Cook County Board Finance Committee - Budget Hearings  
Oct. 23, 20018 afternoon session

Cook County Land Bank
Cook County Clerk
Recorder of Deeds

Commissioners Present: Daley, Boykin, Silvestri, Morrison, Goslin, Schneider, Gainer, Moody and Deer.

​As the observer for this meeting, I was struck by 2 things. The reports went extremely quickly especially  compared to last year. This year no department took over 20 minutes as compared to well over an hour each last year. Also the commissioners asked very few substantive questions. Mostly they had comments and compliments for the heads of each department.

Highlights of each department include:

Cook County Land Bank 
Director Rob Rose explained the mission of the land bank is to buy up abandoned and foreclosed properties and resell them to potential owners at reduced prices. The main group of buyers for these properties are homeowners. The main geographic areas of focus are the west and south sides of Chicago and the southern suburbs. When no buyers can be found, the Land Bank is responsible for upkeep of the property including lawn care and snow removal.
Some of their successes include:

• They are on track to meet their performance management goal of acquiring 800 properties by the end of this year. Next year they hope to reach 1000. They started in 2014 with only 34 properties.
• They have rehabbed over 350 of these properties so far and have sold over 275 of these.
• Their budget is completely self-supporting as of last year. This has been achieved through sales and grants.
• They have been working with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) on flooding issues. For example, Riverside Lawn, an unincorporated area next to the suburb of Riverside, has serious flooding issues due to the DesPlaines River. The land bank has acquired problem areas and turned these into green spaces that absorb the water overflow. This process included buying out some homeowners whose properties continued to flood, razing the properties, and turning the land into green space.
• Their goal next year is to sell over 400 more properties .

Commissioners Gainer and Boykin thanked Mr. Rose for his great work and leadership.


Cook County Clerk:
David Orr  explained that his office is not just about elections, though it seems that way at this time of the year. His office handles tax revenue collection from over 1500 separate taxing bodies in Cook County. And if you want to get married in Cook County his office provides the certificate.
During his tenure as Clerk, Mr. Orr cited some successes:

• There will be new voting equipment for the next election cycle. He hoped to have it ready this year but one of the losing vendors sued. He said this was a pattern with this company.
• His new election website is up 107% in viewers  so far this election season.
• His budget has not gone up at all in recent years. He is asking for 14 less FTE’s for fiscal 2019.
• Online marriage certificate applications are now available. About 1/2 of all new couples have used this application.
• Taxing bodies can now use an online system to file their information with the county. About 1/2 are now doing so.
• Early voting and mail-in ballots are up. On the first day of early voting (Oct.22) there were already 25,000 votes case in suburban Cook. This is a record for the midterm elections.

Commissioners Daley, Gainer, Boykin, and Morrison thanked him for his years of service and for making the Clerk’s office more efficient and professional.
Commissioner Silvestri thanked him for making a paper back- up ballot mandatory when using the touchscreen.
Commissioner Schneider said that he has defended the Clerk’s performance vehemently over the years whenever the right wing of his party criticized him.
Lots of good luck wishes could be heard as he left the room.

Recorder of Deeds
Karen Yarbrough said that her office always brings in more money than she spends. Since she took over in 2012 her numbers of FTE’s are down 50%. Some of her successes include:

• Online filings. These are up 55% so far this year.
  
• She has been running seminars throughout the county. One example is the “Property After Death” seminar that has been well attended.
  
• She will be rolling out a new “blockchain” technology next year. This will include a flat fee schedule for each document instead of a price per page.       
  

Commissioners Boykin and Moody thanked her for her seminars and service.  They both complimented her on how professionally the office was run since she took over. Commissioner Boykin also thanked her for saving Fred Hampton’s house in Maywood. This house (the childhood home of the Black Panther leader) was still in the family. The underwater mortgage was something that was unknown to the family after the owner’s death. Ms. Yarbrough worked on getting the mortgage manageable with the help of pro bono legal help.

Commissioner Morrison asked about the merger between her office and the clerk’s office. She said that no talks have begun yet on formulating a plan for the merger. In other counties, she said the county boards have given out plans for such a merger, but she has not received any instructions from this board. But she has plans to get the 2 staff groupings together early next year. David Orr has also promised to help with this process. She has a team in place to instruct her on the workings of the Clerk’s office.

Observer -  Jan Goldberg 

Cook County Board Finance Committee - July 24, 2018
Midyear Budget Hearing - Day 2 - afternoon session

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas had the shortest meeting of all:  

• She announced she was $20,000 under budget, asked for questions, and hearing none, thanked everyone, and left.

Cook County Inspector General's Office:

• The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) is looking into using the Cook County Inspector General’s office for its Inspector General (IG) needs.  MWRD allotted $600,000 for its IG needs.
• Comm. Suffredin asked if it might be possible to bill themselves out to other agencies or governments for Cook County revenue generation. 
• They will be within their budget.

Recorder of Deeds, Karen Yarborough, presented her budget at 2pm. 

