Cook County Board Committee Meetings
​September 22 and 23, 2026

Audit Committee
September 23, 2026

• County Auditor Heath Wolfe reported on the open audit recommendations from May. (26-1800) Six of the audits have been closed because the recommendations were enacted.  Ten are still open, but the departments are taking corrective action. 
• The Clerk of the Court has an outstanding 10 year old recommendation on improving controls on the revenue collection process.  The Audit Department initiated a new audit of the process last month.
• Commissioner Daley asked for a report of any open items before the budget meetings with the County Officials so they can be addressed at the meetings.
• The Audit Department is implementing an electronic reporting application where County Offices will be able to respond to recommendations and upload supporting documentation.   The system will have search and reporting capabilities.
• The Commissioners voted to receive and file the County Auditor report on the use of the ARPA funds for the Good Food Purchasing Program. (26-1796).  Funds were correctly used for the program.
• The final report that was approved to be received and filed was an audit of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Commissary that is required by State statute.   The Commissary was found to be in compliance with the Illinois County Jail Standards for Commissaries.   (26-1809).

Observer:  Kathi Graffam

Asset Management Committee 
September 22, 2016

• The Commissioners approved a lease agreement for a digital forensics lab for the State’s Attorney’s Office. The space will include evidentiary storage and workstation areas for conducting analysis on large volumes of data. (26-1946)
• The Office is investing in advanced technologies that will improve staff’s ability to extract, analyze, and interpret complex data sources.
• The lease will run to 12/31/2042 and the monthly rent will be $66,294.27  

Observer:  Kathi Graffam

Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations Committee
September 23, 2026
The following appointments were approved with no comment or questions from the Committee. The appointments will be final after approval at the Cook County Board Meeting. 

• Katherine Ansorge as Director to the Land Bank Authority
• Dr. Alan Jackson Dr. Kaleem Malik, Dr. Melissa Simon, Dr. Daria Terrell and Larry Singer as Directors to the Cook County Health Board of Directors.

A Resolution congratulating the Cook County Clerk’s office on receiving the U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner’s Clearinghouse Award for Excellence in Election Administration was also approved with no comments. (agenda Item 26-1745)
Observer:  Cynthia Schilsky

Finance Committee
September 23, 2026

• Commissioner Degnen moved to defer for a third time the ordinance amendment which would require all contracts exceeding $3 M to include a statement that a vendor’s failure to perform or failure to deliver may result in a minimum 10% penalty.  (Item 26-1514)
• There were 5 speakers during public comment opposing this item on the grounds that under construction contracts, the contractors have to post a performance bond already and this extra uncertainty surrounding ultimate payment would discourage people from bidding.  
• Several large settlements were approved by the Committee without any comment or further details as to what the cases were about:  $5 M to settle an employment discrimination claim against the Sheriff; $9 M to settle an alleged tort against the Sheriff’s office; and $3 M for allegations of civil rights violation in the State’s Attorney’s office in connection with a reversed conviction and wrongful incarceration.  
• The Comptroller reported that through August of 2026, the County’s General Fund has a positive balance as to budget of $331.2 M (composed of $270.5 M in favorable revenues and lower expenses of $60.7 M).  
• The Comptroller also reported that through August of 2026, the Health Fund has an unfavorable balance as to budget of $28.5 M (composed of $52.3 M in favorable revenues and $80.8 M of expenses greater than budget).

Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Assessor
July 23, 2026

Assessor Fritz Kaegi presented the mid-year budget update and reported on how the funds budgeted for the Assessor’s Office for the first six months of 2026 were spent. Chief of Staff Scott Smith provided details as requested.

• Within budget for 2026
• 2027 budget.  Push to maintain quality within budget.
• Received five awards at National Association of Counties (NACO) annual meeting in July 2026: for (1)reaching out to Chicago homeowners experiencing property tax hikes for assistance, (2) creating new kiosk & call back system to improve tax payer services, (3) creating new IT help desk, (4) creating talent internship program, and (5)creating data integrity department
• At NACO, with Maricopa County Assessor Eddie Cook, presented changes that since 2018 made making property tax system more transparent, fair and accessible.
• Reported that Prof. Chris Barry, University of Chicago found since 2018, previously under-assessed Gold Coast and over-assessed  low and middle-priced homes in Chicago have been corrected saving low and middle income homeowners $1.9 billion off their property tax bills.
• Says root causes of property tax increases for homeowners are commercial property tax reductions for data centers and for high-rise luxury apartment buildings.  
• New interactions with the Board of Review (BOR):  now using the same estimated tax rate for determining the assessment for commercial properties, and now appearing at BOR appeal hearings to defend Assessor’s assessment of properties
• Redesigned websites, forms with help from Literacy Work.  Available in multiple languages.
• Updated software PTaxSim to simulate changes in property tax with changes in types of properties and property features.
• 127 Outreach events, 23 focused on the south and west suburbs.

