City of Urbana Updates: Council, Human Relations and Police Review

This post is a follow up on a previous overview of City Council meetings in January available on the Cheat Sheet here. In addition to one final regular meeting of the City Council there were meetings by Urbana's Human Relations Commission and Civilian Police Review Board. This included a listening session by the CPRB for public input.

This week there were headlines for the upcoming City Council meeting on February 1st and a proposal that's been in the works for a long time to address structural racism in Urbana. From WCIA:

It focuses on ending structural racism. Councilmember Sherise Hursey introduced it. She thought of it over the summer and realized it was time the City was focused more on equality and equity.

Mayor Diane Marlin said this is long overdue. “This resolution again is the first step, which is saying, ‘Okay, it exists. It has existed. It has just negatively impacted people’s lives for hundreds of years, and it needs to end.'”

This resolution, it does not have any specific policies in it. It is more of a framework for City leaders to base their decisions.

That WCIA blurb is available here. More from the News-Gazette coverage:

The four-page resolution calls out the city for a history of Jim Crow laws, White supremacy, segregation and racial oppression...

According to the resolution, the Ku Klux Klan operated out of the Illinois Theater in Urbana and held “events with upwards of 3,000 members at a time when the County’s population was less than 60,000.”

As more Black residents moved to Champaign-Urbana after World War II, the resolution states, “Black citizens were systematically and illegally excluded from White neighborhoods through subdivision covenants, developer, Realtor, landlord, seller, and lending practices and were de facto confined to the ‘north end.’”

That full article here. Full text of the resolution is available from the City's website here.

Below is coverage of other meetings by the City Council, the Human Relations Commission, and the Civilian Police Review Board in January:

Human Relations Commission 1/13:

The HRC meeting (agenda, video) began with a conversation with Daniel Wilson, Project Manager and equal employment opportunity (EEO) officer at Duce Construction. It was listed as a "presentation" on the agenda and moved up to just after public comments. The discussion focused on workforce statistics and Duce Construction, a contractor with the City of Urbana and clarifying what the HRC's expectations and process were for ensuring diversity with contractors.

Commissioner Resnick explained the process and how they compare workforce statistics to local demographics to work with employers on areas where diversity could be improved. For example, a contractor with no significant diversity issues might get a full 2 year approval from the commission that the city would take into consideration. If there were problematic signs, they might approve for a 1 year or 6 months with a request for more data, information or follow up on diversity plans. Later in the meeting when explaining the process to new members Resnick noted that the Commission has never voted against approval altogether yet due to willingness of contractors and employers to work with them on any perceived issues. He also noted that smaller companies with 15 employees or less are generally too small for much scrutiny unless they are severely lacking somehow.

Wilson appreciated the clarifications and highlighted the pool of unions he works with for labor on projects and their own efforts on diversity. He pointed to a local Buildings and Trade Council working with the University of Illinois on similar goals. The HRC noted interest in reaching out for more information and collaboration.

Most of the meeting involved the nuance of recommendations on whether or not the City of Urbana should be subject to the Human Rights Ordinance and the process for reporting complaints through the HRC. The decision is ultimately up to the City Council and the commissioners passed a resolution asking the Council to clarify its wishes. They recommended two options to consider, covering how complaints or reports of discrimination under the HRO might be dealt with whether the City clarified one way or the other. This became the subject of contention in the following City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on 1/19 after City Staff forwarded only one option for the Council's consideration, believing the other wasn't feasible.

Other business was conducted without controversy, including agreeing to the meeting calendar and letting new members introduce themselves at the next meeting when more commissioners who haven't already met them might be in attendance.

Civilian Police Review Board 1/15 and 1/27 meetings:

The January 15th Review Board meeting (agenda, video) started out by highlighting a listening session planned at a meeting later this month (covered below) and public comments with a concern about board members possibly being threatened or intimidated into silence. Local police reform activist, Christopher Hansen, noted concerns on a variety of issues including delays on starting meetings on time, a new appointment's reasons for joining the board, a previous speaker presenting propaganda, and the closed process for hearing complaints. The concern about threats or intimidation got a response from the entire board, none reporting any threats or intimidation. Chair Ricardo Diaz explained the serious and personal nature of the work they do in close session deliberations and the necessity for discretion. He defended the rules for closed session deliberations.

Member Dossett explained the appointment process ultimately ends with the Mayor's appointment decision, but noted that the last few appointments included board participation in the selection process. He argued they weren't looking for people with a bias one way or another on policy issues so much as upstanding community members with problem solving skills and a sense of fairness.

After closed session there was a bit of a discussion on procedure that involved a parliamentarian being brought in to vote on the deliberations in the open meeting. The voting was mixed, but all had a majority sustaining the Chief's findings in each of the three appeals considered by the Board.

The January 27th meeting (agenda, video) was mostly a listening session that allowed more public input. The format allowed the public to respond to board comments and follow up on previous remarks. Comments included and referenced those in a list of recommendations posted on the City's website here (categorized by changes with or without requiring an ordinance change and changes to the oversight model). There was some regular public participation early on that focused on issues with outreach and notification of the listening session and concerns about the format and who might have control of muting participants.

