Chambana Sun

Champaign County Board Committee of the Whole met May 9

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Members Present: Samantha Carter, Lorraine Cowart, Aaron Esry, Stephanie Fortado, Jim Goss, Elly Hanauer-Friedman, Stan Harper, Mike Ingram, Jennifer Locke, Jenny Lokshin, Diane Michaels, Kyle Patterson, Brett Peugh, Emily Rodriguez, Jilmala Rogers, Tom ‘Ed’ Sexton, Chris Stohr, Jennifer Straub, Leah Taylor, and Bethany Vanichtheeranont 

Members Absent: Eric Thorsland and Jeff Wilson 

Others Present: Steve Summers (County Executive), Tami Ogden (Director of Finance), Mary Ward (Recording Secretary) 

Agenda Items 

I. Call to Order 

Mr. Patterson called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m.

II. Roll Call 

Roll Call was taken, and a quorum was declared present.

III. Approval of Agenda/Addenda 

MOTION by Ms. Carter to approve the agenda; seconded by Ms. Taylor. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

IV. Approval of Minutes 

A. April 11, 2023 – Regular Meeting (to be distributed) 

MOTION by Mr. Ingram to approve the minutes of April 11, 2023; seconded by Ms. Michaels. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

V. Public Participation 

There was no public participation.

VI. Communications 

Ms. Carter said she participated in the Highway Committee on Friday when they honored Ms. Cowart. Ms. Cowart has been on the County Board nearly 40 years and 23 of those years she has served on the Highway and Transportation Committee. She exemplifies strength in our community and has been a long-serving public servant that we are thankful for.

Ms. Michaels added that there was a wonderful turnout for Ms. Cowart and encouraged everyone to stop by the Highway department and check out the beautiful plaque.

Mr. Stohr reminded the Board that May 20th is the Residential Electronics Recycling Collection day.

VII. Policy, Personnel, & Appointments 

A. County Executive

1. Appointments/Reappointments (italics indicates incumbent) 

a. Resolution Appointing John Bergee (D) to the Board of Review, term 6/1/2023-5/33/2025

b. Resolution Appointing Ladell Myrick (D) to the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District, term 6/1/2023-5/31/2026

c. Resolution Appointing Lisa Liggins-Chambers to the Mental Health Board, unexpired term ending 12/31/2025

OMNIBUS MOTION by Ms. Rogers and seconded by Ms. Cowart to recommend County Board approval of resolutions appointing each member to their respective boards. A friendly amendment was made to the motion to correct the date of the Board of Review appointment to 5/31/25 by Mr. Ingram. Both Ms. Rogers and Ms. Cowart accepted the amendment. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

d. Currently vacant appointments – full list and information is available on the County’s website at: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyExecutive/appointments/CurrentVacantOpenings.pdf  (information only) 

Information only

e. Applications for open appointments (information only)  

Information only

2. Request for Job Content Evaluation Committee to review the Clerk(s), Tax Map Technician, Assistant Deputy/Appraiser and Assistant Deputy/Sales Analyst positions for the Supervisor of Assessments

3. Request for Job Content Evaluation Committee to review the GIS Technician position for the Champaign County GIS Consortium

OMNIBUS MOTION by Ms. Rogers to recommend the Clerk(s), Tax Map Technician, Assistant Deputy/Appraiser and Assistant Deputy/Sales Analyst for the Supervisor of Assessments and the GIS Technician position for the Champaign County GIS Consortium be sent to the Job Content Evaluation Committee; seconded by Ms. Straub. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

4. Recommendation to the County Board for approval of the updated job description for the Information and Technology Specialist in the County Clerk’s Office, effective May 18, 2023

MOTION by Ms. Lokshin to recommend County Board approval of the updated job description for the Information and Technology Specialist in the County Clerk’s Office; seconded by Mr. Patterson.

Ms. Patton, of the Clerk’s office, was asked if the job class remained the same. It did not move up and will not have an impact on the budget. The question was also asked as to why this position is under the Clerk’s office and not supervised by IT? The ultimate goal is to have this under IT. There is a huge, complicated technical component with elections and there has been a lot of turnover in IT and not sure they are ready to handle this at this time. There is a great deal of collaboration that happens with IT and the goal is to get this position moved over to them. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED.

