Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting
December 15, 2022

This was the first regular meeting of the Cook County Board for the new fiscal year of 2023 that began December 1, and was conducted in just over an hour.  

Two key items were approved:

• The 2023 property tax levy of $797.5 M, that is consistent with the 2023 budget passed in November.  (Agenda Item 23-0392)
• The intergovernmental agreement with the Pension Fund which is the vehicle used by the County to provide additional contributions.  For 2023, the additional monies will be $291.7 M.  These contributions are funded by a portion of the sales tax increase of 1 cent that took effect in 2016.  Commissioner Daley pointed out these additional payments to date have totaled $2 Billion, and have resulted in a Fund that is 67% funded. (Agenda Item 23-0474)

Because most items that were in Committee as of November 30 were not carried over, there were several items on the agenda that were revised versions of prior resolutions, and those and a number of other key items were referred to Committees:
To Legislation & Intergovernmental Affairs Committee:

• The proposed appointment of Tanya B. Anthony as the new Chief Financial Officer.  Ms. Anthony is a prior Budget Director and currently is the Chief Administrative Officer.  (Item 23-0442)
• The proposed appointment of Zahra Ali to replace Ms. Anthony as Chief Administrative Officer.  (Item 23-0556)
• The proposed appointments of Mia Webster Cross and Tanya R. Sorrell to the Cook County Health Board of Directors.  (Items 23-0586 and 23-0595)
• The report from the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues on “Continued Support of Survivors of Gender-Based Violence.”  (Item 23-0563)

To Finance Committee:

• A proposal sponsored by Commissioner Anaya to create a 2023 Property Tax Relief Loan Program.  This provides for a loan for qualifying owners for 10 years at 3% interest.  (Item 23-0593)
• Another proposal from Commissioner Anaya is to create an Historic District Preservation Exemption to lower the property tax for owners who own a property within a historic district and who have low- or middle-income tenants who have resided in the property for a minimum of 5 years.  To be eligible, the property must also have an assessment that exceeds one and a half times the percentage median assessment increase within the district.  Com. Anaya stated that this will take some State Action in order to enact.  (Item 23-0594)

To Health & Hospitals Committee:

• A resolution requesting a committee meeting to receive updates from Cook County Health and the Dept. of Public Health on Covid.  Commissioner Miller explained that as was the case for the one that just expired, this will likely be held in committee so there can be monthly updates, but Comm. Miller said that this one includes updates on other infectious diseases. (Item 23-0469)
• A resolution requesting a committee meeting for a report from senior staff at Cook County Health.  Like the item above, this will likely be held in committee so these reports will be given monthly.  (item 23-0202)
• A resolution to have semi-annual reports detailing behavioral services provided by Cook County Health, the Department of Public Health, Cermak Health, the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, the Sheriff, the State’s Attorney, the Chief Judge, and the Public Defender.  One of the stated purposes is to see whether there are overlaps and/or gaps in services provided by these different County areas.  Another purpose is to assess costs and effectiveness of the services.  This resolution is similar to the one previously in effect, except that the reports will now be twice a year, rather than quarterly.  The committee will review the reports in July and December. (Item 23-0523)
• The semi-annual report on Health Disparities from the Dept. of Public Health.  (Item 23-0555)

To Technology Committee:

• A proposed amendment to the Technology Reporting Ordinance that requires semi-annual updates (in April and October) from the offices under the President and the separately elected offices related to their strategic initiatives.  In addition, an annual Technology Strategic Plan is to be submitted each January.  All the criminal justice offices are to present their offices’ progress toward an automated, integrated criminal justice system in October.  The Chief Information Security Officer is to submit a report on relevant information security issues annually in March. (Item 23-0557)
• The Assessor’s strategic plan for 2023.  (Item 23-0296)

During the Public Comment portion of the meeting, one of the Cook County Interpreters talked about the value provided by the interpreters and the need for them to have a just contract put in place.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Cook County Board of Commissioners Committee Meetings
November 16, 2022 

Finance Committee – 9:30 am

• Comm. Suffedin explained the intention of this Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) is to provide additional research on property tax systems, ways to get bills out sooner, and to provide clarity on disparities using CMAP research. Com. Suffredin moved, Sylvestri seconded. Approved.  Will be on Board agenda tomorrow. (Agenda Item 22-6131)
  
• The ordinance is for a Fiscal Note, that is a feasibility study amendment to the ordinance to make clear the financial impact of the ordinance which would extend paid parental leave to 12 weeks for full-time county employees. Next month this will be offered at the Forest Preserve District Board meeting. This will align county policy with federal and city policies.  Com Degnan moved, Com Miller seconded the measure. Approved. (Agenda Item 22-6090) 

Environment & Sustainability Committee – 10 am
(Agenda Item 22-6140)   Com. Degnan moved, Miller seconded this ordinance amendment. The Environmental Commission has served as advisors to Board on environmental matters for the past 4 years. The ordinance was passed in 2019; this extends the sunset date of this Environmental Commission by 4 yr.  Com Degnan explained the commission selected 3 goals for its first 4 years:

• Industrial Composting – Landfills are filling up; this compost can be used for areas adjacent to roadways; talking with IDOT, CCOT, and CDOT. Compost could be made saleable.  Looking at expanding to food and waste composting. 
• Planting 1,000 trees – they have planted 300 and have also provided seeds for native plants
• Pollination Gardens and Plantings – The Commission worked with aldermen to change classifications of weeds so this work could go forward on parkways.

