earlier this year, the City is expected to present “the final document to the stakeholders and to the City Council for approval and moving into the implementation of the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy” this month. 

The annual township board blocked an agenda item for an advisory referendum related to a state law restricting boycotts of Israel. The same referendum passed in Cunningham township at their annual meeting and several other township meetings around the state.

Champaign Park District: The Champaign Parks Foundation is looking for four new members. This organization helps raise money for unmet needs of the park district itself. Elections for Champaign Park District commissioners occur staggered in odd election years, with two commissioner terms expiring in 2027.

City of Urbana: The Alternative Response Task Force (re: policing / 911 calls) had a community engagement event with video available on the Urbana Public TV YouTube page here. President Pearson has been actively working with the stakeholder meetings over the past several months, looking at various alternative response systems around the country and possible local implementations here.

Unit 4:  The Board of Education has approved some of the new cabinet members for the incoming new Superintendent, Dr. Geovanny Ponce, who will begin that role on July 1st of this year. The district approved a separation agreement with former Central High School Principle Montia Gardner, with both sides agreeing not to sue each other in the aftermath of the falling out in a short, but apparently contentious year.

The district renewed its contract for Student Resource Officers. The News-Gazette had details of the contract, including the limitations on officers to issue tickets and other issues here.

MTD: The C-U MTD board will likely have to redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign after a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary).

Champaign County Government:

The County’s budget process has begun with the Budget Director’s financial forecast presentation at the April County Board meeting. The board is openly considering across-the-board cuts, especially in light of the recent voter referendum supporting cuts to staff and services and opposing any new tax revenues.

The long-delayed Fiscal Year 2024 Audit is still being processed by the external auditor (Clifton, Larson, Allen LLP). There was an update on that process at the last Committee of the Whole (page 54 of the agenda packet). In March there was a presentation on the history of audit issues that led to our current predicament (video and slides).

The expectation is that these continued delays will impact funding, with the county likely missing out on funding it may have otherwise qualified for (e.g. through the state and federal government). The work on the 2025 audit is also being delayed while the County attempts to complete the 2024 audit.

The County Board also passed a one year moratorium on massive “hyperscale” data centers, as part of a process that may lead to blocking their construction here completely. The centers tend to have massive electric and water needs. As the recent mapping of the Mahomet aquifer has confirmed, however, those impacts may still threaten Champaign County if one is built in neighboring counties.

Unit 4 Updates for 2025 So Far

The last few months of Unit 4 School Board meetings have continued to be contentious with a great deal of frustrations aired on process and personalities. This was especially pronounced through the local elections where five seats were being filled (three seats for a four-year term, and two seats for a two-year term). Three of the current board members, including President Baker, were not running for re-election. 

Two seats were already set for an election due to being vacancy appointments, including Mark Holm's (who was running as an incumbent). Sam Bank's seat was vacant and unfilled since his resignation 12/15/2024. WCIA had coverage of his resignation here. The News-Gazette also had an article on the three recent Unit 4 resignations here.

The News-Gazette has local election results here. This post begins with a couple general highlights so far in 2025 and then some brief highlights and related news coverage links for the meetings thus far.

Approval of the Agenda

One of the changes for Board of Education meetings heading into 2025 was the removal of the "Approval of Agenda" from the meeting agendas. This resulted in an extended back and forth about whether the Board was adhering to Robert's Rules. This occurred at the beginning of the 1/27 meeting. Statements from the former Board parliamentarian Vazquez, Board President in her dual role as Board President and Parliamentarian, argued that the Board wasn't required to have it and that it had to be removed to avoid arguments like they were having now. Members Armstrong and Holder took issue with the removal, at least without a more formal statement that Board was suspending the use of Robert's Rules.

The discussion ended with the understanding that the Board is not required to follow Robert's Rules and the President has the ultimate authority per the Board's Policy's to suspend Robert's Rules:

Rules of Order

Unless State law or Board-adopted rules apply, the Board President, as the presiding officer, may use the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, as a guide when a question arises concerning procedure.

The Board President, or a majority of the Board may suspend use of Robert's Rules at any time.

This appeared to satisfy the initial question of whether Robert's Rules was being suspended in the affirmative. It may lead to more questions about whether that suspension was permanent for all meetings going forward as the "Approval of the Agenda" has not been on any agenda since. This will likely be addressed by the new board when it is seated after the election is certified.

