Cook County Board Finance Committee Mid Year Budget Hearings
July 20, 2021
Presentations - Cook County State’s Attorney, County Clerk, and Board of Review

Cook County State’s Attorney, Kimberly Fox

• Currently under budget by $4.7 M for 2021.  Has 109 vacancies (50 of which are attorneys) out of the budgeted positions of 1,241.
• Ms. Fox reviewed the office’s progress on the alternative prosecution program, the gun crime strategies unit and how they dealt with the pandemic.  The trial work will increase substantially now that the courts are opening.
• The commissioners’ questions focused on the current crime problems.   Commissioner Deer asked how much do mental health issues contribute.   Ms. Fox said a good proportion of the people arrested are dealing with mental health issues.   She would like to see more local sources for help such as the local mental health clinics that were closed several years ago.   
• Commissioner Aguilar asked about recent reports about repeat offenders being on bond and involved in shootings.   Ms. Fox explained how the bail process works and how it is the judge’s decision.   She said that the elimination of cash bail will help the problem, because many repeat offenders have enough money for bail.   
• Commissioner Degnen asked if the video hearings would continue for gender-based violence hearings.   The victims feel safer in that mode.   Ms. Fox said they were reviewing that.
• Commissioner Kevin Morrison asked about the attrition in the department.   There has been an uptick in retirements and other attrition.   They are getting applicants, but most are recent graduates.   Ms. Fox said they are also working on maintaining a level of expertise by recruiting experienced prosecutors from outside.  Commissioner Daley asked Ms. Fox to let the Commissioners know what they could do to help with HR recruiting and onboarding new staff.
• Commissioner Sims asked what would Ms. Fox wish for in the next budget.   She would like to have a full complement of employees for the criminal court, increased staff in the wrongful conviction unit and civil court, and improve the department’s technology in remote access and integration of data.   She would  like to expand the gun crime unit into the suburbs. It would help her attorneys if the court rooms had more up to date technology.
• Commissioner Sean Morrison asked if the department kept statistics on citizenship of offenders.   They do not.   The department has developed a Data Dashboard to track cases and they have most of the information on the felony cases captured.  The dashboard can be viewed on the office’s website.

Cook County Clerk’s Office, presented by Chief Deputy Clerk Cedric Giles

• Mr. Giles described the work that was done to incorporate the Recorder of Deeds office into the Clerk’s.   When they took over, there was an 800,000-document backlog.  Now there is only a 7 day’s delay in recording documents. The office worked with a third party on indexing.   He also reviewed the work on the spring election and gave statistics on the increase in vote by mail ( 487%) and early voting (20%) from the 2019 election. 
• Commissioner Degnen noted that the Clerk’s office  is above on revenue due to the housing market increase.   A staff person from the Clerk’s finance office said they are below on expenses.

Board of Review, presented by Commissioner Larry Rogers, with Commissioners Michael Cabonargi and Tammy Wendt  

• Currently is under budget by $284,941.
• Over the last 6 months, the BoR has handled 223,000 appeals.  They received appeals between October and December and finished by June 21.   They instituted a digital approval process.   They have BOR staff attend the PTAB (the state agency where tax payers appeal assessments) meetings to object to the further appeals.   They saved local taxing bodies $138 M in refunds as a result in successfully defending the County’s assessments at PTAB.
• The BOR generated $80,000 in revenue from a “Data Subscription Service” provided to high volume users at the BOR. The product is a compiled data package of BOR appeal decisions which allows users to digitally organize their filings and results.
• Commissioner Rogers addressed the reported alleged bribery scheme of a BOR employee.   The employee has been placed on administrative leave and the BoR has contracted with outside counsel to investigate.  Commissioner Rogers and Cabonargi stated that this person was an exception and that most of the BOR employees are hard workers.    Both stated that the employee had not been selected by any commissioner for their  staff.   He had been employed since 1995 and had been cross-trained on the appeals process.
• Commissioner Daley mentioned that the BOR needed to respond to the IG report.

