City of Urbana Updates

There are numerous updates on Urbana City government since our last update in June (available here) where the City Council had just approved the re-appointment of Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin in spite of a deluge of public opposition for the status quo in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Among the demands by activists during public comments were for the charges to be dropped against Aleyah Lewis, an independent investigation into her arrest, and reforming the police review board to be more effective and empowered. Here are just some of the updates and coverage on a few of those issues:

• In July the Council approved training standards for the police review board. Coverage and details from WAND here. A training video for the review board was posted to UPTV here.
• The police review board approved a Taser report that was long overdue and which they were roundly criticized. More on that from the News-Gazette here.
• Illinois Newsroom had coverage about the independent review of the Aleyah Lewis case by a consulting firm approved by the Urbana City Council in June.
• The Urbana mayor committed to systemic change but urged patience at the July 27th City Council meeting. News-Gazette had coverage on that here.
• The Board approved the NAACP's "10 shared principles" on policing at the June 23rd City Council meeting, covered by the News-Gazette here. A small cut to the police budget was also added to a Council budget item that passed (more on that here).

The Urbana Mayor and City Council had a discussion on Public Safety and Policing this week at the end of their most recent City Council meeting (video here). The Mayor went over plans for an Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Policing towards future reforms and policies. There are challenges to fill seats on such a committee when there is already a need to fill vacancies on the review board and Human Relations Commission. Board members discussed possible organization and the advisory nature of the prospective entity.

Earlier in that City Council meeting, Chief Seraphin had an update on a June incident where a driver pushed through protesters in her vehicle on the street and some of the details around that incident.

The Citizen's Police Review Board has been very active in the aftermath of the June meetings and public input, starting with a special meeting on June 24th available here. In that June 24th special meeting there was a long discussion about the new format and guidelines for the review board which also has a new chair. In July there was also a regular meeting and another special meeting. Each runs around 3 hours including public input. The News-Gazette had coverage of the increase in meetings here.

Housing Discrimination Updates:

The City of Champaign recently passed compromised language on their Human Rights Ordinance to limit discrimination on rental housing and criminal histories. The City of Urbana has more broadly prohibited this kind of reentry housing discrimination (as Champaign once did). Cunningham Township Supervisor Danielle Chynoweth has recently raised awareness that even with broader protections, compliance and enforcement of housing discrimination rules is an ongoing issue in Urbana. Earlier this year she gave a presentation on housing issues to the Urbana Human Relations Commission (video available here with the presentation starting at the 15 minute mark). There is also a written report available here which she describes and explains in that same presentation.

At the most recent Urbana City Council meeting there was also an update on housing assistance and funding due to the coronavirus pandemic (e.g. via the federal CARES Act and money funneled through CDBG programs).

Other recent Urbana news items:

The development project at the site of the Landmark Hotel is currently stalled due to the coronavirus. Tom Kacich had an update on the project in his Tom's Mailbag column in the News-Gazette last week here.

Dr. Julie R. Laut was appointed to represent Ward 2 on the Urbana City Council at a special meeting on August 3rd (announcement available here), News-Gazette coverage here). Video of the appointment included a description of the process followed and is available from the City website here. There were two eligible applicants to fill the Ward 2 seat being vacated by Alderman Eric Jakobsson to fill the remainder of his term into 2021. Two of the applicants were disqualified for not living in the ward boundaries according to WCIA coverage here. The applicants made statements to the City Council at the July 27th meeting (video here).

Durl Kruse, a retired public school administrator and long time Urbana resident, had a guest commentary in the News-Gazette and his views on systemic racism and policing were discussed by the City Council during their talks on an advisory committee.

City of Champaign Updates

There have been unending developments over the summer with the City of Champaign on issues from the pandemic response to police reform. Yesterday there was also an update on the reentry housing issue. From the News-Gazette today:

After more than a year of talks, the Champaign City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the amount of time landlords can hold certain felonies against potential tenants from five years to two...

In December, the council moved forward with changes that were approved Tuesday and will make it clear that the two-year rule refers to convictions in which someone is sentenced to prison, not probation. It also lists the types of felonies that can be considered, such as murder, robbery and arson.

Full article here with additional information on relief for liquor-license holders impacted by the coronavirus as well. I checked in with Esther Patt of the C-U Tenant Union and proponent of repealing the language altogether to see if the language passed last night was in line with the compromise the City agreed to last year (the legalese of these things can make it hard to tell sometimes). She confirmed that it was what the Council had agreed to at the time:

The language is exactly what was agreed upon at the last study session.   The three changes are:

1. The exemption from fair housing protection lasts only 2 years instead of 5  years;
2. Felony convictions for drug possession (as opposed to sale or delivery) cannot be grounds for denying housing;
3. The exemption from fair housing protection only applies to a forcible felony conviction for which the person was sentenced to state prison.   

It has been a long wait, but we have accomplished an important reform.

In other reform news, the City's Human Relations Commission supported recommendations from its Citizen Review Subcommittee that functions as the City of Champaign's police review board. From the News-Gazette yesterday:

Members of Champaign’s Human Relations Commission were supportive of proposals brought to it that aim to make complaints against the police more transparent and shift funding toward mental-health services...

The Citizen Review Subcommittee plans to vote at its September meeting on the recommendations, which will then be sent to the police chief and city manager’s office for feedback...

Champaign police have planned community engagement sessions for this summer and fall, and last month it updated its use-of-force policies to include de-escalation, the duty for officers to intervene during unlawful use-of-force and an explicit ban on chokeholds.

Full article here with a lot more additional details and information. More coverage, including video segment from WCIA here. A draft report of the CRS Recommendations are available here. For more background on reform recommendations prior to the George Floyd protest movement earlier this year is on the Cheat Sheet here (with the last pre-pandemic update here).

The Champaign Police Department gave an overview of its updates in light of the protest movement in the aftermath of the George Floyd arrest death to the City Council (written report here, Study Session presentation here). Illinois Newsroom had coverage of the use of force changes suggested at that Study Session here. 

