MTD Updates and Decennial Committee

 

There's been a lot of MTD updates in the news and local government meetings recently. Also be sure to check out the overview of rural and local mass transit intergovernmental agreements over at the Cheat Sheet of Champaign County here this month!

The local mass transit district has been converting its fleet to cleaner energy and hybrid alternatives. The News-Gazette reported on the retirement of their last diesel-only buses with a grant for even more low-emission and no-emission alternative vehicles:

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District has been awarded a $6.6 million federal grant to pay for 10 new hybrid replacement buses...

The MTD’s money is paying for 10 40-foot diesel-electric hybrid buses...

About 98 percent of the MTD’s 118-bus fleet includes low-emission diesel-electric hybrid buses, with zero-emission hydrogen-fuel-cell electric buses making up the remaining 2 percent, officials said.

That full article here, mostly citing the MTDs own press release here. WCCU had similar coverage without a paywall here.

In honor of Juneteenth, there is a bus acting as a mobile Juneteenth exhibit through the end of July as well. WCIA had coverage of that initiative here. Smile Politely had some links to information on the MTD's Juneteenth Block Party event. Illinois Newsroom had an information table of the various activities and events involved here.

It's been a long while since I've attended an MTD meeting in person, but I was curious about how it would deal with the State's new requirement for a Decennial Committee on Local Government Efficiency. MTD's Decennial Committee is listed on their website here and includes MTD board members and MTD Managing Director Karl Gnadt. It also includes a couple local resident committee members: prior board member George Griedman and Donna Tanner-Harold, who is known for being extremely active in the community and the mother of Erika Harold.

The community members were approved at the May 31st MTD Board meeting and appear to have been recommended by "staff" via a letter from Managing Director Gnadt (page 45 of the 5/31/2023 meeting agenda packet PDF file here).

There is a Illinois Municipal League has a Decennial Committee factsheet that I found helpful in explaining the basic purpose of these committees and which government bodies are required to have one (and was posted on the County Board's meeting information website). The Township Officials of Illinois website had a lot of additional Decennial Committee information. It has suggestions for moving forward with these committees, including sample drafts, and legal references. 

Decennial Committee Meeting: Meeting Video

As one can gather with a new, somewhat vague law and some preliminary factsheets and suggestions, the MTD's Decennial Committee was mostly establishing what it is that they were going to do here. The MTD attorney explained the basics as best as he could. The focus is for the committee to look for areas where the MTD as a local governmental body, as overseen by the MTD Board, can improve its accountability and efficiency. There are no metrics provided for the law on how to measure accountability and efficiency.

The law leaves it to the committee and whatever public input can be brought to bear through the process to come up with new ideas on accountability and efficiency. This is to eventually be put in a report and submitted to the local County government's administration. There doesn't appear to be any further outside follow up or mechanism to ensure that any recommended changes happen. It's not clear that the report becomes anything more than a public record at this point.

The discussion initially revolved around the possibly intentional vagueness of the law, but also taking advantage of the opportunity to find areas of improvement. It was acknowledged that some government bodies may elect to do the bare minimum and simply submit the required report, they would like to bring in a consulting firm and actually survey board members, staff, and the community for input.

The local resident committee members appeared to appreciate an offer of the same introductory board information new MTD board members get. Managing Director Gnadt assured them that didn't want to waste their time. They would like to have, in the end, a useful product from the consulting firm.

Member of the public in the audience were given opportunities to address the board with their concerns, but none of the two present took them up on the offer. Written surveys were handed out in the meeting with two basic questions (and an email to submit feedback later if they so chose). The questions simply asked what the the MTD could do better and if the resident rides or used to ride the local buses.

The Decennial Committee left off with a general agreement to move forward to get started on the process of finding a consultant firm. This process is called an RFP or "Request for Proposals" to give companies an opportunity to make public bids for services requested by local government bodies. The MTD attorney and Managing Director appeared to be ready to tweak the language for the RFP discussed to cover the committee's expectations and legal requirements for the work.

The meeting started a few minutes late after 3pm and adjourned just before 3:30pm. So, overall a pretty short meeting. The regular MTD board meeting afterward was a more typical 48 minutes or so.

Regular MTD Board Meeting: Meeting Video

The regular MTD Board meeting followed the agenda (full agenda packet here) with some corrections on the Managing Directors report and some brief bits of presentation and discussion on the action items. While discussion was limited, the board approved some pretty significant items that had already been worked through, including: 

• A budget for the fiscal year. 
• Renewing intergovernmental agreements with the County government (through the Regional Planning Commission and the County Board more on the County side here).
• Approving an extension of a $10 million line of credit as needed for MTD projects, equipment and operations.
• Approving the 5 year audit agreement with Baker Tilly, an experienced government auditor, but the only bidder for this RFP (likely due to the current strain on auditing services available).

The meeting ended with a presentation on the replacement of old in-ground diesel tanks for refueling buses. There were additional costs with removing the old tanks. Some of that was due to extra materials and additional concrete work. Some was due to contamination in soil samples during the process. The contamination does not appear to have been from the old diesel tanks (which did not have any breaches to the external tank structures). Soil samples around the tanks did not test positive for contamination.

It didn't appear to be immediately clear if the contamination was from the refueling activities nearby or remnants of past industrial operations at the same site throughout its history. The Illinois Environment Protection Agency was notified and potentially contaminated water on the site was removed through exhaustive additional measures (multiple truck loads) and not released into the local environment.

The agenda packet lists the additional costs of removing, storing, and transporting the contaminated water to an appropriate disposal facility (pages 145-150 of the PDF file).

