Champaign City Council: January 7, 2020

The first City Council meeting of 2020 started with City of Champaign Township Supervisor Andy Quarnstrom announcing the hire of two new personnel. The first hire, U of I social worker intern will mainly assist with the Emergency Rent Assistance Program. Their second hire is a Program Director for Prosperity Gardens. She starts in the next couple of weeks, ready to prepare for Spring.

City of Champaign also welcomed new employee, Bradley Osterbur, who will hold the position of Engineering Technician III in the public works department. He comes from City of Urbana Public Works and will be part of the sewer lining and sewer infrastructure maintenance program.

Council approved two bills- The first resolution was for a contract worth not more than $75,000 with CGLM LLC (doing business as O2X) to provide professional training for 50 Champaign Fire Department personnel. The O2X workshop will span 3 days encompassing fitness, food, sleep, stress education sessions, followed by ongoing support through an online portal through the year. The second resolution was to authorize the purchase of three vehicles through the Illinois State Joint Purchasing Program (worth $81,668) from Morrow Brothers Ford Inc., Greenfield IL and Landmark Ford Inc., Springfield IL, and also to declare four vehicles as surplus property.

During the council comments session, Council Member Clarissa Nickerson Fourman commended Champaign Fire Department’s response to the fatal house fire on Shorewood Terrace saying that their support “says a lot to the black community, who specifically sometimes feels left out.”

Fourman then proceeded to remark critically about the proposed swap of Garden Hills elementary and International Prep Academy (IPA). The proposal announced during a Unit 4 School District board meeting in December 2019 involves moving Garden Hills elementary, a federally funded magnet school to the location of International Prep Academy (IPA), a K-5 bilingual school and IPA moving to Garden Hills Drive.

Fourman, a parent in Unit 4 urged everyone to be aware of what was happening and called for anyone bothered by it to call the school board, attend meetings, and talk to Champaign Superintendent Susan Zola. Fourman claims to have been able to change the minds of Unit 4 on hundreds of other things, and believes that they can do the same on this issue. Clearly against the proposed swap, Foreman called for more information from city staff on how it will impact the neighborhood.

She also expressed dissatisfaction with promises that were made during Unit 4’s 2 tier committee meetings and warned that “if they (Unit 4) are running out of money, they need to just tell the community that, because the impact that this is going to have on the black community, based on the meeting tonight, I think everybody is unaware of how much they are going to show up.”