Information provided in response to Commissioner questions:

• Implementing recommendations of 2024 Commercial Valuation Report: 
• Assessor’s office valuations are closer to actual sales of properties than the BOR.  Needed to be in agreement on estimating tax rates for purposes of assessments of commercial properites.  Now will load “effective” tax rates for commercial properties since finding agreement with BOR.
• Meets with BOR every two weeks and weekly on tax bill schedules.
• Said there should be a sales ratio study annually in December, but this has not been received from the Cook County President’s Office since Dec 2024 and have not seen this for apartment buildings.
• NACO is asking for appraisal information from national mortgage database to improve accuracy of property description.
• Pending legislation in Illinois will help seniors by making “Senior Freeze Exemption” (SFE) auto-renewable.
• Working with IL Dept. of Revenue (IDOR) to check income and to update SFE when property sells; will send two notices to homeowner, and follow-up fall 2026.
• Using new vendor, Lexus Nexus, for better addressing data. Assessor receives info when SFE holder moves into “retirement” home.
• SFE income cap lifted in 2026 legislation beginning in 2027 from $65K, increasing on a phased-in basis to $79K .
• 23 staff bonuses (17  public facing) are bi-lingual English-Spanish certified and get monthly bonuses per County policy; also,  “pocket-talk” devices are in use for all languages.
• Neighborhood valuations increase due to local improvements, if existing home does not have improvements, homeowner must appeal.
• Attend outreach: more than one event is held per day.
• Use the data modelling online to help appeal.
• Support NACO’s. request for Fannie Mae data.
• Four different levels of appeal in Illinois: (1) Assessor’s Office: in closest contact with taxpayer, holds most property records; Appeals by homeowners w/o attorneys are 25-30% of total appeals and better outcomes than with attorneys; (2) BOR; (3) Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board (IPTAB): and/or (4)Circuit Court
• Reassessing commercial properties in suburbs depends on receipt of permits describing construction and improvements from local governing bodies.
• Says data Centers appeal to BOR and claim personal property or owned by a real estate company; If assessed lower than actual, puts burden on homeowner; have deep pockets to take appeal to IPTAB and court.
• Recommend Illinois Dept. of Professional Regulation (IDPR) be asked to prosecute appraisers who intentionally under-appraise Data Centers.
• Recommend County exert some control over whether property tax incentives are granted.
• BOR changed residential assessed values by approximately 1%.  BOR lowers taxes of commercial properties by 20-25%.  Hopes that agreement on estimating tax rates will help address this difference, along with other steps of sharing Assessor’s data and appearing at BOR appeals hearings to defend Assessor’s assessments. 
• Harvey and neighboring areas are nationally most over-assessed low-income homeowners and most vulnerable to state law changes. HB 1167 in Rules, would provide homestead relief to individual property homeowners.  Under-assessing commercial properties and school funding system in those areas has more impact.  As new housing is built in South Suburbs, existing homes without remodeling can be mistakenly assessed at higher values because of the new housing higher sales prices.  These homeowners need to appeal and attest that their homes are not updated and should therefore be assessed lower than the new construction in the area.

Treasurer
July 23, 2026

Dave Burns, Chief of Staff for the Treasurer, Maria Pappas presented the mid-year budget update and reported on how the funds for the Treasurer’s office for the first six months of 2026 were spent. 
2026 so far:

• $19.1 million overall: $18.4m is in the automation account, per County ordinance, is composed of fees collected from commercial and bulk payers, not general revenue.  No anticipated financial concerns for the remainder of 2026. Not expected to exceed amount budgeted in corporate account
• 9 vacant positions:  8 in the special purpose funds and 1 in the corporate fund.
• Revenue from late payers is trending higher: Revenue budgeted for 2026 is $35m.  However, thru June received $33.8m. Reason: Dec 2025-Apr2026 collected $14m for second installment due in fiscal 2025. 2026 total revenue is projected to be $47.4m.

