Recorder of Deeds Tells Cook County Board that Talks Have Not Yet Begun Concerning Merger with County Clerk's Office

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