John Farney's blog

In reading the agenda for this Thursday's County Board meeting I noticed that the Clock & Bell Tower project was back on the agenda. You'll remember that over the summer Steve Beckett passionately lobbied for the use of Public Safety Sales Tax money to build a new (from the ground up) Clock & Bell Tower as well as stabilize the masonary on the 1901 part of the Champaign County Court House.

Well, the newest numbers are in and in usual Champaign County Facilities Committee fashion, they are up. Over $475,000 to be exact.

The total amount approved at the August meeting was $6,342,332.07. On Thursday's agenda (page 33), the total amount to be approved is $6,819,065.14.

Of course, I'm probably overreacting since Steve promised that once the County ponied up the big money, the private donations would be rolling in!

Just a reminder to everyone that voter registration for the February 5 General Primary ends on Tuesday, January 8. In Champaign County, the County Clerk's office will be open until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday for voter registration.

Also, Early Voting opens on Monday, January 14 and runs through January 31. Early Voting is the relatively new option that registered voters have where they can go to their local County Clerk's office and cast their ballot without needing to give an absentee excuse. The Champaign County Clerk's office will offer early voting Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to Noon during the Early Voting period. The office will also be open for Early Voting only on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 21 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For details on what is required to register to vote and other election information, visit www.champaigncountyclerk.com and click on Election Services.

Mayor Prussing has made her appointments to the Urbana Citizens Police Review Board. I honestly don't know any of the appointees, but I have heard some of their names in community circles. The list does appear to be a diverse group of people with impressive educational backgrounds.

Appointees include:

Tom Costello (Assistant Managing Director CUMTD)

Scotty Dossett (Retired Scientist/Consultant)

Grace Mitchell (Secondary Alternative Education Director, UHS)

James McNeely (General Manager Brinks Transportation)

Philip Chong Ho Shon (Assistant Professor Criminology, Indiana University)

Diane Gottheil (Former consultant to Governor in corrections, first director of Community Corrections program)

Ivy Williams (Student Services Coordinator, Champaign Schools)

The mayor's appointment message is found at http://www.city.urbana.il.us/Urbana/City_Council/Agendas/12-17-2007/mayoral_appointments.pdf

I haven't picked a candidate for President yet, but this is a ringing endorsement  (and a pretty funny commercial). 

Huckabee is also endorsed by Ted Nugent and WWE star Ric "Nature Boy" Flair.

I just saw my first political television ad of the season, one for Republican Jim McConoughey who is running for Ray LaHood's seat.

October 17 - too early? Has anyone else seen ads yet?

Go Cubbies!

The Champaign County Young Republicans' Paint the Town Red event is Thursday evening (September 27) from 7 to 9 p.m. at Soma Ultralounge in downtown Champaign. This year we are honoring State Representative Chapin Rose. There will be food, drink, desserts and live music. While some local officials will be in attendance, political speechmaking will be kept to a minimum!

While we already know that a good sized crowd will be on hand, there is always room for more. I'd love to see some bloggers out on the town!

Tickets are $35 each at the door, $30 if you buy them online. You can go here to get your tickets online right up through Thursday night. Hope to see you there.

As a lifelong C-U resident and Notre Dame fan, I've always had an interest in the Irish joining the Big Ten. There have been opportunities in the past where I though it might happen. Today on SI.com, this article drew my interest.

It kinda makes sense this time around with ND being lousy in football, the top Big Ten teams having trouble on a national scale, and the Big Ten Network being available to next to no one.

Thursday evening at 7 p.m. will be the monthly Champaign County Board meeting where our elected officials will find ways to spend sums of money most of us only dream of having. This month's highlight, Resolution 6186 transferring $400,000 to the Champaign County Nursing Home to cover payments to outside staffing agencies.

When will someone on this board stand up and say "enough is enough" with this money pit?

The rest of the agenda is quite mundane.

This month's Champaign County Board meeting actually has several things that may be of interest to IlliniPundit readers. Among agenda items for Thursday's meeting, the board consider approving plans for finally finishing the Champaign County Courthouse.