2026 highlights:

• Working on full implementation of Tyler Integrated Property Tax System (IPTS)
• Treasurer’s office is at the end of the life cycle of property taxes. Dependent on other offices being on time with accurate data to Tyler. Treasurer examines and tests Tyler tax bill file, finds defect and corrects before sending to printer. Continuing to find defects in refunds and distributions.
• Treasurer’s IT staff is committed to a smooth hand-off from retiring IT employees, managing IT data changes, and returning to AI implementation and utilization after the IPTS is stable.
• July 10, Governor signed Property Tax Reform Bill updating the tax sale auction system.
• Scavenger Sale phased out. If property is not sold to private tax buyer, then tax certification is held by the County to either deed (sell) outright or to deed to another municipality or Not-For-Profit.
• Expect that 2025 2nd installment property tax bills will be online on the Treasurer’s web site by mid-August and mailed bills go out in late August.  Payments will be due then by October 1, 2026.

Observer:  Victoria Cerinich

Cook County Health System
JULY 21, 2026

 The meeting began with the President of the CCH board, Raul Garcia, commenting on the efforts made over the last year to reduce the expense outlays of Cook County Health in anticipation of a 2027 budget gap and in preparation for the impact of the Federal Government’s cut in Medicaid coverage.  CEO Eric Mikaitis then took over and he, interim CFO Scott Spencer, and HR Chief Win Buren made the following points:

• Eliminated more than $350 million across the health care system since 2025 with very little left to cut.  Investments, new revenue sources, and combining the two current revenue cycle systems into one yet this year are looked to for revenue to help close the budget gap this, next year, and even larger projected gaps in 2028 and 2029.
• The 2027 budget as of two weeks ago had a projected gap of $42 million.
• In 2023, Charity Care ran $123 million; in 2026, it is expected to rise to $380 million; and the 2027 budget has projected $500 million – all in anticipation of Medicaid-cuts, the possible removal of special status for Haitians and Cuban immigrants, and the removal of Ukrainian asylum seekers currently in the system.
• Ninety-two thousand individuals have been dropped from the Marketplace Insurance Program and ten thousand immigrants are expected to lose Medicaid which is expected to result in about $138M less in reimbursements from our State and Federal Governments.
• One final point of reference on the impact of the Medicaid cuts:  In 2021, Medicaid reimbursements amounted to 61% of the payer mix (revenue).  Now it is 49%.
• It is critical to get the information out to Medicaid patients to protect their eligibility.  Mikaitis noted that the media reports that as many as 55% of Medicaid recipients don’t know that changes are coming.

Commissioner Questions
Lowry, Chair of the CC Health & Hospital Committee and the Vice-Chair of the CCH Board of Directors used most of his time to recognize the work of the CCH leadership over the past year and to thank them for always being accessible and helpful.  He noted that the collection rate for accounts receivables is now 96% and that there has been a 40% reduction in the use of agency personnel against a goal of 20% given to CCH by the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2025.   He had one question:

• To date, what have you had to do to reduce the budget gap and what is expected?
• Ans:  There have been no layoffs or cuts in services.  The System is expecting the streamlining of the revenue cycle to produce more savings (projected to produce as much as $100 million going forward).

Degnan noted that the CCH has reduced the contracted personnel cost from $500M to $100M
And from 1500 agency hires to 800 in the last 18 months.

• She wants to see an increase in the capitalization of the work force – meaning reduce outside vendors by working with the unions and departments to allow CCH employees to do the work.  Degnan noted that she expects to see the effects of this goal projected in the 2027 budget.
• She also wants the 2027 budget to include the $2M Reproductive Equity Grant as it is a critical measure used for women to feel that they are cared for.  She noted that funding, although small, should not be limited to just Cook County residents but all uninsured women that come looking for reproductive health services.
• Degnan also asked about the remaining $36M of ARPA funds that are yet to be spent before the end of 2026.  She was assured that the monies are on target to be spent.

Stamps asked about the System’s recruiting efforts at S. Suburban high schools and community colleges.  ANS:  Several schools and students are already in partnership with CCH for summer internships and externships with more expected as the CCH ramps up the program.

• She emphasized that it is important to invest in young people and prepare them for work.  She noted that she has heard complaints about representatives at job fairs not talking with job seekers.
• She asked if it is time for CCH to put together a task force to look at the System’s future sustainability including the increase in charity care costs and how the hospital will handle.
• While noting that she did not know what could be done, Stamps stated that the Blue Island Community Health Center has outgrown its space and is expected to see even more patients as hospitals in its surrounding area close.  Dr. Mikaitis said valet service is now being provided.  He also confirmed that a large number of services are being offered in a small space.