Other MTD News and Updates:

• The News-Gazette's "Meeting Minutes" feature had coverage of the MTD Board meeting earlier this month, approving contracts with the local school districts and designating Willard Airport as a "preferred" airport for in-district flights.
• An earlier News-Gazette "Just Askin'" article on the new cleaner energy buses MTD is striving towards.
• WCIA had coverage earlier in the year of some of the upcoming changes to routes this Fall and the public input opportunities available at the time.
• And of course, MTD services in the summer are still a bit reduced while the students are gone. Summer service reduction information from the MTD's website.

City of Urbana Updates

City Council Highlights:

The latest news out of the Urbana City Council was their holding firm against Automatic License Plate Readers, but there was a debate on the legal language to ensure that. From last week's News-Gazette Meeting Minutes:

“The city of Urbana will not authorize or purchase automated license-plate reader, ALPR, technology without explicit majority approval from the Urbana City Council,” Marlin went on to say at this week’s council meeting. “While the prior debate and vote on ALPRs centered on a budget amendment to purchase ALPRs rather than a general policy statement, the council discussion and 4-3 vote defeating the amendment made the position and concerns of the majority of the city council very clear.”

Marlin spoke in response to a resolution from Alderwoman Grace Wilken ahead of next week’s vote on the city’s budget. Fearful that Urbana police would attempt to buy surveillance technology without first asking council for approval — given that last year’s ask was for funding to buy plate readers, not permission to buy them — she proposed adding a side letter or amendment to the budget...

More at that full article here, including the proposed language and arguments on its necessity and semantics.

The City is also looking for public input on a variety of issues, including an increase in the stormwater fees residents pay. From the News-Gazette:

The fee, which covers the cost of maintaining and improving various components of the stormwater infrastructure — such as sewer pipes, manholes, ponds and a pump station — is already set to rise July 1 from $5.60 a month to $5.82 a month for homeowners.

Come Jan. 1, the monthly fee could rise to as much as $27 a month, with the city council’s approval, depending on just how proactive with maintenance and improvements the city decides to be.

Urbana has charged a stormwater utility fee for a decade, and it covers upkeep and improvements that are largely invisible to the public — unless that upkeep is neglected, which can lead to flooding.

That full article here. The public can access the feedback tools here on the City's website. The city recently voted to increase other fines and fees by 4% according to the News-Gazette's preview of City Council meeting last may. While the vote passed at that meeting (jump to video link), there doesn't appear to be a copy of the exact language or an agenda packet for that meeting on the City's website for some reason.

The City of Urbana is also asking for public input on almost every possible issue in the budget at it's Imagine Urbana public input page and multiple in-person events here.

In other budget news, there were updates on the city's proposed Capital Improvement Plan with an interactive map to help with public feedback. The Daily Illini had a short blurb on that here. The News-Gazette had a more detailed overview here. A vote to approve the plan is happening tonight. Latest updates and overview in the Agenda Packet for tonight's meeting (starting on page 22 of the PDF).

The News-Gazette also had a round up on the city's new Chief of Police:

Fourteen months after Bryant Seraphin’s last shift, Urbana’s police department now has a full-time leader...

His two-year contract, made available prior to Monday’s meeting, will pay Boone an annual salary of $205,000, making him the city’s highest-paid employee...

Boone, a 33-year law enforcement veteran who retired as police chief of Norfolk, Va., in 2022 after a six-year run, emerged in April as the sole finalist for the job held down on an interim basis by interim Chief Rich Surles since Seraphin’s retirement.

The hiring of Urbana’s second African American police chief coincides with the city spending $235,000 for the national consulting firm BerryDunn to help evaluate how it delivers public-safety services.

More at that full article here. WCIA also had coverage here. The town hall event videos for people to get to know the new Chief are still available on the City's website here.

Kathy's Mailbag highlighted an ongoing local census concern with the pandemic interruptions:

The city has identified the areas that showed the biggest declines in population, and they are concentrated near campus. Those areas would be recounted in the Partial Special Census. An added benefit for the city is that the recount could include several campus-area multi-family housing developments that were built after the 2020 Census...

[Mayor Diane Marlin] said the city is “requesting an estimate first because the entire cost of a Partial Special Census is borne by the community and we need to make sure the benefit outweighs the cost. We expect to get the cost estimate from the Census Bureau in a month or so and will make a decision after that.” She said the most likely timeframe for a possible recount would be the spring of 2024.

More at the full Mailbag article here.

Examine Urbana Presentation Series:

There have been a series of presentations to the Urbana City Council looking at various aspects of the city. More information is available at the Examine Urbana page on the City's website. 

Video links:

• April 10: Purpose of Examine Urbana and Introduction
• April 17: Transportation Chapter
• April 24: Development and Taxes
• May 1: Arts and Culture
• May 8: Energy and the Environment
• May 15: Housing

Other Urbana Updates:

• State diverting some federal funding to local affordable housing projects, including at the Steer Place Apartments in Urbana for seniors. News-Gazette eEdition (subscription) blurb here. 
• Possible landmark status for Canaan Baptist Church, from the News-Gazette.
• Still awaiting updates on the BerryDunn's "Community Safety Review" since the town hall event last month. News-Gazette coverage previewing that event here. There does not appear to be video of that event on the city's website, unfortunately.

C-U Gun Violence Updates

Every month the police chiefs of all of the local law enforcement departments report on gun violence and trends within their jurisdictions at the Champaign County Community Coalition meeting. May's Police Chief updates started early around the 1:50 mark of the meeting video here (agenda here).

• The Urbana Police Department's interim Police Chief Surles (Urbana chose a new Chief recently) noted that shootings the past month were down over 50% from last year. And last year was down 25% from the year before that. 
  
  
• Chief Tyler of the Champaign PD also noted a continued downtrend in gun violence: 58% reduction since last year and a 71% reduction in the past two years.