Observed by Kathleen Graffam

Cook County Board Finance Committee Departmental Budget Meeting
Friday, November 6, Morning Session

State’s Attorney Budget:
$176,585,418 (2021)-$161,837,454(2020) = increase of $14,747,964
1,401.4 FTE’s (2021)-1,362.2 FTE’s (2020) = an increase of 39.2

Cook County Clerk Budget:
$58.590M (2021)- $58.070 M (2020-includes Recorder’s Budget from 2020) =increase of $520,000
350 FTE’s (2021)- 386.8(2020- includes Recorder’s FTEs from 2020) =decrease of 36.8

Chicago Board of Elections Budget (note: the City of Chicago provides a large portion of the monies for this Board’s operation during even years, and all but the cost of the 4 FTEs during odd-numbered years):
$1,248,144 (2021)-$22,770,124 (2020) =decrease of $21,521,980
FTE’S 4.0 (2021)-4.0 FTE’s (2020) =no difference

Highlights of the State’s Attorney Budget Meeting:
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx highlighted work done in fiscal year 2020:

• There were 38,6900 offenders charged in felony cases
• 33,990 were charge but not yet disposed meaning their cases are still making their way through the system
• 1/3 of the cases or 35% were charges for unlawful use of guns
• Of those cases 90% conviction rate.

The reason for slowdown in convictions was due to COVID-19 as the State’s Attorney office shifted the way they work to working remotely - in addition the Courts are virtual. They are working slowly but steadily to catch up. 
The State’s Attorney’s office is well aware of the budget restraints during these difficult times and they are working to prioritize prosecuting violent crimes especially unlawful use of guns. 
The Commissioners did not ask many questions about the budget. Commissioner K. Morrison wanted to know why there was a nine-person reduction of personnel in the Felony Review Unit (this Unit works with law enforcement agencies to review felonies cases.) Kim Foxx stated that they went from a two shift 12-hour seven day a week to three shifts. They found that they did not need as many personnel in each shift as they did when it was a 12-hour shift, so they were able to cut positions but not the effectiveness of the Unit. Commissioner Degnen commended the State’s Attorney’s office for a well-organized budget. She questioned the increase in operating funds. Kim Foxx stated that this was due to Grants they received for programs. 

Commissioners Aguilar, Suffredin and Degnen  questioned the expungement of marijuana cases. Foxx stated that due to COVID there has been a slowdown of these cases. But they are making progress.  To date they are working to process 300 cases, working twice a week. 
Commissioner Sims wanted to know about the issue concerning retail theft and whether people are being prosecuted. Foxx is trying to work with local municipalities to handle some of these cases as it takes a lot of time for the Assistant State’s Attorneys to prosecute and sometimes the defendants do not show up in court.  She emphasized they are being prosecuted despite what was heard in the news. Foxx stated they would rather focus on gun cases.

Commissioners Suffredin and Britton both praised the Civil Division of the States Attorney ‘s office. They both said it does not get noticed like the Criminal Division.

Of interest Foxx stated that Cook County Attorney’s office is the second largest office in the US, LA County being the largest. LA only handles felonies. Cook County handles Felonies, misdemeanors, Civil cases, child support cases and Juvenile Delinquent cases. A big case load to handle.

Highlights of the Cook County Clerk’s Budget Meeting
This was a challenging year for the Election. Despite COVID-19, Clerk Karen Yarbrough reported that her  office worked tirelessly to make sure this election went well. Clerk Yarbrough thanked Toni Preckwinkle  and the Procurement staff for all of their help to make sure there was PPE and equipment available at all polling places. This was a record-breaking election. Yarbrough divided her discussion into two parts:  the Election and the Assumption of the Recorder of Deeds’ duties into the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Election

• 570,000 VBM ballots were processed and mailed out, 50,000-70,000 ballots mailed daily. This is in comparison to the last elections where only 96,000 were sent
• 430,000 VBM ballots were received and processed. They processed 25,000 to 50,000 per day at the Election Operation Center in Cicero
• 20% increase in Early voting from the previous election
• 7 supersites were created for suburban use including a super site at Union Station
• Ballots and election materials were translated into 12 languages
• All election Judges will be invited to a virtual meeting to discuss the election

Assumption of the Recorder of Deeds’ duties into the Cook County Clerk Office.