The listening session itself began around the 35 minute mark of the video with board comments and responses interspersed between groups of speakers. A lot of the discussion focused on the 45 day limit for submitting a complaint, exceptions, possible exceptions, and concerns about trauma and retaliation.

There were also issues raised on representation on the board, concerns about the appointment process and how applicants might be screened by the Mayor. There's currently a vacancy on the board and already some applicants, but they encouraged more people to apply.

Urbana City Council Meeting 1/25:

There was a lot of public participation at the beginning of the meeting, including several potential City Council candidates weighing in on police reform, applying the Human Rights Ordinance to the City, complaints about city staff, housing affordability, and the need for an ethical city attorney replacement. The Mayor responded to a couple of the comments, noting her work with the ACLU and NAACP on the Use of Force policy changes and working with Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen on rapid testing through the University of Illinois as soon as that becomes available. She also promised a follow up with someone having difficulties with a housing program application.

Someone also noted their concerns about a local hate group spreading white nationalist messages in the area again and wanting to know the City's communication policy after such incidents. He noted that community members have been left in the dark with spotty and delayed news coverage and many not hearing any updates from the City.

Other City business passed without controversy except a couple resolutions for a project at 602 South Lincoln that needed more time and was sent back to the Committee of the Whole. Council member Wu encouraged people curious about this CCH Development project to check out the last couple hours of the Design Review Board meeting (agenda, video) for more details about it.

Mayor Marlin gave updates on COVID vaccinations and the continued need to take precautions like wearing a mask, social distancing, and hand washing. She pointed out that vaccinations are free and anyone charging is likely engaging in fraud. Council member Hursey pointed out that vaccinations may also be available from your doctor in some cases and to be on the look out for any outreach from them.

City of Champaign Updates: Study Sessions and Human Relations Commission

This post covers a few additional January meetings of the Champaign City Council and the Human Relations Commission and its Police Review Subcommittee.

[Update: coverage of the 1/19 City Council meeting (agenda, video) available at WCIA here and the News-Gazette here. The meeting involved approvals for demolitions and drainage projects related to Garden Hills neighborhood improvements. Public comments (jump to video) included candidates for municipal seats, election concerns, and other concerns around police reforms and concerns about extremism. There was also a post-meeting Study Session (report, video) on 40North Champaign County Arts Council.]

City Council Study Session 1/26:

The City Council had a study session (agenda, video) this week that covered the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and an overview of the City Goals going into 2021 after a very unusual 2020.

The CAFR is extremely long and detailed, but the presentation at the study session hit the general themes if one is interested and in getting the gist of the City's financial situation. For a quick overview, they recommend the analysis on pages 17-34 (pages 33-50 of the PDF file). The first and last sections of this analysis section is probably the most useful for folks who want to skim it. This bit from the "Economic Factor's and Next Year's Budget" serves as a warning for what the future may hold:

These reductions balanced the FY 2020/21 with anticipated recurring revenues slightly greater then recurring expenditures. While the FY 2020/21 budgets is balanced, budgeted total expenditures are not within the City’s policy limits of budgeting recurring General Fund expenditures at 98.5% of recurring revenues. Additional budget balancing measures will be required to reduce recurring expenditures to 98.5% of recurring revenue in accordance with the City’s financial policies. These additional budget balancing measures will require cuts to City services that will impact residents and businesses. The City’s financial policies were designed to provide time during a fiscal crisis to allow for Council and City staff to approach budget reductions and the corresponding reductions to services in a thoughtful manner. This also includes time to allow for public and employee input in the process.

Due to the City’s conservative financial policies, the City has available fund balance reserves to allow for the time to evaluate the impact of further budget reductions. Because of the available fund balance the City has the budgetary buffer to phase in necessary budget reductions over the coming year. As such, City staff recommended taking a tiered approach to the FY 2020/21 budget. This tiered approach included adopting in June a budget for FY 2020/21 that is balanced but does not meet the threshold of the City’s recurring revenue policy. Then in December, the Administration will bring forward recommended savings ideas to Council for consideration. Finally, in February 2021 staff will bring forward a budget amended for the FY 2020/21 budget year based upon Council direction.

Full Study Session report that includes an explanation by staff and the full CAFR here. The City Goals presentation appeared to get most of the public participation on concerns about investing in diverse neighborhoods beyond just financial investment.

Human Rights Commission 1/4 and Citizen Review Subcommittee Meetings 1/13:

The Human Rights Commission meeting welcomed a new commissioner, Prince Robertson. He introduced himself more in the Commissioner Comments towards the end of the meeting and explained how he planned to be a sponge for information coming into the appointment. There was a presentation by the City of Champaign's Assistant HR Director, Eric Reynolds, on affirmative action and equal employment. Topics included how the city conducts outreach and training. He also explained details about retention and the metrics they use for measuring success. Chair Young discussed having him come back in 6 months for further information.

