CHAMPAIGN – C. Pius Weibel was effectively re-elected to lead the Champaign County Board on Tuesday night, with majority Democrats promising to show unanimity.

The full board, which has a 15-12 Democratic majority, will vote on Dec. 1.

Weibel, who lives in Champaign, has been county board chairman for two years. He was challenged in caucus by Carol Ammons of Urbana, who has only been on the board for a few months but is a vocal presence, and Samuel Smucker of Urbana, a longtime union organizer just elected to the board.

The vote proved suspenseful as the first six (of eight needed) went for Ammons. Weibel got eight votes, and Smucker one.

Weibel said he hopes to lead the board through a transition as it moves from a period dominated by construction projects to a new focus, which he said might include social projects in an economy that seems to be spiraling downward.

The Democrats doled out board chairmanships and vice-chairmanships to themselves, as former board Chair Patricia Avery urged Democrats to show party unity after decades of Republican dominance.

Before the leadership vote, the caucus debated nursing home finances with Janet Anderson of Champaign, who serves on both the county board and the nursing home advisory committee, noting that losses of $100,000 a month have been substantially trimmed.

Because the contract with Management Performance Associates stipulates for the consultant firm must serve at the approval of the board, Administrator Andrew Buffenbarger will come up for a vote of confidence at the full county board meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Brookens Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U.

Several board members started to express dissatisfaction with Buffenbarger, led by Ammons, who was shushed by the two lawyers on the board, Tom Betz and Steve Beckett, who said public charges against an agent of the county in open session could result in a lawsuit.

Beckett said he had earned legal fees, before he was on the board, defending the interests of former county Administrator Peter Herlofsky, who was forced out by the board in 1992.