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.

Coronavirus and General Updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'll try to get more updates and information on the local Cheat Sheet going forward. There have already been some updates on the Cheat Sheet of Champaign County for anyone interested in County government. We've been catching up on local government meetings and there should be some overview posts soon. I apologize for the long break while adjusting to the every changing landscape on how local governments were adapting and a tsunami of news and information that we just couldn't keep up with. I have a huge to do list on updates and information on how people can still participate in local government.

Good luck and stay safe, everybody!