Unit 4 Updates and SpEd Audit

This post covers the latest news on the district's upcoming Special Education audit and the settlement agreement that led to it. It also looks at some of the controversies on how we got here. Tonight's Board of Education meeting also includes an item to discuss reorganization again. That and other updates are discussed below.

 

SpEd Audit:

The biggest news out of Unit 4 this month was the Special Education (SpEd) Audit Agreement being approved by the board. WCIA had coverage earlier this month at the August 20th special meeting:

After a settlement, the Champaign School District will undergo an audit of their special education programs.

The audit will be done by Dan Cates, a former superintendent with expertise on special education, with oversight from attorney Neil Takkif.

The Board of Education approved of its authorization at their special meeting Tuesday night, with four members voting for the settlement including the audit and three members abstaining.

Julie Duvall, the CU Autism Network executive director, said the district needs to be transparent and able to handle tough conversations in order to improve their special education programs. She also said SPED students and their families should be able to weigh in on the audit and eventually see the final results.

That full article and video segment here. Some key details of the audit are now publicly available on the district's website in tonight's school board agenda packet:

The audit shall specifically address the following areas for the school year of 2023-24 and first semester of the 2024-25:

a. Continuum of special education placement options and appropriate determinations of LRE for students, including provision of supplementary aids, curriculum, and services to ensure ability to participate in regular education to the extent practicable;

b. Special education programming compliance with age range requirements and class size requirements;

c. Adequacy of special education transportation and supervision, including means of transportation and average travel times for students, and student safety;

d. Special education personnel staff development;

e. Special education personnel substitute qualifications and training;

f. Related services adequacy;

g. Facilities adequacy for special education programming;

h. Special education records maintenance and information confidentiality compliance;

i. Coordination with private providers for special education students;

j. Administrative oversight of special education best practices;

k. Hiring policies, practices, procedures, and training for special education personnel,

l. Parent communication and coordination of special education services, and

m. District Title I spending plan

Dr. Cates shall submit an initial report by March 1, 2025, but that final completion of the audit may extend as Dr. Cates finds appropriate to complete the full scope of the audit. At the conclusion of the audit, Dr. Cates will publish a public report on best practice findings and recommendations and will provide the public with a presentation on these findings at a board meeting. The District has permission to facilitate a dedicated webpage of Dr. Cates’ findings.

Dr. Cates shall review the implementation of recommendations within two years of his final report and will produce a written document and public report regarding the District’s implementation of final audit recommendations or lack thereof.

This is from "Exhibit A" (starting on page 7 of the PDF file) of the Cate's agreement executing part of the settlement approved last month by the Board of Education. 

Previously, there have been some prolonged fights over board agendas revolving around items and "agreements" being added that appeared to be in conflict with the actual settlement terms. For example, if one compares this to the bizarre "agreement" from last month, one can now see that it did not reflect the full scope of the settlement terms.

In hindsight, with more of the details of the actual agreement public and confirmed, it raises serious questions about why incomplete and apparently erroneous executing agreements kept being put on the agenda... for a settlement that was still in the process of being approved.

My questions to the board leadership, district, and administrators involved in the process went unanswered. It is unclear if there is a reasonable explanation for what might be charitably seen as "bad optics," or if this indicates a more deliberate attempt to torpedo the settlement agreement during the process. 

I also received no response about growing public concerns that the district's legal team is being weaponized for factional or political ends. This is a concern that predates these public facing documents and board actions with the settlement agreement, including by one of the board members themselves.

Details of the public portions of the final agreement were difficult to find until this month. While the settlement agreement has been approved, the individual contracts related to it still have to be approved. Prior to this, almost everything occurred within closed "Executive Session" portions of school board meetings. Board member Betsy Holder explained her view of the agreement and when the public portions of that agreement will become available:

In a somewhat unprecedented settlement situation, a family in the community sacrificed their own personal and monetary settlement interests on behalf of their child in exchange for the terms of this audit moving for district wide change to help the entire SPED community. I am cautiously optimistic that this is the start of a path moving forward. This is not a forward facing document, but once it is executed it will be available via FOIA. It will govern the terms of the contracts with Dr. Cates and Neil Takiff.

This is a comment from a public social media post and a generally positive review of the board's actions and behavior at the previous special meeting. Social media posts and friends of the family have appeared to confirm that the family at the heart of this complaint and settlement was board member Amy Armstrong. It's not clear why other board members (Baker and Vazquez) abstained from voting for or against the settlement too. 

It passed 4-0-3 (for / against / abstentions) with the support of Bruce Brown. who had generally been aligned with Baker and Vazquez on other contentious issues before the board lately.

Reorganization Discussion:

During the controversy of how new members would be appointed to the Board of Education in light of two resignations, there was talk amongst board members about reorganization after the appointment process played out. This was complicated at the time by the fact that one of the resignations was by the board vice president Jamar Brown. A previous Cheat Sheet covered some of the controversy about elected a new vice president prior to having a full board to vote on the issue. The News-Gazette had an article about the walk-outs and quorum denying tactics surrounding the issue at the time.

Eventually the Board voted to make board member and board parliamentarian Heather Vazquez also the Vice-President of the board. 

More recent discussions about board reorganization have also been heated, with the Board President and Vice President accusing a newly appointed member of attempting a takeover, with designs on becoming the new Board president himself. Other arguments have revolved around whether reorganization was part of the detente that ensured a quorum and the vote for Vice-President while the board was still dealing with two vacancies earlier in the year.

Those recent discussions mostly took place at the contentious August 12th Board meeting around the 1:28 mark (agenda packets available here, video here). Banks, for his part denied any desire to become the president and explained that he felt misrepresented. A distinction was made between the president, who had been voted on by a previous full board and the decisions made about other board officers during vacancies. 