• Final stage of the assumption. Yarbrough stated that this will be completed by December 7, on schedule
• Cook County Clerk will provide  4 key services

1. Elections
2. Tax Services
3. Vital Records
4. Recording 

• The Vital Records office will be moved to the First Floor of the Cook County Building and will share space with the Recording function to better serve the community. 
• Projected saving of the merger equals $1.4 M per year with $6.7M projected savings over the next years
• Increase in Budget is due to the merger
• All of the Commissioners present commended Karen Yarbrough and staff on the election. Especially on the fact that ballots and election material were available in 12 languages
• Commissioners Britton, Moore K. Morrison, Sims, Anaya, and Aguilar all were concerned about the hiring and/re-hiring of former employees of the Recorder of Deeds. They hoped that former employees could keep their job as institutional knowledge would be helpful. They were also concerned that if hired they might not be hired at the same salary or rank. The County Clerk’s office said that those re-hired will not lose rank, salary or benefits.
• A number of Commissioners were concerned about the backlog of documents at the Recorder of Deeds office. Commissioner Suffredin stated that they are especially concerned about the backlog of Transfer of Death forms and Mechanical Liens that were presented and not filed.  County Clerk’s office said that they are working on this. The Recorder of Deeds office is not open to the public and employees are working from home. This has caused a problem. Relators have also voiced a concern. 
• Commissioner Degnen mentioned the League of Women Voters Questions that were sent to the Clerk’s office and to all of the Commissioners. Chairman Daley asked that the Clerk’s office respond in writing to these questions. 
• Commissioner Suffredin stated that at the next Board meeting proposed item 20-4415 will be on the agenda. This amends the Cook County Code to replace the name of Recorder of Deeds to Cook County Clerk
• Commissioner Suffredin also stated that he had constituents call his office concerned that their ballots were not received at the Election Center due to the tracking system not operating correctly. Deputy Clerk Michalowski stated that they used a third-party contractor for this process, there were glitches, and they are being worked out. Suffredin also asked if the Clerk’s office is prepared for the next election since it is a Consolidated Election, local elections and many different ballots would have to be printed for each municipality. Michalowski said they would be ready. Suffredin commented that the program to use lawyers in the city and suburbs at polling places worked well and they should consider using lawyers again.

Highlights of The Chicago Board of Elections Budget Meeting
It was announced that Lane Gough, Executive Director of the Board of Elections will be retiring. His assistant, Charles Holiday will be replacing him. All commissioners wished him well.
Marisol Hernandez, Chair of the Board of Elections reported the following:

• 13,500 Chicagoans served as Election Judges for this election; that is 2,000 more than served in 2016
• 425,000 Vote by Mail Ballots were returned either by mail or by placing in secure drop boxes
• 370,000 Chicagoans voted early
• 800,000 ballots were received before the election
• 51 drop off boxes were available to voters through November 3

Looking ahead for 2021

• The Board of Elections will maintain voter registration
• Work includes the canvasing and remapping of wards precincts, and Congressional districts etc., once the census numbers are available and redistricting occurs 
• Handle objections for petitions for the 2022 election.

Commissioner Daley wanted to know if in the future the results from Chicago and Cook County could be combined. It was stated that this is a possibility.
Commissioner Degnen questioned a line item, Contingencies & special Purposes page B-4 of the budget. It shows $900,000-line item taken out of the budget. Executive Director Gough stated that he believed this was a Grant that is finished but he will get back to the Board.