Sam Banks Vacancy Appointment:

There was a bit of process towards a possible appointment for the vacancy created by Sam Banks, including public candidate interviews for Joseph Abrisz, Q’keomi Clemmons, and Kelly Ransom. WCIA had coverage of the candidate interviews here. The News-Gazette also covered the deadlock on the Board to move forward with the appointment process from there. 

The process of the appointment would normally go to the Regional Board, but according to the Regional Superintendent the upcoming election made the appointment such a short term prospect, that he viewed it as more disruptive than simply waiting for the election results. None of the applicants interviewed for the vacancy appointment ran in the recent election.

2025 Meeting Highlights through March:

As of this posting, there are meeting minutes available for all of the Board of Education meetings through the end of February 2025. Other meeting highlights so far this year (all agendas and meeting documents are available here on BoardDocs):

March

3/24 meeting (video) had appointments for the assistant principals at Central HS. The News-Gazette had coverage of that here. There was a long presentation on the English language curriculum for grades 6-12 (following up on previous curriculum for earlier grades). This will be voted on at the next Board meeting. President Baker took the opportunity to comment about her experiences on the Board and airing a long list of grievances against a couple other board members.

3/10 meeting (video) included the approval of a "Special Education Student Settlement Agreement," although there didn't appear to be any public details on this yet. There were a number of public and board comments related to the upcoming election, support for the Superintendent and accusations against Amy Armstrong and Betsy Holder.

February

2/24 meeting (video) included the appointment of the new principal at Central High School. The News-gazette had coverage of that moment and some of the remarks by Dr. Montia Gardner which included her family history and struggles. Public comments were related to the election again and included two candidates for Unit 4 Board of Education seats: Al Molina and Tony Bruno. President Baker noted the decision by the Regional Superintendent not to attempt a short term appointment process with an election coming up to fill the vacancy and most of the other seats in a few weeks. 

2/10 meeting (video) included an appointment for the district's Special Education Administrator: Jacquelyn Teague. WCIA had coverage of that appointment here. A couple of the public comments raised concerns of an appointment prior to the Special Education audit that may have recommendations on what roles this new position should take on.

At this meeting, the board also appointed a Campus Level Administrator for the International Prep Academy and renewed the American Institute for Research Contract which comes with State funding.

2/3 meeting (video) mentioned above included Board vacancy applicant interviews, with a deadlock on selecting one for a short term appointment prior to the upcoming election.

January

1/27 meeting (video) mentioned above included the dispute over the removal of "Approval of the Agenda" from the meeting agendas starting this year. Public participation included support for the Superintendent and concerns about immigration raids on school grounds.

There were reports on the fiscal year 2023-2024 audit by the outside auditor Baker Tilly (full report here, financial report, with a helpful overview on pages 4-7 of the PDF, here) as well as a presentation overview of the district's capital and maintenance plans and a chart of its needs list.

Starting on page three of the meeting minutes, there is a helpful overview of some of the other agenda items voted on at this meeting, including the Centennial softball field renovations, the demolition of a district owned house near Franklin, and a couple items related to the 2024-25 ISBE Discipline Improvement Plan. The News-Gazette had coverage on a couple of these items here. WCIA had some background on a Title IX (discrimination) complaint related to the softball field renovations.

Board communications rehashed some of the discussions and disagreements about the use and disuse of Roberts Rules. The Superintendent expressed frustration at the amount of questions and requests from board members and concerns about "gotcha" questions. She openly asked whether a couple board members were trying to run her out of the district. An extended discussion among board members and various arguments ensued. The News-Gazette highlighted some of the back and forth in its coverage of the meeting here.

1/13 meeting (video) was the first meeting without an Approval of the Agenda item on the agenda. There was a discussion by the board on selecting a process to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Sam Banks. The board was split on whether a short term appointment was the best option with the upcoming elections. They agreed to a timeline and process, including public interviews of applicants. The News-Gazette had coverage of that portion of the meeting here. WCIA had a shorter blurb here.

There was a discussion of capital and maintenance plans prior to approving projects on the agenda. The conversation led to an agreement for a presentation and vote on the projects afterward at the next meeting, although not before an extended bit of arguing on motivations and intentions for the delay. The News-Gazette had coverage on that delay here.

There was also a lot of discussion and clarifications prior to votes related to the district's legal bills passing unanimously. 