There have been arguments about whether the law and district policy allow for reorganization. I can't speak on the merits of the legal arguments, but others have noted other similar scenarios throughout the state over the years. It may come down to how a majority of the board decides to proceed and then whether anyone chooses to take the disagreement to court. I'll leave it to the reader and the lawyers to draft their own opinions and legal interpretations, however.

July Meeting:

The News-Gazette coverage had some brief highlights of the July meeting here. The censure drafted by the President and district lawyers appears to have been dropped from the agenda (and I haven't heard it raised again since). 

The July meeting (video here) began with a discussion and debate about the agenda as well, also revolving around disagreement on reorganization. The board began Executive (closed) session without approving the agenda (having failed the initial vote). This did not make any sense to me at the time, as going into Executive Session is an item to be carried out on the agenda itself.  The board came out of closed session and immediately returned back to approving the agenda.

The second agenda discussion added to confusion about whether they were passing an agenda as amended by the president (although there did not appear to be a motion or vote to amend it first). The removed item was 6. E. the appointment of a parliamentarian alone (as opposed to a broader reorganization of the board officers). The board then returned to Executive (closed) session after resolving the agenda issue. 

The public portion of the Board of Education meeting finally began at 6:42pm and adjourned at 8:37pm. The News-Gazette overview mentioned above was concise about the arguments raised during this meeting. The discussion about a "risk management committee" began around the 1:19 mark of the video and went on for about 40 minutes. President baker was opposed to the idea, while member Banks assured this was about ensuring the Board of Education has the information it needs and that there's nothing "nefarious" about the proposal.

Board communications began with a statement by Heather Vazquez admonishing people to not simply refer to board members by their surname, e.g. Baker as opposed to Dr. Baker. Communications got heated again towards the end after member Holder took issue with her husband being brought into the board's disagreements. She accused some of trying to interfere with her livelihood and work clients.

There was a brief special meeting earlier in July that was just to confirm recent hires in a timely manner. This is pretty common for school districts that generally only have one regular meeting in July (as opposed to two during school semesters). Agenda packets can be found on the district's website here.

Other Unit 4 Related News:

• A critical perspective on BTW after the previous school administrators were removed by the district, from the News-Gazette. There was also an update on the litigation by the former Assistant Principal Rebecca Ramey here.
  
  
• The board president wrote another column on navigating school board policy in the News-Gazette. Board member Bruce Brown wrote an opinion piece hoping the board could focus on the needs of the district and students. A Unit 4 graduate and now Unit 4 parent wrote an opinion piece calling for reorganization.
  
  
• There was an article in the News-Gazette explaining the growing costs of MTD bus service for the district.
  
  
• Tonight's meeting will also have a presentation on the the Affirmative Action / Equal Employment Opportunity audit on diversity and hiring goals within the district. The report showed positive gains in diverse employment goals by the district and is available here. There were other hiring updates in the news last month here and here.
  
  
• There was a general update in the News-Gazette on area Student Resource Officer collaborations between police departments and school districts, including cost figures for Unit 4.
  
  
• A former Unit 4 Board of Education member was caught up in the arrests of campus protesters. There were several arrests over the summer related to the protests that occurred on the University of Illinois campus during the Spring 2024 semester. Updates on those charges and concerns about the "mob action" law being used is available on the County Cheat Sheet page here.
  
  
• A 13 year old student appears to have been charged with the recent threats to district schools, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• There appeared to be some ongoing delays with late registration according to WCIA.
  
  

City of Champaign Summer Updates

This post has updates from the last few summer months, including potential council pay raises, filling a council vacancy, and a lot of economic development updates. A separate post will be dealing with gun violence updates in C-U generally. The vacancy for District 3 was filled in June. The News-Gazette had coverage of Jamar Brown being appointed and sworn in.

New member Jamar Brown took his seat on the Champaign City Council for the majority of Tuesday’s meeting following a 7-1 vote instating him to represent District 3.

Just three months earlier, Brown resigned from the Unit 4 school board less than a year after being elected...

He’s filling the seat vacated by Danny Iniguez on May 14.

Brown has just under a year to finish out the remainder of Iniguez’s term, which ends May 6, 2025.

That full article here. The News-Gazette also had more on Brown's background the day before here. Last month's Cheat Sheet on the Champaign City Council had a brief overview and links about the resignation, application process, and other applicants. WCIA also had brief coverage of Brown's appointment here with some additional links to more background information.

Council Pay Increases:

It always appears to be a contentious issue as to whether elected representatives should get a pay raise. Like everybody else, there are concerns about retention, inflation, and budget priorities. From the News-Gazette:

Five members of a Champaign City Council Compensation Task Force voted unanimously Thursday afternoon to recommend raising council members’ annual pay from $5,000 to $7,000 and the part-time mayor’s annual salary from $35,000 to $45,000.

The mayoral raise would bump Champaign from fifth place to fourth on the area compensation charts, leapfrogging Rantoul ($36,000) and trailing only three cities and villages where the job is full-time: Danville ($100,000), Urbana ($73,217) and Tilton ($60,000).

The recommended raise for council members would match what Urbana pays its aldermen, tops among area cities and villages. Rantoul, Clinton and Sullivan each pay $6,000 annually.

That full article here. The staff report on the task force was brief in its recommendations and reasoning. It was presented at the last study session where the council gave the initial go ahead (agenda, video). A final vote by the council is still required to approve the pay raises. The News-Gazette had an earlier article with a comparison of area mayoral pay.

Downtown Plaza:

Construction has begun on the Downtown Plaza project after the schedule was moved up and approved at the beginning of July. From the News-Gazette: .

City officials have rearranged the construction schedule for Phase 1 of the Neil Street Plaza project in hopes of addressing concerns from local businesses.