This appears to mirror trends across Illinois (e.g. Quad Cities) and the United States (e.g. New York) after a massive peak in gun violence in 2021. Politicians and government officials tend to take credit for good news when they can, but it may be difficult to statistically tie gun violence reduction to any specific funding or efforts from one city to the next. 

One may look at the city budgets, police staffing, and actual policy changes or programs (in the works or actually being implemented) hoping to find a connection to the roller coaster of gun violence trends. Or one can look at many other potential forces more or less out of any local government's control. A complicated combination of factors are likely at work here. 

The recent City of Champaign update post included some budget updates on federal, state, and county funding going to some of the local projects related to public safety infrastructure, investing in impacted communities, and more direct local gun violence programs.

In related news, WCIA also recently reported that the City is attempting to reinvigorate its Neighborhood Services organizing:

Champaign’s Neighborhood Services are launching a new campaign called 43-43-43. It’s meant to re-engage the 43 registered neighborhood groups throughout Champaign.

Organizers say now that the pandemic is over it’s time for the groups to get back to improving their neighborhoods.

The city would like to see them get more involved with their neighbors. It can be through a neighborhood cleanup, beautification, or environmental education event.

More at that full blurb here. As the City's recent hiring tweets and advertisements show, they are also looking at hiring for a number of positions, including Neighborhood Ambassadors and a Neighborhood Services Director. From the 6/4 News-Gazette:

 

Urbana similarly looks to be reinvigorating its neighborhood outreach programs, including on gun violence. From Smile Politely's overview in March.

First Followers was in the news for its recent survey on the causes of gun violence. From Illinois Newsroom in April:

Research and social justice are often separate issues — but one local organization is using its connections to figure out how to combat violence before it starts. 

First Followers helps formerly incarcerated people re-enter the Champaign-Urbana community. The group released the results of their survey of people in Champaign-Urbana on the leading causes of violence. Almost 60% of people said they’d been impacted by gun violence...

Poverty and access to guns topped the list, followed by gangs, drugs, and a lack of mentorship and constructive activities. Although these results weren’t a surprise, Corbin said, it’s helping guide their recommendations for local leaders and organizations about how they could help address local violence. 

More at the full article here.

The News, Brews & Beatz, "quarterly community conversations are focused on serving the Black community here in central Illinois," continues to analyze local topics related to gun violence, community, culture, and more. Video and more information at their webpage here.

City of Champaign Township and City Council Updates

 

Back in April the News-Gazette highlighted plans for a City Council review of the violence reduction blueprint spending and programs. It was initially expected to occur during one of the May City Council meetings, but you weren't alone if you thought you may have missed it. According to at least one City Council member, this has been pushed back to later this summer, but "no later than August."

City of Champaign Township:

You can catch the most recent 6/6 City of Champaign Township and City Council regular meeting on Champaign Government Television here (Township meeting agenda here and City Council meeting agenda here). The City of Champaign Township meeting included a presentation on the Township budget, including the new Strides "low barrier" shelter budget.

It has been a while since we've had a Cheat Sheet update on the City of Champaign Township, and there have been big changes with the resignation of Assessor Faraci (resignation letter here) to be appointed to the Illinois State Senate. There has also been some changes of both the overlapping membership of the Township board and City council members with the recent municipal election. Katherine Moore was approved as his replacement at the March meeting ("a Contract for Township Assessor Services" in the agenda). From the March Township meeting minutes:

Supervisor Quarnstrom also noted that applications to fill the Assessor role either in a contractor capacity or an employee capacity have been received, interviews were held, and the interview panel has selected Kathryn Moore, a current Township employee, to serve as a contractor to fill out the remaining Assessor term vacated by Faraci. 

The News-Gazette also had some coverage of the appointment ahead of the meeting here.

City Council:

The City Council approved the Honorary Street names discussed at the beginning of May (see link below). Also approved were an additional funding boost to the Garden Hills street lights and sidewalks improvements from the County level ARPA funds. The News-Gazette had coverage of that here. Description from the resolution approved last night:

The purpose of this Agreement is for the County to provide ARPA Funds to the City in assisting with sidewalk and lighting enhancements in the Garden Hills neighborhood in Champaign, thereby improving neighborhood features that promote health and safety.

There was a similar $2 million dollar figure in State funding for the City's gun violence prevention initiatives. More on that 5/13 coverage below. 

More City Council Updates:

For folks who want to catch up with the latest City Council meetings, the News-Gazette and its "Meeting Minutes" feature has been giving regular overviews and updates. Links and an excerpt from the previous Friday's "Meeting Minutes" feature. It's probably most easily accessible for digital subscribers who also get the eEdition:

• City of Champaign 5/19:

With no formal policy on special-event sponsorship spelled out in the municipal code, council members this week signed off on creating one on a one-year trial basis.

The intent of the pilot program, which will run from July 1 through June 30, is to “bolster existing special events and generate interest in the development of new events for the purpose of attracting more visitors to downtown and the city’s central business districts,” staff wrote in a memo to council members.

Among the rules:

➜ It must meet specific criteria “aligning with the city’s mission, goals and policy objectives.” Those include being “broadly welcoming, inclusive and diverse”; designed to attract visitors to downtown, Midtown or Campustown; offering unique arts, cultural or educational activities; and having a sufficient security/risk management plan.

• Champaign Police personnel updates 5/19
  
  
• City of Champaign 5/13 (with video clip showing approval of the item in the excerpt below here):

The city of Champaign is poised to get $2 million in state money to help support its gun violence prevention and community development programs...

If approved, one chunk of the money — $846,825 — would go to reimburse the city for six Equity and Engagement projects and programs that have been underway since from July 1, 2022 through the end of the current fiscal year June 30.

