Samuel Jay Smucker

Democrat
For Champaign County Board, District 8.

 blue_jay 

Learn more about the issues I am working on.

Protecting the Mahomet Aquifer
The Mahomet Aquifer is the source of drinking and irrigation water for all of east central Illinois. The Mahomet Aquifer Consortium is a group of local officials and scientists organized to study the aquifer and to ensure that this resource is not contaminated or overused.  Here is a recent report on the status of the Aquifer.

 Establishing and Promoting Environmental Building Standards 
The U.S. Green Building Association  has created an environmental ratings system, called LEED,  for building construction and remodeling.  These standards have been adopted by many local government throughout the U.S.   Local institutions such as the University of Illinois and the McKinley Foundation are already using new green technologies to reduce energy use and have applied for LEED certification for these buildings.

Promoting Sustainable Local Government
 Staff from the City of Urbana have produced a report called Sustainable Urbana which outlines many of the steps local government can take in order to reduce its own use of energy (and save tax dollars).  It definitely gets you thinking about the possibilities.

 County-Wide Recycling
 You can read a recent report on the status of recycling including some history of the County Boards' attempts to expand recycling in the Champaign County Solid Waste Management Plan 2007.

The Champaign County Board of Health
The Champaign County Board of Health was established through a referendum several years ago to protect the public health through food safety, immunization programs, infectious disease prevention, and general wellness and health promotion.  It works closely with the Champaign-Urbana Board of Health.  The County Board also funds the Child Dental Access Program, a program of the County Board of Health.
Fairness on the Job.
There is a Living Wage Ordinance for Champaign County.

Budget Information
The County Budget Summary gives a good overview of the county budget and expenditures.

A Jury of Peers
In the last couple of years, U of I Law Students and the League of Women Voters have undertaken a court watching project to investigate inequality in jury representation. Here are the minutes of a meeting where the jury selection process is discussed.
More to come....