5. Recommendation to the Finance Committee for approval of the creation of the HR Generalist position to be assigned to Grade Range H, effective May 18, 2023

MOTION by Ms. Taylor to recommend to the Finance Committee for approval of the creation of the HR Generalist position to be assigned to Grade Range H, effective May 18, 2023; seconded by Ms. Carter. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

6. Resolution Honoring Stanley Summers

MOTION by Ms. Cowart to recommend to the County Board the Resolution Honoring Stanley Summers; seconded by Mr. Patterson. Mr. Stohr read the resolution into the record. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

Mr. Summers thanked the board for their support at this time and he knows that his Dad would really have appreciated this.

B. County Clerk

1. Monthly Fees Report – April 2023

Information Only

C. Other Business

There was no other business.

D. Chair’s Report 

There was no chair’s report.

E. Designation of Items to be Placed on the Consent Agenda

Items VII. A. 1a-c, 4, 6

VIII. Finance 

A. Budget Amendments/Transfers

1. Budget Amendment BUA 2023/04/77

Fund 2083 County Highway / Dept 060 Highway

Increased Appropriations: $250,000

Increased Revenue: $0

Reason: The Highway Department’s FY2022 budget included appropriations for the purchase of a Mack dump truck. The truck was ordered in April 2022 and was not delivered until 2023. The unspent funds need to be added to the FY2023 budget.

MOTION by Ms. Cowart to recommend County Board approval of a resolution approving budget amendment BUA 2023/04/77; seconded by Ms. Carter. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

2. Budget Transfer BUA 2023/04/415

Fund 1080 General Corporate / Dept 060 Juvenile Detention Center

Amount: $100,000

Reason: To transfer savings from the Regular Full-Time Employees line to the Outside Boarding line. Transfer required to send juveniles to outside facilities to maintain safety and security while we continue to hire and train new staff.

MOTION by Ms. Taylor to recommend County Board approval of a resolution approving budget Amendment BUA 2023/04/415; seconded by Mr. Sexton.

Ms. Rogers had questions and discussion followed on staff vacancies and staffing and housing juveniles out of County. Ms. Siders, Director of Probation and Court Services, explained the many things they are doing to recruit new personnel. It is a 24/7 facility and is a hard job. There are currently 13 juveniles housed in county and two in McLean County. Ms. Rogers stated that she would be voting no on this as she does not support housing juveniles out of county.

Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED.

3. Budget Transfer BUA 2023/04/539

Fund 1080 General Corporate / Dept 036 Public Defender

Amount: $2,000

Reason: To transfer savings from the Regular Full-Time Employees line to the Employee Recruitment line in order to offer a one-time relocation payment to a potential new employee.

MOTION by Ms. Rogers to recommend County Board approval of a resolution approving budget Amendment BUA 2023/04/539; seconded by Ms. Lokshin.

Ms. Pollock, Public Defender, was available to answer questions. Mr. Goss stated he would not be supporting this as he did not want to set a precedent and see this happening a lot. Ms. Pollock said she may have to ask for this again. We need to be offering something the other counties are not. Ms. Lokshin voiced her support and appreciated that she was thinking out of the box to attract talent to the County. Ms. Carter also voiced her support for this.

Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED.

B. Treasurer

1. Monthly Reports – January & February 2023 and March 2023 Investment Reports – are available on the Treasurer’s webpage at: https://www.co.champaign.il.us/treasurer/reports.php 

The Treasurer has all the information for the reports and just needs to compile them. This will be done soon and the Investment Reports through the end of April and the General Reports will be done. That will be the first time in a long time that those reports will be caught up. We appreciate those being caught up.

2. Resolution Authorizing the County Executive to Assign Mobile Home Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase, permanent parcel 11-014-0039

3. Resolution Authorizing the County Executive to Assign Mobile Home Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase, permanent parcel 30-060-0021

OMNIBUS MOTION by Ms. Michaels to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing the County Executive to assign a mobile home tax sale certificate of purchase for permanent parcels 11-014-0039 and 30-060-0021; seconded by Mr. Sexton. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

C. Auditor

1. Monthly Report – March 2023 – Reports are available on the Auditor’s webpage at: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/auditor/countyboardreports.php

Information only.