The Champaign City Council will vote on two agreements related to Phase 1 of the project at their 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday: an approximately $3.26 million construction contract with A&R Mechanical Services and a $298,500 construction engineering contract with Clark Dietz.

That full article here. These changes were approved for the Plaza construction timeline at the July 2nd City Council meeting (video jump to). WAND had coverage of the City Council approval and new schedule here. WCIA highlighted the upcoming public ground breaking event this past Friday here. WCIA also had coverage of the ground breaking itself with a video segment here.

Economic Development News:

The Yards: In the latest update on long stalled development project around the Illinois Terminal called "The Yards," developers are looking for input on whether there's interest in going forward or not. from the News-Gazette:

It’s really just an opportunity for the neighborhood to speak and say, ‘Hey, we’re excited about this, let’s keep working on it’ or maybe ‘Now’s not the time’, in which case, that’s OK as well,” said Royse and Brinkmeyer CEO Collin Carlier. “We could stop working on it. But it does take a lot of time and energy, and it’s a long entitlement period, so we’re just looking for, I guess, to be nudged whether we should continue to move forward or alter our thoughts based on feedback from the neighborhood.”

That full article here. 

County Fair: It's looking like everything is set for the redevelopment of the long stagnating County Fair Shopping Center and surrounding area. The plan relies on a TIF district (what is a TIF district?) as a funding strategy:

At 217 acres, the proposed Springfield and Mattis tax-increment-financing district isn’t the largest in the city, but it’s up there, said T.J. Blakeman, the city’s economic development manager.

He estimated it’s probably the second biggest after the 507-acre Garden Hills TIF district...

The boundaries of the proposed TIF district include the Country Fair Shopping Center, the Champaign Park Apartments, the Country Brook Apartments, the Round Barn Shops, the Shops at Glenn Park, the Schnucks Plaza and the former C.S. Johnson Factory.

That full article here, which goes into a great deal of detail on how the process will likely play out from here (including another public hearing, a meeting of the Joint Review Board, and a final City Council vote). This follows up from previous coverage on plans to redevelop the Country Fair Shopping Center area. Also from the News-Gazette:

The 32-acre Country Fair site, which has been on the market for more than a year, is under contract to a team of investors who are doing their due diligence before closing on the property, Senior Planner for Economic Development TJ Blakeman wrote in a report to the council...

He added that the potential buyers seem very willing to work with the city of Champaign and local developers to incorporate the city’s priorities into the project, including “walkability, high-quality design, new public streets and circulation patterns, and the reintroduction of transit to the development.”

City Manager Dorothy David has authorized a cost-share agreement to engage an architectural firm that can begin work on a conceptual plan for the project.

That full article here.

Economic Development Manual: The City Council recently had a Study Session where they had a presentation on and discussed a "New Economic Development Manual" (staff report, presentation video). The presentation and discussion included incentivizing development and possible changes to improve those incentives with increased costs. A key part of the council feedback was on exclusions (e.g. gambling establishments). The Council's technical questions and input begin at the 26 minute mark (jump to video link). The discussion ended with City Council direction to staff to move forward (with that input). 

WCIA had a brief overview of the issue:

The Council is in the process of drafting a new Economic Development Manual. The current manual went into effect in 2012 and ends this year. As part of the new manual, the city council is looking at revising the Redevelopment Incentive Program and implementing three small business assistance programs.

The Redevelopment Incentive Program, established 30 years ago, assists redevelopment projects with up to $150,000 or 20% of the cost. Since then, it’s provided more than $5 million in grant funding.

Under the new Economic Development Manual, a few changes would be made to the Redevelopment Incentive Program. The cap would be increased to $200,000 with a bonus of $10,000 for projects that can be occupied immediately upon completion. Criteria and percentage of eligible costs would also change.

That full article here.

Downtown Housing: There were also some concerns about affordable housing with a redevelopment project near downtown. From the News-Gazette:

Royse and Brinkmeyer is seeking city approval for a planned unit development on 10 properties it owns in the block bounded by South State Street, South Prairie Street, West White Street and West Springfield Avenue...

Gil Terriberry, case manager at the Strides Shelter, said at the commission’s meeting last month that he appreciates the variety of density incorporated into the project.

However, he added that there is a “serious housing problem” in Champaign and surrounding counties and was curious to know if the development might include “affordable, low- and moderate-income or subsidized housing,” as a lack of affordable housing is a major contributor to homelessness.

That full article here. This issue was discussed at the Plan Commission last week (agenda, video). Towards the end of that meeting, it appeared that the Plan Commission approved an amended version of the redevelopment plan for the City Council to consider (with the Plan Commission's recommendation to approve). The tentative date for the City Council to look at this item is September 17th.

Other City of Champaign Government News:

• Kathy's Mailbag delved into cellphone reception issues in Champaign and some of the city planning and regulations that go into possibly resolving them.
  
  
• Champaign Fire Department looking ahead to replace Ladder 161, from the News-Gazette's "Meeting Minutes" feature.
  
  
• Two more signs have been added to the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail, including one in downtown Champaign to remember the JCPenney boycott and picketing here, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• Honorary street signs for a local community organizer and a local music producer were approved this month. There was a previous overview on the proposal from the News-Gazette here. WCIA had a short blurb on the music producer, Mark Rubel here.
  
  
• There has been a great deal of public comment about the conflict between Israel and Gaza, generally asking local governments to divest from Israel and take a stand against alleged war crimes. See the public comments section at the 7/2 regular City Council meeting and 7/9 City Council study session for examples.
  
  
• City looking at a possible local historical landmark designation on nearly 100 year old home, according to the News-Gazette.

