A special meeting of the County Board was called this evening for two purposes:
1.) To discuss the problems with the new County Nursing Home
2.) To discuss the job performance of County Co-Administrator Denny Inman (in closed session)
Several persons showed up at 7:00 pm, sitting in the gallery. Curiously, the agenda included no provision for "Public Participation." (Someone mentioned that it is a requirement of any open public CB meeting, but I'm not sure of that.)
The meeting was called to order and role taken. Three persons were absent: Steve Beckett (Facilities Chair), Carl Weibel (Facilties Vice-Chair) and Denny Inman. This is not good. Within seconds, Johnathan Schroeder moved to adjourn. This was immediately challenged by Trish Avery, stating that a meeting had been called, members attended, and why waste the CB stipend to just go home? There was a fair amount of confusion over Parliamentary procedure from Tom Betz who was the subsitute Parliamentarian in Beckett's absence. Avery ended up withdrawing her challenge and called for the role. The motion to adjourn (recess, really) failed 22-3. (Schroeder, Happ, and Mossier all voting yes...to recess.)
Ron Bensyl -- who led the effort to call the meeting in the first place -- then stated that he had no questions on the County Nursing Home because no one was there to answer (Beckett, Weibel, Inman). So the CB moved into closed session... (for like, the 45th time or something in the past 12 months. joke.)
Those of us in the gallery filed out into the hall. Our merry band of benchwarmers included: myself, JJ Farney and his wife, Bob Kirchner (!), Duane Northrup, a few others plus press from the NG, WILL-580, AM1400, WCIA, and WICD.
But wait! At 7:30pm Weibel dashed into the CB room, and at 7:40, here comes Steve Beckett! Just in time for closed session, but nary a word to the press or any other board member in regards to Nursing Home questions. Apparently, Inman was tucked away in his office with his attorney.
The folks in the hall quickly bonded and for the next FOUR HOURS waited as the County Board debated the fate of Denny Inman.
Finally, around 11:30pm, open session resumed and we filed back in. Ron Bensyl moved to terminate Denny Inman's employment, effective immediately. This was promptly substituted by Tom Betz with a motion that sounded like a slap on the wrist: a letter will be sent stating Inman's good and bad results and giving him a four month probation or something. (I was a bit bleary eyed to get the entire gist.) The vote to substitute succeeded 13-12, and the main motion then succeeded 16-10... or so.
MIDNIGHT ANALYSIS: As for meeting goal #1, I am told this was the best that the board could do and hopefully, Mr. Inman starts being straight with the board and the public.
As for the CCNH discussion, I am appalled -- but not surprised. More of the same: tell us we have all the answers and info, and then evade legal requests for more info (as in, the special meeting tonight to discuss.) The meeting was called in plenty of time and at least ONE of the three persons who could answers the questions should have been there. Can someone please tell what's open and honest about this?
Clearly, the County Board can do better. And I'd like to be part of that improvement.
(DISCLOSURE: I am a candidate for County Board District 7)
Denny Inman will never be open,honest or straight with anyone...why should he? He gets contract extensions and raises without so much as a comprehensive performance review...thanks to Beckett, et al!! I certainly hope noone is surprised by the Beckett/Weibel antics...my first question is did Wysocki have her cell phone? Seems a bit pre-planned...was Beckett simply out in the lot waiting? Geez!! I hope everyone finally gets a good solid picture of the slime ball he really is....he is anything but about good and open government as his campaign lit. states.....and shame on all you D9 R's that gave him the chance to continue his game playing!! The CCNH is an embarraaing debacle for everyone involved on both sides...there were MANY opportunities for the R's on the facilities committee (and the board) to force these issues as there were for the D's...fact is everyone kept their mouths shut!! Now lets make it an election issue. This really sickens me...I never saw Mr Farney or Mr Bensyl at a meeting many months back asking the hard questions...2 weeks before the election ...suddenly here they come....ridiculous, this NH has been in trouble for over a year now...where have you all been? Fact is we need to get the NH open and opertating and I'm not sure we can ever be certain that the mold issue is totally resolved and won't reappear as a bigger issue (when residents are finally moved in) at some point in the future. Everyone involved in this should be on the chopping block...I wish we could have started with a much stronger message to Inman...and on election day voters will hopefully set the rest straight!!
Ooops...I asked only where Mr Farney and Mr Bensyl have been....sorry Mark but where have you been? I just saw..once again your commercial with JJ....and I can honestly say that at all the CCNH home meetings I have attended over the past year or so...I'm not sure any of you have been there. I would like to see this stop being an election issue...again everyone is to blame for this mess...my question is what now?
