Category: Contracts

Commissioners Approve Appointments and Review 10-Year-Old Wage Theft Ordinance

5/21/2025

Cook County Board of Commissioners
Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee
May 14, 2025

The Committee approved all the proposed appointments on the agenda, including the appointment of Dr. Kiran Joshi as the Chief Operating Officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH). Several of the Commissioners gave glowing statements about Dr. Joshi and his past work with the County and how glad they were to have him assume this position. Dr. Joshi said that his goal is to have the CCDPH be the best health department in the country. (Item 25-2308)
The appointment of Alexandra Lara to the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) Advisory Board was followed up by comments from Comm. Degnan concerning the transition of the JTDC into 2 programs - a day program and an in-house program - and how important the Advisory Board will be to assist in this transition. (Item 25-2325)
Comm. Stamps wanted to have more clarification about the process for filling positions on the JTDC Advisory Board as she observed that there were several vacancies when she attended a meeting recently. She expanded this request to ask what the process is and how does one know about vacancies on any board/commission and also what are all the Boards and Commissions. Comm. Morita said they only find out about these positions when they come before them for approval. A representative from the President’s Office said there there is an application process and they also take recommendations when a position needs to be filled. She also said that there are so many boards and commissions that it is hard to keep track of all the vacancies. She said they are looking into a way of compiling the information and perhaps revamping the process for filling the positions as well as making the information more available.
The other item of business on the agenda - a proposed amendment regarding gender inclusive documents and forms (Item 25-1822) was deferred with no discussion or explanation.

Joint meeting of the Cook County Board Committees - Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations Committee and the Labor Committee
May 14, 2025

These two committees met to hold a Public Hearing to review the effectiveness of the Cook County Wage Theft Ordinance that was passed 10 years ago to address the issue of wage theft and to protect workers from exploitive labor practices. (Item 25-2344)
Comm Anaya said that in checking with all the County departments named in the ordinance there have been no complaints filed since passage in 2015. While wage theft itself is not a violation of the Cook County Code, the ordinance does disqualify any businesses that have been found guilty of wage theft from obtaining contracts, a business license or a tax incentive from the County.

Three public speakers from agencies that work with the workers this ordinance was meant for, outlined the following concerns with the ordinance;

The ordinance does not detail how employees can file complaints.
Workers need to be educated so they know their rights and what to do if their rights are violated.
The ordinance does not include an effective way to hold employers accountable.
There needs to be a better route for enforcement than the lengthy legal route.
There needs to be better collaboration to ensure enforcement.

Commissioner comments:

Comm. Daley - asked what could be learned from this ordinance. There needs to be some mechanism for filing complaints and cooperation among the departments involved for sharing information about violations.
Comm. Britton - asked about tracking of private actions taken concerning violations. County does not get information from the Illinois Department of Labor about violations.
Comm. Lowry stated that the Illinois Department of Labor has jurisdiction on labor violations.
Comm. Vasquez - wanted to know how departments were working together and said they needed to ensure communications between departments on these issues.
Chicago Alderman Quesada (formerly a Cook County Commissioner) joined the meeting and was asked to make comments as he was one of the sponsoring commissioners for requesting this hearing. He stated that there is back-sliding of labor rights and it is necessary for partners to work together to ensure worker’s rights and to remain vigilant about the rights of workers.

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky

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Cook County Board Gets Financial Update

3/22/2023

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Cook County Board of Commissioners - Committee and Board Meetings
March 15 and 16, 2023

Finance Committee March 15

The Comptroller gave a report. (#23-1270) The state of Illinois owes Cook County $318 million. Commissioner Sean Morrison noted that the State is slow to distribute sales tax revenue from the Local Government Distribution Fund. Commissioner Brittan recommended organizing a lobbying effort with the State to improve the distribution.
Dean Consentino of the Independent Revenue Forecasting Commission gave a long term forecast of Cook County revenue and expenses in the General Fund. It is projected that there will be sustained slow economic growth. The projected inflation could impact sales tax revenue. While the revenue will grow less over the next five years, the expenses will increase at a higher rate. In the Health Fund, the Medicaid re-determination will decrease the number of recipients, increasing the costs to the Health System. Their projections did not include continuing the current programs being funded by ARPA funds.
Cannabis tax revenue goes to the Equity Fund.