Champaign Public Library: Board of Trustees

The Cheat Sheet has never been able to cover much news coverage or do meeting write-ups for the area library board of trustees. It has generally been an overwhelming project just to keep up with some of the more prominent municipal and local government bodies in Champaign-Urbana (and at the County level too!) over the years. We've often had to do round up Cheat Sheets highlighting updates over several months to catch up on those! 

With our new collaboration with the League of Women Voters and the NAACP of Champaign County observer project, we will be able to share updates on far more meetings and more regularly.

Natalie Frankenberg is a LWV Observer who has been attending Champaign Public Library Board of Trustee meetings regularly for 15 years as of this month. This post links to those annual reports from April 2019, a two year 2020 and 2021 report, and her most recent multi-year report that covers meetings from April, 2021 through June, 2024.

  

The most recent report includes an explanation of how the Board of Trustees is appointed, its policy role, and other helpful details about when and where it meets. I've had links where appropriate:

The nine-member board meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. Since 2018, there is no scheduled meeting in December. Most of the meetings are held at the main library and twice a year they are held at the Douglass Branch. The meetings are open to the public and posted on the events calendar on the library website. All Library Board minutes, policies and annual reports are posted on the CPL website as well. Additionally, beginning in February, 2020, an audio link is included with the minutes on the website. 

Library trustees are volunteers appointed by the Mayor of Champaign and approved by the City Council for staggered terms of three years. Trustees may be reappointed. As of June, 2024, Trustees are Maryka Baraka , Katie Blakeman, Tricia Crowley, Michael Foellmer, Michael LaDue, Charles Lansford, Rajeev Malik, Minnie Pearson, and Chaya Sandler. During the years covered by this report, previous Trustees have been Deb Busey and Craig Rost. Foellmer is the City Council liaison to the Board, a position mandated by the joint governance agreement with the city. At the end of the June, 2024 meeting, Maryka Baraka and Tricia Crowley are retiring. They will be replaced by Daly Andersson and Charlisa Hart. The Board sets policy for the library and appoints the library director, who serves as the library’s chief executive officer.

In March, 2022, Donna Pittman, Library Director announced her pending retirement. The Board voted to move forward with an internal search first. In May, 2022, Brittany Michaels was selected as the new Library Director... 

The Board has representation, and acts as liaison, to the Champaign Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Champaign Public Library, and Douglass Branch Advisory Committee. Due to difficulty in obtaining a quorum, The Douglass Branch Library Advisory Committee convenes only if the need arises and there is a request by at least 2 members.

The current Library Director, Brittany Millington, it should be noted, previously went by Michaels, her maiden name, when she was the Library's Deputy Director, according to the News-Gazette. The paper also interviewed her in their "Beyond the Boardroom" feature in 2022 here.

I won't excerpt the entire reports here, but I will share a couple highlights from the most recent report and link the to the full reports below. From the 2021-2024 report:

In September, 2021, plans were introduced for “The Studio,” an 8000 square foot expansion planned in the lower level. This area will be for teens after school as well as community members of all ages evenings and weekend. The CPL Foundation committed $1 million for the $2.5 million project. The City Council voted to fund $1.5 million (City Council video of 2/1/2021 vote, agenda, bill).

Approval for construction was voted on November 10, 2022. The Studio officially opened the weekend of October 7-8, 2023. The Studio has tools like circuit machines, laser cutters, sewing machines, a recording studio, a 3D printer, just to name a few of the things available. 

Following the opening of The Studio, the CPL has new projects: the maker space at Douglass Branch, the lobby flooring, and updates to the 2nd floor. The CPL received a $50,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The funds will be used for the Douglass Branch maker project. Also contributing to the project, The Foundation raised $88,000 and The Friends of the Library pledged $50,000. The funding goal was reached.

The CPL Board has formed a Strategic Plan Steering Committee to develop a new strategic plan for 2025-2028. 

...

In the past the Library Journal awarded the CPL Star Library status. This recognition is based on number of visitors, computer use, checkouts, and other statistics. CPL has consistently received three-star rating ranks. Due to the pandemic and interruptions in reporting, Library Journal has decided not to issue data index or star designations this year, and it is unclear if they will in the future.

During the period of this report, the annual audit reviews were conducted by Lauterbach & Amen, LLP and the library continued to receive the highest rating.

Serving as the LWV Observer to the Champaign Public Library Board of Trustees continues to be an interesting experience and a privilege.

Full reports:

• Annual report from April 2019. 
  
  
• Two year 2020 and 2021 report. This report includes an overview of some of the interruptions and adaptations during the pandemic response.
  
  
• Multi-year report that covering meetings from April, 2021 through June, 2024.

New Collaborations with LWV and NAACP of Champaign County

New Collaborations:

If it looked like I've been having difficulty keeping up lately, you'd be right! I should be catching up on a big backlog of Cheat Sheet posts for various local government and related organizations soon. And a much wider variety than ever!

The League of Women Voters of Champaign County and the NAACP Champaign County Branch have started a collaboration to rejuvenate the local Observer Corps. This generational project of non-partisan reports on local government took a hit during the pandemic. There has been ongoing work and organization to get these non-partisan local government meeting write-ups going again and also make them more readily available for the public to stay informed.

The Cheat Sheet has joined that collaboration to help summarize and link to these full reports and meeting write-ups! As always, the Cheat Sheet will continue to attempt to avoid taking sides of different local controversies, parties, or ideologies. 

We'll report, to the best of our ability, confirmed facts and differing perspectives on the issues before local government. We'll link to local reporting, government documents, public statements, and recordings of the meetings themselves when they are available. 

The full meeting reports and write-ups that we link to from the LWV Observer Corps and NAACP observers are also meant to be objective, but any personal or organizational biases in them are not necessarily the views of the Cheat Sheet or its authors. Likewise, what limited stances the Cheat Sheet may take on various facts or perspectives are not necessarily those of anyone else we are collaborating with.