• She touted her reduction in employees from 200 to 125 over her tenure, and that she had instituted a Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) monitoring system. 
• Her office is in “substantial Shakman compliance” (but still being overseen).
• Commissioner Sims commiserated with Recorder Yarborough about how difficult it is going to be to combine the County Clerk's Office with that of the Recorder of Deeds office.  Yarborough agreed about how it would cost lots more money to combine (no firm estimate).  She said the big problem was that their cashiering functions used entirely different systems.
• Suffredin suggested she try to monetize free services the Recorder of Deeds now offers, like fraud alert of “transfer at death” services, just as the Board of Review has instituted a bulk filing fee.
• Most of the commissioners spent considerable time lavishing praise on Recorder Yarborough for her distinguished service.

Clerk of the Circuit Court, Dorothy Brown, relied most of the time on the comptroller to discuss the details of her budget and whether she would be within it. 

• She will meet her budget mostly due to furlough days. 
• She complained about how many more man-hours were required under the e-filing system.  She said she has had to pull employees from Traffic and Criminal areas to help pro se citizens file their suits in the Civil division.  Commissioner Sims offered helpful advice like “closed circuit TV”.  Brown said she needed to have screen shots blown up as posters. (Public education should have been part of the rollout.)
• Most commissioners sympathized with her for her dedicated employees having to take furlough days and pay cuts.  When Com. Tobolski asked if she could stay within her budget for next year, she said she needed more people.  He asked if she would be willing to go to the voters to talk about her need for more money in the Circuit Court.  No specific numbers were discussed.  
• Com. Boykin said she had done a lot with a little.

Chief Judge Tim Evans is running at 2% over budget. 

• He took credit for reducing the jail population from 10,000 to 6,131 which has helped reduce overtime needs (in the Sheriff’s budget). 
• Judge Evans will reduce his budget by closing two courts at Wentworth and 51st and Belmont and Western by September 1.  Cases will be moved from Belmont and Western to Grand and Central for the most part.  Wentworth and 51st cases will probably move to California and 26th.  He will try to reach a  5.1% reduction for 2019 by further closing Walnut and moving those employees to California and 26th.
• Probation officers handle on average 75 cases per person.  Similar officers in Washington DC have 25 cases per person.  Electronic monitoring and GPS monitoring for protective orders must also be assigned to a probation officer.
• With the new public assessment tool, 90% of defendants are showing up for their court dates.
• Two pods at the Juvenile Detention Center have been closed since the population is down with a 22 person decrease  in headcount, but have had to fill in with overtime due to FMLA.

Budget hearings were adjourned at 4pm.  Commissioners Garcia, Sims, Daley, Silvestri, Tobolski, Deer, Boykin, Moore, Moody, and Suffredin were present for most of the budget hearings.

Observer - Amy Little

Cook County Board of Commissioners Board Meeting - April 12, 2017

At the end of the Finance Committee that preceded the Board Meeting, a report from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) CFO stated that the state owes $45 million to the county for FY16.  There is a match that the county makes to the state that is required to meet the federal match and CCHHS makes expedited payments to the state in order to get the money back from the federal government. The money is actually driven down by the CFO and hand delivered to the state office in order to prevent the continued delay from the state regarding not yet receiving the match money from the county!  

Comm. Boykin asked Dr. Jay Shannon, CCHHS CEO, to explain the status of the gun violence reduction study being done by CCHHS.  Dr. Shannon said that the study continues, but preliminary results show major stresses on families and communities are similar to the stresses that researchers are finding with children in Syria!  Trauma Informed Care is showing that the trauma of living in a continued state of stress leads to chronic behavioral problems and ultimately to physical disease.  He described it as a cascading problem.  CCHHS is targeting community based care which will offer social and mental health support in the affected communities. The goal is for CCHHS to get into the community,  and better results will occur.  Comm. Steele suggested looking at mental health awareness.  Comm. Sims then offered her own experience of visiting with families and educating families about resources available.  Dr. Shannon explained that almost anything can be accomplished if the resources are available. Comm. Sims then said that she thought they all would agree to find a way and she suggested that the Dept of Human Services should take the lead. There are other models in the country where communities have put through referendums to tax the affected community in order to financially support the needed services. 

During Public Comment two women from the violence impacted communities provided emotional testimony and one stated that she was with the Warriors on the Watch. They described needed services and support for neighborhoods filled with liquor stores and abandoned houses. They expressed anger about guns and gangs and kids dying in the street. They asked for work “in our communities, so we don’t have to duck and die."  One called out Comm. Sims and said she is in the suburbs, not the west side.  Both were verbally supported by comments from Mr. George Blakemore.