The rest would be spent as follows:

• $164,700 for fire department staffing, surge hiring and equipment.
• $347,500 for police vehicles.
• $641,001 for police officer training pay, patrol overtime, uniforms, equipment and help in the downtown area from a security company.

WCIA also had more on increased State funding generally in a May 26th article here with Mayor Feinen's remarks. 

 

• City of Champaign 5/9 article on four proposed honorary streets relating to local organizations and business legends. The full meeting video is available here with links to jump to the portions on recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month and the presentations on the honorees: Professor Abram Sachar, Terry and Liz Hawkins, Frances Nelson, and Chabad.

 

Unit 4 Updates: Reorganization and More

Last month there was a Cheat Sheet post on possible demographic reorganization plans put forward for Unit 4 by Cooperative Strategies, a consulting firm working for the Board of Education. That post had a preliminary overview, links to coverage, and a lot of background information. This month's post covers a lot of the fall out and cascading responses between the public, the Champaign school board, and the consulting firm. There are also the usual Unit 4 updates and news items afterward.

Demographic Reorganization Updates:

There was a rally before the school board meeting on 10/10 by the Unit 4 Families for a Smarter Solution group. Illinois Newsroom had coverage of the rally and meeting here with a lot of details. WCIA's coverage also included the text of the Superintendent's letter that caused a stir separating the consulting firm's task and Board's focus on the achievement gap.

There was a great deal of public comment from parents, residents, activists, and organizations at that meeting (public comment starts at 27:27 in the meeting video here). The local NAACP branch made a statement about its concerns at this meeting as well (also laid out in a News-Gazette guest commentary here).

In between the two Board of Education meetings in October, there were also in-person focus group meetings by the district's consulting firm on the issue, Cooperative Strategies. Coverage of the 10/17 and 10/18 In-Person Focus Groups:

• From Illinois Newsroom on 10/19: Parents at Champaign Unit 4 open houses: don’t move students next year
• From the News-Gazette on 10/19: Community members hold Unit 4's demography consultants' 'feet to the fire' in Tuesday meeting
• Blurb from WCIA on 10/19: “It won’t make the kids happy”: Unit 4 parents meet in Garden Hills
• Coverage from the first in-person focus group meeting at Carrie Busey Elementary from Fox Illinois: Cooperative Strategies addresses Unit 4 School of Change concerns

The 10/24 School Board meeting (videos, agenda packets) had a bit more of a response from the Board members themselves after additional public comment (begins on the first video around the 2:31:45 point). Illinois Newsroom had an overview of that meeting here. Excerpt:

[Unit 4 Superintendent Shelia Boozer] spent twenty minutes of the meeting detailing her efforts to implement the district’s 2020-2025 strategic plan. The document focuses on ways the district can undo systemic racism and improve academic outcomes for Black students, multilingual students and students with disabilities.

In addition to balancing spending between schools, Boozer described new training for teachers and administrators, supports like therapy and more. One of her top priorities is to expand the AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination) to all schools in the district. The program gives low-income students mentors, peer networks and writing training to help them excel.

Boozer framed changes to the schools of choice as one strategy – a way to remove barriers to low-income students and students of color. Board members echoed the sentiment.

The latest coverage from the News-Gazette's 10/28 "Meeting Minutes" feature also had an overview of what we've learned, remaining questions, and some other highlights about the reorganization plan and players. One particular personnel change at Cooperative Strategies seemed to puzzle a lot of folks:

An email sent this week from The News-Gazette to Cooperative Strategies’ Ohio-based point person on the Unit 4 project came back with an automatic reply noting “Scott Leopold is no longer with Cooperative Strategies, LLC.”

Asked how his departure from the firm, after 17 years, would affect the district’s plans, Unit 4’s Stacey Moore said: “Mr. Leopold is still the lead on this project until the district’s decision is finalized.”

According to his LinkedIn page, Leopold is now director of planning for HPM, a strategic management services company based in Birmingham, Ala.

More at that full article here. I haven't heard any clarification or explanation about how a former employee will be running lead on their company's project, however. The other big highlight is that the Board and others appear to be coming around to pushing the Board's original timeline (which originally would have finalized plans presented in November and approved with a vote this December).

The villages of Bondville and Savoy, which are also part of Unit 4 came up at the Board of Education meeting as well as a special Savoy Village Board of Trustees meeting this week. Discussions about the diversity of those towns as well as their desires for the district were brought up in public comments in both meetings. WCIA's coverage of the Savoy meeting highlighted some interest (and financial pitfalls) in leaving the Unit 4 school district:

The Savoy Board of Trustees voted unanimously to encourage the Champaign School District to create neighborhood schools Tuesday night. They held a special meeting to hear from concerned families.

The district is considering proposals that could uproot many elementary students from their current schools, including Carrie Busey in Savoy. Some people suggested detatching from the district, but Village President John Brown said that outcome is unlikely.

“If you detach or a section of the village detaches from Unit 4, not only do you have to find another school district willing to accept you, but you also have to take along a portion of that debt,” Brown said.

That full article here. There was more coverage on that meeting at WCCU and Illinois Newsroom as well. Other speakers warned (or threatened depending on the point of view) that Unit 4 will lose even more families and residents to neighboring districts rather than accept the plans laid out thus far. 

Those who can afford to leave may have to weigh concerns about crowding in those peripheral districts and related tax questions. The News-Gazette recently highlighted the crowding issues at one of the nearby school districts to the West, Mahomet-Seymour Community Unit District No. 3.