For anyone interested in joining either local organization and volunteering to be a non-partisan observer, just click the links above in this post or in our website's sidebar. You can also email observers@lwvchampaigncounty.org for any additional questions, on everything from the new collaboration or volunteer opportunities!

Bonus for Local Civic Nerds:

The League's Vice President, Ann Panthen, recently shared this treasure from the local LWV archives: a 20 year retrospective on the Champaign County Board from 1976 to 1996. She noted that it was "authored by Mary Blair- one of our most dedicated members and an observer for many years. Mary died recently at the age of 104!  She was also League president in the 70's."

The three page report talks about an era of rising conservatism nationally and locally, changing demographics, and long term pressure for better record keeping and transparency. It speaks of hope in more future intergovernmental agreements to work on behalf of everyone in Champaign County. That is something that we do actually see far more of in more recent decades and into today.

It also talks about earlier support for an elected County Executive by Democrats years ago. This was during the early days of coming up with any type of centralized administrative position beyond the County Board Chair themself. For those familiar with the change to an Executive Form of government, it was local Republicans who eventually pushed the 2016 referendum through, assuming that their candidate would win a County wide race in 2018! He didn't and the seat has been in Democratic Party hands ever since.

Needless to say, a lot can change in local government, especially over the long term. From this report, one can also see that many things do not change too!

Thank you for reading! We look forward to many Cheat Sheets and meeting write-ups in the future!

- Benjamin

Mid-July City of Urbana Updates

Tonight's Urbana City Council meeting will have a presentation on a rental assistance program with the Regional Planning Commission, an update on the Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan, and two resolutions on rental assistance programs.

The agenda also has a discussion on the task force being established to look at alternative responder models for calls that would now normally go to the Urbana Police. This follows up on the discussion from last week at the 7/8 City Council Meeting (jump to video link).

Mayor Race Updates:

The Urbana Mayoral race is still uncontested for current Champaign County Deputy Chief Treasurer Deshawn Williams. The News-Gazette had coverage of Urbana City Council Alderman Quinsenberry's decision to not enter the race:

Quisenberry is currently the alderman in Urbana’s Ward 7 and the executive director for student affairs technology at the University of Illinois. He previously served on the Champaign County Board.

In late 2022, he told The News-Gazette that he was interested in running for mayor but said Tuesday he had a change of heart after thinking it through...

Unlike most mayoral offices in the area, Urbana’s is a full-time, salaried job.

That full article here. Quinsenberry told WCIA that he got to know Williams in the process of considering his own run and came to believe that Williams is a "great candidate."

Budget and Police Budget:

Most of the Urbana City Council news coverage this past month focused on the police staffing, alternative responder models, and budgeting for the same. From the News-Gazette's coverage of the budget vote a few weeks ago:

One police budget vote down, one extended conversation about alternative response models for police, fire and medical calls to go.

After weeks of debate and discussion — and two-plus hours of public comment Monday night — the Urbana City Council voted 6-2 to adopt a fiscal budget ordinance that included a slimmed-down version of what Police Chief Larry D. Boone asked for at the start of the process...

[Mayor Diane Marlin] said a “collaborative community stakeholder task force” will be formed — including community members, representatives from community organizations and first responders — which over the next year will “explore options for alternative response … not just focused on police alternative response (but) fire and medical, as well.”

That full article here. The News-Gazette had coverage on the task force being established to look at alternative responder models in Urbana. WAND had coverage of the final vote here and an overview of the compromise plan here with a comparison to the original plan. WCIA had a short article on the development of the task force for alternative responder models here. 

WCIA also had coverage of the original budget vote (without the police funding) last month here.

There were a number of opinion pieces, including from the Chief of Police himself, on the staffing and budget issues:

• Urbana Chief of Police Boone on his frustrations and the needs of the department in a News-Gazette "My Turn" column.
  
  
• The News-Gazette's criticism of many on the Urbana City Council in an editorial last month.
  
  
• The News-Gazette had coverage of some of the different perspectives between the Chief and Aldermen on the council here.
  
  
• The News-Gazette also had coverage of the initial proposal presented by the UPD and reactions by various Aldermen on the City Council here.

The Urbana Police Department has also been posting updated crime and gun violence maps on its facebook page. WCIA had coverage of some of the maps released last month here. The most recent maps release from last week is available here.

Urbana City Council Meeting Write Ups:

The Daily Illini had write ups on Urbana City Council meetings throughout June and early July as well: 

• 7/1 City Council Meeting (Committee of the Whole) coverage (video, agenda packet) which included preliminary votes on Hope Village funding and a number of other items. See Hope Village coverage below. There was a brief Public Hearing with some concerns about the Hope Village project here.
  
  
• 6/24 City Council Meeting coverage (video, agenda packet) which included the original Budget vote (without the police budget).
  
  
• 6/17 City Council Meetings coverage (continued to 6/18) (Special, Public Hearing, and Committee of the Whole (part 1 and part 2) video links, with all agenda packets available here) which discussed budget issues, zoning issues, and redistricting. There's a great deal of public participation in all three meetings, available in the video, generally focusing on criticisms of the proposed police budget. 
  
  
• 6/10 City Council Meeting coverage (video, agenda packet): which included a vote on the Youth Services Grant Program and Mayoral appointments.

Hope Village Updates:

The News-Gazette also had an update on the Hope Village timeline:

A spokesman for Hope Village said that construction is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2025 and the project "aims to be ready for residents in early 2026." It was previously estimated that the community would open in 2024...

Hope Village is a collaboration between Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC), Carle Health and the University of Illinois. The city of Urbana has allocated $850,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the endeavor...

According to the project's website, Hope Village will be a community of tiny homes that offer housing for adults in the Champaign-Urbana community who are "most at risk of homelessness and are medically fragile." The project is being built on farmland south of Federal Drive in Urbana and north of Champaign's Carver Park neighborhood.

