The Village of Savoy is located just southwest of Champaign-Urbana, and is the third municipality to be included in UC2B. Operations are spread between four buildings including the Municipal Center, Fire Department, Public Works, and the Recreation Center. The village has experienced a large population growth rate, 62.6%, over the past decade and continues to grow, making infrastructure building one of the main issues for the area. Schools are part of the Champaign Unit 4 school district.

History

Though there is a longer history of residents living in the Savoy area, which is said to be named after an Italian princess who visited the U.S. in 1861, the village was officially formed in 1956. In this year the Champaign Fire Company terminated its service to areas outside city limits. Seeing the need for fundraising to finance their own fire district, Savoy residents petitioned for the village to be incorporated. The motion passed by one vote on April 7, 1956, with the first annual budget being $600. Over the next several years much infrastructure was built, including a water main from Champaign, sanitary sewers, and a building to house the developing fleet of fire vehicles. (Village of Savoy, 2004)

In terms of information technology, the village began using computers in the 1990s. In 2001, they updated from dial-up modems to cable modems through a program with Insight Media, which provided cable access for municipalities for free. In 2004, city offices moved to the new municipal building, where computers were used by nearly all employees and were networked in a LAN. In 2006 they updated their financial system and software.

This CU wiki entry began as a UIUC research project.  For more on that see Study of UC2B Anchor Institutions' Technology Use