The Urbana City Council met for its biweekly meeting Monday evening to discuss several community events, reports and to vote on an ordinance.
The meeting opened with a presentation by Taliah Abdullah, executive director of the Urbana Free Library. Abdullah highlighted the milestones reached by the library over the course of the 2025 fiscal year.
Nearly 234,218 people visited the library in FY2025, and the total circulation of materials was 653,354; both figures had increased from the previous year. The library hopes to increase public awareness and use of its facilities, which include study spaces and a Library of Things — a collection of items available to check out.
“The library is so much more than books, and we look forward to expanding our reach to meet people where they are,” Abdullah said. “We will have a focus for the library to be an inclusive public place, and we’ll strive to be a downtown citywide destination.”
Kevin Garcia, principal planner at the city’s Community Development Services Department, then took the floor to present on the upcoming Urbana Night Market. The Night Market takes place in downtown Urbana and features food trucks, craft vendors and live music. He shared attendance data and a video montage of last year’s market before explaining changes that will be made to this year’s event schedule.
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While last year’s Night Market ran between September and October, Garcia said the Market will shorten its dates to occur only on Thursdays in September from 6 to 9 p.m. The market will also feature two live bands per night, an upgrade from last year’s schedule of one per night.
The council moved on to the Committee of the Whole, where council member Grace Wilken warned that council spending was nearing close to its financial policy of 25% of recurring expenses. Members discussed the possibility of changing the policy, but ultimately affirmed their decision not to.
“I would still love to explore ways that we can do some cost savings that would not have, hopefully, a major practical impact on operations,” Wilken said. “If there’s any kinds of details in the budget that we can explore on narrowing down, I think that would be helpful.”
The council also unanimously voted to appoint Rene Nicholson to the Civilian Police Review Board, which reviews civilian complaints of police officers. This appointment brings the board up to three members and leaves four vacant seats. Mayor Williams said he was in communication with other candidates and expects to have the remaining seats filled soon.
Following the vote, the meeting was adjourned.