[...] Thanks to Mark Randall for blogging about the meeting last night. The news will probably cover the fact that Denny Inman, after having been shown to have willfully misled most of the Champaign County Board, was still able to hold on to his job. But the important story from last night’s County Board meeting is that he and Steve Beckett refused to show up for the part of the meeting to answer questions from Ron Bensyl about this project. [...]
Farney and Randall have been at numerous County Board meetings over the last year. And I don't know if there is a more important election issue than whether our elected leaders follow the open meetings act and the freedom of information act.
C'mon Mark...no more important issues? Are you kidding me? If I missed them at all of the facilities meetings (where most of the conversation in the last year has been about CCNH) then I apologize....but I don't think I did!! I sit through almost all of the CB meetings and can say with pretty honest certainty that they have rarely been there...until now!! A bit late to point fingers...again I ask where do we go from here? rather than continue with the pointless blame game we need resolution and the ability to move forward
Where do we go? Well, I'm not giving up on getting to the truth. I'm going to be doing another FOIA today. I just got a letter yesterday from Susan McGrath on my last FOIA, which Denny Inman ignored, in violation of the law. I'll be looking at those ASAP
[...] See my posting on Illinipundit regarding the special County Board meeting (10/25) to discuss the problems with the County Nursing Home. Too bad the CB leadership who could provide answers didn’t show up (in time). [...]
My usual disclosure: I am a member of the County Board, District 7 and the vice-chair of the County Facilites Committee. I am registered as a Democrat.
I received an email notice of the special (i.e.,not usually scheduled) Wednesday meeting of the Champaign County Board on Monday morning October 23. Normally for me, full Board, committee, and caucus meetings are on either Tuesday or Thursday, so this meeting was not part of a normal pattern in our household. On Wednesday evenings, my wife is employed and I am responsible for my two children. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anyone to watch my children until starting just after 7 PM Wednesday. I suppose that I could have made it to the meeting on time if I had just dropped the kids off in front of the house where they were staying”“but I believe that this is considered to be child abandonment and is absolutely something that I will not do. I also could have brought my kids to the Board meeting. It is possible that they could have sat quietly during open session. During closed session, they would have to leave the room and wait for me amidst strangers until the closed session is over. Although I would be next door, I believe that this also would have been child abandonment or certainly akin to child abandonment. Earlier during the day had I sent an email to Ms. Wysocki informing her that I would be late because I had to take of my children. She responded and thanked me for informing her. I suppose she could have mentioned that I would be late”“but that is her decision. Obviously, I consider the safety and security of my children to be a higher priority than getting to an irregularly scheduled Board meeting on time. My priorities concerning the welfare of children may be different from others, but that is my prerogative. Others may disagree with this priority, but I realize that that may be their prerogative.
I entered the meeting room through the front door (the door which is amidst the public seating) so the reference about entering the room through the back door is incorrect, assuming that we agree on which door is the front door. As I walked (at a somewhat brisk pace-I knew that I was late- but probably not “dashing”ÂÂ) through the crowd outside the door (indicating that the closed session has already started), no one approached me to ask questions. If they had, I would have stopped and attempted to answer the question(s). Allusions to a conspiracy that I waited until after the open session was over to enter the meeting are ludicrous. As for cell phone use, I am very wary about giving out my cell phone number--Ms. Wysocki (or any other board members) does not know what it is, and I do not know Ms. Wysocki's cell phone number, assuming that she has a cell phone.
Also, for what is it worth, Mr. Beckett told me prior to the meeting that he would be lecturing at a class [presumably a law class] Wednesday evening.
After the meeting, I did not leave until about 15 to 20 minutes after it was recessed. I believe that if anyone wished to ask me questions or discuss any board business with me, they could have approach me then. No questions to me were asked by anybody, including the local press, local TV, fellow board members, inquiring citizens, and not even FOX news.
Another poster indicated that Mr. Beckett was at the mid-century club. Mr, Beckett did tell this to me. Obviously I was mistaken about stating that he was lecturing at a class.
Who walked into this meeting through what door at what time seems to have eclipsed all concerns about Inman's performance or the Nursing Home debacle. The election is still almost two weeks away, so what's the next hot campaign issue? The color of Steve Beckett's tie?
he WAS wearing a tie last night and i think it was...... red! i KNEW he was a republican!
Weibel certainly has a lot of (convenient) excuses.
Thanks Pius. I think fewer people are concerned about you than about the absence from Denny Inman, who just happened to be in a room next door.