D. Circuit Court

1. Approving the application for, and if awarded, acceptance of the Adult Redeploy Illinois Implementation Grant

MOTION by Mr. Goss to approve the application for, and if awarded, acceptance of the Adult Redeploy Illinois Implementation Grant; seconded by Ms. Taylor.

Kyle Schiebert, Problem Solving Court Coordinator was present to answer questions. The question was asked why the request was only for $400,000 and not the full $1 million that’s available. At this time, we only have a functioning Drug Court and have not yet started development of the Mental Health Court. We started with just what we need for Drug Court and have the opportunity next summer to ask for more to supplement the Mental Health Court, once that becomes more tangible. Mr. Stohr said he has high hopes and expectations for this. This is something that has been wanted for quite some time. Ms. Fortado asked if there is any consequence if we don’t hit the goal regarding IDOC commitments. There is a potential penalty, but ICJIA does get involved and give assistance if there are circumstances beyond our control. We have been hitting that goal of reduction of commitments for the past few years.

Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

E. County Executive

1. Resolution Adopting the Champaign County Financial Policies

MOTION by Ms. Taylor to recommend County Board approval of a resolution adopting the Champaign County Financial Policies; seconded by Ms. Rogers. Ms. Fortado thanked Ms. Ogden and the Executive’s office for the work put into this. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

2. Resolution Establishing the Budget Process for Champaign County for FY2024

MOTION by Mr. Goss to recommend County Board approval of a resolution establishing the Budget Process for Champaign County for FY 2024; seconded by Ms. Straub. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

3. Broadband Expansion Project Update (discussion only) 

Mary Ellen Wuellner, Grant Writer, and Bailey Conrady, Manager, Champaign County Farm Bureau gave an update on the Broadband Expansion Project. The memorandum in the packet gives a good overview of the project. Farm Bureau’s role is outreach and helping with easements. Because we were pro-active and forward thinking, we are far ahead of other counties. This puts us in a position to be able to take advantage of upcoming rounds of grant funding. Champaign County is well positioned to be the example of how this can work and how we can bring broadband to the rural areas.

Volo and Nextlink were selected as the internet service providers. Board members were pleased with the progress being made, glad they had made the decision to make broadband a priority and liked that we are the leader in this area. The question was asked when they anticipated the first mile would be laid. In a perfect world, it would be possible that it could be this fall, but we will have to see. Members asked what they can do to help. It is mostly to emphasize to constituents how much this is needed in the rural areas. It was also mentioned rural is not just “out there”. There are also neighborhoods on the outskirts of Champaign, Urbana, Rantoul, etc. that do not have high speed internet. The discussion also went to the issue of easements and the challenges that arise with absentee owners.

4. Recommendation to the County Board for approval of the creation of the HR Generalist position to be assigned to Grade Range H, effective May 18, 2023

MOTION by Ms. Taylor to recommend County Board approval for the creation of the HR generalist position to be assigned to Grade Range H, effective May 18, 2023; seconded by Ms. Locke. This is putting the position on the org chart, but the Board will have to decide how and when to fund this position.

Upon vote the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

F. Other Business

There was no other business.

G. Chair’s Report 

Ms. Fortado stated that she would not be at the full County Board in May and will also miss the Committee of the Whole meeting in June.

H. Designation of Items to be Placed on the Consent Agenda

Items included on Consent Agenda include: A. 1., B. 2. & 3., D. 1., E. 1. 2. & 4.

IX. Justice and Social Services 

A. Monthly Reports – All reports are available on each department’s webpage through the department reports page at: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/Reports.php

• Probation & Court Services – March 2023 & 1st Quarter

• Public Defender – March & April 2023

Monthly reports are on the webpage.

B. Rosecrance Re-Entry Financial Report – March 2023 (information only) 

Information only.

C. Other Business

There was no other business.

D. Chair’s Report 

There was no chair’s report.

E. Designation of Items to be Placed on the Consent Agenda There are no items for the Consent Agenda.

X. Other Business 

There was no other business.

XI. Adjournment 

Mr. Patterson adjourned the meeting at 7:42 p.m.

https://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/Committee_Of_The_Whole/2023/230509_Meeting/230509Minutes.pdf