Contract Compliance Committee- March 15

Agenda Item 23-0936 - Nicole Mandeville, Director of Contract Compliance, presented the proposed changes to the Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) section of the Procurement Ordinance. They are to extend the ordinance until 3/31/28 and change how the net worth of a woman business owner’s wealth would be calculated. Some illiquid assets would no longer be counted. After initial certification, the business would have to confirm its financial condition and submit tax returns. They would not have to be certified every year. The changes came from a disparity study that is done every five years. Public speaker Mary Kay Moynihan, Women’s Owned Construction Group, expressed concern the ordinance might be challenged once some current cases at the Supreme Court are settled. Ms. Mandeville and the Contract Compliance lawyer, Laura Lechowitz stated that the goals in the ordinance are legally defensible. MWBE goals are set for each individual contract.
The Committee recommended approval. The Board of Commissioners approved.

Technology & Innovation Committee March 15

Agenda Item 23-1334 The Chief Information Officer’s annual report was recommended to be received and filed. There was no discussion, but committee members had met individually with the CIO.
The Board of Commissioners voted to receive and file.

Legislation and InterGovernmental Relations Committee March 15

The Committee met with Sukemeke Watkins and Lizbeth Leanos of the lobbying team from the Office of the President. They reviewed various bills that the County is supporting at the State and Federal levels and discussed arrangements for the County lobbying day in Springfield.

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting
March 16 10:30 AM to 1:10 PM

The Board of Commissioners approved previous Committee recommendations with little discussion. Several public speakers complained about the steep increases in property taxes in the Pilsen area. Commissioner Anaya has organized programs on how to appeal the taxes and request exemptions.

The Board honored Secretary of State Jessie White on his retirement. Most of the Commissioners spoke to his service to the County and State and his Jessie White Tumblers Program which has served 18,000 kids over 65 years.

Board Action:

Agenda Item 23-1606 The Board approved ARPA funds to subsidize installation of solar technology for residents.
Agenda Item 23-1609 The Board approved ARPA funds for the Housing Authority of Cook County and the Justice Advisory Council to aid people getting out of prison in obtaining housing.
Agenda Item 23-1647 The Board referred the Report on Major Technology Projects to the Technology Committee.

Observer: Kathi Graffam

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Extension of HR Contract with Deloitte Main Discussion Item at Cook County Board Meeting

11/9/2022

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Cook County Board Of Commissioners Meeting
October 20, 2022; 10:30 A.M.

Board Action:
The Board was asked to extend and to increase the recruiting and HR consultation services with Deloitte. The original contract was 11-8-2021 to 11-7-2022. The proposed extension would run 11-8-2022 to 11-7-2023. (Agenda Item 22-5170)

Commissioner Gainer was uncertain that the process would be improved and asked whether the County was measuring its effectiveness. HR responded that Deloitte was the only one to respond to the call for bids. There is currently a serious shortage of recruiters and the County is having to compete in an extremely tight market.
Commissioner Aguilar asked what happens if the extension is not approved. HR replied that hiring for the County would be severely impacted because HR simply does not have the staff to handle the demand. Commissioner Degnen expressed concern about the amount of money which would be expended for just twelve Deloitte employees.
Commissioner Gainer said she wanted to see the whole pipeline for hiring from beginning to end to understand what is happening.
Board approved as substituted on a roll call vote. Aye: 11; Nay: 4 ; Ab: 2 (excused).

Additional Board Business Was Conducted With Little Discussion

22-5826- The Board established the annual calendar of regular and consent meetings for 2023. Passed on roll call vote.
22-5827-5830- Program budgets of the RTA, CTA, Metra, and PACE (2023) were referred to the Transportation Committee.
22-5631- The Board approved the contract with Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation for study that allows County to determine population characteristics of coyotes & wildlife to help minimize conflicts and guide management programs relating to wildlife and the public. Commissioner Gainer related this to the Forest Preserve coyote issue and asked that the County engage with the animal welfare community.

The Board passed resolutions on the following items:

22-6036- Recognizing County Care’s 10th anniversary.
22-6092- Honoring Patrick M. Blanchard who is retiring as Cook County’s first Independent Inspector General. Commissioner Suffredin referenced a letter from the LWVCC recognizing his contributions.
22-5862- Creating an Opioid Remediation Abatement Special Purpose Fund which will see that funds are dispersed equitably to support opioid remediation and abatement programs.
22-6090- Calling for a 12-week Paid Parental Leave policy financial impact analysis & report. As of Jan. 1, 2023 the City of Chicago will have such a policy. The Board voted to refer this to the Finance Committee.

Observer: Georgia Gebhardt

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Resolution to Review Compensation of Elected Officials Approved by Cook County Board Finance Committee

10/18/2021

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Committee Meetings of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
Oct 5 & 6, 2021

Note: all items listed below as being approved by a Committee do not become effective until the Board approves them at the Board meeting held on October 7.

October 5 Meeting Highlights:

Health and Hospitals Committee

Agenda Item 21-0541 CCH and Public Health Dept update on Covid. Deferred Cook County Health (CCH) established a mandate for employee vaccination or weekly testing. As of Oct 1, 83% of the employees are fully vaccinated and 92% had one dose.
21-5290 Resolution declaring mental health a public health crisis. Passed Commissioners Amaya, Degnen, and Kevin Morrison said their constituents want more money spent on mental health services. Commissioner Miller said American Rescue Plan Act funds should be spent on improving these services. Commissioner Daley said that there needs to be coordination with other existing services including private hospitals.

Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee

21-5410 Ordinance to codify the existence, duties and appointments for the Commission on Women’s Issues. Passed The Commission was formed in 1995 by resolution. The purpose of this action was to put it into the County ordinances.
21-0565 Proposed resolution to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day and Reconciliation Day Deferred There were several public speakers in favor and against the proposed resolution. One point often raised by the public speakers and the Commissioners was though it is important to recognize the wrongs done to Indigenous People, there was no reason to take away a day that honors the contributions of the Italian Americans. The State of Illinois has named the last Monday of September as Indigenous Peoples Day. Several Commissioners thanked Commissioner Johnson for initiating the process and resulting difficult conversations that were illuminating.

October 6 Meeting Highlights

Finance Committee

21-5258 Calling for a review and recommendation regarding elected officials’ compensation. Passed. Comm. Suffredin proposed to initiate a process to engage an economist and an outside compensation consultant to review the compensation of Cook County officials and compare it to other counties. The last review was in 2000. The committee would prepare a report on the comparison and recommend salaries to the Commissioners. The report would be prepared by February of 2022. The Commissioners would then decide if any action was needed. Any such increase would be effective in the next fiscal year in 2023 after the election for the offices. The Clerk of the Court would be excepted since it isn’t up for election until Nov. 2024.
21-4303 Proposed amendment to the Procurement Code. Deferred to Nov Mtg. It would require that the Chief Procurement Officer shall make every effort to have at least one woman and one African American or Hispanic on any evaluation committee for an RFQ or RFP.
21-4102 Approval of Unarmed Security Contract for the Juvenile Detention Center (JDT) Passed 11 Aye 4 present Commissioner Sean Morrison No Leonard Dixon of the JDT reported that supplemental guards were needed at the facility because they are currently experiencing a 23% absentee rate. He is recommending a three-year contract with Monterrey Security Consultants to provide 22 officers. The JDT has 400 FTEs in security staff and currently 100 vacancies. The standard absence had been 10-15%. The vacancies are due to COVID, retirement, FMLA, injuries, and difficulty in hiring. The JDT brought in a psychologist to help the staff with the stress of the job. He anticipates that it will take them 3 years to rebuild to full staff. The JDT can have an average of 200 detainees. Comm. Sean Morrison had previously asked to see the contracts and supporting documents and had not received them. He was concerned that the vendor could commit to handling all the requirements. Comm. Daley asked for a follow up report on how the JDT was reducing the absentee rate.

Technology Committee

21-5079 Chief Technology Officer’s major project report. Deferred to the November meeting
The Clerk of Court technology officer reported that they were making progress on the Odyssey system, that allows electronic access to court documents and dates. Initially, Judge Evans delayed the Court from implementing the system. He has since given approval for Phase 1 and 2 to be implemented. The traffic court is in the last phase and will be implemented by the end of the year.
The completion of the Integrated Tax Processing System will be delayed until September of 2024. Comm. Sean Morrison referred to a letter that all the Commissioners received from Treasurer Pappas with concerns about the project. The vendor is Tyler Information Systems and they were originally contracted in 2015 with a completion date of 2019. The contract was performance based and Tyler has not been paid for implementation projects since 2017 although the implementation is continuing. They are also contracted for ongoing licensing and maintenance of the system. Comm. Sean Morrison said Tyler’s performance is disappointing. Comm. Kevin Morrison said he may call a special meeting to address the issues. Since it is a contract issue, the committee would have to meet in executive session.

Observed by: Kathi Graffam Time: 7 hours total

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Several Contracts Questioned by Commissioners at Cook County Board Meeting Especially for Clerk Of Court Brown

9/30/2019

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Cook County Board of Commissioners - Meeting - September 26, 2019
Absent: Commissioner Tobolski

Board Actions:

The Board unanimously voted to DISAPPROVE a contract request (Agenda Item 19-5564) from the Clerk of the Court for $20,000.00 to print 10,000 calendars used in courtrooms and by some attorneys. Objections raised included that paper calendars are an outdated, ineffective method not used by many in the Court system and that they are a political advertisement for the elected official (Clerk Dorothy Brown). An ordinance had previously been passed that disallows the name of elected officials on these types of materials.
Commissioner S. Morrison questioned contract extensions (even beyond the original extension expiration dates) without RFP bids. Procurement should have put out this furniture contract (Agenda Item 19-5580) for re-bid. He asked why this was occurring again and stated that “this sounds like procurement rules aren't being followed.” Asset Management countered that there wasn't time to get a new RFP out but it will be ready for the next round.
Commissioners S. Morrison and D. Miller both voted NO on a contract for the acquisition of property for $15,000,000.00 for a new health clinic (Agenda Item 19-5233). This was discussed in closed session at the Asset Management Committee yesterday (9/25/19). Today the vote for approval by the Board was bundled with several other items with no description.

Items referred to Committees for future discussion and consideration:

(Agenda Item 19-5620) Voting Opportunity and Translation Equity Ordinance was referred to Legislation Committee. This ordinance would have more voting materials translated into more languages for voters who do not speak English. This would encompass 13,000 voters and would be ready for the March elections.
(Agenda Item 19-5629) which would give leniency to municipality-owned parking lots from the new increased Cook County taxes on these lots, was referred to the Finance Committee.

Committee Recommendations Approved:
Very quickly and without much explanation the following committee items were approved by the Board of Commissioners (I may have missed some that were bundled with other items and approved):

(Agenda Item 19-3776) Proposed Cook County Health Preliminary Budget
(Agenda Item 19-5556) a new State’s Attorney program to reduce violence—“a new approach”
(Agenda Item 19-0768) an approved substitute ordinance for the Charitable Rotating Bond Funds which prevents fees, court charges and attorney fees from being taken out of this posted bond. Also it would not prevent a Public Defender from being appointed to the bonded defendant.
(Agenda Item 19-5845) sets up a new Special Purpose Fund in the Assessor’s Office in order to receive their share of GIS distributed funds.

Observed by: Karin Hribar Length of meeting: 1 hour 50 minutes (includes 45 minutes of public speakers)

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Equipment Upgrades Approved for Cook County Sheriff’s Department

9/11/2019

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - September 5, 2019

Board Actions:

A Request to enter into and execute a contract with Axon Enterprise, Scottsdale, AZ Axon Enterprise provides law enforcement grade weapons and tech services. The contract is for 5 yr, 9/12/2019 - 9/11/2024. Explanations were provided for the Commissioners’ many questions. It was explained that this contract will provide upgrades and expansion of the existing body worn cameras and TASER weapons inventory that are needed to supply more Cook County Sheriff Department Officers with equipment. Axon is the only company that sells law-enforcement grade weapons which are sold strictly to law enforcement agencies. The TASER will activate their body worn camera; it is the only weapon that will activate the camera. The cloud storage system is unique to Axon. The cameras’ recordings will be sharable with the Public Defender’s Office. The contract was approved. (Agenda Item 19-5076)

The Fair Transit of South Cook County Pilot Study was referred to the Transportation Committee for a more detailed presentation. Commissioner Miller stated that the Public Meeting in the South Suburbs was well attended. Supt. Yonan explained that this 3 year Pilot Program is ready for implementation. The program has several goals, including modest service improvement and improved coordination with PACE, Metra, and CTA. Another benefit of the program should be facilitating access to employment. Yonan explained that Year 1 is the implementation phase. Years 2 & 3 are to evaluate the impact of improvements. (Agenda Item 19-4276)

Criminal Justice Committee - Charitable Bond Fund Commissioner Suffredin reported that the Criminal Justice Committee is waiting for responses from the State’s Attorney’s Office and from the County Clerk regarding questions of implementation of this program. The Committee will return with a completed proposal at the next meeting.

Observer - C. Cosentino Meeting Length - 2 hr. 25 min

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Commissioners Approve Appointments and Review 10-Year-Old Wage Theft Ordinance

Cook County Board Gets Financial Update

Extension of HR Contract with Deloitte Main Discussion Item at Cook County Board Meeting

Resolution to Review Compensation of Elected Officials Approved by Cook County Board Finance Committee

Several Contracts Questioned by Commissioners at Cook County Board Meeting Especially for Clerk Of Court Brown

Equipment Upgrades Approved for Cook County Sheriff’s Department

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