Observer: Nancy Marcus

Cook County Board Committee Meetings
October 21, 2020 - Committee Meetings were held from 9:30am-2:30pm

Items of Interest: 
Health & Hospital Committee: 

• The 2020 2nd Quarter Report for the Public Health Department was submitted. In the report it was reported that there have been 70,000 Covid19 cases and 2000 deaths attributed to Covid19. The positivity rate is 7% and trending up in all age groups. Disparities were noted due to structural racism. Federal policy has generated fear among the undocumented, making them reluctant to seek medical help.  County level risk metrics were blue in August but now back to orange.  The CC Health System has responded to 10,000 requests from the public. CCH is partnering with other agencies to expand rapid testing for Covid in coming weeks. They are also staffing up for increased contact tracing.

Legislation & Intergovernmental Relations Committee
Agenda Item 20-4191 - Final Report on Merger of Recorder of Deeds Office with the Office of the County Clerk

• During the meeting there was an extensive discussion on the transfer of jobs from the Recorder of Deeds Office to the office of the County Clerk.  Union representatives were present to object to the fact that employees of the Recorder’s office were being forced to reapply for jobs with the Clerk. Their collective bargaining unit, along with their jobs, will be terminated on November 30 when these two offices merge. The union objects that Recorder employees must compete with outside applicants for the positions that will now be within the Clerk’s office. Many employees have a good deal of experience/seniority and feel that they are being unjustly treated.
• Several commissioners expressed surprise that the merger was not proceeding as seamlessly as they had believed. The HR representative reminded the commissioners that the merger was  complicated by Shakman and by Covid. Also, the positions of the two agencies are not a simple “apples to apples” process when it comes to hiring. She did make a commitment that those who were hired by the Clerk would not lose their seniority or their salary. Approximately 20-25 jobs will be cut. It was hoped that these could be absorbed by attrition/early retirement. 
• Clerk Yarborough has requested a legal opinion from the States Attorney. Commissioner Suffredin recommended deferring action on the ordinance until this opinion is obtained.
• The report on the Clerk’s office assuming duties of the Recorder was accepted with no discussion at the October 22 Board meeting.                          

Cook County Board Of Commissioners Meeting
October 22, 2020          Meeting Length - 3 hours 15 minutes

Key Items Addressed by the Board: 
Agenda Item 20-4204    
Mr. Israel Rocha, candidate for the Cook County Hospital’s CEO position,
        received the blessing of the Cook County Board on October 22, 2020. His 
        offer package included a base salary of $650,000 plus a 10% performance-
        based annual bonus opportunity. The industry’s standard severance package
        of one year was reduced to 20 weeks.  CCH Board President officially intro-
        duced Mr. Rocha, though he had met most of the 17 Commissioners prior to
        this meeting. While taking longer than the expected six months to identify
        and vet the final candidate, it appears that the Cook County Board and the
        Hospital Board are in strong agreement that they have found the right person.
        Mr. Rocha has experience in all of the responsibility areas he will assume as
        CEO, including: Public Health, A Managed Health Care Plan, Forensic Medi-
        cine and an Ambulatory Care Network.
In his remarks, Mr. Rocha said that he wants to create a leading model of care
        for Cook County.  He offered the following six goals toward that end:
        1. Operate a safe and clinically sound system of care
        2. Responsive to patients’ needs
        3. Take bold steps by breaking barriers to achieve equity and inclusion
        4. Ensure fiscal and financial resilience
        5. Be known as the employer of choice and the provider of choice
        6. Be known as a leader in the advancement of medicine as a human right.

Agenda Item 20-3562    The Board voted a substitute for the Proposed Landlord Tenant Ordinance
        and then discharged it from the Finance Committee and referred it to the
        Zoning & Building Committee. This ordinance is meant to establish the same
        rights for all renters and tenants throughout suburban Cook County as those
        currently enjoyed by citizens of Chicago, Evanston, and Mt. Prospect.

Agenda Item 20-4872    A resolution was passed stating the Clerk of the Court should collect $150 on
        all mortgage foreclosure filings to be used to support a plan to save residents
        from eviction and mortgage foreclosures. The Illinois Supreme Court authorized
        the collection. Passed unanimously.

