Much Still to Be Done before Shakman Requirements Will be Met by Three Cook County Offices

Cook County Board Finance Subcommittee on Litigation
February 25, 2020

The Court-Appointed Compliance Administrators and representatives from the 3 offices under court supervision pursuant to the Shakman settlements updated the Litigation Subcommittee on Feb. 25.  The 3 offices are the Recorder of Deeds, the Assessor, and the Clerk of the Court.

• Shakman provides that, with just a few exceptions, decisions regarding hiring, firing, promotion, and salaries are to be made free of political considerations.  The Recorder’s office has been under court supervision since 2010, the Assessor’s office since 2012, and the Clerk of the Court’s office since August 2018.  The Litigation Subcommittee began asking for quarterly updates with the goal of encouraging faster compliance, as recommended by the League.
• The Recorder’s office has some serious challenges to coming into substantial compliance by December 2020 due to loss of most of the staff in the Human Resources area, as well as other issues.  Commissioner Degnen urged the Recorder to talk to the Clerk about that office providing help with Human Resources since the two offices are to merge in December.  The Court-Appointed Administrator does not know what impact the case may have on the Clerk’s office (not currently under court-supervision) once the merger occurs.
• While progress has been made in the Assessor’s office, and no new complaints have been filed since the current Assessor took over at the end of 2016, it is likely that substantial compliance will not be reached this year because performance evaluations will not be able to be conducted before the end of this year/early next year.  The Assessor’s representative explained that the Assessor needs to complete the property assessments by the end of November, and so it would be difficult to start the evaluations before then.
• The Clerk of the Court is making good progress, but is still in the early stages and has much to do before that office can be found in substantial compliance.

Priscilla Mims - Observer