A map of the school districts around Unit 4 within Champaign County highlight some of the ongoing issues with racial disparities and long term effects of segregation in the area. From the Champaign County GIS Consortium website (click to enlarge): 

One can compare the demographic data (available via national or state level data tools) around the area and see some familiar historical trends. The districts encompassing Champaign, Urbana, and Rantoul have racial disparities with far more Black students and far fewer white students than the state average. Every school district bordering them has extreme racial disparities in the opposite direction with almost no Black or Hispanic students and generally a vast overrepresentation of white students. 

Compare with Fisher CUSD 1, Thomasboro CCSD 130, Prairieview-Ogden CCSD 197, St. Joseph CCSD 169, Tolono CUSD 7, or Ludlow CCSD 142 on the Illinois State Board of Education's Illinois Report Card data. Here's a snip of the data for the other district the Village of Savoy area borders:

This modern data has been highlighted in recent segregation overviews in Illinois from Governing Magazine that included Champaign-Urbana and surrounding areas mentioned in a previous Cheat Sheet post here. The News-Gazette had an overview of desegregation efforts within C-U school districts back in 2019, but that doesn't address how segregation evolved along and outside school district boundaries during those efforts.

Some of the trends date back over a century as the Black population grew in the area after the Civil War and into the Great Migration. During the Racial Nadir era here (roughly 1890-1930s) is when much of the county became "lily-white" in the parlance of the times. De facto segregation and the color line became more brutally enforced by local authorities and private vigilance efforts (with varying cooperation and conflict with local law enforcement bodies). This chart compares the changing Black population within the Twin Cities and the rest of Champaign County:

During the decades between the racial Nadir era here and segregation efforts in the last generation, a great deal of factors compounded these disparities including: racial covenants, open loan and realtor discrimination, redlining, community disinvestment and neglect, etc. The growth of the Chanute military base also played a major role in creating a new large African-American community within the County during this time. 

Having an internationally renowned state flagship university in the middle of the county has made us unique in many other demographic respects as well. There's are additional aspects of diversity that set us apart from other regions of downstate Illinois. There are also a lot of examples of early activism and desegregation actions within Champaign-Urbana that put us ahead of many regional trends.

The districting, zoning, and bureaucratic systems that have created and maintained familiar racial disparities throughout the Midwest, however, have in many other ways made us sadly typical. Often people wonder how we could be struggling in our local education systems while having such a prominent university in the middle of it all. Some have pointed to a recent article in The Atlantic highlighting research suggesting that many college towns suffer even more inequality problems: The College-Town Achievement Gap.

Other Unit 4 News:

• The Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation issued a variety of grants for projects and classroom ideas, according to the News-Gazette. The CU Schools Foundation website also has an overview of the program and the grants here.
• Area superintendents participated in a TV special on issues facing area school districts, including Unit 4. Coverage by Illinois Newsroom here. Full video of the event here.
• Already mentioned in a recent MTD Updates post, was an update on Unit 4 versus Urbana's District 116 contract costs with MTD. The same News-Gazette article also highlights some of the local changes and competition in substitute teacher pay.

MTD Updates

This post covers updates on staffing, the half-fare taxicab access issue, an African-American history mural and bus donation, and other MTD coverage and news in recent months.

The MTD is still struggling with staffing shortages. From the Daily Illini a couple weeks ago:

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District continues to face a shortage of bus operators, which has led to MTD implementing service reductions to some of its bus routes...

As a means of attracting new drivers, MTD drivers will only have to wait 90 days rather than a year for their health insurance to take effect, the premiums of which are paid in full by MTD itself. Training wages themselves have also been increased, in addition to hourly pay becoming more competitive. 

The shortage has also caused current drivers to pick up more overtime hours to make up for deficiencies. 

That full article here. More details on campus route changes here.

MTD's half-fare cab program was in the news for failing to comply with disability and accessibility needs. From the News-Gazette back in August:

A Federal Transit Administration final report on a review done once every three years stated that at the time of the review, there was only one local taxi company participating in the half-fare cab program and that its fleet didn’t include any accessible vehicles.

The MTD provides the half-fare cab service offering discounted cab rides within MTD service boundaries as a supplemental service to its DASH Pass. The MTD has DASH passes for both seniors and those with disabilities that make it difficult for them to get on and off a bus...

In all, the FTA focused on the MTD’s compliance with federal requirements in 23 areas, and found deficiencies in two of the 23.

The other deficiency had reportedly been corrected already. More information at the full article here. The latest update on the half-fare issue from the 8/31 MTD Board Meeting:

For the deficiency Demand-response service deficiency (ADA-GEN 5-1), by December 30, 2022, MTD must submit to the Regional Civil Rights Officer (RCRO) its procedures for monitoring the half-fare taxi program to ensure that equivalent service is provided to persons with disabilities, including wheelchair users, according to the criteria described in 49 CFR 37.77(c). In addition, MTD must submit at least three months of data to demonstrate the equivalency of the service.

That full report here (this issues is covered on pg 48 of the PDF file, pg 10 of the "Fiscal Year 2022 Triennial Review" document in the August agenda packet).

Smile Politely highlighted a bus mural dedicated to local African-American history on a bus donated by MTD to the Champaign Park District:

The newest addition to the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail is an MTD bus wrapped with a colorful and impactful mural created by artist Keenan Dailey. The bus was donated to the Champaign Park District by MTD, and it will be used for park district programming, and as a mobile part of the heritage trail.

The interior of the bus includes panels about Frederick Douglass, the history of Douglass Park, and other African American history in Champaign County. 

That full blurb with additional links here. News-Gazette had a bit of coverage here as well.

Recent MTD Board Coverage: 

There was coverage of the August MTD board meeting in the 9/9 "Meeting Minutes feature of the News-Gazette here. It included this quote:

Slowly but surely, MTD Managing Director Karl Gnadt told his board, “we are moving back to the pre-pandemic numbers.”