In other recent City of Champaign government news:

• Champaign gun violence news conference including City and Police officials (video here) The News-Gazette had an overview in its coverage here. WCIA's coverage also included a list of organizations and links for people to get involved in stopping gun violence locally here. First Followers Reentry Program also announced a new initiative against gun violence this week as well (more from WCIA here).
• In a previous City Council Meeting, small business relief and Garden Hills demolitions for future improvements were improved. News-Gazette coverage on that here.

Rogue Barber Co. Protests and Incident:

Local activists have been protesting the Rogue Barber Co. barber shop after it was made public they had restricted their services to members who signed statements disavowing affiliation with Black Lives Matter, "antifa" (a nebulous term for anti-fascists) and other organizations they considered extremist. Smile politely had an overview of the disagreement and video of a customer who drove through protesters after leaving the shop. WCIA had coverage of that incident here. A Champaign Police representative said that the investigation into that incident is ongoing, but making progress at last night's City Council meeting.

Here are some clips from public videos posted on social media showing the incident from three angles From the video it appears that the customer left wearing a branded T-shirt for the store, backed up and drove through the protesters rather than go the opposite open direction away from the protests. The third clip shows that the first person he hits is one of the protesters directing traffic just prior to accelerating through the full group. As he drives through the group the protesters react in an apparent effort to stop the truck, hitting it and one person even ending up in the truck bed before it drives away.

The compilation of video at different angles may help shed some light on local discussions have often presented one or more of these videos with descriptions at odds with what witnesses and the videos show occurred. For example, many people defending the driver have reversed the order of events, such as arguing the protesters hit at the truck prior to him driving into the crowd. They have described the those guiding traffic away from the protest as blocking him in as opposed to directing traffic away from protesters. They've also made a lot of hay over the woman yelling about kidnapping as he drove away with one of the protesters still in the back of the truck during their attempts to stop it from running through the crowd.

I leave it to viewers to make up their own mind on these arguments and perspectives. The full videos are still available publicly on social media, primarily facebook for those who want the full context of the situation. You'll find bullhorn speeches, marching, and chalking messages on the ground, but no violence preceding the truck incident.

Coronavirus Updates 8/4

This post has a collection of coronavirus updates including the trends locally, regionally, at the State and federal level. At the end is also a list of tentative school reopening news links as well.

The local and regional coronavirus news is still better than many parts of the State of Illinois and the country in general. There was an update from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (latest COVID information from C-UPHD here) in an interview with Elizabeth Hess on Urbana Public Television yesterday and available on YouTube here:

Illinois Newsroom had additional coverage on C-UPHD guidance last week here. Unfortunately the bad news is our local cases and hospitalizations are up recently. More details available from the News-Gazette website here and reporter Ben Zigterman's twitter feed here. Here's a snip of the chart's he posted today:

The News-Gazette had a more detailed local breakdown for the area with some recent remarks from the Governor today here.

Looking at the regions of Illinois for coronavirus data, we're still doing better than other regions by test positivity. This bug doesn't respect borders, so it depends entirely on people on whether the it moves from place to place, however. Illinois government and politics reporter Hannah Meisel has regular updates on her twitter page here:

The national numbers are disheartening after many were expecting the daily deaths to plateau at a low of roughly 500 per day, which is still pretty terrible compared to many of other Western industrialized nations at this point in their response. Unfortunately that plateau came and went and we have gone back up to roughly a thousand American deaths every day and rising. Where we go from here is completely dependent on public behavior when it comes to mitigation policies. More at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation here. This chart is from last week, so expect an updated projection later this week based on the latest numbers:

A lot of folks locally are concerned about schools reopening. The C-UPHD put out its guidance for school openings last month (Smile Politely had a brief overview and links here). More recent updates on school openings here:

• Daily Illini on UIUC summer athletic testing and infections.
• The Champaign Federation of Teachers statement opposing the Unit 4 reopening framework (available in full here).
• UIUC to require coronavirus test to enter buildings from today's News-Gazette.
• UIUC to shift most classwork to online and no return to classrooms after Thanksgiving break.
• Chambana Mom's had a recent overview of the Urbana reopening plans here.
• The News-Gazette had an overview of Parkland's reopening plan with most classes online and mask requirements here.

With rising cases and the future difficult to predict, it's hard to say how these plans will change over time, if reopenings will go on as planned or if they'll face sudden cancellations like the Major League Baseball season right out of the gate. Hopefully this post gives readers some helpful links to stay updated on the various numbers they may be interested in. As always the official County numbers are available from the C-UPHD website here and regular updates are posted on their facebook account here. 

Unit 4 Updates

As we approach the Fall semester, there are still more questions than answers about what that's going to look like for K-12 students, including who will be able to attend in person or remotely. This week's Unit 4 Board of Education meeting (meeting agendas available here, videos here) was several hours long and mostly dealt with district's preliminary reopening draft plan. The reopening subject started in the second video at about the 10 minute mark here.

Public comments starts at the 1 hour and 40 minute mark of the same video and continues into the third video here. Community members wanting to participate in public comments had to wait over three hours to speak due to an agenda change that moved public comments from the beginning of the meeting to the end. The PTA let the public know about the agenda change before the meeting on facebook here. The public portion of the meeting was delayed by roughly a half-hour as the closed Executive Session ran longer than usual as well.

All three speakers were strictly cut off after three minutes by a timer going off and the microphone immediately going silent. Speakers included a local epidemiologist, a district bus driver, and a parent with kids from pre-K to High School. All had serious concerns with the reopening plan. After that board members took turns reading the numerous emailed public comments sent to the board.

The News-Gazette had an overview yesterday:

At the beginning of the year, the district will likely restrict eligibility for in-person instruction to students with Individualized Education Programs and 504 Plans, English Language Learners, and students who qualify for free and reduced lunch...

Zola said that would make just over half of kindergarten through fifth-grade students eligible for in-person learning. She did not have data on the number of middle and high school students who would be eligible for an in-person slot...

The remaining students would participate in the district’s Virtual Academy, a wholly separate online school not affiliated with any campus.

That full article here. A slightly longer followup overview was also posted on the N-G website here. An even more comprehensive overview is available from Illinois Newsroom here. This morning there was yet another followup article on the front page of the eEdition here (subscription). Excerpt:

The reopening plan put forth by the Champaign school district at Monday’s board meeting was only a starting point, Superintendent Susan Zola said.

