City of Urbana Vacancy and Updates

In this post we have some updates on litigation against the City, ongoing work to revise the liquor code, and an alderman vacancy. First, there's going to be a alderman vacancy on the Urbana City Council soon and the City is accepting applications from district residents for an appointment to the rest of his term. From the News-Gazette today:

After Monday’s city council meeting, Hazen told The News-Gazette he’s resigning so he can focus on his full-time job as chief of public safety at Richland Community College in Decatur, a position he’s held since February 2018...

Hazen was elected to the council in 2017 to a four-year term.

The city will take applications to fill Hazen’s position until Feb. 21, Marlin said, followed by interviews with the candidates...

Hazen’s replacement will fill his seat until May 2021, following the next city council election that spring, Marlin said.

More information at the full article here. Tom Kacich of the News-Gazette pointed out on his twitter page that Hazen was the Council's only Republican member. Application information for residents of the district (map) wanting to be considered for the vacancy are available at the City's website here. Excerpt:

The City of Urbana is accepting applications for the Urbana City Council seat vacated by Ward 6 Alderman Den Hazen on February 25, 2020 due to scheduling conflicts and family matters. Per state law, Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin has up to 60 days from the date of a council member’s resignation to recommend an appointment to the City Council. The Council must then vote on the appointment within 30 days.

Application paperwork and requirements information here.


Other City of Urbana Updates:

There was a federal lawsuit filed against the City of Urbana and Police Department over arrests related to a shooting on campus in 2018. The News-Gazette had details last week here:

Two men who had armed robbery charges against them dropped are suing the city of Urbana and its police officers in federal court, accusing them of fabricating eyewitness identification.

In lawsuits filed last week, Quintin Brown, 28, and Wayne Colson, 24, say they were unlawfully jailed for nearly a year in connection with an alleged holdup at a house party two years ago in Urbana that resulted in two women being hit by gunfire...

When prosecutors announced they would be dropping the charges against Brown, Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said a witness who picked him from a photo lineup, leading to the charges against him, wasn’t cooperating with her office.

The full article has additional links for more information on the arrests and the cases over time here. A related article on a separate lawsuit against the fraternity where the shootings happened was in the paper at the same time here.


At this week's Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole meeting (agenda here), there was a presentation and vote to update the City's liquor ordinances. The video presentation of the proposed changes is available here. The changes initially included modifications to the age restrictions for those 18 and under, but were not included in the final version passed. The News-Gazette had an overview of the proposed age changes last week:

The city has been studying its liquor code since April. The proposed changes say anyone younger than 19 will not be allowed after 9 p.m. in establishments that hold Class A liquor licenses. Most places with that type of license are bars...

Champaign’s bar-entry age is 19.

That full article here. The News-Gazette article linked above in relation to the alderman vacancy pointed out at that same meeting that the public and council feedback on the change led to it being dropped. More on that here.

The Council approved returning to look at the revised plan at the next Committee of the Whole meeting two weeks later on February 17th. Mayor Marlin had a summary at the end of the video on this topic summarizing the changes they will be looking at at the next Committee of the Whole at the 1:30:28 mark.