Other commissioners gave examples of many opportunities for working with local environmental groups, some of which have already been developed. Motion was approved.

Technology & Innovation Committee – 11:30 am
(Agenda Item 22-5023) Motion made by Comm. Sean Morrison, seconded by Comm. Degnan to receive and file. The item was deferred last month because the Board of Review (BOR) was absent when they were expected to give updates on the process and expected date for being off the main frame and being fully integrated with the systems of the Assessor and related departments.

Charles O’Shields, Chief Deputy Commissioner from BOR, stated no timeline given applied to the BOR, no timeline was developed for BOR to exit off mainframe.  He stated their tech improvements were demonstrated by their work in 2021. 

​Chief Information Officer (CIO) Tom Lynch and Derrick Thomas, Deputy CIO, responded to questions from commissioners.  Their statements indicated the following:

• While the BOR was not part of the original project using Tyler Rs modules, they are part of the project because of the work originally contemplated. 
• There is a timeline; it applies to all stakeholders.
• The BOR. has engaged a vendor to do data discovery for interface and integration. They are now looking at vendors to provide service; procurement process is long. 
• By Q4-2023, that is Sept.-Oct. 2023, all interfaces should be in place for 2-way exchange because mainframe will no longer be in use. When asked directly, Thomas stated he could not answer definitively if it was feasible to complete procurement process and complete all work necessary. 
• When asked by Comm. Degnan what would happen if the main frame unit were shut down and the BOR is not off the main frame - Thomas stated bills would be late.

Commissioners’ questions and statements indicated their dissatisfaction with the level of progress at the BOR and concern for citizens facing the possibility of late property tax bills again in 2023 which in turn mpacts the entities that rely on the property taxes. 

Committee Chairperson Kevin Morrison asked Mr. O’Shields to attend the Jan. meeting of the Technology Committee and be prepared to provide an update of the Board of Review’s strategic plan; it should include a report on RFP progress and timeline.  “OK” was Mr. Shield’s answer.

State’s Attorney’s Office representative Matt Steiner presented the update on their office.  An apology, explanation of absence, and assurance that this would not recur were given. Process for getting off main frame began with Juvenile System which is on the mainframe; adult system is not. It began with a discovery process which involved integration of cases, data mapping, identifying risk points and developing 2-point solutions to address those.  He stated they are on track to be off mainframe by August, 2023. 

Motion to Receive and File reports was approved.

Carolyn Cosentino, LWVCC Observer

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting
May 12, 2022

Commissioners Anaya, Miller, and Gainer questioned Cook County Health’s Chief Executive Officer Israel Rocha concerning a proposed transfer of funds and the continuing problem of filling nursing positions.  Commissioner Gainer asked CEO Rocha to report back to this Board next month on the measures being taken to improve the hiring process.  Commissioner Sims said part of the problem is due to following all the steps required under the Shakman consent order.  CEO Rocha said his staff has been working with the Office of the Independent Inspector General to see what changes could be made.

The Board approved the following:

• Appointment of current County Comptroller Lawrence L. Wilson as Acting Chief Financial Office as of June 11 to replace Ammar Rizki who is stepping down as Chief Financial Officer on June 10.  Mr. Rizki will take that same position at the Obama Foundation. (Item 22-3267)
• An amendment to the intergovernmental agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for the County’s Office of the Independent Inspector General to continue to provide such services to the MWRD for an additional year, from May 17, 2022 to May 16, 2023. (Item 22-3020)

The Board referred to the Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee:

• The proposed appointment of Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck as Chief Operating Officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health. (Item 22-3342)  Separately, the Commissioners passes a resolution honoring Dr. Rachel Rubin and Dr. Kiran Joshi for their service as Interim Co-Leads of the Department.  (Item 22-3308)
• A proposed resolution announcing a new flag for Cook County.  However, there were blanks where the name of the flag and the designers should be.  (Item 22-341)

The Board referred to the Rules Committee:

• A resolution declaring racial or other discriminatory covenants in real estate recordings to be void pursuant to the County’s Human Rights Ordinance.  The Count Clerk has said her office stands ready to process applications to eliminate such covenants from deeds. (Item 22-3150)
• Proposed changes to the “public facing rules and regulations” of the Board of Ethics Procedural Rules as a result of the change in the County’s Ethics Ordinance.  (Item 22-3155)

The Board referred to the Technology and Innovation Committee:

• An extension of the contract with Tyler Technologies for the period of April 1, 2023 thru March 31, 2026 for an additional $8.4 million for the centralized property tax system for the Assessor, Clerk, and Treasurer.  (Item 22-2917)  This system has been a source of controversy, including in the issues regarding the delays to the 2nd installment property tax bill to be sent out this year.  
• Approval of $6.3 million for a new case management system for the State’s Attorney’s office to replace the current Juvenile Justice system that is on the main frame, as well as the Adult Criminal system (not on the main frame).  When this work is completed, the State’s Attorney will no longer have any processes on the main frame.  (Item 22-1112)

The Board referred to the Litigation Finance Subcommittee the 2022 1st Quarter Inspector General’s Report.

League Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Cook County Commissioners Finance And Technology Committees
Joint Meeting on April 25, 2022

The special meeting was held at the urging of Commissioner Sean Morrison to bring the key stakeholders together to get their commitment to work together on getting the 2nd installment tax bills out no later than mid-November 2022.  Key were the chair of the Board of Review, the Chief of Staff of the Assessor’s Office, and the Chief Information Office, Bureau of Technology (BOT).  The County Clerk’s Chief of Staff and Treasurer also provided comments.

Board of Review (BOR):  Chair Larry Rogers stated he just received two days ago the remaining 70% of the required assessment information that his office needs to begin the appeal process for the 2021 assessments; that it will take his office 4-5 months at the earliest to process the appeals and get the information to the Clerk’s office to calculate the tax bill; which then goes to the Treasurer for printing, mailing, and collection.  Mr. Rogers stated that his office ran largely by paper until 2015 when it converted to a digital appeal processing system [not the Tyler Platform].  He emphasized that he ran a parallel paper system to work out problems before relying solely on the digital platform. The BOR is not on the new Tyler System. 

Assessor's Office (OA):  The Chief of Staff, Sarah Resnick, who stated that she takes full responsibility for steering the input of property assessment data to the new Tyler Platform, stopped the parallel input of underlying data such as square footage to the decades old Mainframe Platform in July of 2021 after finding that the transfer of detailed data was almost impossible between the systems causing many errors and re-inputs.  The Mainframe is the platform that the Board of Review has used for decades to obtain the needed information from the Assessor. The Chief of Staff contacted the BOR and the BOT to ask that they all work together to find a solution.  A successful interface was developed, but it is the reason for the delay; and it was done without the BOR. In the meantime, the underlying information was already on the Tyler system; and the interface was offered to the BOR in September of 2021.  However, it would require training of BOR technicians by the Assessor’s office; and the BOR declined, saying it has to be independent of the Assessor’s office. 

Bureau of Technology (BOT):  Tom Lynch was questioned as to his recommendation to run a parallel system between the new Tyler and the old Mainframe.  He said he did make the recommendation.  When asked if it was impossible to input the underlying data from Tyler to the Mainframe, he said it would be very difficult but not impossible.  He also stated that the BOR was not included in the transition to the Tyler Platform as were all the other Stakeholders because the BOR used a 2015 Platform that was modern.  He noted that not all systems can be replaced at the same time and that the best practice is to stagger rollouts.  He said the “legacy system” which is the mainframe has to be retired.  He also said that the interface is working.

Suggestions by Comm. Sean Morrison include: Increase Overtime; increase hearing staff; use retired staff on a contract basis; determine if an estimated tax bill for 2nd installment is possible. The Clerk’s Chief of Staff said that this is not a likely legal option but that he would investigate further.

Comm. Daley:  Asked Mr. Rogers if the vast majority of bills can go out and the remaining that have been appealed go out later.  Answer: No.  The BOR needs one finite set of data. He did state that it is a good idea to bring former employees back under contract.  However, with more help and more overtime, he does not believe that the five month delay in receiving the data can be made up. Daley also asked the Clerk’s chief of staff to contact the Finance Chief to see what can done to provide loans to small municipal taxing bodies if they are unable to get a bank loan.

Comm. Degnan:  Encouraged BOR to get off the legacy mainframe platform so that the current issue doesn’t perpetuate.

Comm. Lowry: Asked if all three Stakeholders agreed that the 2nd installment tax bills can be out in mid-November.  Answer:  Yes, it is possible; but no guarantee.  The Assessor’s office also stated that if it can get the information back from BOR in time, it can then meet the 2023 deadlines.

Comm. Britton: Asked if township assessors and assistant assessors could be trained to help the BOD process appeals.  Answer:  Would need the same system training as a new hire.

