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.