Tenant and Landlord Ordinance Delayed Until January Meeting of Cook County Board

Cook County Board of Commissioners - Committee Meetings  
December 16, 2020

Zoning and Building Committee:

• Commissioners Britton and K. Morrison have revised their proposed Tenant and Landlord Ordinance with input from the parties concerned.  This ordinance would give tenants in Cook County suburbs more protections from evictions, payments, and other tenant issues.  Several thousand comments were submitted to Board members, both in favor of and against the original ordinance.  Because this latest iteration of the ordinance was just completed and Board members and the public should have time to review it, the vote on this was delayed until the January Zoning and Building Committee meeting. The new (2nd) substitute ordinance (Agenda Item 20-3562) is over 21 pages long.  Meeting observers did not have access to the substitute during this meeting.

Rules Committee:

• Commissioners Deer and Moore proposed adding Juneteenth as a 14th paid holiday for all Cook County employees.  This ordinance (Agenda Item 20-3460) commemorates Black American freedom.  There was not a cost analysis presented that this observer could see.  All commissioners spoke in favor of the ordinance and it passed in this committee.
• An archive ordinance (Agenda Item 20-3950) will provide for all Cook County offices’ and departments’ historical records dating to 1876 to be formally archived. A Manager of Archives (hired from DuSable Museum) will coordinate this preservation of history of Cook County.

Finance Committee:

• An Ordinance (Agenda Item 20-4357) which included edits to the Independent Forecasting Commission Ordinance passed.  This will “better serve the purpose of this commission,” according to sponsor Comm. Anaya.  This commission analyzes new revenue streams proposed by Board members and the President.  There was no mention if this includes the Hospital System.

Health and Hospitals Committee:
The 3rd and 4th quarter reports were presented  by the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH). 

• The 3rd quarter report addressed COVID cases, violations & mitigations, and inspections of businesses violating COVID “rules” such as indoor dining and congregate settings.  Over 200 locations have been cited and are listed on the CCDPH website.  Among the current rules are the following for Cook County:  no indoor dining, retail at 25% capacity, no sports events—games or spectators, restricted visitation at long term facilities.
• The 4th quarter report presentation covered flu/COVID combination concerns, vaccine distrust, challenges in vaccinating Cook County communities, logistics of vaccinating, and strategy. 

There were many questions and comments from commissioners.  Points brought up include the following: 

• Flu vaccination rate in Cook County is less than 50% (less in Black communities) and the CCDPH wants to use public service announcements to get higher rates of vaccination. 
• Challenges to vaccinating for COVID mentioned were myths surrounding the vaccine, distrust of vaccine, unclear support from the state, limited resources, and defining critical populations when the vaccine is limited.  The current strategy of vaccination for Cook County is health care workers are the first to be vaccinated; County is partnering with CVS, clinics, etc. to distribute the vaccine; tracking and monitoring who has gotten the vaccine will be done.  It will take 4-5 weeks to get hospital workers vaccinated.  Comm. Deer asked if there will be mandatory vaccinations for Cook County Health workers.  Answer will be sent later. Dr. Joshi stated that even after a person is vaccinated there will still be a necessity to mask as it is unclear if the virus can still be spread from that person.
• Both quarterly reports were voted on and passed. 

Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee:

• An Ordinance (Agenda Item 20-4415) transferred special purpose funds to the County Clerk’s office due to the consolidation of the Clerk and Recorder of Deeds offices and cleared up references to the Recorder office (which no longer exists) .  Discussion centered on how many Recorder employees will be hired in Clerk’s office.  This issue of guaranteeing that employees would have jobs in the new consolidated office was decided by the CC States Attorney office—that the Board cannot interfere in these types of hiring decisions.  Comm. Johnson still desired that all the employees have guaranteed jobs—perhaps elsewhere in county government— in order to keep a job and health care. Forty-five have been retained so far.  There was a big discrepancy between what the SEIU (union representing those workers) and the Clerk’s office say regarding hires.  SEIU has brought a notice to strike in court.  This strike would be all SEIU employees in the County.  However, the court has enjoined that some essential workers are not allowed to strike. 

Follow Up Items: 

• Tenant/Landlord Ordinance (Agenda Item 20-3562) at January meeting
• Board of Review hearing in near future
• Hiring between Clerk’s office and now-defunct Recorder office
• COVID vaccination procedures and results

Observer:  Karin Hribar                                                   Meeting(s) length total: 5 1/2 hours