Urbana School Board Updates

Our new collaboration with the League of Women Voters and the NAACP of Champaign County is allowing us to share more local government reports and highlights than we have been able to cover in the past. We hope to have a lot more from Urbana government bodies moving forward. Corrie Proksa is the LWV Observer for District 116 Board of Education meetings. These meetings are open to the public and also available on YouTube. From the BoE webpage:

USD116 BOE Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month  (except October, November and March) at 6 p.m. There are no meetings in July. Meetings are held in the Board Room at Tiger Academy, 303 East Fairlawn Dr., Urbana, unless otherwise indicated on the agenda.

There are links to the meeting agendas and minutes on that same webpage. The most recent Observer reports for the beginning of 2025 are available here:

Highlights:

• The 1/7 Board of Education meeting (report, video) included an update on the CU 1to1 mentoring program (jump to video link). There was also an update on technology in the schools (slides, video link) which was followed up by the new year 2025 legislative updates (slides).
  
  
• The 1/21 meeting (report, video) included members Langendorf and Hixson's concerns about a renewed federal push for mass deportation and potential issues with federal agents (jump to video link). Superintendent Ivory-Tatum followed that with some related updates and a brief discussion among board members.
  
  The Student Ambassador report also highlighted quality concerns with Quest Food Management Services, the school lunch provider. Her report also included continued girls bathroom privacy, use, and sink issues. (video jump to link).
  
  There was an overview of the hiring process for middle school leadership positions, along with the introductions and approval of the new hires. There was also an overview of the Vision 2030 initiative (slides, template resolution for school districts, jump to video link).  News-Gazette coverage here.
  
  
• The 2/4 meeting (report, video) included a Student Ambassador report (jump to video link) on new student orientation. The meeting also included an overview of the GEAR UP program (jump to video link on the grant and program) and a discussion about the proposed 2025-2026 calendar. The Board approved the GEAR UP and Vision 2030 resolution discussed at the previous meeting.

2024 Reports:

The District 116 Board of Education Observer Corp reports for October through December 2024 are available here. Highlights:

• The 11/12 meeting (Observer report, video) had the 2023-2024 School Report Card presentation: Observer report, PowerPoint slides, and video jump to link. One of the major points of the presentation is that the district has not bounced back since the pandemic measures in contrast with the rest of the state.
  
  
• The 11/19 meeting (report, slides, and jump to video link) had a presentation about tax revenue and the property tax levy for people interested in the nitty-gritty of that part of the budget. There was also an audit report on the district's financial situation available here.
  
  
• The 12/3 Student Ambassador report raised concerns about privacy in the girls restrooms and concerns about weapons bring brought into the school and whether the metal detectors are effective. There was some additional conversation about this with the Superintendent during that report (Observer report, video jump to link). 
  
  
• The 12/17 meeting included a discussion and vote approving an updated policy on public participation that limited comments to 3 minutes (from 5) and 1 hour total at Board of Education meetings (report, jump to video link). Member Langendorf had an opinion column in the News-Gazette about the public comment and communications policies. There was another opinion piece by a resident opposing the changes here.

More District 116 News:

It's looking like the next school board will begin with a need to fill empty seats immediately after the election due to a lack of candidates for open seats (unlike Unit 4 which has a plethora of candidates running this term). From the News-Gazette:

With four seats about to open up and only one candidate running for election in April, the Urbana school board is gearing up for a challenging start to its next term.

“We would all have to be present in order for us to have a quorum and then for the board to act,” said board President Paul Poulosky. “It’s not a situation we could live with for long.”

Poulosky said the board’s first order of business will almost definitely be to fill those remaining seats as soon as possible.

This isn’t unlike the situation the board was in last year, when all seven seats were open due to redistricting and only six candidates ran for election.

More at the full article here, including some discussion of possibly making changes to the districts and adding at-large seats. The Champaign County Clerk has a list of candidates for local offices, including the Urbana School Board here.

Champaign City Council Updates

Local elections have already begun for 2025. Early voting has started for the consolidated February 25th primary, election, with one contested race for the City Council and township supervisor here. VoteChampaign and the League of Women Voters have a non-partisan candidate guide out for local candidates in the primary race. 

Early voting for the April 1st consolidated general election will begin soon after the primary. There will be another referendum on a property tax increase to fund the low barrier Strides shelter, after the previous referendum failed in November.

City Council Updates:

Recent City Council meetings have spent a lot of time on the fallout from Council member Davion Williams antisemitic comments in December and swastika post on social media in January. More details on that and the response below. The full  2/11 City Council meeting is available here: agenda, video. 