Cook County Finance Chair Daley thanked everyone and asked one question:

• Has CCH reached out to the hospitals that have closed and are closing to fill openings?
• ANS:  Mikaitis said that CCH has enacted an expedited hiring process for these laid off employees but has received little response.

Observer:  Diane Edmundson

Board of Review Suggests That All Appeals Be Moved There

​Board of Review
July 22, 2026

Statistics presented and responses provided by Board of Review Commissioners (BOR) Larry Rogers, Jr. and George Cardenas: 

• 290,533 taxpayers appealed assessments for the 2025 tax year, representing 527,937 property parcels (pins) out of a total of 1.8M pins in the County; 32,000 commercial properties filed appeals. 
• Of the residential appeals, approximately 60-70% were successful. 
• The BOR is responsible for representing Cook County with the Property Tax Appeal Board to defend assessments.
• Personnel represents 94% of the budget. Currently there are 177 FTEs. FY2027 may need adjustments. The employees are under the BOR’s first Collective Bargaining Agreement which impacts pay structure, health benefits, and pensions. While currently under budget by 3%, the 2027 budget will have to reflect those changes. 
• The BOR continues to look for increased efficiencies, such as data sharing with the Assessor’s Office and working collaboratively to standardize methodologies and increase consistency. 
• The agency is seeing more appeals as people are more confident in its process than that of the Assessor. Commissioner Cardenas spoke to the possibility of eliminating appeals at the Assessor’s level and increasing funding at the BOR

Questions:

• Lowry: Q on structural changes and impact of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. A: In process of restructuring organization, which includes changes to managerial responsibilities and securing fair compensation for managers and supervisors.  Expect to have the changes in place by end of fiscal year or beginning of next.  This restructuring should have no impact on getting out future tax bills on time.
• Anaya: Q: what proportion of staff deals with the appeals process? A: Of 177 employees, 80 are involved in analysis with 22 administrative staff handling intake of appeals and related issues. The remaining staff is managerial and support. Of the staff, 80% work on residential. Comm. Cardenas indicated specific breakdown by district was not available but was approximately equal at about 42 per district.  
• Anaya: Q: requested data on success rates for those appealing. Told that 60 to 70% of residential appeals receive some lowering of assessment.  Comm Anaya requested that appeals started w/in the local Commissioner’s office should be tagged so Commissioner kept informed on progress. Comm. Cardenas said this could be done and would take steps to do so.
• Trevor: Q: rate of success of commercial property appeals. There was a long discussion on the difference in appraising commercial vs residential. Commercial assessments  include the income a property produces among other factors. Q: how are residents advised of BOR schedule. A: opening of appeals schedule information is publicized. There is a pre-filing period also.
• Stamps: Q: asked about the impact of the Tyler integrated property tax system.  Told that even though the Board of Review is not part of that system, the delays and need to share information between the Tyler system and the Board has caused more manhours.  Q:  will an increased budget reduce the number of appeals or accuracy? A: additional staff/budget increase will help modernize systems and help in better and quicker responses. 
• Stamps:  Q:  what is being done for seniors?  A:  If postage budget increased, could send notices to all seniors about appeals.  Already try to do as much outreach as possible.  Q: what is the gentrification impact. A: continues to be an issue for residents as a whole.

Office of the Independent Inspector General
July 22, 2026

Independent Inspector General Tirrell Paxton gave a short overview:

• Currently have 24 FTEs, including 20 investigators. There are still 5 open positions. 
• Intends to ask for 5 more staff in 2027 budget.
• Mr. Paxton reiterated that he thinks the office should have a budgetary floor to emphasize its independence.
•  Complaints addressed have increased by 25%. Paxton also noted his department just issued a report on the Tyler Technologies contract for the integrated property tax system. 
• With increased staff and funding, they could address more issues efficiently. 

Questions:

• Degnan: Q: about Tyler, project management why OIG not involved earlier. A. Commissioner Daley and Paxton noted that the OIG cannot get involved during a project, only at the end. 
• Daley: Q: noted that in the OIG 2nd Quarter report, $3M in federal fraud was reported and cases referred to prosecutors at the federal and state levels. Q: how many get prosecuted? A: Paxton indicated the office’s participation ended when cases referred.

Public Administrator
July 22, 2026

Public Administer Louis Apostol explained that the Public Administrator’s Office (PA), while included in the County budget, operates from funds generated through fees charged by the office for administering estates. In addition, the PA manages the real property of decedents in Cook County and facilitates sales where necessary. 

