In mid-February the Urbana City Clerk, Phyllis Clark, released a video for her political campaign that was clearly produced within the Urbana City Building. The video includes numerous shots of Clark within the City Clerk’s Office and even utilized another City employee to participate in staging scenes. Any use of…
At a FOIA lawsuit hearing on December 9th, 2020, Champaign County Judge Jason Bohm ruled that Urbana had incorrectly withheld public records and documents related to the alleged retail theft by Illinois State Representative and Chair of Champaign County Democratic Party Carol Ammons. On January 10th, 2020, Urbana Police Department…
The Urbana City Council and Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin are facing a lawsuit alleging Open Meeting Act (OMA) violations. The complaint, filed on November 20th, 2020 with the Champaign County Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois alleges that the defendants restricted public speech in a deliberate attempt to silence criticism.…
After more than seven months of internal and external reviews claiming no wrongdoing and clearing all officers involved in the violent arrest of Aleyah Lewis, Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin acknowledged that there was a violation of policy during the incident. Local activists have been voicing their concerns about the…
While chairing the November 9th, 2020 City Council meeting, Mayor Marlin readily enforced a recently passed ordinance regarding public input during public meetings. The ordinance prohibits speakers from addressing elected officials and City staff by name, and shortens public input time. During the public input session of the meeting held…
At the November 2nd, 2020 City Council Meeting, Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten pushed ahead with her plan to excluded certain types of complaints from the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) appeal process. A week prior, Mitten presented an update on the status of CPRB complaints and appeals. She focused…
The City of Urbana and Urbana Police Department have been withholding records and documents related to the alleged retail theft by State Representative and Chair of Champaign County Democratic Party Carol Ammons. On January 10th, 2020, Urbana Police Department was contacted regarding an alleged theft by Ammons at the Carle…
At the October 26th, 2020 City Council Meeting, Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten presented an update on the status of Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) complaints and appeals. For months, numerous residents have voiced concerns about the shortcomings of the CPRB, and the lack of public trust in the complaints…
Local activists have been voicing their concerns about the inadequate investigations into the violent arrest of an Urbana resident. The City of Urbana has maintained a silent stance as these faults have been brought to light (Public i article here). On April 10th, 2020, Urbana Police officers violently arrested Aleyah…
On October 12th, 2020 City Council passed an ordinance that allows censorship of public comment during meetings. Several of provisions in the ordinance are in violation of the Open Meetings Act as they pertain to content-based regulation of public speech. The passed ordinance can be viewed in full here: Ordinance…
