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 of Commissioners Board and Committee Meetings - March 8, 2017

Significant Actions Taken: 

• The Board unanimously passed a Resolution to Condemn Hateful Acts of Violence and Rhetoric Directed at Jews and Muslims.  Initially sponsored by Commissioners Boykin (D, 1st) and the four Republican Commissioners, all Commissioners joined as co-sponsors.  To indicate the seriousness of the resolution, the approval was given by a “rising vote” with all Commissioners standing to express their support.
• The Board also approved the Ordinance Amendment which modified different portions of the County Code to eliminate references to “citizens” because the benefits, opportunities, and services provided by the County are not conditioned on citizenship or immigration status. (Agenda Item 17-1165)
• The Healthy Workforce and Health Care Access Amendment made  similar changes in language and specifically added that discrimination based on immigration status is prohibited unless required by Federal or State law.  As explained by Commissioner Gainer, the purpose of both these actions is to encourage people to seek health care and report crimes without fear, no matter what their immigration status is. (Agenda Item 17-1732)

Other Actions Taken:

• Approved a resolution requiring the Cook County Recorder and Clerk to submit progress reports on the transfer of all duties and responsibilities of the Recorder to the Clerk’s office by December 7, 2020.  Reports will be due in May and November in 2017 and 2018, and quarterly (January, March, July, and October) in 2019 and 2020.  Commissioners Boykin, Sims and Steele voted against the resolution, without discussion. (Agenda Item 17-2106)
• Approved a substitute ordinance that requires reports from departments in connection with an agenda item to be made available (electronically, paper, or by posting on the Legistar system) by 5 pm on the day the agenda is posted, except for items to be referred to a Committee.  The original version of this measure would have required the reports to be made available 72 hours prior to the meeting and stated that a failure to meet that deadline would result in the item being deferred to the next meeting unless there was a vote by at least 2/3’s to allow consideration then. (Agenda Item 17-0058)
• Referred to Technology a proposed contract for a Unified Communications (Voice over IP) for $24 million over 5 years to replace the County’s aging telephone infrastructure (Agenda Item 17-1942).

Other Discussion of Interest:   Cook County Health & Hospitals System (CCHHS) Issues
During the Finance Committee’s consideration of a monthly report from CCHHS:

• Comm. Gainer asked whether the nearby hospitals (U of I and Rush) were in “competition” with CCHHS.  The CCHHS CEO Dr. Shannon said that the populations served were different.  About 1/3 of CCHHS’ patients are uninsured vs. 4% to 6% at the other hospitals.  Also, while the majority of CCHHS’ patients are insured, the majority  are under Medicaid, and a large amount of these are under the expanded Medicaid coverage that is the result of the Affordable Care Act..  Only a small percentage (less than 10%) of the patients purchase insurance on the exchange.  Comm. Gainer noted, and Dr. Shannon agreed, that this means that the biggest concern for the financial health of CCHHS is whether there will be significant changes to expanded Medicaid coverage, as currently proposed in the bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week.
• Comm. Boykin asked for an update on CCHHS’ involvement with the gun violence consortium.  Dr. Shannon said that CCHHS is looking at the effect on the family of victims of gun violence and the researchers are finding increased stress and depression.  Another effect of the increased violence in Chicago is on the trauma staff of CCHHS:  the staff is saying that during this past winter they were contending with a level of violence that is normally only experienced in the summer.  Usually, the staff has some time during the winter months to recover from the stress of dealing with violence.​

​Observer:  Priscilla Mims                                                          Length of Board Meeting:  1 hour