That full article here. WCIA had similar coverage of the Hope Village updates here.

Continuing a Long Meeting Rules:

Kathy's Mailbag had an overview of the rules dictating public notice when a meeting is continued to the next day. This has been the circumstance for many Urbana City Council meetings as they tend to run long more often than most (the June 17th and 18th meetings above, for example):

When a meeting is “properly noticed,” and the business cannot be completed within the time constraints allowable for a meeting of that body, Sandefur said the meeting may simply be recessed and reconvened where the body left off within the agenda — provided that the above condition (1) or (2) is met, as outlined in the OMA.

In addition, she said the city of Urbana “has a hard stop of 10:30 p.m. and via council vote may continue beyond that time in 30-minute increments no more than twice more. On Monday, June 3, our council motioned, seconded and voted to recess the meeting to a time and place certain, Tuesday, June 4, in city council chambers at 7 p.m., sharing the announcement of the time and place of the reconvened meeting, which also fulfilled the 24-hours requirement.

That full Mailbag column here.

More Urbana Government News:

• The News-Gazette had a comparison of Mayoral pay across the local area, including Urbana (2nd highest pay of those listed, though still significantly less than Danville).
  
  
• Updates on a potential future Urbana skate park, from the News-Gazette.
  
  
• The Urbana Plan Commission is still going to be discussing a possible development on Campus, according to the News-Gazette. At the July 11th meeting, there were a number of questions and the issue was continued to their next meeting on July 18th.
  
  
• Yet another Hotel Royer update, with a possible opening later this summer. From the News-Gazette.

Urbana City Council Updates

Looking forward to next year's municipal elections, Mayor Marlin will not be running for a 3rd term according to Illinois Public Media. This post, however, is more of a round up about current business before the board and recent news coverage. It's been a while since our last City of Urbana Updates earlier this year.

The Daily Illini has a had a great deal of meeting coverage on what we've missed (agendas, minutes, and video links available here on the city website):

• March 18th City Council Meeting: Coverage of the compromise ceasefire resolution, public comment, and text.
  
  
• March 25th City Council Meeting: Included debates about plastic bags and potential taxes on their use at stores.
  
  
• Tuesday April 9th Cunningham Township Annual Meeting: which included its own referendum, including one on the Gaza conflict.
  
  
• May 27th City Council Meeting: Coverage of the City's financial plan and discussion of the role of social services in it. More on this meeting's dispute on appointments was covered in the News-Gazette and highlighted later in this post below.
  
  
• June 3rd and June 4th Committee of the Whole Meeting. The most recent City Council meeting was a Committee of the Whole meeting that was overwhelmed by public opinion on police hiring and alternative responder model issues. The meeting was continued the next day after it had initially gone on for a few hours. The first day of the meeting made it through item F. 6. (the police staffing presentation) before it was recessed. More coverage on those issues later in this post below.

Redistricting:

As with other local government bodies, the latest Census information has led to a new proposed ward map for the Urbana City Council as well. From Illinois Public Media:

Starting with the spring 2025 municipal elections, the new map will set boundaries for the next decade for the seven wards represented by the seven aldermen and alderwomen on the Urbana City Council...

The Census lowered Urbana’s population count from 41,250 in 2010 to 38,336 in the new Census, a population drop of about seven percent. Marlin says the decrease in population translates into a roughly $750,000 decrease in state and federal tax revenues coming to the city every year.

Marlin says the lower census count is not due to an actual decrease in Urbana’s population, but to a pandemic undercount of University of Illinois students. She argues that this is evident in the census data, which shows the greatest population losses in and around the University of Illinois campus. Students dominate the population in that area, and many of them went off campus during the time the census was taken, because it was also the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

That full article here. The City's web page for the ward map details is here.

Police Budgets:

One of the more hotly contested aspects of the budget has to do with the City's long term plans with policing, crisis intervention, and alternative approaches to police calls for certain situations. Previous consulting recommendations focused primarily on more traditional staffing needs for the Urbana Police Department. From Illinois Public Media:

The national consultant hired by the city of Urbana has released its first report evaluating the police department. In this report, BerryDunn, a national consulting firm, recommends hiring more police officers, which would cost the city millions and involve raising taxes. 

According to the report, more than 64% of calls for service don’t involve criminal activity. Those calls, activists argue, don’t need a police response. Instead, many residents want Urbana officials to establish alternative responses for these calls, involving domestic violence experts, social workers and mental health professionals.

That full article is available here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage earlier this month here and a more recent update from last week. Excerpt from that update:

The latest report from a multi-phase review of the city’s public-safety services said the city stands to benefit from developing alternative methods for how its police and fire agencies respond to calls for service.

The “Essential Calls for Service Report” from BerryDunn, a national consulting firm the city hired in 2023, determined that expanding supplements to the Urbana Police Department’s response model — like telephone units, online reporting services and co-response teams — could help free up officers to answer more urgent calls and provide appropriate resources for those in crisis.

The assessment ties into the first phase of BerryDunn’s review, which recommended that Urbana police hire seven sworn officers and six non-sworn community-service responders, a potential 22 percent increase in the agency’s staff levels.

That full article here.

[Update 6/10/2024: The News-Gazette had even more coverage on this issue in today's paper here. It covers last week's City Council meeting and some of the disagreement on the police portion of the budget. Excerpt:

Police department officials presented proposed staffing increases as part of last week’s budget discussions, which started Monday night and continued into the wee hours of Tuesday after the council voted to take a recess due to the late hour.