In July, ridership totaled 290,301 — up from the two years prior (260,815 in 2021, 226,004 in 2020) but well short of the 2019 figure (420,729), when the district was operating at full capacity vs. the current 80 percent, Gnadt noted.

The News-Gazette had coverage of the July MTD board meeting in their 8/5 "Meeting Minutes" feature here (subscription eEdition link). It covered a grant application for new busses, an intergovernmental agreement with Unit 4, and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) related expenditures.

Last month's MTD board meeting coverage included updates on the increasing sophistication of ransomware attacks, including targeting of backups. More on that from the 7/22 "Meeting Minutes" article here. Purchasing a data backup system that can reduce that risk was proposed (agenda pg. 45) and approved (minutes pg. 3).

More recent MTD Board Meeting videos and documents available on the MTD website here.

Other MTD News:

• The Urbana school board renewed its contract with MTD at $180,239 (a $4,014 increase). From the News-Gazette's here. The article noted that Champaign schools renewed there contract in July at $556,110 (covering far more areas).
• MTD helped sponsor a Bike to Work day last month according to WCIA.

City of Champaign Updates

 

This Cheat Sheet post covers City of Champaign meetings and news from September and October thus far. Topics covered include updates on gun violence, police hiring, homeless shelter plans and more. There is an upcoming meeting on Tuesday 10/25 that will include a study session and presentation on the tax levy and financial forecast. Financial forecast report is available here from the City's website.

October Updates:

WCIA had an update on gun violence in Champaign. Excerpt:

WCIA reporters last sat down with police leadership in mid-July. Then, Chief Tim Tyler touted that police received half the number of shots fired calls as they had by the middle of 2021.

The gap has closed some since then. Still, about 15 more people had fallen victim to gun violence at this point last year than to date in 2022. That said, 2021 was a record-breaking year and not necessarily the benchmark.

If the shooting rate the city is experiencing now continues, Champaign may see as many people hurt and killed as in 2020.

More at the full article here. There were overall gun violence updates around Champaign County on a previous Cheat Sheet post here. For the very latest Chiefs Reports at the Champaign Community Coalition meeting this month jump to the 4:30 minute and mark of the latest meeting video here.

In other gun violence related updates, the City of Champaign also signed off on additional funding for its Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint this past week. From the News-Gazette's 10/21 "Meeting Minutes" feature:

$218,103 to the Scott-led Y, part of Champaign’s Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint. [Jeff Scott of the Stephens Family YMCA] told council members it will be put to good use — the expansion of after-school/weekend youth development programming for 25 to 30 kids a day in underserved communities. It will take place in Y-rented space at the Swann Special Care Center.

Full coverage of that meeting is available here from the News-Gazette's s eEdition.

In other City Council news, Tom Bruno won't seek re-election for the first time in a very long time. From the News-Gazette:

One of Champaign’s longest-serving city council members, Tom Bruno, said he’s going to step aside next year and give someone else a turn.

A council member since Aug. 5, 1997, Bruno said Thursday he doesn’t plan to seek re-election next April...

A 68-year-old attorney with law offices in Urbana, Bruno was originally appointed to the city council in 1997 to fill an at-large seat vacancy. He’s been elected and re-elected ever since.

That full article here.

In coverage earlier this month, the News-Gazette highlighted a likely upcoming honorary street sign and an "Island of Misfit Toys" holiday parade theme. More from the 10/7 "Meeting Minutes" feature here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage on the proposed honorary street sign for Toby Herges here. The Study Session report includes the application and letters of support for the signage. The "Meeting Minutes" feature on 10/21 included an overview of all of the City of Champaign honorary street signs here (News-Gazette eEdition link).

September City Council Updates:

The News-Gazette had coverage of the 9/27 Study Session here. Topics mainly covered the promotion of tourism and marketing slogan campaign details:

During a goal-setting session a year ago, the city council endorsed a project to “develop and implement a comprehensive marketing campaign to promote Champaign’s positive attributes and strengthen community pride.”

But when the two-year, $140,000 pilot program was put under the spotlight as the focus of a study session this week, several members had questions.

Most of them revolved around the general issue of: How to pull it off without trumping, or repeating, the campaigns that already exist — many of them involving some of the city’s closest partners?

More at the full article in the 9/30 "Meeting Minutes" feature here. That Study Session report with background and additional details is here. The general concept and discussion inspired criticism from the editorial staff of both Smile Politely and the News-Gazette.

    Also: "Champaign City Council member Danny Iniguez, left, tapped the ceremonial first keg at last weekend’s C-U Oktoberfest as the Developmental Services Center fundraiser returned to an in-person event for the first time in three years."

In Township business, there have been ongoing plans and negotiations over purchasing property for a homeless shelter. I have yet to see any updates where a deal has been finalized, however. From the News-Gazette's 9/23 "Meeting Minutes" feature:

Now that he has his board authorization to spend up to $1.25 million on a home for a first-of-its-kind local shelter, it’s on to the negotiating table for Township Supervisor Andy Quarnstrom... 

Township officials had originally considered launching the shelter in a leased building at 119 E. University Ave., which is being vacated this month by Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County.

But with C-U at Home in the midst of investigating other locations to move its own shelter and other services for the homeless, purchasing the East Washington space became the better option, given that it “is essentially turn key, (so) nothing would need to be done to it for Strides to move in outside of setting up our network, phones, some furniture, etc.,” Quarnstrom said.

More at that full article here. There were some additional updates on the ongoing property sale negotiations here and here (eEdition blurb) from earlier this month.More background on the option and plans from last month here.

