March City of Champaign Council Meetings

The March City of Champaign government meetings covered some pretty serious topic this past month, including a study session on food insecurity, free pantry regulation and enforcement during the pandemic, approving the City's Annual Action Plan, and supporting services for the most vulnerable in our community.

The March 2nd meeting began with a brief monthly City of Champaign Township meeting (agenda, video). Along with some brief updates the Town Board approved the annual township meeting agenda. There were no public comments during this portion of the meeting.

The regular March 2nd City Council meeting (agenda, video) began immediately after the town board meeting. A few appointments were approved including:

• Lonndon Blake to the Human Relations Commission
• Davon Prude as Youth Commissioner to the HRC 
• Medra Seals to the Citizen Review Subcommittee (a police review board)

Later, in general public comments, former Citizen Review Subcommittee chair Emily Rodriguez (now County Board member) highlighted some of her frustrations trying to effect change within the City's board and commission bureaucracy. Her comments were a condensed version of her fuller detailing of her experience and frustrations on the subcommittee. Excerpt:

We have a public participation problem- not due to a lack of community interest, but active suppression from the Council. Today, I look at three years of my work and know that even if I rally residents to speak up in public participation opportunities for change the City Manager and Mayor will (a) find some way to justify inaction, (b) use official communications to gaslight and confuse, and then (c) pacify residents with a listening session or 60-second presentation at a Community Coalition meeting.

Her full statement is available online here. Another commenter raised ideas on police reform tried in Berkeley and a gun culture paradox in America. Other agenda items passed unanimously without controversy.

The March 9th Study Session (study session report, video) began with a staff presentation on food insecurity and local programs to address it in Champaign. A lot of the presentation focused on more traditional food pantries and programs before getting to the pop-up free pantries around town. The study session report describes the City's legal complication with those:

Most programs discussed in this report are being operated in compliance with existing City codes. Some of the mini pantries are located on private property and appear to be in compliance with the City’s Municipal Code. However, some of the mini food pantries that have emerged during the pandemic appear to be in violation of one or more sections of the Municipal Code. Three of the seven mini food pantries are fully in compliance with the City's codes, while four of the mini pantries are in violation of the City's prohibition of unattended property on the ROW.

It goes on to list the specific code issues that are at issue:

For example, the Municipal Code does not allow for the placement of unattended personal property in the right-of-way (ROW). Signs accompanying the mini food pantries on the ROW are also in violation of the Zoning Ordinance. Mini food pantries on the ROW or on private property also have the potential to be in violation of the nuisance section of the Municipal Code. Examples of potential nuisance violations include perishable food that begins to rot, food containers infested with insects, discarded food containers from on-site consumption of food items, and indoor furniture or mattresses left outside as a donation.

After some technical questions by City Council members, the public weighed in (jump to link) on the report and presentation with a large number of people in support of allowing the free pantries to continue either with a code change or enforcement exemption. Many volunteers and pantry creators commented about the importance, need, and continued use of the pantries by their neighborhoods. They argued it filled a gap in food insecurity programs where many people otherwise might fall through the cracks. They gave examples of how some people may have time constraints, transportation issues, or face other restrictions to meet their needs.

There were also numerous comments in favor of current and expansion of community gardens. Other comments focused on structural racism and how they believe that is playing a role in the scrutiny of the free pantries. Some raised concerns about police being called to enforce code violations on issues involving vulnerable communities as opposed to traditional code enforcement methods used in majority white neighborhoods.

Council comments were generally supportive of ensuring the free pantries could operate safely and figuring out some way of ensuring that the City isn't opening up a Pandora's box of future code violations unrelated to food pantries. Council member Fourman stressed the need to address the lack of investment in neighborhoods that have become "food deserts" and concerns about using police to intervene with food pantry use and code issues. Member Gladney noted that when the City wants to incentivize investment, it has been able to incentivize investment when it had the will to do so.

Deputy Mayor Bruno took an opposite tact and criticized public commenters who view these and other problems as part of systemic and structural issues with our community and nation's history of white supremacy. He specifically took issue with the assumption of bad motives of City Council members and City staff. He accused them of "virtue signaling," a term activists often use to disparage folks who use a cause to make themselves look good, rather than actually doing impactful work.