There was a progress report on Council Goals for 2023-2025. It mostly covered outreach on community organizing, gun violence, and a lot of updates on local affordable housing issues. A brief overview of the Council Goals is available on the City website here. The full staff report on the Council Goals Progress Report is available here.

2/4 City of Champaign Township and City Council Meeting

The Township meeting was only a few minutes long. They mayor asked the Township supervisor to address a need by City staff for documentation related to a flex spending account after many failed requests. He agreed to get that documentation to them.

There was a great deal of public comment (jump to video link) related to Council member Davion Williams previous antisemitic statements in December of 2024 and his more recent decision to change his social media profile picture to a swastika and highlighted the religious and cultural use of the symbol prior to that of Nazi Germany.

The News-Gazette highlighted a notable exception to those public comments were the proud parents of recent hire of Valena Greene as "the management analyst for the city’s public works department" announced earlier in the meeting.

Council comments included calls for Davion Williams to resign, echoing many in the public comments. Council member Kathy Shannon noted that the swastika on his social media wasn't just part of a post discussing the history, but that he had made it his profile picture. Every comment that he was making to her and others concerned about his actions was posted with a swastika by it.

The News-Gazette had a series of articles on the fallout after Davion Williams attempted to start a conversation about the cultural history of the swastika symbol, in part by changing his social media profile picture itself into a swastika:

• 2/23: Champaign mayor condemns remarks by council member, public commenter
• 2/24: Champaign council member apologizes for comments at meeting
• 1/31: Champaign council member will not resign, says swastika post was not meant as hate
• 2/4: Williams apologizes for swastika post on his latest statement of apology
• 2/4: Williams apologizes but staying put with coverage on his later statement and his intention not to resign.

The post and his profile picture change has since been deleted, but screenshots taken that morning were shared widely online: 

Davion Williams Post / Profile Change on 1/31/2025

His comments in defense of this post and his previous comments that day were all posted as a swastika:

Davion Williams Comment on 1/31/2025

Many people who aren't Jewish and don't study extremism and antisemitism may be unfamiliar with a lot of antisemitic tropes brought up in his December remarks, but the idea that Jews are secretly controlling our governments and media are certainly the most notorious ones. These were front and center with antisemitic conspiracies like the "Protocols" Hoax, the 1920s Klan, and some of Nazi Germany's most heinous propaganda.

Attempts to normalize the use of the swastika by antisemites will also be familiar to people who face and research antisemitism. This is often explained as doing so on behalf of cultures or religions that are not their own and not done in collaboration with those communities or actual education outreach by them.

It's worth pointing out that the fight against segregation, racism, and bigotry locally has long been a collaboration with many from the local Black community and Jewish community, from the early beginnings of the NAACP branch here through the Civil Rights Movement itself and to this day. Unfortunately, one can find anti-Black racism among some Jewish people and antisemitism among some Black people to this day.

Council Member Davion Williams had a community meeting for District 1 last night (video), but organizers made it clear in the ground rules that no comments about the past would be tolerated, only those looking towards the future and solving problems in District 1. 

The meeting included many updates on local programs available, updates from Champaign Police Chief Tyler, and the City. It focused almost entirely on building collaborations and better communication between those attempting to organize and provide services in the historic Black communities of Champaign's North End within District 1. Many area pastors and local officials attended, including the State's Attorney.

General Housekeeping Update:

Due to illness, I haven't been able to keep the Cheat Sheet up to date as I would have liked over the past few months. But I'm catching up as I can. There should be a flurry of updates on the way through the rest of February as that happens.

The City Website has the meeting minutes and full videos of the meetings that I missed during our downtime. One highlight that we missed at the time was the latest update and staff report on the Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint (jump to video link).

Champaign Human Relations Commission Updates

The City of Champaign's Human Relations Commission met this month after cancelations in November, December, and January (agenda, video). This continues a pattern from 2024 where HRC meetings were canceled more often than they were held. Many of the cancellation notices noted a lack of a quorum as the reason last year. The League of Women Voters had an observer at the most recent meeting and filed a report with a meeting overview here. Excerpt:

Discrimination complaints: 3 in October-December. For 2024, there were 11 cases of which 1 was closed, 2 dismissed. There are many reasons for dismissal, which can include the case not reaching the level of discrimination, or a complainant no longer available to respond or dropping the case. 