The board decided that the goal of 18 students per classroom was too much, so the district is amending its plans to reduce the number of kids attending in person to those who truly need it...

Which teachers will teach students in school and which will work for the remote academy is still up in the air. What’s certain, though, is that school will be far different from normal this fall.

There was also a brief statement from the Superintendent on the Unit 4 website yesterday here assuring the public that the numerous safety concerns are being taken seriously as they adapt the preliminary plan.

Overall a lot of the concerns raised by both board members and the public went unanswered at this meeting, which focused almost entirely on giving direction and highlighting those concerns to the Superintendent and staff working on the reopening plan. Concerns about safety precautions and protocols for positive infections still appear up in the air as the semester quickly approaches.

Our community still has maintained a low infection rate and strong hospital capacity at this point in the pandemic, even as the rest of the nation already faces a second spike in cases during what is still the first wave of infections in the United States.

Reopening Schools - Preliminary Ideas

[UPDATE: The News-Gazette had more on this very topic a couple days after this post. Excerpt:

As they try to prepare for next school year, superintendents are trying to create some semblance of a plan without knowing what’s coming next. The Illinois State Board of Education hasn’t issued guidelines for the upcoming school year yet, so districts are planning for three different possibilities: a return to full-on remote learning, all students back in school, or some sort of a hybrid model where a portion of students are in school at a given time.

Full article here.]

There have been several news stories about potential and very preliminary plans for schools reopening in the fall with the ongoing concerns about COVID-19. Our region has been doing better than others when it comes to keeping infections and outbreaks contained (see previous Cheat Sheet update on the coronavirus updates here). The current Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation out of the University of Washington has their latest forecast models here.

People might remember their projections from earlier in the pandemic being used by the White House. Their projections have continued to incorporate new information, new policies, and how populations have adhered to those policies. Here is the latest as of this posting on total death and daily death projections going into the next school year (click to enlarge graphs):

The projected plateau of daily deaths bottoms out towards the end of summer and appears to rise with the reopening of schools and typical epidemiological factors in the fall. As always, none of this is written in stone and depends on our own behaviors and sometimes good or bad fortune with outbreak events. The Atlantic had a recent article looking at various challenges facing schools in general here.

The Daily Illini had an overview of the Parkland hybrid fall plan here. Excerpt:

For Parkland students, this would mean on-campus courses will be marked as such, but part of the coursework would still be completed online, according to a Parkland College press release.

On-campus courses would still have to follow social distancing guidelines, meaning students may be divided into smaller groups and classes larger enrollments may require staggered scheduling.

Additionally, many on-campus meetings may end after Nov. 20 in order to minimize contact after Thanksgiving break. The classes would still continue online through the end of the regularly scheduled semester.

Some career classes may meet on-campus until the end of the semester, though.

That full article here. The University of Illinois is still formulating its plan, but there have been some updates on that process. Tom's Mailbag had some questions and answers on the subject last week here. Excerpt:

Urbana campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said a decision on fall instruction would be made in mid-June...

Earlier this week, however, Provost Andreas Cangellaris said that the draft recommendation from an academic affairs team called for an end to on-campus instruction at the fall break. After that, students would return home for eight days of online instruction and six days of exams.

That seems to fall in line with what other Big Ten schools are planning.

Full Tom's Mailbag article here with the U of I planning question the second question down. Other recent articles noted an ACT/SAT testing waiver being approved and an updated timeline on a fall plan within the next couple weeks:

A draft of that report recommended ending in-person instruction at Thanksgiving break, with the last eight days of instruction and exams held online to reduce travel back and forth to campus.

It also said that if central Illinois is in Phase 4 of the governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan, which is likely, classes with more than 50 students would have to be held entirely online.

And to help spread out students, classes may be held in the evening, on Saturdays and in non-academic spaces, the report stated.

That full article from Wednesday here. Illinois Newsroom had coverage and links for the draft plan here as well as faculty safety concerns and opposition to reopening in the fall.


I'm still catching up on Unit 4 and District 116 meeting information, but I have some highlights from the coverage so far. Illinois Newsroom had an interview with Unit 4 Superintendent Zola about potential issues with the fall here. Excerpt:

I think we learned a lot in this first chapter of COVID-19 around food, and what our families need. We’ve created a pretty significant platform around remote learning. We also are finding that by providing devices to homes and by mitigating the access to technology that we are beginning to sort of level that playing field. I would sense that if there is another stay-at-home order in the fall, that we’re going to be in a much better place in terms of the timely response and also making sure families already have devices. We’re not going to have to roll out the numbers of devices that we did this spring. I’m in several conversations. We have an area superintendents group that meets with the regional superintendent on a regular basis. I’m in a larger group called the large urban districts, and so that’s large school districts across the state. So those are two spaces where we’ve begun to have some conversations about what school might look like in the fall...

I think schools will raise their value level in the fall. I think parents are going to be grateful when we reopen. I think they’re going to be appreciative of what school has been for them and for their children, I think they’re going to be excited to return in the fall, and whatever version that looks like, hopefully a somewhat normal version where the bus comes up and the students get on, and we’re able to feed them breakfast and do some learning and have a healthy lunch and some recess time.

That full article here with a lot of information about Summer programs, budgets, feeding kids, and more.

District 116 Board of Education had a study session meeting on June 2nd (agenda, video) where they discussed remote learning and registration planning going into the fall. It was a long meeting and I haven't had a chance to wade through it, but it appeared that they are still working out managing the fall and coronvirus safety concerns and touched on the topic in those two presentations.

As has come up in the Urbana City Council and among activists and protesters locally and nationally, there has been another look at police officers in schools. Illinois Newsroom had an overview of the issue here. The same safety and budget concerns with putting Student Resource Officers into schools remain along with concerns about the school to prison pipeline for minority students who tend to face disparities in school discipline (including in Urbana schools).

It's not a lot of information yet, and a lot of it depends on how the coronavirus projections diverge from actual infections and deaths over the summer. The interrupted Spring semester was a crash course in a sudden and extreme scenario where super spreader events could have created untold numbers of uncontrolled outbreaks. With some luck and hard work, the Fall semester should be far less extreme, even if far from the normal we'd like.