There was a discussion and brainstorming session on possible future speakers and presentations to the Commission in 2021. Ideas included guests from the Jewish and Muslim community, "Station Theater" and its push for BIPOC representation in the arts, and experts on homeless shelter challenges. There were also presentation suggestions from the school district, public health, and representatives from some local programs such as LEAP and a youth employment program.

Local activist and Urbana City Council primary candidate Christopher Hansen spoke in the public comment opportunity to push for more substantive changes generally. He also asked the Commission to look closer at an employment background issue referenced in the Human Resources presentation earlier in the meeting. One of the commissioners stated he was interested in getting more information on that during commissioner comments after.

Chair Young highlighted an ongoing vacancy on the board for the Youth Commissioner. Board vacancies and an application to be considered for appointment are available on the City website here. The Commission bylaws require a Youth Commissioner be between 15 and 17 years old:

A maximum of two (2) youth members ages fifteen (15) through seventeen (17) may be appointed in the event of a vacancy in an existing seat.  Youth members shall be designated voting members and shall participate in the exercise of all of the Commission’s powers and the performance of all of its functions as provided by ordinance or by law with one exception.  Youth members may attend hearings concerning human rights violations but may not vote.”

More information is available on the board's webpage here.

The Citizen Review Subcommittee of the HRC (agenda, video) also met this month. It also welcomed a new member, Martez Miller. The subcommittee elected a new chair, Alexandra Harmon-Threatt, and a new vice-chair, the newly appointed Martez Miller. They will fulfill those roles starting at the next CRS meeting in March. This meeting was facilitated by the current vice-chair, Demario Turner. The former Chair, Emily Rodriguez is now an elected County Board member. There is also still a vacancy on the CRS for anyone interested in applying here.

Public comments included City of Champaign Township Supervisor candidate Rita Conerly explaining her interactions with the police as inappropriate and concerning. Emily Close and Christopher Hansen reiterated many of their continuing concerns with Champaign's policing and frustration with a lack of substantive changes. Haki, a University of Illinois alum wanted the issue of police participating in the coup attempt in Washington D.C. looked into locally. He reiterated the need for reforms in policing and acknowledgement of both the objective and subjective fight against racism he has raised with both the Champaign and Urbana city councils. 

The Commissioner comments included Keebler's support for Haki's concerns about the aspects of fighting racism as well as the violation of respect involved with officers engaging in insurrection. She noted that she is not aware of any participation by members of the Champaign Police Department at this time.

Incoming chair Harmon-Threatt welcomed the new member Miller and explained her experience with the subcommittee, having been on it since its inception. She addressed public concerns about their work and pointed out that a great deal of the subcommittee's work is done behind the scenes due to privacy restrictions and closed meeting rules. She expressed disappointment in Chief Cobb's lack of response to their requests from August and thanked people for their participation on study circles for additional public input.

Miller introduced himself and responded to some of the public comments on how he was appointed and how he intends to try to improve the system. Turner took offense at the suggestion that the subcommittee was engaged in aiding police corruption. He stated that is the opposite of what the people on this subcommittee do. He explained the work and hours that go in behind the scenes that they volunteer to do. He noted that after the open session the subcommittee members have a long night of work ahead of them that the public may not be aware of. He highlighted recent reforms at the State level and had a moment of silence for the victims of the insurrection at the nation's capital.

There was some discussion about the annual report that is presented to the Human Relations Commission and how that might highlight some of the work the subcommittee does for the public.

COVID News Roundup 1/26

There has been a mountain of news and updates since our last COVID update post a week ago. That Cheat Sheet post highlighted that officials were announcing sustained reductions in cases, hospitalizations and thus reduced mitigations. Soon after that, Region 6, including Champaign County, returned to Phase 4 guidance without additional mitigation. From the News-Gazette:

Region 6 has moved out of the state’s Tier 1 COVID-19 mitigation restrictions to the less restrictive Phase 4.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced the change Thursday morning for the 21-county region that includes Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Piatt and Vermilion counties.

The change was based on improving COVID-19 metrics for the region, including a test-positivity rate of 6.5 percent for three consecutive days, plus staffed intensive care unit bed capacity of 20 percent or more for three consecutive days and no sustained increase in COVID-19 patients in the hospital for seven out of 10 days.

That full article here. The previous Cheat Sheet post had a description and links for the recovery Phases and mitigation Tiers to get back on track after outbreaks. For additional local data and vaccine information check out the C-UPHD coronavirus data page and vaccination dashboard. The return to Phase 4 has meant less restrictions on everything from indoor dining to libraries to sports. Here are just some of the stories on loosening restrictions in the area:

• Youth Sports opening back up from the News-Gazette. There was also an earlier article prior to the decision explaining the metrics and the why.
• Impacts of Phase 4 on campus from the Daily Illini.
• The University Chancellor is pleading with students to adhere to the remaining safety guidance after some concerns were raised by long lines. Coverage by WCIA here. The student infection rate is still far lower than the general community at this time with the News-Gazette reporting its "seven-day positivity rate held at 0.3 percent."
• Champaign Park District and Urbana Park District resuming some indoor activities, reported by Smile Politely.
• Public libraries in Champaign and Urbana have limited openings as reported by the News-Gazette.