• The Office is currently budgeted for 15 full-time staff and the services of four outside attorneys. 
• Attorneys’ fees are charged directly to the estates with approval of the PA and Circuit Court.
• Through June 30, 2026, the office realized revenue of $2,175,356, already above the revenues in the 2026 budget by $226,374.
• Handled 619 investigations and 391 estates. Over $20,000,000 returned to known heirs and beneficiaries. 
• Assisted in recovery of nearly $2 M through wrongful death settlements.
• Closed on properties resulting in $7 M in sales while continuing to manage 44 additional properties. 

Questions:

• ​Lowry: Q: how the process works. A: Apostol advised that they are called in by the medical examiner to find relatives or responsible people; then investigate the inventory of the estate. 
• Anaya: Q: average # of cases per year. A: Apostol advised there is no way to estimate. He noted that the office dealt with estates that are $10,000 minimum; sometimes executors get removed or replaced by the Court. Q: Is office integrated w/other departments? Data is handled under the CompuTrust system. The Clerk’s office notifies the PA if there is a will on file.

Observer:  Hollis Burgess

Note that all Mid-year Budget Meetings are held by the Finance Committee of the Cook County Board

Budget Overview from the Bureau of Finance
July 21, 2026

Chief Financial Officer Angela Manning-Hardimon, Deputy CFOs Dean Constantinou and Asley Ramchandani, and Budget Director Ishida Musselwhite provided an overview of the projected end of the year actuals vs. budget and the explanation as to why the gap between revenues and expenses for the 2027 budget year is currently at $551 M, the largest since President Preckwinkle took office in 2010.

• For 2026, the General Fund is projected to finish with a favorable $283 M, in part thanks to a one-time $115 M revenue from a cigarette settlement and higher than budgeted sales tax revenues of $122.7 M.  
• The Health Enterprise Fund (which covers Cook County Health that is over half of the budget) is projected to end 2026 with an unfavorable $42.8 M.
• Both Funds have projected gaps for the upcoming 2027 year of$336 M for the General Fund and $214.7 M for the Health Fund, for a total of $551 M.

The factors contributing to the General Fund imbalance for 2027 are

• The court finding that the Illinois Safe Roads Amendment severely restricts how the County can spend money from the Motor Fuel Tax
• The growing costs of payroll and related pension costs
• The increase in employee benefit costs

The factors contributing to the Health Enterprise Fund imbalance for 2027 are

• The Federal Change in Medicaid Coverage that takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027
• The increase in the uninsured (from both the increased costs for those previously insured under the Affordable Care Act and from the projected significant reductions in those eligible for Medicaid) that results in more charity care that will be provided 
• The rising costs of payroll and contractual labor

As a result of all these factors that are expected to continue to impact the revenues and costs of the County beyond 2027, the Bureau of Finance stated that it is imperative that the County consider a restructuring of its finances by

• Increasing budget evaluation of the needs, strategic priorities, operational capacity, deferred risk and fiscal constraints.  A multi-year budgeting framework will provide a forward-looking plan that improves discipline and will support transparent decision-making.
• Restructuring of the revenue sources to diversify and increase the revenue base while considering both adequacy and equity perspectives.

However, the County remains committed:

• To continue to remain on track to fully fund the pensions by 2047
• To utilize the money set aside a couple years ago in an ARPA Sustainability Fund to be able to continue funding 12 programs previously funded under ARPA, fully for 2027 and then reducing funding over the next 3 years (through 2030) unless and until new funding is found and/or the programs are accordingly reduced.

Responses to Commissioner questions:

• From Anaya:  There will be no unassigned fund balance from past years that can be used to help balance 2027’s budget.
• From Gainer:  The County has determined how to allocate the property tax revenues to help balance Cook County Health.  Currently property taxes cover the costs of Cermak, health provided to the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and the Department of Public Health.  Years ago, it was also used to cover uncompensated care.  CFO Manning said that the Bureau of Finance has been pressuring Cook County Health to provide a proposed balanced budget, and progress has been made.
• From Gainer:  The County receives $12 M from the cannabis tax, but the Commissioner wants to know what the total costs the County incurs in dealing with those using cannabis.  
• From Aguillar:  If the County took no steps to reduce the budget gap, by the end of 2027, it would fall below the floor for reserves under its policy.
• From Scott:  There are currently 2700 vacancies and an evaluation is going on now to determine what vacant positions need to be maintained.
• From Scott:  the expectation is that all federal ARPA dollars will be spent by the end of 2026.  Currently, there is $40 M unspent with another $40 M waiting for the invoices to come in.  (This is out of the $1 B the County got from ARPA.)