[Updated: Original post published on 6/12/2020 at 10:39am.]

Urbana City Council 6/8-10

Urbana's City Council had another two part meeting this week due to overwhelming community input and participation at the regularly scheduled Monday meeting. A local issue of police use of force in the Aleyah Lewis case had increased attention and pressure with national attention on the subject of police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

Nationwide and international protests that resulted from another brutal death caught on video in contrast with official police description were further fueled by brutal assaults on journalists and protesters by police afterward. It is in this context that a groundswell for more dramatic changes and impatience for the status quo swept into local marches, protests, and local government.

The Urbana Mayor and Chief of Police Bryan Seraphin have both been out in public assuring residents they take these issues seriously and are committed towards reviewing use of force policies and considering reforms. Both have made a variety of public statements to this effect and showed up to one of the larger local protests along with Champaign officials and police representatives. Prior to the second half of this City Council meeting on Wednesday, both appeared at the Champaign Community Coalition with the same message (video available here).

The Monday regular meeting ran long with public comments and emailed public input being read into the record. Like the previous Committee of the Whole meeting last week, they recessed and reconvened the meeting on Wednesday to finish the agenda items, including a budget presentation and approve updates to the Emergency Order for outside dining and cocktails to go.

Public input was overwhelmingly in opposition to or supporting a delay in re-appointing Chief Seraphin among other annual appointments on the agenda. Those supporting his appointment included people who had a working relationship with Seraphin over the years. Testimonials from Preston James known in City of Urbana government for his work in criminal justice reform and reentry work and the Cunningham Children's Home and their reliance on a working relationship with the Urbana Police to ensure the safety and success of their programs stood out among the handful of endorsements.

Council member Jared Miller summed up the overwhelming opposition Wednesday night before the vote to re-appoint Seraphin as 140 voices and emails in roughly 48 hours, including spontaneous protests Monday night in front of the City Building as the City Council appeared to cut off public input and continued protests on Wednesday night that appeared to have expanded to 50-60 people disrupting traffic in front of the City Building.

The vote still came in 5-1 with only Council member Miller in opposition to re-appoint Chief Seraphin. The arguments from City Council members to approve noted the at-will nature of the appointment, concerns about having a power vacuum at this delicate time, and a strong working relationship with Seraphin on previous criminal justice reforms. From Mayor Marlin to other City Council members there was a repeated argument that Chief Seraphin was a credible voice with the police department itself, which would be needed to get "buy in" for any reform measures enacted.

Council member Maryalice Wu argued in her support for appointment that the demand for change puts the onus on Seraphin to lead and demonstrate change in the department or the Council would have to revisit the decision on his leadership.

In other appointment news, previous Urbana City Clerk Phyllis Clark was appointed to fill that same position after the health related resignation of Clerk Charlie Smyth. Applications for appointment to the City Council's Ward 2 are available from the City's website here after Eric Jakobsson announced his impending retirement at the end of the month.


Other Meeting Highlights:

Monday's video (available here) started off with some technical announcements explaining the new webinar format being used on Zoom to avoid last week's Zoom bombing problems. Mayor Marlin apologized for those vulgar interruptions and graphic images. She explained that they were going to do audio comments first to avoid the frustrating delays of the Committee of the Whole experience last time.

She explained that due to the overwhelming number of emailed public comments she'd be enforcing the two hour time limit for public participation. Protests started outside of the City Building when she cut off reading emailed public comments into the record prior to that two hour limit (video from one of the protesters here).

Minnie Pearson of the Champaign County branch of the NAACP spoke along with Carol Spindel of the local ACLU in support of criminal justice reforms (direct video link here). They focused on looking and revising use of force policies, restricting neck holds and banning knee holds. Pearson noted a need to adopt and implement the NAACP 10 shared principles as with other local government and departments and demilitarization of the police. She went on to demand a greater effort in honest communication with the community.

Public comments that followed stressed the need for more police accountability, empowering Urbana's Civilian Police Review Board, and more dramatic reforms shifting funding from police budgets to programs and services that would alleviate reliance on policing. This was in addition to specific requests for a transparent and independent investigation into the Aleyah Lewis case and opposition to the reappointment of Chief Seraphin.

Mayor Marlin began reading emailed public comments at 7:43pm (or around the 50 minute mark of the video here). As summarized above, most were in opposition of Chief Seraphin's reappointment. There were several that followed what appeared to be a form or script from local organizers, a fact that Council member Brown used to dismiss opposition to the Seraphin appointment. For a local issue to get enough attention and participation in organized opposition to merit elected officials to publicly address and diminish its relevance, however, tends to highlight that it was relevant enough they couldn't simply ignore it either.

Having listened to the comments read into the record, there are appeared to be plenty of various and sincere opposition around the same themes, however. Opposition or delay of the Seraphin appointment, dropping charges against Aleyah Lewis, putting the arresting officers on administrative leave pending an independent investigation, and empowering the CPRB.

Cunningham Township Supervisor Danielle Chynoweth took to social media to criticize the Mayor after comments were cut short and the meeting went into closed session for another matter. People began coming out and protesting in front of the City Building at this time as well.

When the meeting returned to open session there was some discussion about how to split the time and agenda items. The agenda was moved around to get the Committee of the Whole agenda items through and then start fresh on Wednesday with the budget presentation.

The budget presentation began at the beginning of the Wednesday night meeting (video available here). The discussion included the financial status of the City going into the pandemic and now official recession. The City's work to address deficits and other budget issues has left it in a better position to endure the economic fallout of the pandemic, but there are still a lot of unknowns about future funding. Right now the budget maintains current services to residents, but the City will have to continue to assess and reassess as we find out whether or not we'll recover faster or slower economically.

The question and answer discussion after the budget presentation focused on a lot of technical details and nuances. Examples were the revenue streams from cannabis, the equipment fund for the Fire Department, potentially reconsidering a K-9 unit vehicle given new cannabis laws and potential upcoming police reforms and spending priorities. The budget discussions will continue on Monday with more presentations and Council input. The planned date for the big budget vote is June 22nd.

Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole 6/1-3

Catching up on Urbana's City government has been a slow process. This post covers the recent City Council's two day Committee of the Whole meeting which ran nearly seven hours total. It will summarize and highlight as opposed to a full write-up (link to jump to part 2 below). There was news coverage of the first half of the meeting by the Daily Illini here and Illinois Newsroom here. They both mentioned the racist and vulgar "Zoom bombing." Excerpt from Illinois Newsroom:

At their Monday night Committee of the Whole meeting, Urbana City Council members condemned the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  Earlier Monday, several city officials had participated in a demonstration on the streets of downtown Urbana in George Floyd’s memory. But afterwards, the city council members heard criticism of some of their own officers, regarding the arrest of Aleyah Lewis made by Urbana Police in April.

Close to 100 people showered the online council meeting with Zoom calls and emails. They said that Urbana Police would not have wrestled and body-slammed the 21-year-old Lewis if she had been white. Lewis was arrested on April 10 during a gun investigation involving her companion...

Many of those who spoke or emailed demanded that charges against Lewis be dropped, and the officers who arrested her be placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation.

That full article here. More background on the Aleyah Lewis case from the News-Gazette here, and the George Floyd case from NPR here.

Reminder: there is a regular City Council meeting tonight (agenda) at 7pm. It streams live at 7pm here. It will be available later on the City Council website here.


COW Meeting Part 1. June 1 (agenda, video):

Many of the public comments also demanded that the Civilian Police Review Board be empowered as a tool for the community to be better informed and hold police accountable. There were many complaints that the Board was failing its basic functions, not issuing required reports, and was too heavily influenced or controlled by the Urbana Police Department itself. Others accused City Staff of undermining it.

Minnie Pearson, the President of the NAACP of Champaign County, spoke of the history and trauma of brutality faced by African-Americans like her throughout her lifetime. From Emmet Till to George Floyd. Linking the national issues and the local, she noted that the violence has been going on for 400 years, but now it's being caught on film. The local Alayeh Lewis was also record on video and came to the attention of the public online. Her full comments are available here in the video.

Danielle Chynoweth, long a player in Urbana government noted her own role in creating the CPRB and expressed her shame in what it had become. In her comments she lamented the compromises that watered it down in the first place and the "shambles" it was in now. She also had an overview of local accusations of police abuse over the years and tied it to the national issue of police brutality in light of the George Floyd case. Her full comments are available here in the video.

There were some complaints that many who wished to speak were forced to wait for hours while the Council and others spoke first and emails were read into the record. One speaker also expressed frustration that the Urbana Police Chief, Bryant Seraphin, made initial comments, but left before any public comments were read or shared.

Council member Jared Miller noted that as Chair he had read 30 emailed public comments, which took roughly an hour, and he still had 44 emails with public comments remaining. The Council decided that all of emailed public comments would be added to the record of the meeting and be available to the public (with redactions for email addresses and other requirements).

The meeting was continued to Wednesday, June 3rd to complete the City business on the agenda (including two presentations and several ordinances). Mayor Diane Marlin was interviewed in a segment that appeared on WCIA that day available here.


COW Meeting Part 2. June 3 (agenda, city website video, YouTube video (missing first 6 minutes):

The second part of the meeting began with an announcement about steps taken to against Zoom bombing. Settings were changed to prevent audio and video disturbances. Additional emailed public comments were added to the record.

The meeting began with an overview police review boards in general and then a nearly hour long question and answer period between the new Chair of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board, other members of the board and City staff.

The discussion addressed the lack of required reports being filed and attempts to remedy some of the previous shortfalls. It addressed technicalities in the language of the ordinance on issue such as requiring a notary to confirm the identity of the complainant. The notary issue has become a serious impediment with coronavirus social distancing rules. Before the Urbana police staff performed this role when a complaint was submitted. There was a discussion of the language being on the form due to previous police practice and not required by the ordinance itself. There was further discussion of potential requirements under State law and questions about why other localities, such as the City of Champaign operate without a notary requirement in light of possible related State statutes.

At the end of the CPRB discussion, Council member Miller expressed his hope that the Council doesn't lose sight of the bigger police reform picture that constituents are demanding beyond simply empowering the CPRB.

There was a presentation on the Capital Improvement Plan (the first of two installments) which typically documents the financial and budget planning of the City in accordance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development funding requirements. The Mayor noted that this presentation was easier to follow for laymen compared to previous presentations. For folks wanting to get into the weeds and details of budgets and future projects, there was a lot of information here.

There were a few interesting questions that popped up on what would potentially happen with old firehouse properties that had to be replaced and a discussion about private sewer systems. The public information on private sewer systems, a map of where they exist, and other records revealed some concerns about "vulnerability" to the city. I honestly couldn't tell if they were talking about some sort of legal liability or environmental or public safety vulnerability.

If I'm understanding the issue, it appears that there are some small private sewer systems built a long time ago within the City's full sewer system where records don't necessarily exist. Other documents on the rest of the system reveal information about them, but there are some concerns about mapping out the full system.

There were overviews of each of the ordinances on the agenda. All were sent to the full City Council with a recommendation to approve. The first two ordinances related to a development at.

The last group of ordinances dealt with funding and planning that included COVID-19 relief and spending. There was a presentation on that (video here) as well as questions and answers about technical details on housing subsidies, rental assistance, and small business assistance.

Some of the jargon and acronyms can get mind numbing on coronavirus relief funding that the federal government included with the CARES Act. The mechanisms that already existed for federal dollars to reach local programs were used to avoid re-inventing the wheel. So, in local government meetings, you'll hear Council members rattle of terms like "CDBG-CV funds." You probably don't need to know that it's referring to additional COVID-19 related spending in addition to the usual federal Community Development Block Grants. I didn't even like typing that last sentence. It's federal relief funding due to the pandemic.

Local governments are being encouraged to spend the money quickly to help protect the economy, but there are still a lot of concerns to avoid waste, "duplication" of payments from other programs, and ensuring that they will be reimbursed. Federal funding like this is usually reimbursed like clockwork and wouldn't normally be a concern for local governments to spend their money knowing the program will reimburse them. But this emergency funding happened quickly and the federal guidance isn't final yet.

