Hosting Our Leaders and Building Connections

August 27th, 2025

I hope you are doing well this summer, it has been a busy one for the city and for myself so I just wanted to take a moment to share some highlights with you.

As many of you know, I have been privileged to serve as President of the Illinois Municipal League this last year. Our September meeting will be my final month in this role. I am very  proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish over my term. 

One of the most exciting moments of my presidency of the Municipal League was hosting the Board, about 50 mayors from across Illinois, right here in Champaign this July.

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I was able to help showcase some of the best businesses and activities in our community, including candle-making at Firedoll Studio, dinner at Venue CU with Prairie Fruits Farm providing an incredible meal and Michael’s Catering providing service, a tour of the African American Heritage Trail and our downtown, as well as lunch at Neil Street Blues, which was a huge hit with our guests.

But it wasn’t all just for fun, outside of our social events we were busy with committee meetings throughout the weekend. We began the weekend by  meeting with Chancellor Isbell and our local legislative leaders, Representatives Ammons and Schweizer, Senator Faraci, as well as others who were all interested in hearing how they can best work together to make our cities stronger.

The next morning, we held our summer meeting, where Congresswoman Budzinski addressed the mayors, which was a great way to cap off the weekend.

Outside of the Municipal League, it has been great to see Champaign come alive this summer with Friday Night Live on our new plaza  and The Beat on Market Street, both continuing to build more vibrancy downtown. 

I was also proud to stand alongside the Secretary of State at the ribbon cutting of the updated Driver Services Facility in Champaign, which now offers in-person business services. We are just the second location in the entire state with this level of service which is a huge win for our local business community.

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On a final personal note, Chuck and I are officially empty-nesters! Cate is off to George Washington University to study Political Science and International Relations, while Karlee has returned to Wyoming for the final year of her Master’s in Archaeology. She’ll even be presenting her research this September in Innsbruck, Austria. We couldn’t be more proud of them.

Thank you for continuing to support me in this work and for believing in the future of our city. It is always such a privilege to represent Champaign at both the state and national level.

Kind regards,

Deb Feinen

Mayor, City of Champaign