Agenda Item 20-4814    The Board unanimously passed a resolution to forgive loans made by the 
        County under the program established to deal with Covid. The County can use
        CARES money from the federal government as long as it is done before the end
        of December.

Agenda Item 20-3431    The Board approved appointment of Joseph M. Harrington to the CCH Board.

Agenda Item 20-4202    The Board passed an ordinance by President Preckwinkle to establish a 
        Property Assessed Clean Energy Program & Area. It is to finance the acqui-
        sition, construction, installation or modification of energy projects. 

Agenda Item 20-4684    The Cook County Board honored Dorothy Brown on her retirement from 20years of service as the Clerk of the Circuit Court. 

Commissioners praised the Coronavirus report (9-30-20) as a great resource. The distribution 
of funds was broken down into four areas: 1) direct costs, 2) workplace redesign, 3) economic
development and 4) grants to local governments (due by October 31).

Observers: Georgia Gebhardt and Diane Edmundson                   

Cook County Commissioners - Board and Committee Meetings
July 27, 29 and 30, 2020

Key items passed by the Board:

• “Justice for Black Lives” Resolution.  The substitute non-binding resolution calls on monies for policing and incarceration to be redirected to public services, not administered by law enforcement, which will promote community health and public safety, particularly in Black and Brown communities most impacted by violence and incarceration.  Such services to include housing, health care, mental health, restorative justice, job creation, public transport, eviction/foreclosure, and increasing opportunities for Minority-owned and Women-owned business enterprises.  Passed with 15 votes; Commissioner Aguilar voted present and Commissioner Sean Morrison voted no, both expressing concern with the idea that the resolution calls for defunding the police.  Commissioners voting in favor say that this lays out priorities for reducing crime and promoting opportunities through these other means.  The upcoming 2021 budget (which will be considered in October and November) will offer the first opportunity for the Commissioners to start to carry out the resolution. (Agenda Item 20-2867)
• Resolution to utilize $82 million of money County received under the CARES Act to aid economic recovery from COVID-19.  (Agenda Item 20-3229)  See the Observer Report for the Special Board Meeting on July 16 for details of the distribution.

Other Items of Interest Discussed in Committees:
Finance Committee:

• County’s Use of CARES Act funds:  CFO Ammar Rizki reported that the $429 million has been allocated for (1) County’s operational costs (46%), (2) County’s direct costs incurred  (23%), (3) spurs for economic development across the County (19%, the Resolution described above), and (4) $51 M for eligible costs incurred by suburban municipalities (12%, as described in the Observer Report for the July 16 Special Board Meeting).  New guidance comes out regularly from the U.S. Treasury as to how these monies can be spent.  Mr. Rizki said that with $300 M in lost revenues to the County, it is critical that now County can use the CARES money to cover some salary and benefit costs.  However, Mr. Rizki said that CARES Act money can only be used to cover hazard pay for those employees directly dealing with COVID positive people (health care workers and correctional officers in the Jail).  So hazard pay provided to other people will not be covered, based on current information.  Mr. Rizki stressed that with many people predicting a spike in COVID cases in the fall, the County needs to conserve some of these funds to cover future costs.
• To date, 439 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
• So far, no monies have been allocated to township governments, which have other options.
• Mr. Rizki receives a weekly report of which municipalities have requested monies under the $51 M allocation by the County and will share with the Commissioners so they can make sure municipalities in their districts are applying for that money.
• Cook County Health has received $59 million of CARES Act funding in May in addition to the above as a health care provider. 