The News-Gazette's 9/23 "Meeting Minutes" feature also included an overview of area gambling revenue here and a brief summary of the expenditures approved by the City Council at that week's meeting here. (summaries are also available on the 9/20 agenda here or the actual meeting minutes here).

The 9/9 "Meeting Minutes" feature included updates on police hiring, an additional meeting related to approving McKinley Field games (more detailed coverage on McKinley Field games here), and other expenditures approved here (more details available from the agenda and minutes). It also included some earlier gun violence data here.

More City of Champaign Updates:

• WAND had coverage of this year's immigration Welcome Week events and the City's collaboration with the YMCA's New American Welcome Center. Related News-Gazette blurb on Welcome Week here. WCCU had coverage on preparations being made locally for possible future increases in welcoming local immigration and refugees.
• WAND also had coverage of this year's Champaign Fire Department 9/11 Memorial Ceremony here.
• Some have suggested building a community center at the current site of the County Fair Shoping Center strip mall according to WCCU.
• The News-Gazette also previewed Fire Prevention Week events in Champaign and Urbana here.
• Two Champaign Police officers were promoted to Deputy Chief positions according to the News-Gazette.
• The Hedge POP! Park project in Garden Hills received recognition and an award according to WCIA.
• There was also an update on the City's progress with Costco's sales tax rebate.
• The News-Gazette had pictures and a short blurb on City Council member Danny Iniguez at an Oktoberfest fundraiser here.
• The News-Gazette highlighted a new local Park District pickleball complex.
• Farren's will continue to be the provider of "adult beverages" at Virginia Theater events. From the News-Gazette 9/2 Meeting Minutes.

City of Urbana Updates

 

There was a lot of City of Urbana news and City Council coverage this month. Below is a summary of that coverage, links to more information on new Fire Station placement, Florida Avenue path projects, Safer Streets proposals, and a whole lot more.

Starting with the most recent meeting, the News-Gazette looked at some of the nuanced drama in another extensive Urbana City Council meeting last week. From this week's "Meeting Minutes" feature.

During a marathon committee-of-the-whole meeting that lasted every bit of four hours, one organization’s funding request was pushed back, another’s sparked a philosophical debate and a third brought some tension of its own.

In the middle of all three: Grace Wilken, the inquisitive, second-year Ward 6 representative, who dominated the night’s discussion, asking to be called upon 17 times and following up with questions on another 31 occasions.

That full article here. If you want to jump to the various discussions covered in the article, here is a link to the agenda packet and the list of videos for each agenda item's discussion here. The sound was very low on the videos, so you may need a device where you can really amplify the volume. There were also some public comments related to develop around the old Lierman Community Gardens (see agenda packet staff report page 185-7 of the PDF). Many of the comments revolved around previous desires to keep the community gardens and previous discussion on insurance costs highlighted by WCIA this past summer.

This week there will be both a Cunningham Township Board meeting and a regular city council meeting with some of the final votes on topics discussed at this past Committee of the Whole meeting.

Previous Meetings:

The News-Gazette's 9/30 "Meeting Minutes" feature had an overview of some of the agenda items passed at the regular City Council meeting earlier that week. general updates including fire station issues. Video of the Fire station scoping follow-up questions and discussion is available on the City's website here. For those who want to start at the beginning of the new Fire Station discussion the first presentation began here at the 8/15 Committee of the Whole meeting (summary in item 4 of the minutes) and continued here at the 8/22 regular City Council meeting (summary in item 12 of the minutes). Older WCIA coverage on the Fire Station locations here.

The 9/23 "Meeting Minutes" feature included coverage of the presentation and mayor's remarks on Florida avenue plans: 

The topic: the recommended offstreet, shared-use concrete path on the south side of Florida between Lincoln and Race Street, which a working group determined would “improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists” and fill in a gap that would create a nearly four-mile stretch of pathways.

That full article is available here in the News-Gazette's eEdition along with some data on local gambling revenues here. Video of the full Florida avenue presentation and Mayor's remarks are here with the Mayor's remarks starting at the 1 hour and 11 minute mark.

WAND also had preview coverage on the Safer Streets proposal along Florida avenue that was approved at the meeting. Discussion of the proposal (resolution number ending in -067R) was available under the video for the resolution ending in -066R (at the very beginning).

The 9/9 "Meeting Minutes" had an overview of study session items forwarded to the regular City Council meeting for a vote. It mainly highlighted the agenda items listed for the meeting here (minutes with more detailed summaries here).

The 8/26 "Meeting Minutes" had a lot of coverage and details about the Urbana City Council meeting. Excerpt:

Five things we learned from [Executive Director at The Urbana Free Library] Celeste Choate‘s fiscal-year-in-review presentation to the city council this week:

— Two-plus months since scrapping late fees altogether — and forgiving $70,363.13 in overdue fines accrued by 6,113 adults, 82 teens and 480 youths — library staff is “over the moon” at the response, Choate said: “We’ve already heard people coming in and saying: ‘I didn’t feel like I could have a card before because I was afraid of having fines.’ We have already seen that happening, and that’s very powerful for us.”

That full article is available here and covers a variety of topics from the library to homeless shelter collaboration with the City of Champaign, appointments, and more.

Earlier last month, the News-Gazette also reported that there may be the potential for another solar array in the old landfill location:

The city of Urbana may be poised to see an expansion of solar power being generated at its former landfill site.

The city is entering a lease option with global energy company TotalEnergies Distributed Generation USA that could lead to a second solar array being developed on the last unused acres at the 127-acre former landfill at 1210 E. University Ave....

The next step would be for TotalEnergies and the city to negotiate a long-term lease for the land, he said.

The presence of a second solar array at the old landfill is expected to take some time.

That full article here.

