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Cook County Board Makes Changes to Consent Calendar Meetings

5/29/2019

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - May 23, 2019
Commissioners Absent - Silvestri and Gainer
What did the Board Decide:

The Board approved several changes to the Consent Calendar meetings of the Board including changing the time of the meeting from 9am to 1pm on the scheduled days for the remainder of 2019: allowing each Commissioner and the President to recognize up to two resolutions which will be summarized and not read in their entirety during the meeting - additional resolutions will be entered into the record; and photos will be taken prior to the meeting whenever possible. It is hoped that these changes will allow for more timely honoring of individuals and groups during the meeting and allowing for better scheduling of the other committee meetings. (Agenda Items 19-3601 and 19-3604)
The Board approved an ordinance creating the Good Faith Effort Transparency Reporting that will require more accurate documentation of reasons that contractors or others doing business with the County get waivers from complying with the MBE and WBE requirements in a contract. (Agenda Item 19-2297)
The Board approved a resolution urging the Illinois Legislature to support HB2495, the Reproductive Health Act. (Agenda Item 19-3758)
The Board approved two Professional Services contract extensions with consultants to the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Questions were raised concerning why these sole source contracts were being renewed. A scope of work was requested for these contracts. (Agenda Items 19-3413 and 19-3458)
The Complete Count Census Commission was approved to educate the community about the need for participation in the upcoming Census. (Agenda Item 19-3176) Members of the Commission were also appointed..
An ordinance urging the Illinois Congressional Delegation to support HR96, Veteran’s Dental Care, was referred to the Veterans Committee.

Other Items of Interest

The meeting began with 16 public speakers - several speaking in favor of the Good Faith Effort Transparency Reporting ordinance and several others speaking in favor of the ordinance supporting the Reproductive Health Act.
Assessor Kaegi presented the Practices and Procedures Audit of the Cook County Assessor’s Office - a report from the audit done on his office by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO). The main findings in the report for modernizing the office were summarized by representatives from the audit group and presented in four critical areas.

Staffing and staff development - the office has about 1/4 of the staff necessary to carry out the work necessary.
Adapt Technology - with technology integrated into the GIS info they can increase the rate of assessments and can use technology to offset their personnel shortage.
Data Quality - at present data quality is poor but with more staff and upgraded technology data should improve.
Evaluation Methods - can improve methods with improved data quality that will demystify their assessment process.

The report was received and filed and can be found HERE at the Cook County Assessors Website.
Observer - Cynthia Schilsky Meeting Length: 2 and 1/2 hours

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Cook County Board Approves Intergovernmental Agreement with MWRD for Independent Inspector General Services

5/2/2019

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting- April 25, 2019

Notable Items Passed:

The Board approved an amendment (Agenda Item 19-3024) to the ordinance covering the Office of Independent Inspector General (OIIG) that will allow the OIIG to provide services pursuant to any intergovernmental agreement approved by the Board of Commissioners to which the OIIG is a party (Cook County Code, section 2-284 #14) and to provide services pursuant to a memorandum of understanding to any agency funded by the County Board to which the OIIG is a party and the OIIG determines that a memorandum of understanding is applicable or preferred (Cook County Code, section 2-284 #15). The Board then approved the proposed intergovernmental agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) for the OIIG to provide services to the District (Agenda Item 19-3027). The League testified in support of this intergovernment agreement at the MWRD the week before, and sent a letter of support to the Cook County Board prior to the vote.
The Board approved a proposed amendment to the Human Relations - Housing section of the Cook County Code that will require landlords to determine if someone can qualify for a property before the landlord can ask about criminal history, and delayed the effective date for this amendment for 6 months. Commissioners discussed the importance of clear guidelines for small landlords in the rule making process in order to make clear what is needed for compliance. A question was raised regarding whether “rules” come back to the Board for review, and the answer was yes. (Agenda Item 19-2394)
The Board approved the Report and Amended Resolution from the Litigation Subcommitte following the Committee’s hearing on the status of the Shakman cases in the Offices of the Assessor, Clerk of the Court, and Recorder of Deeds. (Agenda Item 19-2242) Court-appointed oversight of these offices has been ongoing for 9 years for the Assessor, 7 years for the Recorder, and since last year for the Clerk. Much work needs still to be done before they can be found to be in substantial compliance with the Shakman decisions, which prohibit political considerations with regard to the hiring, firing, promotion, or pay of all but a few “exempt” employees. These cases have cost the County millions of dollars. The Commissioners at the hearing on Tuesday emphasized the need for these offices to come into compliance as soon as possible. The Subcommittee amended the hearing resolution to provide for quarterly hearings on these matters. The League testified in support of such regular oversight by the Subcommittee, and the Subcommittee utilized the questions submitted by the League during the hearing on April 23

Other items of interest:

The Board approved a contract with the Adult Probation Department, Circuit Court of Cook County and Loyola University to develop and implement a recidivism reduction program for high-risk probationers. This plan will “include an in-depth implementation fidelity review plan, a process evaluation plan, and an outcome evaluation plan”. The contract period is 5/01/2019 - 9/30/2021. (Agenda Item 19-2519)
Com. Kevin Morrison questioned a contract for disposable kitchen supplies for the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Com. Morrison asked if the contract looked at compostable, biodegradable or reusable supplies.

Future items:

A proposed ordinance regarding establishing civil fees and criminal and traffic assessments collected by the Clerk of the Circuit Court Cook County was referred to the Finance Committee. The Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act restructures criminal, traffic and civil fees in the circuit courts in Illinois in order to consolidate fees into unified schedules. (Agenda Item 19-2843)

Observer - Laura Davis. Meeting Length - 2 hours and 10 minutes when observer left - ongoing

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Cook County Board Makes Changes to Consent Calendar Meetings

Cook County Board Approves Intergovernmental Agreement with MWRD for Independent Inspector General Services

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