Boone said he is requesting the following new positions, which are currently included in the city’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025:

• One deputy chief to oversee operations
• One training sergeant
• Three patrol officers
• Two non-sworn community service responders
• One social worker “in support of alternative response models”
• Three community engagement officers]

More Budget Items:

The City of Urbana, unlike the City of Champaign, appears set to absorb the loss of the State grocery sales tax revenue, according to the News-Gazette. The City Council will also be looking at its financial plan, with approval of that plan coming up at their June 24th meeting. Excerpts from the Daily Illini:

According to the proposed budget, investments will be made in public safety and public works, such as 911 services like fire, EMS and police, as well as city infrastructure. Other investments will be used to support the mayor and city council’s strategic goals. 

In addition, the budget proposed a local motor fuel tax rate increase, with all tax revenue to be dedicated to transportation infrastructure improvements.

The budget also proposed investments into research of the connection between the maintenance of housing and community well-being and occasionally crime. Council members also seek to increase funding for nuisance abatement, or the elimination of harmful property conditions.

That full article with a lot more additional information and links here.

Appointment / Reappointment Disputes:

Disputes about appointments continued to plague the Council. People familiar with the Urbana City Council will be very aware of a years long crusade to remove City Manager Carol Mitten from city government by more openly left-wing board members and public commenters. From the News-Gazette Meeting Minutes feature:

Things took a turn for the awkward at this week’s city council meeting after Alderwoman Grace Wilken, as she did in 2022, motioned that Mayor Diane Marlin‘s recommended one-year reappointments be voted on individually and not lumped together.

Chris Evans took it from there, reading from lengthy prepared comments all the reasons he wasn’t supporting the appointments of City Manager Carol Mitten, who was sitting just down the table at the time.

That full article here.

More City of Urbana News:

• Kathy's Mailbag answered a question about ambulance contracts with the City.
  
  
• The News-Gazette had some updates on the fire station projects back in April.
  
  
• Urbana joined other local government bodies in supporting a program to expand flight service out of Willard, according to the Daily Illini back in March.

City of Champaign Updates

Danny Iniguez of District 3 (map) announced his resignation last month, which will create a vacancy on the board. The City Council has 60 days from May 14^th to fill the seat temporarily until the results of the 2025 municipal elections in the Spring. The process was laid out in a staff report here. Interviews for applicants (the application deadline has already passed) will be conducted on this Tuesday, June 11^th. The News-Gazette had an overview of the appointment process and the three applicants yesterday:

One of the two Unit 4 school board members who resigned in frustration in March — and one of the 28 who applied to replace him — are among three applicants for the District 3 vacancy on the Champaign City Council.

The three will be interviewed at Tuesday's study session for the seat vacated by Danny Iniguez, according to the council agenda made public on Friday.

It's a short-term assignment that expires on May 6, 2025.

That full article here. A final vote on the appointment to the City Council would be as soon as the following week, with the selected appointee sworn in immediately afterward. There is a separate Unit 4 Updates Cheat Sheet post here.

Recent Meetings Coverage:

The Daily Illini had coverage of the most recent City Council meeting on June 4th this week. Excerpt:

On Tuesday, the Champaign City Council held its weekly discussion, primarily focused on passing a number of resolutions related to infrastructure improvement. 

The meeting began with the introduction of three new members of the city staff. 

Following this, a proclamation was made by the council on the topic of raising awareness of state-wide and national gun violence. 

More at the full article here. The Daily Illini also had coverage of the May 28th meeting here, which included updates on the Garden Hills drainage project.

Grocery Sales Tax:

The City of Champaign, like many local governments, is looking at a way to deal with the loss of grocery tax revenue with the latest changes in the State budget. The News-Gazette laid out the problem and the City Council's dilemma earlier last month:

As the budgeting process continues, Champaign city leaders are divided on how to make up $2.7 million in revenue that will be lost if Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal to eliminate the state’s 1 percent grocery tax moves forward.

While some city council members feel the best approach is to raise the home-rule sales tax, others are interested in alternative options, such as establishing a packaged liquor tax...

Proceeds from the grocery tax go entirely to local municipalities, and the question of how to fill in the gap was the focal point of Tuesday’s budget discussion.

That full article here. The News-Gazette had a more recent update showing that the council was "leaning towards" increasing its own grocery sales tax rate at their May 21st Study Session on the budget (the staff report from that Study Session is available here).

Downtown Plaza and Downtown Entertainment District Updates:

Most of the other policy news coverage this month involved development of the downtown Plaza and the downtown entertainment district centered on Market Street. The News-Gazette had coverage of some of the State grant funding being used for the Plaza project. The News-Gazette also highlighted local concerns about the Plaza project's impact on businesses in that area.

The Daily Illini had coverage of the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Downtown Entertainment District here. There was also News-Gazette coverage on the recent City Council vote to increase security for the downtown entertainment district and the context of the recent highly publicized shooting on Market Street. Similarly there were also local business concerns about the downtown entertainment district's impact. WCIA had a brief overview of "The Beat" initiative to highlight and attract entertainment and customers to the downtown entertainment district. More at The Beat website here.

Other City of Champaign News:

• A portion of Park Street was ddesignated in honor of Reverend Claude Shelby, community organizer and retired long-time pastor of the historically Black Salem Church.
  
  
• The City allotted additional funding to 40 North to expand its Friday Night Live entertainment project according to the News-Gazette. 
  
  
• The City's Plan Commission is looking at updating the land use rules for large solar arrays. Currently such installations require a special use permit be approved each time.
  
  
• The Plan Commission was also looking at approving a possible large scale data center at the University's Research Park, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• The City launched an interactive tool to compare historic maps of Champaign from the 1880s to 2024, according to WCIA.

Unit 4 Updates: Board Appointments

The Regional Office of Education appointed two new members to the Unit 4 Board of Education to fill two vacancies due to resignations. This was after months of disagreements on the process with the remaining board members. The News-Gazette had an overview of the process and the appointed officials last week last week:

The retired CEO of the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club and a local business owner who ran in the last election will fill the two vacant seats on the Champaign school board.