The Council agreed to give staff direction to taking a more active role in food insecurity and a temporary moratorium on code enforcement for the the code issues surrounding the current free pantries while the City is under the pandemic emergency order.

Many of the public comments that came during the general comment period at the end of the meeting took issue with Bruno's statements. Some responded to his criticisms with explanations of the structural issues at hand and possible solutions. Local activist Allen Max Axelrod took the opportunity to continue to advocate for people still facing utility shutoffs as he has been doing at public input opportunities at local government bodies throughout the pandemic.

The March 16th regular City Council meeting (agenda, video) passed a number of non-controversial items as well as the naming of a portion of Chester Street in downtown Champaign as "Black Lives Matter Honorary Street" (Council Bill and information here). Council member Fourman reiterated that this small measure is is a slap in the face compared to what the City should be doing. Council member Beck said she supports the measure, but also reiterated her belief that this small step is severely lacking compared to the substantive changes needed. Mayor Feinen said she echoed those statements. The Bill passed along with the other items on the agenda.

Public comments ranged from traffic concerns around around a bus stop, support and criticism of policing locally, and advocating for those facing utility shutoffs, trauma and mental health support (including police themselves).

The March 23rd Study Session (report, video) dealt with the Annual Action Plan and the budgetary issues that go along with that. From a previous Cheat Sheet post explaining the concepts around the Annual Action Plan:

The Annual Action Plan is a document mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that outlines local affordable housing and community development needs and identifies strategies for addressing them. The plan identifies activities that the City expects to undertake through direct action or through the provision of funding to other entities. In addition to outlining housing and community development strategies, the Annual Action Plan includes the City’s application for the federal grants received from HUD. These grants, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the HOME Investment Partnership (HOME), fund the majority of the affordable housing and neighborhood improvement programs provided by the City. The City of Champaign receives CDBG funding directly from HUD and HOME funding through the Urbana HOME Consortium.

After the presentation on the there were public comments from people advocating for vulnerable community members, including organizers from CU at Home and First Followers Re-entry Program and a couple other local activists. Council comments were also supportive of initiatives with homelessness and reentry. Council member Kyles highlighted programs that deal with youth and workforce development as well.

The Council gave direction to staff to finalize the Annual Action Plan (draft is included in the study session report in Appendix B) and direction for funding the CommUnity, homelessness and reentry program funding.

General public comments included an argument for reparations, building off the initiative in Evanston (Smile Politely had a recent editorial promoting such an argument). The Mayor made a statement in support of the local Asian and Asian-American community in light of the recent attacks in Atlanta, Georgia and other increase in crimes that appeared to target Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across the United States. The meeting ended after a closed session on an employment matter.

The next Champaign City Council meeting will be Tuesday April 13th (it was announced that there would be no City Council meeting on Tuesday April 6th due to that falling on the local election day).

March Urbana City Council and Cunningham Township Meetings

The Urbana City Council had longer meetings this month, even when compared to their usually lengthy meetings. In addition to longer City Council meetings themselves, there were also a couple Cunningham Township meetings and two City Council training sessions before some of those meetings. Most of the meetings were nearly or beyond four hours in length altogether. I'll try to be far more brief in these overviews.

Public Participation across all of the meetings included concerns about utility shutoffs, rental assistance available, police reform and alternatives to policing for mental health and other public needs. There were also concerns about the Human Rights Ordinance language clarification still leaving a need for an enforcement mechanism and ongoing concerns about the background check policy in light of the HRO requirements. There was also support for the City supporting and collaborating with the First Followers Reentry program and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers organization.

The March 1st Committee of the Whole meeting (agenda, video) mainly involved an extensive conversation about the planned development at 602 South Lincoln Avenue (next to campus within the WUNA neighborhood). The developer said he wasn't interested in continuing the process after the City Council voted to hold the issue over for another Committee of the Whole meeting. The board decided to move the issue on to the regular City Council member to see if any council members concerns could be addressed by that time.

Further amended clarifying language for the Human Rights Ordinance was moved forward as well, but still lacked a solution on how the City might be held to the HRO standards. Council member Jared Miller used his time in council comments at the end of the meeting to assure the public that this is not the end of the HRO discussion and the other issues would be addressed.