There were also some updates on vaccinations (C-UPHD vaccination dashboard):

• Some students and teachers at Unit 4 are able to start signing up for vaccinations according to the News-Gazette today. WCIA had more coverage here.
• WICS had an article on the overwhelming demand in Champaign County and surrounding areas.
• Illinois Newsroom had coverage about building trust with agricultural workers and migrant communities with outreach on the vaccine.
• The Pantagraph had coverage on vaccine delays and nursing homes.
• WICS also had updates on a new Illinois State portal on COVID vaccination information.
• The Daily Illini took a look at the possible student vaccination timeline.
• The Daily Illini also had an overview of the local vaccination push in Champaign County.

Unfortunately as we race to get as many people as possible vaccinated and get this pandemic under control, the new more contagious variant threatens to do more damage. WAND had coverage about more confirmed cases of the virus variant spreading in Illinois. The News-Gazette today laid out specific concerns with the University and the new variant possibly coming here.

Other COVID-19 related updates:

• There is now a memorial established by the Unitarian Universalist church for those lost to the pandemic locally. Reporting from WICS. 
• The IFT teachers union has announced a COVID tracker on its website according to WICS.
• The University of Illinois Board of Trustees says it is still waiting on FDA approval for expanding its testing to more people according to the News-Gazette.
• WCIA had coverage on continued visitor restrictions at local hospitals.
• WCIA and WAND had coverage on the University's "Party Patrol" to help ensure adherence to pandemic guidance.
• The University's "Mom's Weekend" in-person activities were canceled, also from WICS.
• The Daily Illini had an overview of local COVID trends while students were gone.
• There was coverage on how COVID is still impacting "Restaurant Week" events locally in the Daily Illini and WCIA.

It was a busy week for local pandemic news. By the time you read this, there will likely be more news and updates!

Unit 4: New Year and New Superintendent

This post has news updates from Unit 4 and an overview from January's school board meeting. The biggest news is this month the Board of Education finalized its decision for the next Superintendent of the Unit 4 School District. From the From the Unit 4 announcement this past week:

The Unit 4 Board of Education has selected Mrs. Shelia Boozer to lead Unit 4 Schools pending negotiation and formal Board approval of her employment contract. She will succeed Dr. Susan Zola, who is retiring in June after leading the District for four years. 

Mrs. Boozer currently serves as the Director of Teaching & Learning and Technology in Springfield District 186. It is a large and diverse unit district that serves approximately 14,000 students in 36 schools. Over the past 23 years in education, she has had an excellent educational career as a teacher at the elementary and middle school levels, and assistant principal and principal at both the elementary and high school levels. Mrs. Boozer used her adeptness to build relationships with students and their families, as well as motivate and encourage staff and students to succeed.

More at the full announcement here. Video of the announcement is available on the Unit 4 website here (starting roughly at the 3:30 minute mark). The News-Gazette coverage highlighted her energy and the historic first:

She’ll be the first Black woman to serve as the district’s superintendent.

“I think it’s significant based on what’s happening across our nation,” [school board President Amy Armstrong] said. On Wednesday, “we saw the inauguration of the first Black female vice president, and I think for our student body that is majority Black, they can look up to a Black woman that is leading this district forward. And all of our students will be able to say, ‘I can do that.’

“It’s exciting for us that what you’re seeing at the national level is showing at the local level with women in leadership, and we’re excited that in Unit 4, we’re going to have our first Black female superintendent.”

Full article available here. Background on the final three applicants was covered in the News-Gazette here and there final presentations to the board are available on zoom video with link and password from the Unit 4 website here.

January Unit 4 Board of Education Meeting 1/11:

The January Board meeting (agenda available here, Part 1 video, Part 2 video) focused primarily on how to safely provide in person learning for the most students during the pandemic in an equitable manner. The News-Gazette had an overview that week:

For at least the first two weeks of the second semester, Unit 4 schools will remain completely remote, Superintendent Susan Zola said during Monday’s school board meeting.

“Similar to other districts across the state, we’re going to give our districts a few more weeks on our distance-learning platform,” Zola said, “and the first opportunity that we might see students back in person might be Jan. 19th.”

The board also voted unanimously to move forward with the district’s plan to implement an option for the superintendent to call for an e-learning day in lieu of a snow day or another type of emergency day.

That full article here.

Current Superintendent Susan Zola started her report around the 1:23:35 mark of the Part 1 video (there was a long closed session at the beginning of the meeting before returning to open session at the 1:11 mark). She explained the difficulties of coming up with a back to school plan where the needs of students are at odds with the pandemic limitations. She also noted that parents are at odds on what they believe is the best solution.

Zola made a special point to demand civil disagreement and constructive criticism as opposed to racist hate, threats, and wishing harm upon staff and board members.