Police complaints: There were 2 in October for a total of 8 in 2024. 4 have been heard by the Citizen Review Subcommittee. All 2023 cases were heard.

During the audience participation portion of the meeting, two members from a small group of individuals spoke. The group, Northend United, asked for a status update on a concern they raised at the October 2024 meeting. They mentioned that they had emailed the commission during the interim with no response. Since this meeting, the group’s October complaint has been posted as part of the October 2024 minutes. 

That full report is available here. Audience participation (starting at the 14 minute mark in the video) included citizens continuing to raise complaints about the tiny homes "Hope Village" project and the role the Cities of Champaign and Urbana have played in its development. A full copy of their written complaint is available from the HRC's October 2024 meeting minutes here (starting on page 2 of the PDF file). Excerpt:

The News-Gazette had some funding, completion timelines, and other updates on the Hope Village project in November 2024 here, with a more comprehensive overview back in July here.

David Palmer was also voted in as the new secretary for the commission. The HRC's page on the city website has already been updated on this.

Amy H. Contributed to this Cheat Sheet.

METCAD Staffing Shortage Updates

There have been some recent public concerns on social media and in the News-Gazette about the staffing shortages at the METCAD dispatch center. From the News-Gazette "My Turn" article:

METCAD needs 33 full-time dispatchers to be fully functional. It currently has only 17.

These 17 dispatchers are being forced to work an unsafe and excessive number of hours. Already, the number of dispatchers available in the 911 center on each shift has decreased to below what is needed to perform their essential tasks.

That full article here. At this morning's METCAD Policy Board meeting, METCAD Director Ralph Caldwell, Jr. acknowledged the accuracy of the staff shortage, but denied that it was impacting the functionality of the dispatch center. WCIA had coverage of this morning's meeting here.

More on that meeting below. But first, a quick explanation for those unfamiliar with our local dispatch system...

What is METCAD?

METCAD is our countywide dispatch center for emergency services, including 911 calls. It is an intergovernmental collaboration. From a previous Cheat Sheet post description, which appears to still be fairly accurate after all these years:

Champaign County's METCAD system handles calls for 25 Fire Departments including Champaign and Urbana Fire Departments as part of its emergency dispatch services. This is on top of their services to 12 area police departments. It's an impressive collaborative agency with employees of the City of Champaign, an Urbana location, in a County building, and U of I phone systems. Its board has administrative and public safety representatives from local governments, the University of Illinois and rural representatives of police and fire departments.

I'll need to double check the total departments served at my next METCAD tour. The website currently appears to list 10 police and 23 fire departments as opposed to 12 and 25 respectively. 

October 3rd, 2024 Meeting:

In the weeks before this month's meeting, a local citizens group, describing it as the concerned spouses and family members of METCAD employees, had made public appeals to address the staffing shortage. It shared a list of concerns and criticisms of the current administration, including some claims disputed by the administration. An example from brief WAND coverage last week:

Concerned METCAD Spouses reached out to WAND News regarding the dispatch staffing levels. The group, which is made up of spouses, significant others, and immediate family members of dispatchers, says that staffing levels are at a crisis point with only 17 out of a possible 33 full time telecommunicators employed.

However, METCAD leadership said that number isn't totally accurate...

According to Caldwell, there are currently 10 telecommunicators in training with 6 substitutes, 4 nonbargaining unit members, and 3 traveling telecommunicators in addition to the 17 full time employees.

That full blurb here. WCIA had a longer article and video segment, which included a bit more explanation on the supplemental:

[METCAD Director Ralph Caldwell, Jr.] said dispatchers are being asked to work 12-hour days. They’re filling in the gaps however they can.

“We reinstituted our sub program, so we have six people who previously worked here full time, left and then came back to work part time,” Caldwell said

METCAD Operations Manager, Betsy Smith, said supervisors are also helping with calls. To be fully staffed they would need 33 dispatchers. Smith said the long hours make it tough to keep workers, and many dispatchers see their job as a stepping stone to their preferred career, like becoming a first responder.

That full article here. The meeting itself started promptly at 8:30am at the ILEAS Training Center in Urbana (agenda). The September meeting minutes were approved and will likely be up on the METCAD Policy Board meeting documents page here soon.

Public Participation:

Family members of METCAD dispatchers criticized the administration and described the work environment as toxic. They pointed to the staffing shortage itself, but also other aspects that were affecting morale and retention in general. One speaker pleaded with the board to let him see his wife again, to let his kids see their mom again after nearly a year of non-stop overtime. Another former full-time METCAD employee explained the conditions that she believed forced her to take a reduced 20 hour per week part-time position instead.

