On March 19th, 2020, the Champaign County Board attempted to hold their first electronic board meeting in an effort to promote social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. District 4 County Board Member Jim McGuire called the virtual meeting an “utter failure”, and one citizen who watched the meeting described it…
The follies and tribulations of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) process continue to add up at virtually every meeting or action of the board and related City staff. Communications from a citizen show that “Community Relations Specialist” Preston James failed to mail required documents to a complainant after…
On March 16, 2020, the Urbana City Council met to discuss and vote on a “Temporary Emergency Ordinance to Address the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic”. The City of Champaign, which immediately abuts Urbana to the West, passed such an ordinance three days prior, and was met with national scrutiny for their…
On March 16, 2020, the Urbana City Council met to discuss and vote on a “Temporary Emergency Ordinance to Address the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic”. Three days before the meeting, Urbana City Attorney James Simon sent out an emergency ordinance proposal to the Urbana City Council for consideration. Simon’s proposal contained…
On March 16, 2020, Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb released a video informing the public about changes to the Police Department’s policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably, Champaign Police will not be taking any walk-in reports and officers will not be responding in-person to reports of crimes unless the…
On March 13th, 2020, Urbana Illinois City Attorney James Simon sent out an emergency ordinance proposal to the Urbana City Council in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed ordinance cites the Urbana city code “Chapter 6 – CIVIL EMERGENCIES” as insufficient to address an emergency such as the COVID-19…
Just hours after unanimously passing an ordinance that grants “extraordinary powers” to Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City is scrambling to explain itself to citizens and news outlets across the state of Illinois. In less than 12 hours, Champaign gained a moderate amount…
CU-Underground is in receipt of a string of emails which include communications from Urbana City Attorney James Simon and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. The communications reveal City staff violating public records laws, and Simon repeatedly lying about the legal findings of the Public Access Counselor at the Attorney General’s…
Just hours after unanimously passing an ordinance that grants “extraordinary powers” to Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen, the City is making efforts to deceive citizens about what was actually voted on. The ordinance that was discussed at Friday morning’s emergency Council meeting contained a list of 30 “orders and regulations”, or…