Significant Issues Discussed and/or Action Taken:

• The Administrative Office of IL Courts (AOIC) is paying the county for probation officers (including juvenile), but slowly. Cook County is owed over $30 million and  the costs are about $3.7 million/month. 
• There was discussion from the interim director of Homeland Security (the last director was removed by Preckwinkle in November), regarding a grant from federal Homeland Security. Comm. Suffredin questioned the rules and budgeting of the grant.  He referred to a grant from last year, poorly managed, that resulted in the county having to come up with a significant amount of money to make the grant whole.  Homeland Security will monitor the new grant closely and will supply quarterly reports.
• Monitoring of the merger of the offices of the County Clerk/Recorder of Deeds was moved to the legislative committee. 
• Comm. Boykin’s resolution urging suburban-neighborhood innovation partnerships  is being expanded and will be reintroduced next month. (Agenda Item 17-2736)
• John Yonan, Superintendent, Dept of Transportation and Highways, answered questions from Comm. Suffredin regarding the request for $1,120,000 for 1.1 miles of road in Palatine that divides the oldest Forest Preserve in Cook County.  As the original request dates back to 7/12/2005, Superintendent Yonan explained that the bid includes an environmental and engineering study, which were never done. As I live within 5 miles of this forest preserve and understand the sensitivity of the area, I was very interested in the discussion.  The forest preserve is in Comm. Goslin’s district. He asked no questions.
• Approved a contract request from the Public Defender for the Safer Foundation that provides confirmation reports to judges that defendants are safe to be released.  Safer Foundation verifies information regarding defendants with low bonds and gives confidence to the judges. This is in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation, the Justice Advisory Council and the Public Defender Office, to provide services for individuals with low bonds who have remained in jail for extended periods due to failure to post bond.
• Approved as substituted the $36m technology contract for Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County - Dorothy Brown’s office - that includes money for outside oversight of the contract. 

 
Observer - Laura Davis                                                              Meeting:   9:45 to 12:45

Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Day #5 of Budget Hearings - October 21, 2016

Office of County Clerk - presented by David Orr, Cook County Clerk
Proposed Budget: $31 million down from about $34 million
Proposed FTEs: Currently 275 down from 310 4 years ago.
Key Information Presented:

• Decrease in personnel was through strategic planning and not layoffs
• Ballots requested by mail for this election is 3 times over 2008
• Early voting sites have grown from 43 to 52 as there has been a huge increase in early voting
• Election day registration will continue for this election
• The Clerk’s office is offering a new “Running for office” starter kit
• New voting equipment will need to purchased in 2017
• In order to improve communication, a new website is planned for 2017

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

• Mainly revolved around the integrity and security of the voting system, hacking of voting lists, and concern about “rigged” elections.
• The commissioners were assured that protections against fraud were in place and the Clerk’s office is working with the FBI and Dept of Homeland Security, backed up with a lot of testing and risk assessment. The voting machines have a paper backup for additional security and an audit trail to prevent fraud.
• There was some discussion regarding the voting rolls being cleaner than they have been in years and the value of passing the Automatic Voter Registration bill. In the meantime, the voter registration data base is constantly being updated and cleaned up. With 1.5 million voters and an estimate of 10% of folks moving, it is important to keep cleaning records. The key to clean voter lists is people voting from where they live.
• The key to safety at the polls is well-trained judges and every step of the process having both parties represented. The arming of judges was downplayed.
• David Orr responded positively to the question regarding merging the offices of Recorder of Deeds and Clerk’s Office. He stated that he thinks a minimum of $2 million can be saved by the time the merger happens in 2020. He also stated that he believes there would be no layoffs if strategic planning is used and reassignment of talent occurs during and after retirements.

Chicago Board of Elections
Key Information Presented:

• Presenters stated that the electoral franchise is sound.
• There has been a last minute rush to register to vote and the expectation is for an additional 100,000 registrants. There is a push to offer early voting in order to decrease long lines.
• The most often asked question is where do I vote, and there are problems with people arriving at the wrong voting place.
• Expect no net increase in expenses and holding the line on costs through technology. 
• The need for upgrade on voting equipment was brought up. I did not hear the budget number.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

• Included protections from “rigged” elections. The response was the voting equipment is solid, the web server is solid, and there is a paper trail.
• The biggest problem is list maintenance and having access to death records. The problem is greater when a Cook County resident moves out of Cook County and into another county.
• As of Thursday, Oct. 20, there were 20,000 early voters and 55,000 requests to vote by mail. 

Commissioners present were Garcia, Suffredin, Morrison, Schneider, and Sims

Bureau of Technology  - presented by Simona Rollinson, Director
Presentation lasted 15 minutes and the prepared slides did not work.
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $31.5M
FY16 - $32.1M
Decrease of about $600,000
Proposed FTEs:
FY17 - 151
FY16 - 150
Increase of 1 FTE
Key Information Presented:

• The budget for 2017 is moving away from capital costs to operating costs.
• FTEs of 16 will remain almost the same in 2017. 
• Accomplishment for 2016 was a new service oriented web site.
• 2017 goals are to target under-utilized software on county computers, and move to just-in-time service. 

There were no questions asked by the commissioners. 
Commissioners present included Garcia, Morrison, Sims, Schneider, Moody, Tobolski.

Observer - Laura Davis