Ahead of Urbana’s Feb. 25 primary election, DeShawn Williams and Annie Adams each made their case to be Urbana’s next mayor, presenting to a full house at a forum held in the Urbana City Council chambers.
Ward 6 Alderwoman Grace Wilkin and her predecessor Bill Colbrook also spoke at the forum.
Early voting is available at the Brookens Center during business hours on weekdays. Additional hours and early voting at the Illini Union will be available starting the week before the primary.
Mayoral candidates disagree on oversight for police surveillance technology
The two candidates were generally in agreement on several issues at the Jan. 30 forum. Both said they would like to encourage new commercial development in downtown Urbana and protect the rights of immigrants.
The two differ, however, on a proposal before the City Council to require the Urbana Police Department to get approval before buying and using any surveillance technology, such as license plate readers to drones. Williams supports the proposal.
“It’s simply just a matter of ensuring that we cross our T’s and dot our I’s … that we provide the transparency needed to allow the community to gain that trust with our police department and our city government again,” said Williams.
But Adams said she thinks the proposal needs further review.
“This ordinance that was put forth would have stopped folks from even being able to check license plates,” she said. “It went a little too far, and it would be good if the staff had had time to review the ordinance before it was presented to city council. It would have been good if our police force had been allowed to review it before it went to city council.”
Adams sits on the Urbana Pedestrian and Bicycling Advisory Commission and works for the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering. She said she supports community policing, lowering property taxes and improving city streets.
“I’m running for mayor because I believe we can create a safe, affordable, and connected Urbana together,” said Adams in her closing remarks. “I have a plan. With responsible stewardship, we can create a safer Urbana by advancing equity and fully equipping the Urbana Police Department for community-focused policing, an affordable Urbana by growing city revenue, responsibly lowering property taxes and expanding affordable housing, [and] a more connected Urbana, by repairing streets, adding crosswalks and improving sidewalks.”
Her opponent, Williams, is a former Champaign County Board member who went serving as Assistant Vice President at Busey Bank to Chief Deputy Treasurer for the county. He said he would support community policing as mayor and propose an education initiative to give residents the chance to learn practical skills.
“I’ve heard too many times from neighbors who feel forgotten by some of our political leaders,” Williams said in his closing statement. “Their concerns are my concerns. And I’m committed to being a leader who mirrors the priorities of our residents.”
Adams and Willams are running in the Democratic primary to succeed the current mayor, Diane Marlin, who is stepping down after two terms.
Marlin has endorsed Adams. Williams has picked up endorsements from several city and county officials, including five of Urbana’s seven city council members.
The winner of the primary election will move on to the Urbana municipal election on April 1. There are no Republican candidates for the mayor’s post.
City Council candidates also differ on policing
The candidates running for Ward 6 also disagreed on whether the city should use automatic license plate readers.
The race to represent Southeast Urbana is a repeat of the election in 2021, when Grace Wilken defeated former Republican Alderman Bill Colbrook. This year, Colbrook is challenging Wilken for her seat.
Alderwoman Wilken said the city should not allow police to use license plate readers until it gets public feedback and sets up policies and standards to protect people from false readings.
“Unless we have any of those things in place, and we fully consider the technologies and their impacts, that we really need to do that first before moving forward with any more expenses that could potentially put a lot of our residents at risk,” said Wilkin.
But Colbrook, a former Parkland College police chief, said he supports using the technology, noting automatic license plate readers can quickly identify stolen vehicles, crime suspects and missing persons.
“It reduces mistakes, because the officers can just focus on the data,” said Colbrook. “The license plate reader is a data-driven system, and it takes away the impartiality of it.”
Wilken was part of the city council majority that voted against automatic license plate readers in 2022. She has since cosponsored an ordinance to set up an approval process for the readers and any other police surveillance technology.
Urbana’s Ward 6 extends southeast from Philo Road to the city’s border. It includes the Stone Creek, Myra Ridge and South Ridge subdivisions.
There is also a contested Democratic primary in Ward 2, where incumbent Christopher Evans is running against challenger Larry Lister. Lister and Evans did not appear at the forum.
The January 30 candidate forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Champaign County, the NAACP of Champaign County and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.
The city of Urbana’s public access channel, UPTV6, has posted a complete video of the forum online on YouTube.