Offices under the President
July 21, 2026

Lanetta Haynes Turner, the President’s Chief of Staff, provided an overview of the some of the accomplishments of the different Bureaus and departments that are under the President.  She pointed out that while these offices are just 10% of the County’s budget and employees, they get involved with all areas of County government.  
There were a number of very specific questions from Commissioners with the following responses that may be of interest:

• From Anaya:  Asset Management expects to turn over the new Board Room to the Secretary to the Board for testing the audio-visual equipment by the end of next week, the last portion of the project.
• From Stamps: The Commissioner relayed that 5 young college graduates she sent to the County’s Job Fair at the Palmer House were not impressed.  HR Bureau Chief Haddox said that at the Fair over 60 people were interviewed and ultimately 5 people were hired from the Fair for positions under the President.  
• From Degnen:  Asked the head of Environment and Sustainability about ideas regarding water and energy use by data centers.  The response was that working with other groups and there have been many advances, such as using a closed system for water (e.g., reuse of water).
• From Degnen:  The report on the pilot Guaranteed Income Fund that has been expected all year is still being reviewed with the working group expanding to look at other such projects.  This will be provided in conjunction with the proposal for a new Guaranteed Income program.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations Committee Meeting
July 15, 2026

The Committee approved, subject to final approval at the Board meeting on July 16:

• Angela Hardiman as the new Chief Financial Officer.  No questions were asked at the meeting, though several Commissioners said they had met with her individually prior to the meeting;

and the following appointments proposed by the Cook County President to the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA), Metra, PACE, and the CTA Boards, all to be effective September 1, 2026:

• Tom Kotarek – 3-year appointments to NITA and CTA Boards.  He has a transit and planning background.
• Ann Kalayil – 5-year appointment to the CTA Board. She has a planning background and previously worked for Cook County as head of Asset Management.
• Diane Williams – 3-year appointments to NITA and Metra boards.  She is the former President of Safer Foundation, and had served on the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) board at one time.  Her focus is on safety issues.
• Romayne Brown – 5-year appointment to Metra and NITA boards.  Unable to be at the meeting
• Joe Szabo – 3-year appointment to the Metra Board.  Has a background in railroad and government and was also on CMAP board previously.
• Rory Hoskins – 5-year appointments to PACE and NITA boards.  He is the Mayor of Village of Forest Park and has suburban transportation expertise.
• Luis Montgomery – 3-year appointments to PACE and NITA boards.  He is a civil engineer and a long-time user of public transportation.
• Terry Wells – 5-year appointment to PACE board.  He has been on the PACE board for 20 years as well as mayor of Phoenix, Illinois for 34 years.  He also has 37 years of teaching experience.

These appointments to the transit agencies reflect the 2025 state legislation changing the oversight of the various public transportation services in metropolitan Chicago.  As explained to the Commissioners by the County’s Transportation Department:

• The restructuring eliminated the RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) and created NITA. 
• NITA will have a 20-member appointed board, with members appointed by the Governor, the Chicago mayor (with approval of the City Council), the Cook County president (with approval of the Board), and the collar counties. 
• Metra, PACE and CTA will also still have their own appointed boards, with Cook County having appointments to each.
• A transition report is expected from the NITA Board in July 2027 that will outline a coordinated service plan, establish service standards, and outline a 6-year funding transition. 
• There is to be a renewed focus on safety throughout the system. 
• The State is expected to provide $1.2B in annual operating funds. 
• Cook County conducted a competitive application process and had about 40 applicants. 

Commissioner questions focused on their issues of concern and letting the candidates for appointment know what issues will need to be addressed by the transit boards going forward. Main issues raised included:

• Need for connectivity between the various systems and planning around how to achieve both increased connections and increased service.
• Developing a single card use for all systems with a plan for fare distribution between the systems
• Red Line CTA extension should focus on more connectivity and not just the extension - can adjustments still be made to the plan?
• Communication with the public:  there should be a plan to include the public in discussions about changes and other concerns. 
• Changing demographics in Cook County and how an already established system can be changed to meet the transportation needs of the future. 
• How will the boards work together and how will they communicate back to the Cook County Board?
• Transportation between suburbs - not only directed at “into the city”
• Environmental concerns - switching to electric vehicles. 

​Observer - Cynthia Schilsky