Other Urbana Updates:

• The News-Gazette's "Meeting Minutes" feature highlighted details of Urbana's search for a new Chief of police available here. More from the City's website here.
• Applications for ARPA funds to implement approved City projects and programs are open according to the News-Gazette. City announcement and links here. WAND coverage here.
• The News-Gazette also previewed Fire Prevention Week events in Urbana and Champaign here.
• WCIA had updates on the planned City Building remodeling.
• Smile Politely highlighted Urbana's upcoming leaf collection dates here.

Unit 4 Reorganization and More

The biggest news out of Unit 4 this past month were the proposals to drastically reorganize the school district away from the current "School of Choice" system. The proposals were introduced during a presentation by a consulting firm known as Cooperative Strategies at the 9/26 school board meeting. The next school board meeting is tomorrow October 10th and is likely to have many people organizing before the meeting, attending the meeting and participating in public comments towards the end (links for meeting agenda, information, and public comment rules). 

For folks interested in seeing the 9/26 proposals presentation for themselves it starts just after the 2 hour, 1 minute mark in this school board meeting video on the Unit 4 website. The PDF presentation is available here. The school board meeting agendas and documents are available here.

The News-Gazette had initial coverage of the announcement, presentation, various players, and reactions in their 9/30 "Meeting Minutes" feature. A few excerpts:

You’ll likely be hearing and reading the acronym SES frequently in the coming weeks. “That is ‘socio-economic status,’” board member Kathy Shannon spelled out at this week’s meeting, and it’s severely out of whack between the neighborhoods of elementary schools on the high end of the spectrum (Carrie Busey and Barkstall) and the low end (Booker T. Washington, Garden Hills, Stratton). “We as a community, I think, I hope ... we know that it’s really important that we don’t have schools full of rich kids and schools full of poor kids,” Shannon said....

This is just a report, this is an initial step presented to the board,” President Amy Armstrong emphasized to those anxious parents watching Monday’s meeting — most of them on Tuesday after streaming issues prevented the meeting from being broadcast live on Unit 4’s website. “And the community steps into the next part of the process.”

...

The project website that houses the aforementioned survey is also home to a handy school-locator tool, where users can type in their address and see which cluster they’d fall into if this option is adopted.

A lot more information at the full article available on the News-Gazette website here. There were additional articles on the reaction by the community here. One organized group mentioned in that article, Unit 4 Families for Smarter Solutions, is pushing for alternative policy proposals and has already had its own public meeting towards that goal. Video of latest community meeting here (PowerPoint presentation available here). People didn't appear to be coalescing around any particular alternate proposal at this initial meeting. Many different perspectives were shared on the history of school segregation here, multilingual needs of the community, and criticisms of how focused the Cooperative Strategies proposals actually address any of the problems they're focused on.

More details on the focus groups arranged for further community input to the Cooperative Strategies firm. Links to the survey and focus group application are available on their website here.

More coverage:

• WCIA initial proposal coverage here. Latest reaction coverage here, including yesterday's community meeting and an interview with NAACP president Minnie Pearson who attended and spoke at that meeting. Additional recent Unit 4 articles here.
• Illinois Newsroom 10/4: "Families weigh desegregation benefits, familiarity as Unit 4 discusses abandoning its school choice system"
• Reaction news segments from WAND and WCCU.

For more background on Unit 4's previous attempts at dealing with racial and socioeconomic disparities, local segregation, and integration of schools there is a lot of territory to cover. The most recent and helpful overviews to get started may be the district's recent Needs Assessment (February 2020) and Strategic Plan (September 2020).

• The Needs Assessment was developed by another education consulting firm called FourPoint Education Partners and is available on the Champaign Board of Education's website here. This also relates to the board's declaration of racism as a health crisis in June 2020. 
• The Strategic Plan for the district was developed based on that assessment.

For even more background, here are some additional helpful links:

• A 2019 Cheat Sheet post on segregation in Champaign-Urbana highlighting excerpts of a Governing Magazine series looking at modern segregation in downstate Illinois, including towns like ours.
• WILL coverage of the local branches of the NAACP and ACLU 2019 letter explaining ongoing concerns about racial disparities in outcomes, opportunities, and treatment in Unit 4. The full letter is still available on the Champaign County ACLU's website here.
• A critical look at the aftermath of the Consent Decree and settlement from a former Unit 4 teacher and administrator in 2012. It was republished on a searchable local Unit 4 blog that covered Unit 4 from late 2008 through 2020.
• The News-Gazette had a very brief overview of the extent of school segregation here during the racial Nadir and desegregation attempts after World War II and then the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s.

For legal wonks here is the text of the 2009 Settlement Agreement that helped usher in the end of the Consent Decree and the 2002 Consent Decree ruling itself. There are also records available through the University on the history of the legal battle that led to the Consent Decree. 

The long history of integration and segregation in Champaign-Urbana is difficult to summarize. In some ways we were unique and different from other Northern towns... but in other ways we were tragically typical. I strongly recommend folks take advantage of our great African-American history resources and archives locally to learn more about the evolution, changes (forwards and backwards), and the backlashes that occurred both nationally and locally over the past generations here.

Other Unit 4 Updates:

• CU One-to-One mentoring training dates and coverage from WCCU.
• The News-Gazette had coverage of the Superintendent's pay raise and overview of the previous school board meeting. Other approved items including the sale of excess Chromebooks to other districts and the donation of other surplus supplies.
• The 9/16 "Meeting Minutes" feature noted some approved district hires and "a moment of silence for Central coaching icon Lee Cabutti."
• The latest updates on the tentative SY 2022-2023 budget is available from the last meeting agenda packet here. 
• Area superintendents (including for Champaign schools) had a public event on area school needs covered by WAND here.