Local government officials may be more aware than most that not dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's is a recipe for bureaucratic nightmares. It truly is the little things that get you. So there's a bit of anxiety on funding that is normally extremely reliable. A lot of folks would probably feel better once they know for sure they're within the final guidance and requirements for certain.

If you're catching up on Urbana City government like me, this was probably a good place to start. Even if it was a nearly 7 hour crash course.

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.

Aiming for Peace in 217

The First Followers Reentry program hosted an online event on local gun violence with a conversation among those impacted by that violence. The video is available here (link jumps to beginning of the discussion after some initial setup).

The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Regina Parnell and included personal perspectives from many community members on their personal and family losses and experiences with gun violence locally. Some of the panelists were members of the First Followers GoMAD (Make a Difference) program.

The effects of gun violence were discussed, but so too were thee causes: a lack of unity, resources, and path towards human dignity and healing families. A need for hope and programs that work for those who don't feel valued as human beings or that they're even likely to survive their circumstances was discussed.

Survivors explained the enduring hurt and grief, how they deal with it and fight to prevent others from having to go through the same hurt. There was a desire to make potential perpetrators to understand the reality and permanence of their actions, not just on their victims and families, but to their own lives and families.

There was a question and answer portion that prioritized the impacted community after the initial discussion. About a hundred community members participated in the online event and participated in the chat comments and question opportunities.

Concerns were raised about the coronavirus situation creating more time on the hands of people inclined to start trouble. Many of the perspectives focused on the need to understand what people are going through and not dismissing them as someone else's problem. Dr. Parnell explained this isn't a white or black issue as much as it is a community issue and that we need to come together as one. James "Tygar" Corbin put it, this is affecting all of us. A shooting involves losing two possible productive members of society.

There was a followup event for 18-24 year olds to continue the discussion.

In related news today, the News-Gazette had an article about the increasing gun violence in Champaign-Urbana after a record year in 2019:

In Champaign and Urbana, a tiny percentage of the population is making life miserable for a larger share of their neighbors by taking up arms for reasons labeled senseless, mind-boggling, frustrating and tragic.

As of last week, there had been about 54 shootings in Champaign since the beginning of the year.

That number represents a confirmation of shots having been fired. Not all resulted in physical damage to people or property but have done immeasurable damage to the quality of life.

“That is a little bit ahead of pace for us from last year,” Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb reported to the Community Coalition.

Cobb reminded them that the 100 shootings in 2019 made for a “record year.”

That full article available here.

May City of Champaign Updates

The May meetings started off with a 5/5 meeting of the City of Champaign Township (video, agenda). There's a quick overview of the Township government on the Cheat Sheet here taken from the official website here. The cities of Champaign and Urbana both have coterminous Township governments with City officials serving as the Township board for the City of Champaign Township and Cunningham Township respectively.

The Township Supervisor Andrew Quarnstrom gave a shortened presentation of Township budget. The budget is up for public view on the website here and on display by the City Building doors and Township Supervisor's Office doors. There were some modest increases due to increased demand for services and expected demand increases going forward due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Township Supervisor noted that the Township annual meeting is postponed for now. They've transitioned to remote case management and canceled in-person meetings. The office has partnered with Cunningham Township (Urbana), the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) and the United Way for additional support programs. The United Way is reimbursing some Township spending as part of that partnership. From the News-Gazette last month:

The local United Way and the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois have set up their own COVID-19 Relief Fund, which has already distributed $20,000 to City of Champaign and Cunningham townships for housing assistance and $6,000 to Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul schools for home-learning supplies.

They are expecting an unprecedented need with housing and are applying for additional grants towards addressing those needs.

After the Township meeting adjourned the May 5th City Council meeting began (video, agenda). The Emergency Order was renewed. The agenda items passed, but there was a little technical hiccup on the video links jumping ahead by one, so if you're looking up a particular item, make sure to listen to the bill numbers being discussed.

After those items a few Council members took a moment to thank various staff and highlighted some of the challenges they face during the pandemic to keep the City functioning. The City Manager used her time to have Planning and Development Director Bruce Knight give an overview of City efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic impact including:

• outreach and Zoom meetings with local businesses for relief and reopening coordination in cooperation with the Champaign County EDC and Visit Champaign County.
• helping distribute face masks for local businesses
• building a local plan around the governor's 5 phase regional reopen plan
• planned business survey on the horizon to get feedback on how they're being impacted by the coronavirus to better support them
• City of Champaign is also taking the lead on developing and refining a regional reopen plan with other governments in the region.

One issue he pointed out was encouraging students to report their residence as their campus address as opposed to their permanent home address if they live out of town. I've been wondering exactly how that would work since a lot of tax dollars and revenue are directed according to that census data. If a large portion of the campus population reports their residence elsewhere, that could have long term revenue impacts to Champaign-Urbana.

The May 12th Study Session (video, agenda) dealt with the single topic of the Proposed Budget Overview. The City Manager explained that the health emergency was expanding into a economic emergency. She explained that the City will need to change and redefine its work to deal with the reality of the coronavirus situation. The includes the reality of likely historical revenue shortfalls.

The presentation explained a two-tiered approach towards dealing with the upcoming budget realities:

• Starting with a balanced budget at the Fiscal Year beginning July 1st.
• Engaging with the public and employees on budget cuts going forward

Some of the potential cuts were listed around the 4 minute mark of the video including funding reductions in the following areas:

• Infrastructure
• Vehicles and Equipment
• Economic Development
• Personnel Costs (including pay freezes for department heads, unfunding non-emergency vacant positions, and the elimination of merit based pay increases for non-union employees)

These steps were described as necessary, but not taken lightly or without regard for the impacts they will have on the community and City employees. Finance Director Kay Nees then continued the presentation. She compared the usual budget process with what they're facing with the coronavirus impact. She highlighted projections that may be a best case scenario assuming the stay at home order continues through may with a slow opening from June to August.

Decrease in revenue assumptions for Fiscal Year 2019/20 were projected at 5.1% or a decrease of $5.3 million. The decrease for FY 2020/21 is initially projected at 7.3% or a decrease of $7.8 million. Sales tax is 43% of the City's revenue and where it is very vulnerable to coronavirus related impacts.