Principals from the district gave their reports as well for different grade school and high school considerations starting at roughly the 1:32 mark in the Part 1 video. Both the Superintendent and the principals made clear there wasn't an ideal plan that could satisfy the competing desires and concerns of all parents. They explained how they tried to provide the best educational opportunities within the constraints of the pandemic between remote learning and limited in person classes, additional study halls and after school programs.

In the Q&A that followed there were concerns about access for the at least 129 homeless families with children in the district and waiting on approval for the surveillance testing program through the University. That testing system is still a few weeks away. There was also a discussion of construction delays during the pandemic and how it could impact opening schools in the future. For now, at least, the district is able to work within the available space given current restrictions.

There were several parents and district students who participated in public comments starting at the 2:43:50 mark in the Part 1 video and continued on into the Part 2 video. Parents pleaded for in-person learning for a host of reasons from their ability to work, organize their lives, for their kids to succeed in learning and for their family's sanity. Students had feedback about difficulties with remote learning, communicating with teachers, struggling to do well in their studies, and the logistics of classes and afterschool programs during the pandemic. Many missed their friends and teachers. WCIA had feedback from parents, students and the teachers union in their coverage. Excerpt:

Brylie Klaudt is an eighth grader at Edison Middle School. She said factors like accessibility, resources, and not being able to talk to both teachers and friends on a consistent basis make it difficult to be fully engaged as a student.

“I don’t think i’m getting the education I’m supposed to be getting,” Klaudt said. “I really feel like it’s just dumbing us down and shoving all this work in our faces with such a short period of time,”

Interviews and video segment with the full article here.

The school board's comments at roughly the 14:15 minute mark into the Part 2 video also repeatedly thanked the public who provided constructive and polite criticism. They noted multiple incidents by the public involving racist comments and unacceptable behavior. They asked for decorum and understanding in these trying times and to now that the board members they disagree with still have the best intentions for their students.

After board comments there was a quick explanation of few other school board meetings related to the Superintendent discussions. There are no videos for those meetings on the website as they were almost entirely in closed session and held at another location.

January Urbana City Council Updates

This post covers some of the first of the year meetings of the Urbana City Council and the Cunningham Township Board. There are also some related appointments and election updates. 

In catching up on the Urbana City Council in January, it's probably best to start with the Ward 2 vacancy filled by Erik Sacks last month. From the News-Gazette:

Sacks was chosen by Mayor Diane Marlin over video producer Steve Drake, UI grad student Joseph Edwards and self-employed electrical engineer Christopher Hansen.

Sacks, Hansen and Christopher Evans are also running for the Ward 2 seat in the local spring elections... 

Sacks is filling the remainder of Julie Laut’s term. She stepped down in November for health reasons after being appointed in August to fill the remainder of Eric Jakobsson’s term.

Jakobsson had stepped down in June to focus on his research, writing a book and preparing to teach a course at the UI...

Full article here. The City's website had an overview of the applicants here. Another Ward 2 candidate, Verdell Jones III, did not meet the requirements to be on the ballot this Spring according to an Electoral Board meeting last month (more on that at the News-Gazette here).

There was a Candidate Forum for Urbana Mayor candidates hosted by the local League of Women Voters earlier this month available on YouTube here. The forum featured incumbent Mayor Diane Marlin and challengers Dennis Roberts, and Yinxi (Andy) Ma. 

That Spring election has already begun. Click here to Meet the Candidates and see the County Clerk's unofficial list of Primary and General consolidated election candidates. Sample ballots for the Primary Consolidated Election for February 23rd are up as of today (there may still be a message about their availability). Early voting has begun. More information on voting options are available here on the Clerk's website.

Regular and Committee of the Whole Meetings 1/4:

Anthony Rice was appointed to the Civilian Police Review Board at the January 4th regular meeting. There was some discussion about his general qualifications versus open questions on what special qualifications or interest in the Board that might be relevant. His appointment was approved regardless. The CPRB has a listening session open to the public on January 27th. More information on that listening session here. General information about the CPRB at their webpage here.

During the Committee of the Whole public comments, there was a bit of a back and forth between the public and the Mayor who responded in between speakers. A disagreement occurred between public critics and her framing of rulings and ongoing cases on possible violations of the open meetings act. They mayor expressed the two completed rulings as having determined there was no violation, while at least one public speaker said the court was simply unable to determine if there was a violation. The mayor also expressed frustration at criticisms of the Urbana Police Department she believed were at odds with the facts.

The COW meeting also included discussions on the various legal and technical issues towards gender neutral language reforms for Urbana City government. There were also discussions on possible agenda reordering and limiting the extensive debates adding to the length of meetings. More on the debate on debates at the 1/19 meeting below.

Cunningham Township Board Meeting 1/11:

The Cunningham Township Board has the same members as the Urbana City Council and covers the same territory as the City of Urbana. They had their first meeting of the year prior to the City Council meeting on January 11th (agenda, video). The meeting covered the Township Supervisors report on the various programs assisting community members on housing, utilities, and nutrition assistance. There was an overview of the budget (financial report here) as well as specific COVID related challenges and adaptations.