Many people may not realize it, but the Courthouse project, started over 7 years ago, is still not done. In fact, the plans that the board will consider on Thursday call for nearly $6 million to finish the project. A quick glance at News-Gazette articles from 1998 (when the quarter-cent sales tax was passed) to more recent stories shows that the Courthouse project has seen price estimates go from $18-$20 million in the first stories, to $27-$28 million in stories from 2002-03, to today's final cost of $33 million (if the project is ever finished).

The $6 million that the board will authorize Thursday will be used for exterior work and restoration of the Clock & Bell Tower. Specifically, $2,858,441 will be used for masonry restoration of the 1901 Courthouse and $3,483,890 will be used for the Clock & Bell Tower part of the project. The project will be funded through new bonds financed by the quarter-cent sales tax.

The Courthouse needs to be finished - no one will debate that. The exterior is falling apart. If you have a chance this weekend during the Sweetcorn Festival, walk up to the building and look at it. Touch the bricks, they crumble to the touch. There are large cracks in the second floor exterior. Window sills look to be ready to fall apart.

What I have a problem with is the exploding costs associated with this project. The original project included a paltry $400,000 to restore the exterior. That was bad planning by County leaders in 2000. Now it costs over $2.5 million to fix what should have been done years ago.

The Clock and Bell Tower part of the project was originally going to be done at no cost to the County taxpayer - all private donations and memorials, that's what we were told for the better part of 7 years by County Facilities Chairman Steve Beckett and other County Board leaders. It would cost $1 million at the most.

Today, the County taxpayer is footing the bill. The private donations haven't hit the million dollar goal. They've raised several hundred thousand dollars and should be commended for that effort. But now that the public till is being used for this project, the effort will end. Champaign County residents will pick up the additional $2.5 million to finish the project.

But the thing that bothers me the most about all Champaign County construction projects remains that the County Board, its leadership, and highly paid county administrators, refuse to develop a comprehensive plan for long term upkeep and maintenance of the nearly $70 million in construction our government has erected in the last 15 years.

Oh well, as usual, its just other people's money.

Why do I think of IlliniPundit.com when I watch this video  (myself included). . . . .

The Champaign County Young Republicans will meet this Thursday (June 21) at Noon at Rock's on Springfield Ave for the June Lunch Club. Anyone is welcome to join us, and we've had a good crowd the last few times.

(And if you're keeping track of my time card, its 12:08 p.m. and I had a Lean Cusine Chicken Panini and Tab Cola for lunch, thanks for asking).

Here is the NG editorial on how the County Board managed to bollix up the dismissal of Curt Deedrich.

On a side note, we see how much attention the editorial board of The News-Gazette pays to county matters as they misspelled Deedrich's name as "Kurt" in the editorial. Next time, someone should ask Paul Wood for a consult.

Join the Champaign County Young Rpeublicans for happy hour Thursdsay (June 7) at Esquire Lounge, downtown Champaign, at 5:30 p.m. Anyone is welcome to join us. Whether we are sitting inside or outside depends on the heat tomorrow afternoon. Hope to see some IP folks there.

Finally, a well rounded media report . . .

Sorry it took me a week to find the link.

Urbana Ward 7 Councilwoman Lynne Barnes sent this to her email list today - looks like there are some interesting meetings coming up in our fair city in the near future - especially the Orchard Downs redevelopment.

In honor of Opening Day - a classic by Steve Goodman.

BTW, have the Cubs been mathmatically eliminated yet? Go Sox!

We all know that my favorite county administrator Denny Inman could possibly be the only remaining human to consume Tab Cola (I believe there is still also an animal research lab conducting horrible experiments using Tab Cola and bunnies somewhere, but them and Denny, they're all thats left). Here's a Tab Cola commercial from the 70's that is so wrong on every level, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it with our IlliniPundit readers. Priceless.

Urbana CIty Councilwoman Lynne Barnes does an EXCELLENT job keeping citizens aware of local developments through occasional emails to residents who have asked to be included on her email list. About once a month I receive on of those emails. Tonight  she shared good information about the future Meijer development in Urbana. The entire email follows, so keep reading: