Category: Contracts

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

9/30/2019

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 Objections raised included that paper calendars are an outdated, ineffective method not used by many in the Court system and that they are a political advertisement for the elected official (Clerk Dorothy Brown).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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Cook County Board Makes Changes to Consent Calendar Meetings

5/29/2019

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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 Eliminates Regional Gang Data Base

2/21/2019

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Committee Meetings - February 20, 2019

Criminal Justice Committee

After several amendments and substitutions, the Criminal Justice Committee voted to prohibit the use of Sheriff Dart’s Regional Gang Data Base (Agenda Item 19-0687).
The Sheriff has already decommissioned the data base, but this ordinance seeks to prevent a future use by other officials and to prevent a re-commissioning of any future data base.
The ordinance also provides that this committee will hold a public hearing within 90 days on this issue.
Public speakers brought up issues of discrimination, due process and fairness. 84% of the people on the gang data base are African-American or Latino.

Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee

Approved an ordinance that gives a preference on county contracts to businesses owned by people with disabilities—physical and mental. (Agenda Item 19-0604)

Asset Management Committee

Deferred an item that sets up a new procedure for awarding Capital Planning contracts. Commissioners S. Morrison and Silvestri were concerned that the Board is left out of contract oversight with this new procedure. Since so many questions were brought up, further meetings between Procurement and commissioners will be held before a vote. (Agenda Item 19-1074)
Also Deferred at the request of the sponsor, Comm. Moore - a resolution that would hold a hearing to discuss the various projects and programs run by the Bureau of Asset Management. (Agenda Item 19-1358)

Other Items of Interest

Apparently over the last two days, one regular speaker has been derogatory in speaking against the Human Rights Committee formation and against immigrants. The Board will seek a legal opinion on what can be done about abusive speakers during the public testimony time.
This observer came at the designated time for the beginning of all these committee meetings—10:30am. However, the lengthy Consent Calendar, whereby residents and other groups are honored for various accomplishments, was only partially completed so the committee meetings did not begin until 12:50pm. The committee meetings all adjourned by 3:15pm. The League has long proposed that the Consent Calendar business be conducted on days other than Regular Board meeting and committee meeting days so that more time can be spent on the business of the County.

Observer - Karin Hribar

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Public Testimony on Prevailing Wage Amendment Dominates Cook County Board Meeting

4/3/2018

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting- March 14, 2018

Significant Topics Discussed:

There was over 3 ½ hours of public testimony regarding the Property Tax Incentive – prevailing wage amendment. The Board had passed a requirement that unless expressly waived by the County Board, any Employer occupying a property that receives a property tax incentive for Class 6b industrial property, Class 8 industrial property, or Class 9 multifamily residential property shall pay not less than the Living Wage. The vast majority of those speaking were opposed to the requirement, yet were emphatic in stating that they were not opposed to unions nor to apprenticeship programs, but did not think that this approach to pay equity was viable for regions that compete with other states. The Commissioners discussed the issue and voted 12-4 to delay implementation until September, 2018 but still passed the ordinance. The Board plans to further study the ordinance for possible improvements. (Agenda Item 18 – 1604)
Only one item received significant discussion, the decision to defer Agenda Item 18 – 1277 which would give indemnification to Northwestern University for medical malpractice consequences. Northwestern has received a contract to provide mental health services for minors at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. The bulk of the discussion focused on who was at fault for not addressing the issue of indemnification in the original contract, the County or Northwestern. It was voted to defer a decision until legal advice could be provided to the Board. The fact that a decision had been made on February 7, 2018 to put the item on hold until legal language was cleared up, was not addressed.
There was brief, but pointed, discussion of Agenda Item 18 – 2379 that called for representatives from the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, the Chief Judge’s Office, and the Sheriff’s Office to appear before the Criminal Justice Committee to investigate the issue of violent offenders being released on electronic monitoring. There were two public witnesses from the Chicago Community Bond Fund who supported passage and gave evidence of Sheriff Dart’s delay in releasing individuals on electronic monitoring for whom that had been mandated. After the testimony of one of the representatives of the Bond Fund, President Preckwinkle stated that she hoped that the Fund would sue Sheriff Dart for his lack of compliance. The matter was referred to the Criminal Justice Task Force for further consideration.

Significant Decisions Made:

All contracts were passed without discussion.
Approved a collective bargaining agreement for the period of December 1, 2017 through November 30, 2020 between the County of Cook/Sheriff of Cook County and the Fraternal Order of Police for wage increases and healthcare. Effective December 1, entry rate for all job classifications shall be reduced by 10%, and pay rates for all job classifications shall be frozen. All bargaining unit members shall receive a $600 payment upon ratification of the agreement, and receive the same on June 1, 2018. Pay rates for all job classifications shall be increased by 2% June 1, 2019, and June 1, 2020. (Agenda Item 18-2440)I

Items to Watch in the Future:

Given the time constraints, most items were referred to committee for further study and later action.
A call upon Washington D.C. and the State of Illinois to pass comprehensive gun control legislation was referred to the Criminal Justice Committee. (Agenda item 18-2672)
Call to establish a foundation for the benefit of the Sheriff’s office of Cook County was referred to the Finance Committee. The Foundation would focus on providing services and programming to individuals in the custody of the Cook County Department of Corrections and alternative sentencing programs and supporting additional policy initiatives within the Sheriff’s mandate. (Agenda Item 18-2671)
The results of further study of the property tax incentive – living wage amendment will be forthcoming (Agenda Item 18- 1604)
A call on the Illinois General Assembly to create an Indiana border tax and regional economic development strategy was referred to the Legislative Committee. (Agenda Item 18-2648)
Legal counsel regarding the contract with Northwestern University and legal indemnification. (Agenda Item 18-1277)
Follow-up action from Criminal Justice Committee regarding study of electronic monitoring of violent offenders. (Agenda Item 18-2379)

Other Observations:

Since the bulk of the meeting was spent in hearing testimony from the public on the tax-incentive – living wage ordinance, all other items were grouped together and passed without discussion. There were 24 contracts and contract amendments passed, 8 interagency agreements, and 6 reports, all received without comment or discussion.

Observer – Sharon Welch

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Cook County Commissioners Find Problems with Contracts

2/12/2018

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - February 7, 2018

Significant Topics Discussed:

Although most contracts were passed, commissioners expressed concern that too many extensions are given to contracts in the county without RFPs to open bidding to other vendors and organizations. Also of concern is that some contracts are not completed within the designated timeframe and the performance of some vendors is not acceptable. There do not seem to be penalties against vendors who do not complete their contracts on time or correctly accomplish the goals of the contract (Comm. Morrison).
Commissioners are concerned that they receive the contract for approval too late to do anything but “rubber stamp” it (Comm. Fritchey).
Agenda Item 18-1914 (passed) an extension of Securus Technologies to provide telephone service for jail inmates. The cost for inmates to phone anyone within the USA is 12.5 cents per minute, which is a good rate compared to other jurisdictions. Extensions for this contract have gone on for almost 10 years.
Agenda Item 18-1277 (on hold until legal language cleared up) is a contract with Northwestern University to provide mental health services for minors at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC). Northwestern wants an indemnification clause which would relieve them of any medical mal-practice consequenses. The county does not provide this in their contracts.
Agenda Item 18-1649 A hearing was held in the Legislation and Intergovernmental Affairs committee regarding the performance of the Clerk of the Court’s office in completing electronic filing of court cases and an updated case management system. The county has already designated $40 million toward this mandatory directive by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC). Concerns were expressed by the Board regarding the extension of 6 months to complete this (now extended to July 1, 2018); a convenience fee of $2.95 that is still being charged to obtain case files; and a federal court case regarding media difficulty in obtaining court case information.

Significant Decisions Made:

Agenda Item 18-2022 (passed) a resolution supporting stronger ethics legistation (like the county has) at the state and other local levels.
Agenda Item 18-2050 (passed) a resolution declaring gun violence in Cook County a Public Health Emergency and advocating for additional resources to combat violence.
Agenda Item 18-1750 (passed) requiring a quarterly report from all agencies and departments involved with costs of gun violence—Medical Examiner, Hospital System, Sheriff, etc.
Agenda Item 18-2017 (passed) a resolution to study integration, consolidation, and modernization of all IT services in the County (to save money and increase efficiency.) Following the study (in 120 days) there would be a Governance ordinance drafted by the Chief Information Officer.
Agenda Item 18-2073 (passed) a resolution to form a commission for revenue forecasting and evaluation of revenue types.
Agenda Item 18-2128 (passed) Sheriff offering to help suburban Cook County in investigating police shootings since the county has more resources than most suburbs.
Agenda Item 18-2142 (sent to Finance committee) this report on the tax assessment process by the Civic Alliance, which was initiated several months ago, “will be out next week and will be available on-line” (President Preckwinkle). This has been a very controversial topic regarding Assessor Berrios’ Office. Issues of fairness and accuracy of assessments have been reported by the media and other organizations.

Items to Watch for in the Future:

Results of Civic Alliance study on tax assessments.
Completion of e-filing and case management systems by the Clerk of the Court.

Other Observations:
Commissioners seem to be taking a more active role in how contracts are awarded and whether they are completed on time, accurately, and with reasonable cost.

Observer - Karin Hribar

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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

Cook County Board Makes Changes to Consent Calendar Meetings

Cook County Board Eliminates Regional Gang Data Base

Public Testimony on Prevailing Wage Amendment Dominates Cook County Board Meeting

Cook County Commissioners Find Problems with Contracts

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