Audit Committee:

• Clean audits received for both the County as a whole and Cook County Health (“CCH”) for fiscal year 2019.  County has a Fund Balance that would cover 2 months of expenses, which is considered what is necessary.  (Agenda Items 20-2685, 2687)
• Auditor stated that CCH’s receivables tend to be risky, but thinks there are sufficient reserves to cover delinquencies.  Liabilities include $477 M of claims to County Care for outside (“foreign”) providers, $236M which are identified and the rest based on management estimates of what claims will be submitted after the fiscal year for care provided during the fiscal year.  Comm. Miller asked for breakdown of these “foreign” claims so they will know where people are going for care outside of CCH’s facilities.  Comm. Morrison wants to know dollar amount not collected due to mistakes; this goes beyond scope of this audit.  Andrea Gibson, CCH interim chief business officer, will be setting up meetings with the Commissioners.  She said that CCH is now catching out-of-network people and so not providing service under County Care.  Also, CCH is making sure getting pre-authorizations required by other insurers.
• Clean audit for Clerk of the Circuit Court, except that fees not disbursed in timely manner as required under Illinois Clerks of the Courts Act. (Agenda Item 20-2653)

Legislation & Intergovernmental Relations Committee:

• Review of the Final Recommended Plan for consolidating the Recorder of Deeds functions into the Office of the County Clerk.  Estimated cost savings during 2021 is $1.1 M, and annual savings thereafter over next 3 years estimated at $6 M.  Expect reductions in positions down to 79 for recorder’s work due to streamlining and broadening of work done by an employee.  Savings also due to moving Clerk’s Vital Records area from Daley Center pedway to Recorder’s office on main floor and moving Clerk’s offices on 14th floor of 69 W. Washington to Recorder’s administrative offices in County building. (Agenda Item 20-2745)  Next review by Commissioners of this consolidation will be in the proposed budget submitted in October.

Items to watch for at next Committee meetings, likely during the week of Sept. 21:

• Agenda Item 20-3562: Proposed “Residential Tenant & Landlord Ordinance,” which was referred to the Finance Committee.  Co-sponsor Britton said that this is modeled on the Chicago and Evanston ordinances.  Would spell out tenant and landlord rights and obligations.
• Agenda Item 20-3482:  Proposed resolution requesting hearings every month of the Criminal Justice Committee with the Sheriff and senior staff to discuss the operation of the Jail and Police Department (responsible for unincorporated areas plus some suburban towns under inter-government agreements).  Referred to Criminal Justice Committee.
• Agenda Item 20-3435:  Proposed resolution supporting the Illinois NAACP State Conference and Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Ten Shared Principles.  Referred to Law Enforcement Committee.
• Commissioners Deer and Moore each submitted separate proposals to add Juneteenth as a County holiday, which were withdrawn.  The Commissioners said they would work to add this holiday without putting an added expense to the budget.

Note:  The Cook County Board and most of the Board Committees are not scheduled to meet again until week of Sept. 21, though Commissioner Suffredin wanted the public to know that everyone is still working and Commissioners continue meeting virtually in small groups (so as not to violate the Open Meetings Act) each Sunday with key County personnel.

Observer - Priscilla Mims

Cook County Board of Commissioners - Finance Committee
Departmental Budget Hearing
October 30, 2019: 