Healthy reserves have been maintained by the City in past practices, so the City of Champaign may be in better shape to take the brunt of the impact than other local governments. Specific proposed budget reductions and their impacts included:

• $1.28 million reduction to the transfer from the General Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund therefore reducing available funding for capital projects planned in the 10-Year Capital Improvement Plan; as a result some projects may be delayed to future years, have the project scope reduced or be cancelled altogether,
• $382,694 reduction to the transfer from the General Fund to the Vehicle Replacement Fund resulting in the delay of nonessential major vehicle purchases in FY 2020/21 and extending the life cycles of 86 vehicles by one year,
• $1.14 million reduction in salary and benefit costs by holding current vacant positions open through July 1, 2021 which will have service impacts and require Departments to realign departmental priorities and goals for the coming fiscal year based on available staff. This amount includes holding 2.0 FTE Police Officers vacant/unfunded which were added with the passage of the Food & Beverage tax increase,
• $113,333 reduction of personnel costs by unfunding the Pay for Performance program for Non-Bargaining Unit (NBU) employees for one year, which would delay employee progression through pay grades, and a
• $50,000 reduction to Economic Development budget resulting in less funds available for new or underbudgeted economic development incentives.

These details and more can be found in the report available here. The Council approved guidance to the staff for the two-tiered approach. Their comments were appreciative of the work involved with staff that were freezing their own salaries as their workload increased. The overall town was somber. Council member Gladney noted that it was a sad time, but that we will be in a better place again someday.

In the remote audience participation there were concerns read from Emily Close hoping to get answers about the City's FOIA process and the status of the person in charge of handling access to documents for the public. She expressed frustration at not being able to get an answer on retirement or a successor for the position.

The 5/26 Study Session was canceled due to graduation and too many schedule conflicts for a quorum, but was instead added after the 5/19 regular City Council Meeting below.

The 5/19 regular City Council Meeting (video, agenda) had some interesting Council Comments before approving agenda items and adjourning into a Study Session. Council member Brix commented on recent shootings and community reactions online. She spoke against normalizing the violence even as the coronavirus overshadows our lives. She highlighted police and community response in additional patrols, visibility, and the City's Neighborhood Services engaging in Zoom discussions and getting community input. She implored residents to contact the police or CrimeStoppers if they "see something, say something."

The Mayor highlighted her concerns with the County government's Fiscal Year 2018 audit that is required for a lot of social services funding through the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (RPC). She stated outright that this was a crisis and warned that funding sources were writing to say that funding was in jeopardy if they did not have the needed financial audit information.

She pointed out that this could put upwards of $37 million in jeopardy for programs like Head Start, energy efficiency, social service programs, transportation planning (CUUATS), and more. She asked residents to contact their County Board members to ensure the audit gets taken care of in a timely manner before funding is lost. She also highlighted the upcoming 5/22 RPC board meeting would have the outside auditor speaking during public comments and taking questions. That RPC meeting video is available here. His presentation and the Q & A covering this topic are at the beginning of the meeting video.

The County Auditor passed along a message that the necessary work will be done in time and that funding is secure:

Thanks for reaching out. RPC and I are in close communications and my office has worked every day throughout the lockdown. My new deputy and I have placed the 2018 CAFR on the Auditor website; the external auditor’s opinion is coming very soon...

The cognizant agency for RPC is Illinois’s Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The Accountability Officer has alerted Champaign County that we are not yet in compliance and to please do so—but also that enforcement procedure are delayed due to COVID.

There is no “stop-pay” letter that gives you 45 days. The 2018 audit will beat any such warning, let alone the stop-pay date.

The outside auditor at the RPC meeting encouraged people to pester and pressure the County government to ensure they have all the information and support they need from the Treasurer and Auditor's office to complete their work. Many of the local government leaders on the RPC board expressed ongoing concerns at the 5/22 meeting.


At the 5/19 Study Session after the regular Council meeting there was a presentation (video, written report) by the Library Director, Donna Pittman. The coronavirus had changed the presentation from what she had hoped to present. She went over many of the planned events and budget concerns that have arisen since the pandemic struck. There was also some discussion about the logistical issues with returning materials safely given the equipment involved and the staff proximity. If you ever get the opportunity to take a tour of the Champaign Public Library again, they take "sorting" seriously:

The second Study Session topic was a presentation by Bruce Knight on the Capital Improvements Plan and adjustments due to projected revenue declines. He made comparisons to the "Great Recession" where the City was forced to delay and cut projects due to budget constraints. He noted that the City had just caught up from those delays and cuts after the "Great Recession" in the last couple of years.

He noted that there is more potential bad news and the City may have to revisit the Capital Investment Plan when the impact of the coronavirus is better known versus current projections. The City Council directed staff to include both the revised Library and CIP budgets into the overall budget proposal.

March / April City of Champaign Updates

I have to admit that it was more than a little surreal to go back over the City Council meeting videos for the City of Champaign. The previous coverage on the local Cheat Sheet left off at the March 5th City Council meeting (available here). It was a pretty typical local government meeting, though it did touch upon some concerns about preparedness for the coronavirus:

The City Manager had a statement about preparedness for the coronavirus here. She explains the intergovernmental Regional Emergency Coordination Group facilitated by the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency. She explained that municipal and public safety members had met that afternoon in their policy group to discuss the coronavirus situation and preparing for the possibility of local cases soon. There will be weekly meetings on the subject led by Champaign-Urbana Public Health District addressing needs of informing the public.

Full post here. This Cheat Sheet post has overviews of the City of Champaign meetings for the rest of March and April, including some highlights of the coronavirus impact.


Rest of March:

The last normal meeting occurred on March 10th (video, agenda) and was a Study Session meeting. It had presentations on the the Bristol Place project and an overview of the Champaign Police Department. The bulk of the meeting looked at the Police Department and the need for more officers. Concerns were raised about job fairs in the spring possibly getting interrupted by the coronavirus and effects it may have on recruitment.