Regional Superintendent Gary Lewis brought an end to a monthslong saga Friday when he announced the selection of Sam Banks and Mark Holm to fill the seats vacated in March by Jamar Brown and Mark Thies.

They’re short-term positions, expiring in April, when the seats currently held by board President Gianina Baker, Heather Vazquez and Bruce Brown will also be on the election ballot.

That full article here (and some previous coverage of the Regional Office's process here and here). Illinois Public Media had similar coverage here and WCIA also had brief coverage on the new appointments.

A lot has happened since our last Unit 4 update in early April. At that time we had a Cheat Sheet post laying out the controversies heading into the local appointment process. That process fell apart as disagreements arose between two board members and a three member majority of the remaining (five of seven) Unit 4 Board of Education members. There was an initial meeting establishing some details of the appointment process, but that fell apart when the remaining process details were decided by the Board President without an additional public meeting of the Board.

The dispute resulted in the minority members using the parliamentary tactic of blocking a quorum to delay the process so that the Regional Office of Education would have to take over the process. From the News-Gazette last month:

The saga that has been the Champaign school board since two members resigned in frustration two weeks apart in March is about to enter a new phase — a do-over in the effort to find replacements for Jamar Brown and Mark Thies.

As was expected and is mandated by state statute, Regional Superintendent of Schools Gary Lewis — not the five remaining members of the Unit 4 board — will assume control of the process starting Monday, which will mark 60 days since Brown stepped away.

That full article here with a lot of additional information on the disputes. Some of the clashes appeared to go beyond process and policy and into the personal. The News-Gazette reported on the Superintendent's correspondence that the disagreements arise from "sheer hate," while others point to her remarks as exemplifying the leadership issues they're taking issues with.

There has been heated debate among local activists, especially many within the local Black community, about the role of white supremacy and racism in the criticisms of the Black women leaders of Unit 4 as Superintendent and the Board of Education president. This has been especially directed at the Unit 4 Families for a Smarter Solution group that formed during the last Unit 4 "Schools of Choice" reorganization proposals. Some local media has viewed the group as having both valid concerns, but also some arguably problematic ones. Another local media outlet has depicted the group as anti-desegregation or anti-equity, which appears to be strongly disputed within the group's facebook page.

There is a local history of school segregation and reactionary politics against reforms and desegregation efforts here, but the degree to which the past is replaying a role in the current situation, I leave to the reader to determine. One can find much agreement, at least in principle, on many of the desegregation and equity goals among the opposing factions (both on the Board and their constituents).

There appears to be a general consensus that the district is facing ongoing and persistent problems that pre-date the current Black leadership of the district, but there is a dispute about how much opposition is reasonable versus a racial double-standard. 

The newly appointed school board members will be sworn in at the next Unit 4 Board of Education meeting on June 10th.

Cell Phones:

The News-Gazette also highlighted various local and area policies on cell phones in schools. It also published a variety of views on the issues and complications involved with setting a cell phone policy in public schools as part of its Meeting Minutes feature. An excerpt from the article from a local Unit 4 parent and activist, Rita Conerly:

As a mom, having my older kids carry a cellphone to school is important to me for several reasons.

Firstly, it provides a means of communication in case of emergencies or unexpected changes in plans. Secondly, it allows me to stay in touch with them throughout the day, ensuring their safety and well-being. Additionally, having a cellphone can facilitate learning by providing access to educational resources.

That full article here. This follows a previous Meeting Minutes article looking at the district cell phone policies last month here.

Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint Funds:

There was a bit of an update last month on the City of Champaign's additional ARPA funding to the school district to collaborate on programs looking to deal with gun violence and its underlying causes from WCCU:

In 2022, Unit 4 was offered over $526,000 through the blueprint to fund their own gun violence prevention programs. But in September of 2023, the City of Champaign shared that the Unit 4 school district turned down the money. Unit 4 at the time said they turned down the money to focus on academic and social emotional support.

That changed shortly after a shooting right next door to Booker T. Washington Elementary School this fall. The shooting left parents asking Unit 4 why they had not taken money for gun violence reduction from the City.

In December of 2023, Unit 4 ended up taking money from the Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint, though for a lesser amount than the original contract. The original contract gave the Unit 4 school district $526,620 to use towards gun violence reduction programs. However, the new proposal with a $91,000 reduction brings the district's new total to $435,000.

That full article here. WCCU had a recent article on ongoing concerns about gun violence near Booker T. Washington school here.

Other Unit 4 News:

• With Champaign Police staffing issues slowly being rectified, Unit 4 has approved a new contract for School Resource Officers for next school year, according to the News-Gazette. 
  
  
• The former principal of Booker T. Washington school, a central figure in recent board divisions and accusations of retaliation by the district administration, is now at Rantoul Schools, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• Three Novak Academy students receive Resilience Scholarship, from the News-Gazette.
  
  
• The News-Gazette also reported on the CU Schools Foundation presenting this year's Mann-Hankel Award.
  
  
• There was a Meeting Minutes feature comparing various graduation costs for local school districts.
  
  
• There was a Kathy's Mailbag question that looked at the evaluation process for the Superintendent of Unit 4. The Board President also had a recent "My Turn" piece in the paper on what the school board does. That article elicited a response from the local NAACP president.
  
  
• There have been a number of concerns about Special Education students, their needs, staff issues, and more at recent Unit 4 school board meetings and in public criticism on social media. WCIA had an overview of these concerns in a recent article here. One of those stories was highlighted in the News-Gazette Guest Commentary last month.
  
  
• Promise Healthcare received grant funding towards establishing a health center in collaboration with Unit 4 schools, according to the Daily Illini back in April.