City of Urbana Updates

Urbana's police chief announced his retirement this past month. WCIA had coverage of his announcement a couple weeks ago.

Urbana is the latest Central Illinois city to search for a new police chief after chief Bryant Seraphin announced his retirement on Thursday.

Serpahin will step down on March 25. He’s been with Urbana Police for 27 years and has been chief since 2018. He became interim chief upon the retirement of Sylvia Morgan in 2018 and was sworn in as the permanent chief in 2019...

[Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin] said Thursday she plans to appoint Deputy Chief Rich Surles as interim chief. Surles has been with Urbana police for 25 years. He said he will not be a candidate for the next permanent chief.

Full article here. WAND had additional coverage and background on Chief Seraphin here. More on local police concerns about morale and staffing in a separate Cheat Sheet article here.

The Urbana City Council approved plans for a new fire station according to WCIA:

Some Urbana firefighters would be out of a cramped, old building in a couple years if the city council goes along with a plan to build a new fire station.

The project revolves around Fire Station Two at 2103 South Philo Road. The initial plan involved expanding the station using open space immediately south at 2201 South Philo Road. The city purchased that land in 2017, giving it a footprint of one-half acre to work with.

But now, officials are pivoting to a plan to build a new station across the street. “Additional flexibility is sought in terms of the design of the replacement of the fire station, as well as the size and additional facilities that might be included,” said City Administrator Carol Mitten in a memo to council. “Therefore, the City recommends purchasing the larger parcel at 1501 East Mumford Drive,” for $905,000.

Full article here. In another article WCIA highlighted Mayor Marlin's comments on the proposal:

“These new stations will give us much more opportunity to protect the health of the firefighters themselves,” she said. “The chemicals that they encounter in fires these days are much different from what they were exposed to 50 years ago.”

Mayor Marlin said if everything goes to plan, construction will begin next year. The new station may be finished by the end of 2023. Both new stations will likely be constructed at the same time.

That article here. A recent Tom's Mailbag column addressed fire station needs in Champaign and Urbana. In Champaign they gave an overview of the existing locations meeting current standards, but possibly some expansion issues in the future.

In other Urbana city news:

• Tom Kacich had some information on those new "flashing yellow arrow" lights along University Avenue in his Tom's Mailbag column here.
• Local coverage on a Habitat for Humanity home in Urbana from the News-Gazette. More information on Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County here.