Cook County Board Committee Meetings

Cook County Board of Commissioners Committee Meetings
March 14, 2023

Pension Committee - Chair, Bridget Gainer
Agenda Item #23-1178.  Was the only item of significance and covered proposed CC Pension Legislation changes currently in the IL General Assembly.   This resolution called for a hearing of the CC Pension Committee to discuss the financial implications of this pending legislation. The statute change if passed will do the following:

1. Codifies the current practice of allocating extra funding via an intergovernmental agreement to ensure the Fund is fully funded by 1047.  
2. Provides flexibility by lifting source restrictions - thereby allowing the County to use any funds available that could be used to make additional contributions to the Pension Fund.
3. Health Care Annuitants already covered out of CC pension assets would obviously benefit by a fully funded pension fund.
4. Adjusts employee Salary Cap on retirement contributions to be in line with Social Security compensation cap.
5. Expands eligibility to receive up to 2 years of credit for military service.  
6. Enhances Pension Board Membership - Currently the President appoints the Treasurer and the Controller of the Pension Board.  The other members (currently 5) are elected from the workforce.   Two additional members would be appointed with actuarial and/or accounting experience and perhaps two more elected. Commissioner Gainer wanted to have even more management appointments to have an even split between workforce and management.  That does not appear to have the support.

It was noted that the Board does not have the authority to approve or reject the legislation.  The Bill putting forth the tenants of the proposed legislation is on its 2 reading in both the house and senate committee process.
After discussion, Commissioner Gainer said that this resolution calling for this hearing would be deferredpending information on the fiscal impact of the expanding the military service eligibility provision.


Health And Hospital System Committee - Chair Dennis Deer

• Agenda Item #23-0469.  Dr. Hasbrouck, Chief Operating Officer of CC Public Health, gave a brief slide presentation covering the monthly COVID 19 update.  He noted that the both the County and City's transmission rates are categorized as LOW - although less than 20% of the CC residents are not fully vaccinated. 
  
• The Public Health Department's Public Relations contractor has refreshed its ad campaign slogan to:  Don't wait, Vaccinate.    
  
• The COO also covered the 20 grants for a total of just under $16 million dollars that were recently announced for three behavioral health initiatives covering mental health, positive youth development, and opioid addiction.  The grants cover a four-year period.    Commissioner Miller asked for Metrics and geographic location of services.  Dr. Hasbrouck said location information is available now but said that reliable metrics would not be available for 6-8 months as the grantees need time to ramp up and have not yet received the first-year funding.
• Commissioner Daley asked for an update on AIDS metrics in suburban Cook County, specifically the south suburbs.
• Agenda Item # 23-0311.  Deferred at the Request of Commissioner Anaya without comment.    Covers a proposed CCH Severance policy to come into compliance with state law and also updates the positions eligible to match the current titles.
  

Observer - Diane Edmundson