The March 8th regular meeting (agenda, video) included additional public participation with a large number of residents opposed to the 602 South Lincoln development, petition signatures, and endless criticism of the aesthetics and interpretation of the development guidelines. Council members Brown and Colbrook appear to be the only council members who believe the conditions were met. Colbrook appears to be the only member who had a positive opinion of the aesthetics and building materials. The harshest criticism from council members and the public used the expression, "butt ugly." The development failed to pass.

The rest of the meeting involved an approval of the clarifying and amended HRO language, considering some zoning variances, and then approving appointments. The appointment portion got a bit strained as one of the appointments involved promoting an officer directly involved in the Aleyah Lewis incident. The appointments were approved with Alderman Miller voting against James "Cory" Koker to Lieutenant in the Urbana Police Department.

The March 15th Committee of the Whole meeting (agenda, video) began with the first City Council training session available to the public and allowing participation from current City Council members and candidates. City Administrator Carol Mitten said that a webpage will be set up with all the training sessions for future use. The training session at this meeting was an overview of the City's executive department (jump to link).

After the training session there was a presentation of the 2020 BPAC Annual Report by the Alderman Brown, who is also the chair of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission. Public participation included some criticism of the promotion of an officer involved in the Aleyah Lewis incident and the continued lack of an enforcement mechanism against the city to follow its own Human Rights Ordinance.

The mayor, who is also the current chair of the Regional Planning Commission raised serious concerns about the County government's finance issues and how they may impact RPC grant-based programs and funding for the City. She and the Mayor of Champaign backed an RPC letter to the County Board asking that they fulfill their obligations so critical programs aren't put in jeopardy (more on that in the March County Board coverage here). The mayor announced there would be a presentation on the work on the Use of Force policy and the discussions she described as productive in crafting the new language.

Two items that were moved forward for City Council approval involved support and collaboration with the First Followers Reentry Program and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers organization.

The discussion items on the agenda included the status on the One Door pilot program. Updates included a collaboration with the City of Champaign and a phase-in start as opposed to a comprehensive start to the program. The phased in process can begin sooner, but won't include some alternative responses that don't involve law enforcement. There was also an extended conversation on how much law enforcement funding actually prevents crime as opposed to alternatives that got fairly heated.

There was also a discussion on the appointment process, which in Urbana involves a great number of positions that cities normally make part of a contractual hiring process. There were complaints about the increased scrutiny and public pressure on appointed positions. There were some disagreements on what constituted healthy public interest and simply being too much of a nightmare to recruit people into the confrontations and accusations. The meeting was already running very long so the background check discussion was pushed to the next meeting.

The March 22nd regular meeting (agenda, video) began with another City Council training session, this time with an overview of the organization and funding of the Urbana Free Library. It was at this meeting that the City Administrator noted that these training sessions would all be made available organized on a webpage for future use. Public participation included ongoing concerns about utility shutoffs. There was also concern raised by Meghan McDonald who argued that the pro-police voices during last week's discussion on reforms and deterring crime cut off or otherwise tried to shut down other perspectives. She highlighted the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon as a potential model to look at.

The mayor noted that the County Board voted to approve emergency funding for the Regional Planning Commission and working towards completing the required finance reports. They're still trying to determine the overall impact of the County's delays.

The Criminal Background Checks discussion (jump to link) began with a presentation and overview of current policies. The overall discussion got into some really nitty gritty issues of legal obligations, language, and precedent for anyone wanting to take a deep dive into the various perspectives.

The Cunningham Township Board had a regular meeting (agenda, video) on March 8th. Township Assessor Wayne Williams reported instead of the Supervisor Danielle Chynoweth who was ill that day. There was an issue with lost data after moving data from the server. By the time the loss was discovered they weren't successful in retrieving the information from backups. The data isn't completely gone, but it will have to be reentered, which he described as tedious work. 

There was also a special meeting on March 22nd (agenda, video) setting the agenda for its April 13th annual meeting, which has to be in-person as it is for the electors, or voting residents, of the township essentially coterminous with the City of Urbana. There was no public participation at either Township meeting.

The Urbana City Council meets next on Monday April 5th.