Others pointed to many of the criticisms raised by the family group on social media or spoke to the issue of trauma in this type of work environment, and the need to have time away from the job to cope with it. They all stayed close to the allotted speaking time, with a little extra time for one speaker to finish reading the last bit of his written statement.

This took up about the first 20 minutes of the meeting.

Staffing Updates:

The last hour of the meeting was almost entirely dedicated to the staffing report and comments about the staffing shortage. Director Caldwell shared a great deal of information noting the national nature of the staffing crisis impacting 911 centers across the United States. He pointed to recent studies from 2024 and 2023 about staffing shortages, their reasons, and some recommendations to deal with the issue. There was an additional report about the issue in the State of Maine about similar staffing crises in 911 centers there as well.

He went on to dispute some of the criticisms in the newspaper and social media, the gist of which were covered in the WAND and WCIA articles published prior to the meeting.

For example, the director and others denied that local 911 calls were being diverted to other counties because of the shortage, with the exception of the area 911 outage in Champaign and Vermillion County roughly 7 months ago. WCIA had coverage of that outage and updates back in March here.

He appeared to mock "conspiracy theories" about the changed time and location of the meeting from the Champaign Public Library at 9am to the ILEAS Training Center in Urbana at 8:30am. He correctly noted that this change was not recent and had been in the works for a long time. Public confusion, however, is probably understandable as the meeting calendar still lists the meeting times and dates for this and upcoming meetings at the Champaign Public Library at 9am.

He noted that the Board is in the process of hiring a consulting firm to look at the staffing crisis and recommendations on how to alleviate the problem. He pointed out that the second proposal was received yesterday from another firm that responded to the request. They will be evaluating those proposals in the near future to decide on which one best fits the board's needs.

He argued that the current staff is well supported, pointing to therapy dogs, not canceling vacations, and staff recognition activities, among other things.

Additional Board and Director Comments:

After the Director's report, there were some additional comments that explained some additional measures that could help reduce call times and volume for the dispatchers, including the upcoming implementation of ASAP to PSAP (what is this?) next week.

A few board members requested additional information on some technical items, including the impact of "lift assist" non-emergency calls in Rantoul. Others looked for some specifics when considering the consulting firm's dive into the staffing issue and possible recommendations, such as cutting edge solutions.

Mayor Marlin reiterated the director's earlier support for reclassification of 911 dispatchers from clerical to first responders to help pave the way for higher pay and benefits. She and other board members thanked members of the public for coming out, showing interest, and working with them moving forward.

Early Voting and Candidate Information

 

Early Voting has begun for the November 5th, 2004 General Election! There are several local races happening here in Champaign County, many at the County government level. Please see our Champaign County Cheat Sheet page here for more information on County offices and issues. Many C-U area local races will be taking place in the 2025 Consolidated Primary (February 25th) and Consolidated General elections (April 1st).

Here are a few quick links to the County Clerk's website for your voting information:

• Many Ways to Vote: Early, mail, in-person, etc. links and additional information.
  
  
• Early voting times, dates, and locations from today until election day.
  
  
• My Voter Information: let's you check your voter registration, sample ballots, the status of your mail-in ballot, districts, and more!

VoteChampaign, in collaboration with the local League of Women Voters has a lot of additional information about elections, as well as a non-partisan local Candidate Guide:

The League of Women Voters also held a local candidate forum last week, including candidates for County Coroner, Auditor, and County Board District 5. That video is available on their YouTube page here.

The League also has additional information and voter education events coming up on their website. The League sometimes takes positions on some policy issues, such as the current question on the auditor referendum. The Cheat Sheet does not necessarily take the side of all the perspectives we link. Both candidates for auditor made their arguments against abolishing the elected auditor position in the candidate forum linked above.

There will be a few new Cheat Sheets in the next couple weeks on County government issues on the County page, with the latest updates on meetings, issues, and hopefully a little less drama!

Unit 4 Updates and SpEd Audit

This post covers the latest news on the district's upcoming Special Education audit and the settlement agreement that led to it. It also looks at some of the controversies on how we got here. Tonight's Board of Education meeting also includes an item to discuss reorganization again. That and other updates are discussed below.