Regular City Council Meeting 1/11:

The bulk of the January 11th meeting (agenda, video) revolved around the presentation (video link) of the Urbana Police Department's Use-Of-Force policy revisions. The Use of Force revisions also came up in comments during the January 4th and January 19th meetings. The local branches of the NAACP and ACLU criticized the proposed language of the changes as weak. From the News-Gazette last week:

“Overall, this policy fails to accomplish the purpose of protecting the public from excessive use of force, or other misconduct by police, nor is it designed to substantially diminish the number of incidents in which force is used,” past president of the local ACLU Carol Spindel said on behalf of her organization and the local NAACP. “And really, this is a policy for the 20th century, not the 21st.”

...

And she said the new policy “relies throughout on the standard of what an officer believes is reasonable, rather than ensuring that force is used only when necessary.”

And local NAACP President Minnie Pearson called “weak” the language that says “tactical de-escalation should be used whenever feasible.”

“The word feasible kind of troubled me,” she said. “I thought a better word would be ‘shall.’”

Full article here with a brief overview of the proposed changes. The full statement from the local NAACP and ACLU is available here. The draft language of the use of force policy is available here (the legalese may be more complicated than it appears). Video of the presentation starts at around the 45 minute mark (jump to video), Council Q&A (jump to Q&A), public comments (jump to public comments), and Council comments (jump to link).

In the discussions about the language of the revised Use of Force policy Chief Seraphin repeatedly refers to a law enforcement policy organization called Lexipol. Lexipol has Use of Force policy information for both law enforcement and civilians here.

The Council comments ended on wanting to hear more of the community's voice in the policy, especially African-American community stakeholders who are often the most impacted by the disparities at issue in the discussion. The Mayor pointed out that she was meeting with stakeholders in the next week and that all public input would be taken into account in further edits and revisions going forward with the Chief.

One of the people appointed to boards and committees this meeting spoke during public comments as well, James "Tygar" Corbin. He thanked the Council for the opportunity to serve on the Sustainability Advisory Commission and represent perspectives from under-represented communities. Corbin is known for his civic engagement, especially with the First Followers Reentry Program.

Committee of the Whole 1/19:

Last night's Committee of the Whole (agenda, video) covered a variety of topics, from budget audit presentations to staff reports. A lot of the information revolved around COVID programs and funding, including discussions of the Fire Department budget and the extra costs due to the pandemic.

There were long discussions on changes to the Council's debate rules. A final amended version with some additional City Staff changes will likely be voted on at the next regular City Council Meeting. It appeared to have more to do with the Council itself and its ability to respond to the public and the length of Council discussions.

There was also a long and complicated discussion on how the Council might clarify whether the City's Human Relations Commission will be able to enforce the Human Rights Ordinance against the City itself. The legal and logistical issues involved had the City Staff believing that it wasn't a realistic option, but the Council decided to look at the details of such a possibility in a future meeting.

Mayor Marlin noted that she had a meeting with the local NAACP and ACLU on the use of force policy revisions the next day. Minnie Pearson, President of the NAACP of Champaign County, also participated in public comments to inform the public that there is a social media hoax going around about the organization and rumors of threats against African-Americans.

The next Urbana City Council meeting is a regular meeting on Monday, January 25th.

COVID Updates: Tier 1 Mitigation

News broke yesterday that Region 6 has jumped back to Tier 1 mitigation status, which includes Champaign County and of course Champaign-Urbana. This follows recent news of the more infectious UK strain of the coronavirus being detected in Illinois (the vaccine appears effective against this variant). First the good news from WAND last night:

Central Illinois regions have moved to lower COVID-19 mitigation levels after the state announced a hospital staffing program and changed its mitigation metrics. 

Region 6, which includes the east half of central Illinois, has met the metrics to move to the Tier 1 mitigation level. Region 3, or the west half of central Illinois, will have even fewer restrictions as it moves to Phase 4 of the original Restore Illinois plan. Both regions were previously under Tier 3, which is the strongest mitigation level possible. 

The changes significantly reduce restrictions to businesses and will allow bars and restaurants to reopen in central Illinois. Tier 1 allows limited indoor service at the lesser of 25 percent capacity or 25 people in the room. Indoor tables can't exceed four people under Tier 1 and indoor service is suspended for business that don't serve food. 

Full article with more regional details here. The Illinois Department of Public Health mitigation page explains what this means in far more detail here. The local situation involved a longer trend of slowly declining cases and other indicators. From the News-Gazette website last night:

The new rules take effect immediately, IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold told The News-Gazette.

It was a close call Monday. Region 6's hospitalization number dropped by just one, to 180, giving it the required seven days of decline in a 10-day period.

The other metric the region needed to go its way — a seven-day positivity rate under 8 percent — wasn't as close. Region 6's rate fell from 7.0 to 6.7 percent Monday, its seventh straight day in decline...

