Facilities committee reviews ARPA spending and department reorganization; staff says restructure needs no new funding

The Champaign County Facilities Committee received an update on ARPA spending connected to the county’s jail consolidation effort and reviewed a proposed internal department reorganization.

Michelle presented the ARPA tracking spreadsheet (referred to in the meeting as the "Furtado spreadsheet") and said the transcript's '6.4' figure represents the full amount originally allocated for the jail consolidation effort and that approximately '1.8' had been spent as of November. When a committee member asked for confirmation of a specific dollar amount, the member asked, "Tell me again that you're going to spend $1,877,045.46," and Michelle replied, "I am absolutely gonna spend it and I'm probably gonna come in and be like, oh, I went a little over budget." The transcript presents the $1,877,045.46 figure verbatim.

Michelle also presented a memorandum proposing elimination of the facilities director and building & grounds roles and the creation of three new management positions. She told the committee the changes are not expected to require additional funds and do not affect union positions; she said a final memo will go through the executive and personnel channels before the committee of the whole. Member Hanauer Friedman asked that the memo explicitly state budget impacts; Michelle said she will call that item out more prominently.

Committee members requested that future ARPA reports include a separate column showing spent versus allocated amounts and that staff prepare a deeper analysis of project labor agreements (PLAs) — including racial, gender and veteran‑status tracking — for a future study session after referendum work is complete.

Next steps: staff will update ARPA tracking to show allocated vs. spent figures, may provide additional budget context in the department restructure memo, and will prepare PLA data and analysis for a future study session.