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URBANA — The city council’s latest discussion about the budget for Fiscal Year 2025 ended with a tense exchange between police Chief Larry Boone and aldermen who disagreed with his recommendations for additional police staffing.
“Folks, I came halfway across the country to try to give you what you asked,” Boone said. “And I’ve modified this plan four separate times. And no matter how times I modify it, I’m being asked to modify it again.
"What I’m asking is Policing 101, folks," he said. "This is done all over the world.”
The argument began late into Monday's meeting after Alderman Chris Evans said that Boone’s version of a “community engagement model” does not align with the 2015 final report from The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Boone, however, disputed this and said Evans does not understand his proposal.
Boone added that the International Association of Chiefs of Police has said it wants to feature the Urbana department at its upcoming conference in Boston “because I’m here, based on what I’ve done elsewhere with respect to community relations.”
“I’ve told each and every one of you, this is what you wanted,” Boone said. “You wanted this. And I’m trying to provide it and I’ve modified it four times. And it’s — I’m a bit emotional right now, because it’s just disappointing. I expected better.”
Alderwoman Jaya Kolisetty replied that while city leaders did ask for “something different” and respect Boone’s expertise, they have also committed to a public-safety review process with consultant BerryDunn that is still ongoing and is supposed to involve the community’s input.
“You made a big sacrifice to come here,” she said. “We wanted you to come here. But we expect you to be a team player in deciding what is right for the city — or, at least, I do.”
At the council’s June 3 meeting, Boone presented a request for the following positions:
- One deputy chief to oversee operations.
- One training sergeant.
- Three patrol officers.
- Two nonsworn community-service responders.
- One social worker “in support of alternative response models.”
- Three community-engagement officers.
The above positions were included in a proposed budget that was posted on the city’s website in late May.
City officials also said that the community-engagement team would be a three-year pilot project.
The police department anticipated creating a community-engagement office in south Urbana that would house the community-service responders, community-engagement officers, chaplains and training sergeant, said Deputy Chief Rich Surles.
However, the council’s discussion Monday indicated that Boone may receive fewer additional personnel than requested.
While no official action was taken at the meeting, the council conducted straw polls to give direction to the city’s financial staff.
According to city Administrator Carol Mitten, the first vote on the budget will occur at the council's committee-of-the-whole meeting on June 17, and officials expect a final vote on June 24.
The six aldermen present Monday — Shirese Hursey was absent — were able to reach agreement or at least majority consensus on the following budget amendments: funding an additional arbor technician, allocating $200,000 from the general fund for social services on a recurring basis, and funding one social worker as a one-year, nonrecurring expense.
However, the council was split 3-3 on other proposals, including:
- Funding a deputy chief, training sergeant and two new patrol officers.
- Funding two sworn community engagement officers as part of a three-year pilot program.
- Including no new increases for police personnel in the budget.
Aldermen Grace Wilken, Kolisetty and Evans were generally in favor of holding off on staffing increases for the police department until BerryDunn has finished its study of Urbana’s public-safety services and presented possible alternative models.
On the other hand, Aldermen Maryalice Wu, James Quisenberry and Chaundra Bishop expressed support for at least partially adopting Boone’s recommendations.
However, Wu noted that she while she expected the nonsworn community responders to be incorporated into the public-safety model eventually, it might be best to leave them out of the budget for now, since it was unclear what those positions would look like.
Still, she felt it made sense to continue having a social worker since this is something the city is already doing, and most of the council members in both camps agreed.
Mayor Diane Marlin said that the social worker they’ve currently engaged is provided by Rosecrance and paid for by a grant, but this will end June 30.
“If we want to continue to have the services of a social worker, we are going to need to fund it ourselves, and that’s why it’s in this budget,” she said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s through Rosecrance; that hasn’t been determined yet.”
Surles said the social worker the city currently works with is leaving Rosecrance at the end of June. This means the city will be working with a different individual over the next year, regardless of whether they decide to contract with Rosecrance, Marlin said.
“My thought was if we wanted to do it one more year the same way, pay Rosecrance whatever amount of money for his salary and then Rosecrance would pay him to continue it the same way for a year, but if he’s gonna be gone and there’s a new person, then that’s moot,” said Bishop, who was the only council member to give a thumbs-down during the poll.
She also said she would prefer to see the social worker used in a live-response capacity rather than the current “follow-up” model.
Hursey did not respond to requests for comment. However, she indicated at the council’s June 3 meeting that she was in support of Boone’s plan and felt that adding more patrol officers and a community-engagement team would be a boost to public safety.