Commissioners Absent: Deer, Gainer, Tobolski, Sean Morrison 

Clerk of the Circuit Court:  Dorothy Brown

• Clerk’s office is still working on transfer of court case system to digital with Tyler Technology.  Veterans Day 3 day weekend will go live with Crimiinal Courts, MLK weekend 2020 will be Civil Courts, and Kasamir Pulaski weekend will be Traffic Courts.  Electronic Court Order System will occur in Spring of 2020.
• Shakman update includes the Clerk’s filing of an interim employment plan in July with an exempt employee list filed.  All 1400 employees have been trained on Shakman.  They are in the process of training management on how to interview based on the interim plan.  Their remaining job is to agree on the final employment plan and hire a Director of Compliance.  
• Clerk’s budget request is $8 million more than the President’s budget at $100 million.  Most of the increase is due to the need to hire more court recorders since they are an aging workforce and have an absentee rate of 20% every day!  They can only promote from within and need to hire more people to fill the lower positions. Much of this absenteeism is due to leaves of absence.  She also needs more floaters for Cannabis Expungement paperwork, since the Public Defender plans to expunge 150,000 cases in 2020. They must inform police departments and individuals by mail.  Contractual services will cost $359,000 more mostly for postage.  New case filings have slightly increased and the number of e-filings has increased from 750,000 in 2018  to 2.7 million this year since it is now mandatory,
• The clerk is trying to get all Cook County police departments to become E-sophisticated and issue electronic traffic tickets, although there is resistance due to the need for printers in police cars. There are 28 departments doing e-tickets with 16, including Chicago, yet to switch to electronic. The Clerk’s office has invested nearly 37,000 hours of training on electronic systems.  
• Com. Britton, an attorney, complained that e-filing at his office experienced 3 outages in 6 weeks.  The Clerk explained that as they migrate to the cloud (called Odyssey) there are still glitches in the bridge programming with Tyler Technologies.  Com. Anaya asked  the Clerk to keep them abreast of Shakman developments.  Com. Miller asked about negative balances in the Special Purpose Funds and Tanya Anthony explained the County is working at eliminating all these funds in each department’s budget.  Com. Degnen asked very detailed questions about why Expungement help had to be full time, not temporary, how going electronic was supposed to eliminate headcount, not expand it, and why are there more cashiers, not fewer, since the County is increasingly going to electronic filing and payment with credit cards.  The Clerk responded that the process was so complex in going digital that they have been trying to reduce people but for so many reasons, have been unable to.  
• Electronic kiosks will be available in all courtroom areas to help people find cases and courtroom numbers.  Information will be available in Spanish, Polish, and English.

Recorder of Deeds:   Ed Moody

• Recorder Moody believes that the office will soon have Shakman compliance.  Employees have been trained, they have job descriptions, and they have annual performance reviews.  There is an Employment manual in place.  His new Director of HR was head of the County’s Compliance office previously, so has much needed experience.
• He believes the Recorder of Deeds office is fully ready to be merged with the County Clerk’s area within 2 months.  He is ready for “lights off” in December of 2020.
• ​The Recorder’s office has increased revenue and reduced costs, with 108 FTEs in 2019 versus 120 in 2018.  He is requesting a budget 3% lower than 2019 and will  bring $1 million back to the county this year.  He believes he is on track to bring his actuals in at 15% below 2019 budget.
• Outside expenses incurred for Professional Services are for converting the old Deed books from 1871-1959 to digital format (scanning) and moving microfilm deeds from 1959-1971, likewise to digital.  These were emergency expenditures but 2020 needs will go through RFP process.
• Coms. Anaya, Britton, Miller, and Degnen complemented Recorder Moody on a good job.

County Clerk:  Karen Yarborough

• Now voter signatures for filing petitions can be viewed on-line at various offices rather than having to come downtown to check.  Birth certificates can be obtained on-line. The new voting machines have been universally praised by everyone who has tested them.  They come in an easy-to-handle carrier.
• Com. Anaya asked why the $1.5 million increase in special purpose fund, to which the response was, the election in 2020.  Com. Degnen told the Clerk that her office was there to help in whatever way she could to make the merger with the Recorder go smoothly.  Coms. Britton and Kevin Morrison thanked the Clerk for helping to get passed the Voter Participation Ordinance in time for the November 2020 election.  There will be 7 early voting sites in jails next year.
• Deputy Clerk of Elections, Ed Mikalowski said that due to a much better relationship with Chicago Board of Elections, voting records and communication will be much easier.  He praised the LWV Cook County for helping to bring certain awareness and insight to the choice of voting machines. 

Office of Inspector General:  Patrick Blanchard

• This office has 16 employees, with 2 at Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) and 1 at Stroger.  It handled 551 complaints in 2018 vs. 554 complaints so far in 2019.   A 9% increase in salaries for 3 positions with a long standing salary disparity are included in this budget. MWRD services are billed on an hourly basis. They have done outreach and 70 trainings on filing internal complaints for MWRD employees (4 times more headcount than the Forest Preserve District).  Quarterly reports of billing and complaints can be found online on the MWRD site and Cook County.  This office also looks at employment plans on behalf of the Shakman rules to make sure departments are within compliance.

Observer - Amy Little

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