Several other Commissioners also commented or asked questions, all of which were duplicates of what is covered above.

​There were six Public Speakers Representing the Following Organizations: 
The Chicago Chamber of Commerce      Illinois Realtors local Government Affairs Office 
Western Spring’s Park District                Palos Fire Protection Force,
Scofield Fire Department                        Building Owners and Managers Association  
All were concerned about the delay in mailing the 2021 2nd Installment Tax Bills and its effect on their constituents and vulnerable Cook County homeowners. 

Observer:  Diane Edmundson

Cook County Board Committee Meetings
November 3, 2021

Technology and Innovation Committee:

• A presentation and request by Illinois Smart City & Region Association (ISCRA) to ask commissioners to contact mayors in their districts to join ISCRA for better coordination and education on the various technologies available to them.  ISCRA found that 70% of Cook County municipalities do not have a technology plan and are often prevented by lack of knowledge and fear of taking on a new product.  This would be a tool for vendors to educate municipal leaders on technology uses, possible problems, etc. without the pressure of a sales commitment.   Possible uses mentioned were dealing with infrastructure monies coming from federal government and monitoring cameras on highways without adding personnel.  Approved to go to the full Board.
• The Major IT Projects Review covered an update on the Integrated Property Tax System which encompasses the Assessor, Board of Review, Treasurer, and Clerk offices.  A presentation by the vendor contracted, Tyler Technologies, and the Bureau of Technology was given covering background of the contract, payment, Tyler delays, contract amendments.  This project originated in 2015, has had numerous delays and will again be delayed until the fall of 2023.  All expressed frustration with the delays but realized at this point that moving to a new vendor would cost more and not guarantee a better time frame.  There was still talk about needing to use the outdated, expensive mainframe because the Tyler systems weren't ready. There are very few employees who still know the COBAL system to program the mainframe. The contract has been changed to give more favorable terms for the County.  These include hold-back payments, more for the treasurer’s office, 3 years of cloud service, more resources, all at no additional cost.
• Commissioners were concerned about the delay this year in getting out tax bills, which costs local governments money due to interest payments they make on borrowed money.  The Board of Review is anticipating 290,000 “complaints” which will need to be addressed before tax bills can be sent out.  This is behind schedule already due to them not receiving the needed information and will make it unlikely that tax bills go out on time.  Approved to accept the report.

Rules and Administration Committee:

• CFO Rizzi gave an overview of the General Obligation Refunding Bonds ordinance proposal.  This would refinance $275,000,000 worth of bonds at a lower interest rate for the same time period as initially contracted.  This proposal is expected to save the county about $40,000,000 over the next 7 years.  Comm. S. Morrison commented that this is the type of good government practice that the county does well.  Approved to go to the full Board.

​Observer - Karin Hribar

Cook County Board Committee Meetings - November 18, 2020
9:30 am to 1:15 pm

Items of interest: 

Transportation Committee
RTA, CTA, Metra, and Pace presented their annual budgets for fiscal year 2021 to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. RTA and the three service Boards CTA, Metra, and Pace presented their budgets as required per statue. (20-4646).  

• Presenters reported that this year has been a challenging year for transportation, due to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order. There has been a 70% decrease in ridership in all public transportation. Loss of revenue because of decrease in ridership and the extra cost of providing extra sanitizing to trains and buses which  was expensive. There is currently a $500M shortfall.  All stated that transportation is critical especially during this time for Chicago and suburban areas. RTA and the other transit agencies have received some money from the federal government through Federal CARES Act and hope to receive more. To view the RTA Budget, go to www.rtachicago.org and you can go to the CTA, Metra and Pace websites. 
• Commissioners commended the RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace for all of their hard work to make transportation run as smoothly as possible during these challenging times. Commissioners asked few questions about the budget but voiced concerns from their constituents about using the transportation system.  

Rules Committee:

• Proposed Ordinance Amendment Juneteenth recognized as a Cook County Holiday (Agenda Item 20-3460). This item was deferred back to the Rules committee as Commissioner Deer was unable to attend the meeting today (an excused absence). Commissioner Daley did not state when it would be back on the agenda.

Technology Committee:

• Thomas Lynch, Chief Information Officer Bureau of Technology gave two reports the Semi-Annual Report and IT Major Projects Report (Agenda Items 20-4380 and 20-4679).  Mr. Lynch reported that with IT Major Projects there are four current projects: (1) Unified Communication, (2) Tyler IS World- online appeals for assessor, (3) Justice Exchange, and (4) Integrated Revenue Tax System. 
• Commissioner Sean Morrison wanted to make it clear that they needed full cooperation  from all elected officials especially from the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Chief Judge and Sheriff’s office with the Bureau of Technology.  Commissioner S. Morrison stated that this has been an issue for a while, and it needs to be dealt with. 

Observer - Nancy Marcus