Cook County Board Makes Changes to Consent Calendar Meetings

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - May 23, 2019
                     Commissioners Absent - Silvestri and Gainer
What did the Board Decide:

• The Board approved several changes to the Consent Calendar meetings of the Board including changing the time of the meeting from 9am to 1pm on the scheduled days for the remainder of 2019: allowing each Commissioner and the President to recognize up to two resolutions which will be summarized and not read in their entirety during the meeting - additional resolutions will be entered into the record; and photos will be taken prior to the meeting whenever possible. It is hoped that these changes will allow for more timely honoring of individuals and groups during the meeting and allowing for better scheduling of the other committee meetings.  (Agenda Items 19-3601 and 19-3604)
• The Board approved an ordinance creating the Good Faith Effort Transparency Reporting that will require more accurate documentation of reasons that contractors or others doing business with the County get waivers from complying with the MBE and WBE requirements in a contract. (Agenda Item 19-2297)
• The Board approved a resolution urging the Illinois Legislature to support HB2495, the Reproductive Health Act. (Agenda Item 19-3758)
• The Board approved two Professional Services contract extensions with consultants to the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Questions were raised concerning why these sole source contracts were being renewed. A scope of work was requested for these contracts. (Agenda Items 19-3413 and 19-3458)
• The Complete Count Census Commission was approved to educate the community about the need for participation in the upcoming Census. (Agenda Item 19-3176) Members of the Commission were also appointed..
• An ordinance urging the Illinois Congressional Delegation to support HR96, Veteran’s Dental Care, was referred to the Veterans Committee.

Other Items of Interest

• The meeting began with 16 public speakers - several speaking in favor of the Good Faith Effort Transparency Reporting ordinance and several others speaking in favor of the ordinance supporting the Reproductive Health Act.
• Assessor Kaegi presented the Practices and Procedures Audit of the Cook County Assessor’s Office  - a report from the audit done on his office by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO). The main findings in the report for modernizing the office were summarized by representatives from the audit group and presented in four critical areas.
  

1. Staffing and staff development - the office has about 1/4 of the staff necessary to carry out the work necessary.
2. Adapt Technology - with technology integrated into the GIS info they can increase the rate of assessments and can use technology to offset their personnel shortage.
   
3.  Data Quality - at present data quality is poor but with more staff and upgraded technology data should improve.
4. Evaluation Methods - can improve methods with improved data quality that will demystify their assessment process.

The report was received and filed and can be found HERE at the Cook County Assessors Website.
Observer - Cynthia Schilsky       Meeting Length: 2 and 1/2 hours