In reaching Tier 1, Region 6 isn't all the way back to where it was before Nov. 20, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker placed all 11 regions in Tier 3. The last remaining step is to move from Tier 1 to Phase 4.

Full article here with more details and local data. If you're confused, you're not alone. The State of Illinois' Coronavirus Response website breaks down what they mean by each phase of the recovery (e.g. Phase 4 here). The more helpful link on the right hand side is Mitigation, which explains the mitigation tiers to fight a resurgence of COVID-19 during this process. In other words, if a region starts getting a lot of new cases, they could end up in one of the tiers of mitigation before getting back on track. They have a simplified chart to help:

There's a full breakdown and explanation of the Illinois tier system here. People didn't want a "one size fits all" system, so probably the best thing you can do is check for updates from your local health department to know what the current status and rules are: Champaign-Urbana Public Health Department COVID-19 dashboard.

The C-UPHD Administrator also had an update yesterday on data on with Elizabeth Hess on Urbana Public Television and available on YouTube here. All of this comes on the heals of news a few days ago that the UK variant of the coronavirus had been detected in Illinois. From the IDPH website:

The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced the first case in Illinois of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 first identified in the United Kingdom. The case was identified by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine through sequencing analysis of a specimen from bio-banked samples of COVID-19 positive tests.

The new strain was first identified in the United States about two weeks ago in Colorado and has since been identified in several other states. Evidence suggests that this variant can spread more easily than most currently-circulating strains of COVID-19, but there is no evidence that the new strain affects the sensitivity of diagnostic tests or that it causes more severe illness or increased risk of death. In addition, data suggest current vaccines will be effective and safe in providing protection against the variant. 

“This news isn’t surprising and doesn’t change our guidance around COVID-19. We must double down on the recommended safety strategies we know help stop the spread of this virus,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “In order to protect Chicago, please continue to wear a mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands often, do not have outside guests in your home, and get vaccinated when it is your turn.”  

Full news release here. And since nothing about this pandemic can ever be simple, it's probably worth noting Dr. Ezike's warning in the St. Louis Dispatch:

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Friday that the discovery of the U.K. variant in the state means residents should take extra precautions in the weeks ahead. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday modeled that it could become the predominant variant in the U.S. in the early spring. Other variants have been identified here and in South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil and Japan.

“If we do not continue to wear our masks, watch our distance, and avoid gatherings, this new variant could sweep across the state as it swept across the U.K.,” Ezike said. “That would lead us back to a place that we don’t want to go.”

That full article here, though it is mostly on Missouri's coronavirus situation. What the future holds in Illinois may come down to whether the impact of more infectious variants of the virus outrace our vaccination efforts. It's worth reiterating from the IDPH news release that, "data suggest current vaccines will be effective and safe in providing protection against the variant."

For other COVID-19 Updates this week, see yesterday's Cheat Sheet post here.

Early Voting Open MLK Day

The County Clerk pointed out that there are Early Voting hours today for the Consolidated Primary Election for February 23rd.

Currently the only Early Voting location is at Brookens Administrative Center (Maps!). Other Early Voting locations will be opening closer to the election on February 15th. All Early Voting locations and times available here.

The Champaign County Voters Alliance has a Candidate Guide in collaboration with the local League of Women Voters available here.

The County Clerk's office has several helpful links on its website:

• My Voting Information
• Meet the Candidates (note there are some write-in candidates this election)
• Vote by Mail Ballot Request
• My Registration Status

Sample ballots don't appear to be available yet, but they should be available here when they're on the website. For now there's a link directing voters to the unofficial Meet the Candidates page.

City of Champaign: Council and Township Updates

 

This post has some candidate updates and links as well as an overview of recent City of Champaign Township and City Council meetings earlier this month.

Municipal elections are coming up soon, with a consolidated primary election on February 23rd and the General Election on April 6, 2021. The Champaign County Clerk has an unofficial "Meet the Candidates" page here and sample ballots when they become available here. There's a non-partisan Candidate Guide available here.

While most of us were just hoping the 2020 elections were over in November, local candidates were already having to get ballot petitions signed and submitted for the 2021 elections (see candidate calendar here). By December some candidates were facing objections at local Electoral Boards (what is this?) and running into the convoluted precedents on what counts as a conflict of interest under the law versus what may seem like common sense. The News-Gazette highlighted local objections in a December 8 article:

Champaign’s electoral board held a similar hearing Monday, going over the rules and setting 6 p.m. Dec. 15 to hear the objection from Rochelle Funderburg against District 3 candidate Justin Hendrix.

He is up against attorney Matt Sullard and personal trainer Daniel Iniguez, who Mayor Deb Feinen helped collect petitions for.

That prompted several public commenters to ask Feinen to recuse herself from the electoral board...

In her challenge, Funderburg objected to Hendrix not putting the date of the election on his statement of candidacy and to various names on the petitions.

She alleged some signers weren’t in District 3, some weren’t registered to vote at the addresses they provided and that some handwriting wasn’t legible.