The next day the local newspaper, the News-Gazette, was reporting that the University was preparing for the possibility of students having to finish the semester online after Spring Break. The front page also had an article about hygiene product shortages and a picture of empty toilet paper shelves. Page A6 noted the first confirmed case outside of Cook County. By that evening the online classes article that had started in print, "While it's business as usual for now..." had been updated on the website that in person classes had been canceled.

The shock to sports fans came with the NBA cancelling the rest of its season, the NCAA canceling fans in the stadiums, and then March Madness getting canceled altogether. Beyond disappointed fans, however, this reflected an immense amount of money being lost out of safety concerns. It raised serious questions about just how much danger the nation was in and what the economic impact would be if investors were considering these lost revenues necessary.

WCIA noted on March 12th that the previous 24 hours had transformed Champaign County's economy.

Efforts to stop the spread of Coronavirus have put a halt on travel plans, creating a whirlwind of uncertainty surrounding anticipated revenue. Visit Champaign County’s President Jayne Deluce says, “If you look at events like U of I Mom’s Weekend that’s cancelled, our hotels, restaurants, caterers, and retailers won’t rebound from that one weekend.” She says Mom’s Weekend typically brings in several million dollars. “We’re going to have a huge economic downfall from just that sole event, because that is a sold out weekend for our hotels,” says Deluce.

That full article here.

On March 13th the City of Champaign held a Special Emergency Meeting (video, agenda) to pass an Emergency Order that would trigger the broad powers of the mayor under State statutes and city ordinances. The broad language of the ordinance caused a great deal of local concern that was raised and addressed during the meeting. From News-Gazette's March 14th eEdition (subscription):

City attorney Fred Stavins noted that the emergency ordinance doesn’t compel any particular actions, which would need to be approved by the city council at its next meeting.

“The ordinance contemplates a wide range of emergency situations,” he said. “Whether any of these steps will be necessary, other than the cancellation of some meetings and the necessity to deal with personnel issues, including work-at-home issues, and the ability to respond to the needs of our fire and police departments, is not completely known at this time.”

...

The expansive powers in the ordinance spread quickly online, with the gun-seizure clause leading the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association to issue a “National Alert.”

That full article here. The News-Gazette had a followup article on the City Council's attempt to address concerns about the Emergency Order in a statement later that same day. Excerpt:

Following a raft of criticism apparently generated by a response from the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association to Friday’s approval of the emergency ordinance, the city put out a statement Saturday clarifying the intent...

The statement said the municipal code has been in place for more than 50 years and was last updated in 2006 to mirror a state statute that gives similar powers to the governor when he or she issues a disaster declaration, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker did on Monday.

Several communities in Illinois and other states have similar language about emergency powers.

That full article here. The City's statement is available here. The remaining March City Council meetings on the calendar were canceled.


April Meetings:

The next City Council meeting on April 7th (video, agenda) was done remotely with the Zoom app and new protocols for public participation submitted by web comment or dropbox. Comments received before 5pm would be considered "Communications" and put into the record, while those after 5pm would be considered audience participation and read aloud by Council Member / Deputy Mayor Tom Bruno. The updated remote meeting rules have been included with meeting agendas. Here is the most recent wording from the 6/2 meeting agenda:

I. Comments will be assembled and transmitted to Council members as follows:

1. At 5:00 p.m. before the City Council meeting, staff will download a copy of all comments submitted by web form and will scan in any hard copy comments received. Staff will sort the comments by public hearing, agenda item or general public comment, and then share the comments with the City Council email group, the City Clerk, the City Manager and her designees. Such comments will be treated in the same manner as general correspondence.

1. After 5:00 p.m. and during the Council meeting, when a person submits a web comment, the comment will be emailed in real time to the City Council email group, the City Clerk, and the City Manager or her designee.

It was a brief meeting with one public comment from the local Libertarian Party chair concerned about the Emergency Order and a unanimous vote to renew the Emergency Order.


The April 14th Study Session (video, agenda) covered the topics of the Consolidated Plan for the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) related projects and funding. This included the Annual Action Plan to implement it. The second topic covered was coronavirus related funding via the federal relief package known as the CARES Act.

The Consolidated Plan report has a lot of technical details for those interested and wonky enough to be able to decipher it. There were some technical discussions about how coronavirus relief bills have impacted spending caps and increased disaster readiness. For example it's possible to reallocate funds for "urgent needs" related to a declared emergency under certain circumstances.

The CARES Act added some flexibility on HUD related funding in the first Study Session topic, but the second topic of the Study Session focused more on the details of the CARES Act itself. The City's 2020 fund allocation was just over $1 million, with nearly $600,000 to be allocated within 30 days in the first allocation.

There was a significant amount of Q & A after the CARES Act presentation. The federal government is encouraging local governments to spend the money quickly to ensure it has the intended impact. The City is expected to spend the money first and then receive reimbursements. Those reimbursements were described as definite as federal reimbursements had never been an issue in the past. There were some technical issues discussed to avoid redundant spending under "duplication" rules. There were also discussions on how to implement various aspects with contracts, RFPs, public private partnerships or intergovernmental agreements.


The April 21st Regular City Council meeting (video, agenda) was brief. After the agenda items passed, including renewing the Emergency Order, the mayor encouraged residents to wear masks and continue social distancing efforts to "flatten the curve." The April 28th Study Session was canceled due to a lack of any agenda items for it.


May Preview:

In the upcoming May updates there are a lot more issues related to the Phase 3 reopening, economic impacts, revenue declines, and delayed projects and spending. The City of Champaign was on relatively stronger fiscal footing than many local governments heading into the coronavirus pandemic, but there are still serious concerns about core services for constituents. The coronavirus has impacted and amplified a lot of the pre-existing issues that American local governments, including Champaign, were already struggling with such as affordable housing, economic and educational disparities, and access to health care.

There were also concerns raised about the ongoing delays in the County Board's financial audit for the 2018 Fiscal Year and worries about that putting funding for local social service programs in jeopardy. An overview by the outside auditor and questions from several local government officials at the beginning of the most recent Champaign County Regional Planning Commission meeting delved into the status and ongoing concerns. The City of Champaign Mayor's personal plea is available from the May 19th City Council meeting here.