 

SpEd Audit:

The biggest news out of Unit 4 this month was the Special Education (SpEd) Audit Agreement being approved by the board. WCIA had coverage earlier this month at the August 20th special meeting:

After a settlement, the Champaign School District will undergo an audit of their special education programs.

The audit will be done by Dan Cates, a former superintendent with expertise on special education, with oversight from attorney Neil Takkif.

The Board of Education approved of its authorization at their special meeting Tuesday night, with four members voting for the settlement including the audit and three members abstaining.

Julie Duvall, the CU Autism Network executive director, said the district needs to be transparent and able to handle tough conversations in order to improve their special education programs. She also said SPED students and their families should be able to weigh in on the audit and eventually see the final results.

That full article and video segment here. Some key details of the audit are now publicly available on the district's website in tonight's school board agenda packet:

The audit shall specifically address the following areas for the school year of 2023-24 and first semester of the 2024-25:

a. Continuum of special education placement options and appropriate determinations of LRE for students, including provision of supplementary aids, curriculum, and services to ensure ability to participate in regular education to the extent practicable;

b. Special education programming compliance with age range requirements and class size requirements;

c. Adequacy of special education transportation and supervision, including means of transportation and average travel times for students, and student safety;

d. Special education personnel staff development;

e. Special education personnel substitute qualifications and training;

f. Related services adequacy;

g. Facilities adequacy for special education programming;

h. Special education records maintenance and information confidentiality compliance;

i. Coordination with private providers for special education students;

j. Administrative oversight of special education best practices;

k. Hiring policies, practices, procedures, and training for special education personnel,

l. Parent communication and coordination of special education services, and

m. District Title I spending plan

Dr. Cates shall submit an initial report by March 1, 2025, but that final completion of the audit may extend as Dr. Cates finds appropriate to complete the full scope of the audit. At the conclusion of the audit, Dr. Cates will publish a public report on best practice findings and recommendations and will provide the public with a presentation on these findings at a board meeting. The District has permission to facilitate a dedicated webpage of Dr. Cates’ findings.

Dr. Cates shall review the implementation of recommendations within two years of his final report and will produce a written document and public report regarding the District’s implementation of final audit recommendations or lack thereof.

This is from "Exhibit A" (starting on page 7 of the PDF file) of the Cate's agreement executing part of the settlement approved last month by the Board of Education. 

Previously, there have been some prolonged fights over board agendas revolving around items and "agreements" being added that appeared to be in conflict with the actual settlement terms. For example, if one compares this to the bizarre "agreement" from last month, one can now see that it did not reflect the full scope of the settlement terms.

In hindsight, with more of the details of the actual agreement public and confirmed, it raises serious questions about why incomplete and apparently erroneous executing agreements kept being put on the agenda... for a settlement that was still in the process of being approved.

My questions to the board leadership, district, and administrators involved in the process went unanswered. It is unclear if there is a reasonable explanation for what might be charitably seen as "bad optics," or if this indicates a more deliberate attempt to torpedo the settlement agreement during the process. 

I also received no response about growing public concerns that the district's legal team is being weaponized for factional or political ends. This is a concern that predates these public facing documents and board actions with the settlement agreement, including by one of the board members themselves.

Details of the public portions of the final agreement were difficult to find until this month. While the settlement agreement has been approved, the individual contracts related to it still have to be approved. Prior to this, almost everything occurred within closed "Executive Session" portions of school board meetings. Board member Betsy Holder explained her view of the agreement and when the public portions of that agreement will become available:

In a somewhat unprecedented settlement situation, a family in the community sacrificed their own personal and monetary settlement interests on behalf of their child in exchange for the terms of this audit moving for district wide change to help the entire SPED community. I am cautiously optimistic that this is the start of a path moving forward. This is not a forward facing document, but once it is executed it will be available via FOIA. It will govern the terms of the contracts with Dr. Cates and Neil Takiff.

This is a comment from a public social media post and a generally positive review of the board's actions and behavior at the previous special meeting. Social media posts and friends of the family have appeared to confirm that the family at the heart of this complaint and settlement was board member Amy Armstrong. It's not clear why other board members (Baker and Vazquez) abstained from voting for or against the settlement too. 

It passed 4-0-3 (for / against / abstentions) with the support of Bruce Brown. who had generally been aligned with Baker and Vazquez on other contentious issues before the board lately.

