URBANA – A longtime local Democrat who got his political start as a health activist will be the next member of the Champaign County board.

Alan Kurtz of Champaign has been tabbed by county board Chairman C. Pius Weibel to fill the District 7 seat vacated by Carrie Melin, who moved out of the district.

Kurtz, 67, an entrepreneur and former retail manager, first got involved politically when he lived in Maryland and his son contracted salmonella from a diseased turtle, widely sold in stores for a quarter at the time. He led an effort to ban moving the turtles across state lines, effectively ending the sale of the inexpensive pets.

After coming to town in 1979 to run the Bergners' department stores here, he owned and operated a Blimpies sandwich store at Fourth and Green streets – the site of repeated floods in the 1980s and 1990s.

Kurtz was a leader in efforts that eventually established the Boneyard Detention Basin.

He has also served as president of the Champaign County Humane Society and is an active Illini booster.

Weibel said he was excited about working with Kurtz, whom he doesn't know well.

Champaign County Auditor Tony Fabri, who heads the county Democrats, said Kurtz has valuable experience.

"Al is very active in the business community. He's a hard worker and very concerned about the issues," Fabri said.

Kurtz said he will seek to foster bipartisanship on the board, where Democrats hold a narrow majority.