Full article here. Fienen did recuse herself from the board, but the legal nuance of ballot signatures knocked Hendrix off the ballot anyways:

After being knocked off the ballot last week for the local spring elections, activist Justin Michael Hendrix filed Monday to run as a write-in candidate to represent Champaign’s District 3.

The Champaign electoral board voted 2–1 Friday to remove Hendrix from the ballot, with Councilman Tom Bruno and City Clerk Marilyn Banks voting in favor and Councilman Will Kyles against...

“By his own admission, (Hendrix) sought guidance and used a commonly-used process by many elected officials and volunteers today,” Kyles said. “But unbeknownst to him, and even myself, that database that he utilized was not synced with the county clerk’s office. Who would have known that?”

That full article here. The full videos of the Electoral Board hearings for Hendrix are available at the CGTV website under City Videos here (with the first electoral board meeting starting 12/7/2020 and the hearing specific to Hendrix starting 12/15/2020). If you've listened to the public participation in recent City Council meetings, you will have heard Hendrix highlighting his write-in candidacy and harshly criticizing those he believes unfairly knocked him off the ballot as a listed candidate.

City of Champaign Township and City Council Meeting 1/5:

The City of Champaign Township (what is this?) board is made up of the same members and covers the same jurisdiction as the City of Champaign City Council. So, their meetings are generally tucked in before a City Council meeting on the same day at the beginning of the month. The first meeting this year had a financial report submitted (available here) and like a lot of local government entities was approving COVID-19 relief funds through bureaucratically named "Community Development Block Grant" or CDBGs. The agenda with links to the details of this funding and other information is available here. The video of the Township meeting is at the beginning of this video on CGTV.

Rita Conerly, a candidate for City of Champaign Township Supervisor in the Democratic primary on February 23rd, raised the issue of the current supervisor using the office to mail residents an informational flyer on Township services. She described it as campaign material due to the proximity of the election and the incumbent featured prominently on the colorful mailer. Front and back view:

I'll leave it to the lawyers to figure out the legal line and readers to decide the ethical line on this one. 

The City Council meeting (agenda, video) was called to order immediately after the Township meeting adjourned. If you dig into the weeds, you'll see that the items voted on also mostly involved COVID, from CDBG funds to extending the Emergency Orders the City is operating under during the pandemic. The Council Bills passed without any significant discussion or controversy. The bulk of the meeting involved audience participation (video starts here).

Many of the public comments focused on the eviction moratorium likely to expire at the end of this month. WCIA had an article on that here based on a Housing Authority update. There is an Eviction Moratorium Open Letter that has been circulating for signatures. Local Activist Allan Axelrod encouraged the entire board to support moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs. Council member Alicia Beck of District 2 noted her intention to sign it.

There was also a City Council Study Session this month on the Black Lives Matter mural proposal. Full Cheat Sheet post on that available here.

City of Champaign Balks on BLM Mural

This week's Champaign City Council study session meeting (session report here, video here) revolved around whether or not to move forward with a "Black Lives Matter" street mural similar to those in Washington D.C. and dozens of other cities around the United States in the wake of the George Floyd protests. The News-Gazette had an overview of the meeting here. Excerpt:

Four council members voted to move forward with the street mural — Alicia Beck, Matt Gladney, Clarissa Fourman and Mayor Deb Feinen — while five voted against it — Will Kyles, Greg Stock, Vanna Pianfetti, Tom Bruno and Angie Brix.

“I’m really disappointed,” Beck said. “I’m just shocked.”

Everyone but Fourman voted to move forward with the honorary street sign, which would require a separate vote.

Fourman said if someone wanted to set a study session for another option, she’d welcome that, “but I’m not writing back home to my ancestors about an honorary street sign.”

Kyles said he’s received “mixed feedback” on the mural from the Black community.

“Some of us believe that it’s a great statement,” he said. “But the overwhelming majority of us really want to see not just meaningful dialogue, but meaningful work.”

Full article here. An overview of the mural proposal is available in the study session report here.

After the mural support failed to gain support among the council members there were a series of suggestions and alternatives. Those pushing for more substantive changes and resolutions of systemic issues in our community explained their frustrations at council members in public comments later. There was also a discussion on the facebook page of write-in candidate Justin Micháel Hendrix expanding on those complaints here that included additional feedback from council member Fourman.

The video of the last study session on the mural in October 2020 is available here on the CGTV website. That study session report is available here.

Candidate Guide and Upcoming Consolidated Primary Election

Local municipal elections are coming up with the Consolidated Primary Election on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021 (there will be early and mail in voting options!).

This is the non-partisan Candidate Guide put out by the Champaign County Voters Alliance (CCVA) in partnership with the Champaign County League of Women Voters (LWVCC). Both organizations are non-partisan and make no endorsements of candidates or parties.

Link to the Guide: http://votechampaign.org/guide.php

Main page / voter resources: http://www.votechampaign.org/

About the guide: http://votechampaign.org/about-guide/

Important dates from the County Clerk's Office:

More election information from the County Clerk elections webpage: https://champaigncountyclerk.com/elections