Reorganization Discussion:

During the controversy of how new members would be appointed to the Board of Education in light of two resignations, there was talk amongst board members about reorganization after the appointment process played out. This was complicated at the time by the fact that one of the resignations was by the board vice president Jamar Brown. A previous Cheat Sheet covered some of the controversy about elected a new vice president prior to having a full board to vote on the issue. The News-Gazette had an article about the walk-outs and quorum denying tactics surrounding the issue at the time.

Eventually the Board voted to make board member and board parliamentarian Heather Vazquez also the Vice-President of the board. 

More recent discussions about board reorganization have also been heated, with the Board President and Vice President accusing a newly appointed member of attempting a takeover, with designs on becoming the new Board president himself. Other arguments have revolved around whether reorganization was part of the detente that ensured a quorum and the vote for Vice-President while the board was still dealing with two vacancies earlier in the year.

Those recent discussions mostly took place at the contentious August 12th Board meeting around the 1:28 mark (agenda packets available here, video here). Banks, for his part denied any desire to become the president and explained that he felt misrepresented. A distinction was made between the president, who had been voted on by a previous full board and the decisions made about other board officers during vacancies. 

There have been arguments about whether the law and district policy allow for reorganization. I can't speak on the merits of the legal arguments, but others have noted other similar scenarios throughout the state over the years. It may come down to how a majority of the board decides to proceed and then whether anyone chooses to take the disagreement to court. I'll leave it to the reader and the lawyers to draft their own opinions and legal interpretations, however.

July Meeting:

The News-Gazette coverage had some brief highlights of the July meeting here. The censure drafted by the President and district lawyers appears to have been dropped from the agenda (and I haven't heard it raised again since). 

The July meeting (video here) began with a discussion and debate about the agenda as well, also revolving around disagreement on reorganization. The board began Executive (closed) session without approving the agenda (having failed the initial vote). This did not make any sense to me at the time, as going into Executive Session is an item to be carried out on the agenda itself.  The board came out of closed session and immediately returned back to approving the agenda.

The second agenda discussion added to confusion about whether they were passing an agenda as amended by the president (although there did not appear to be a motion or vote to amend it first). The removed item was 6. E. the appointment of a parliamentarian alone (as opposed to a broader reorganization of the board officers). The board then returned to Executive (closed) session after resolving the agenda issue. 

The public portion of the Board of Education meeting finally began at 6:42pm and adjourned at 8:37pm. The News-Gazette overview mentioned above was concise about the arguments raised during this meeting. The discussion about a "risk management committee" began around the 1:19 mark of the video and went on for about 40 minutes. President baker was opposed to the idea, while member Banks assured this was about ensuring the Board of Education has the information it needs and that there's nothing "nefarious" about the proposal.

Board communications began with a statement by Heather Vazquez admonishing people to not simply refer to board members by their surname, e.g. Baker as opposed to Dr. Baker. Communications got heated again towards the end after member Holder took issue with her husband being brought into the board's disagreements. She accused some of trying to interfere with her livelihood and work clients.

There was a brief special meeting earlier in July that was just to confirm recent hires in a timely manner. This is pretty common for school districts that generally only have one regular meeting in July (as opposed to two during school semesters). Agenda packets can be found on the district's website here.

Other Unit 4 Related News:

• A critical perspective on BTW after the previous school administrators were removed by the district, from the News-Gazette. There was also an update on the litigation by the former Assistant Principal Rebecca Ramey here.
  
  
• The board president wrote another column on navigating school board policy in the News-Gazette. Board member Bruce Brown wrote an opinion piece hoping the board could focus on the needs of the district and students. A Unit 4 graduate and now Unit 4 parent wrote an opinion piece calling for reorganization.
  
  
• There was an article in the News-Gazette explaining the growing costs of MTD bus service for the district.
  
  
• Tonight's meeting will also have a presentation on the the Affirmative Action / Equal Employment Opportunity audit on diversity and hiring goals within the district. The report showed positive gains in diverse employment goals by the district and is available here. There were other hiring updates in the news last month here and here.
  
  
• There was a general update in the News-Gazette on area Student Resource Officer collaborations between police departments and school districts, including cost figures for Unit 4.
  
  
• A former Unit 4 Board of Education member was caught up in the arrests of campus protesters. There were several arrests over the summer related to the protests that occurred on the University of Illinois campus during the Spring 2024 semester. Updates on those charges and concerns about the "mob action" law being used is available on the County Cheat Sheet page here.
  
  
• A 13 year old student appears to have been charged with the recent threats to district schools, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• There appeared to be some ongoing delays with late registration according to WCIA.