What Is the Status Of Appointing a New Cook County Inspector General?

Cook County Board of Commissioners 
Committee Meetings 
​March 13, 2024


FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE ON LITIGATION
During the public comment period, the League of Women Voters of Cook County expressed its concern that the position of the Cook County Independent Inspector General (“IIG”) has not been filled on a permanent basis for 17 months.  

• The prior Inspector General retired in October of 2022.  The League said that the General Council of the Office of the IIG has ably served as the Interim IIG.  However, the League stated that having this top position along with one of the two Deputy positions not being filled on a permanent basis for so long must be having a detrimental impact on both the work and personnel in this small, but critical office.
• The League said it would like to know that the process of filling these two positions has been moving forward and that the public will soon be hearing about the appointment of a new IIG. 
• Commissioner Britton, Chair of the Subcommittee, said he will follow up to see where the process stands.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims  

AUDIT COMMITTEE:
County Auditor Mary Modelski presented her report on Grant Administration and general Management at the Justice Advisory Council (JAC) in fiscal year 2022.  No audit had been done in at least 10 years.  The report (item 24-1025) included only grants administered through the operating fund budget (about $14 million in 2022) and excluded any ARPA grants, which will be looked at later.
    Issues brought up in the report or by Commissioners included the following:

• JAC did not use their own rubric for grant distribution, instead used their own discretion, so some higher ranked applicant organizations were not fairly considered.
• Documentation of grants, reporting mechanisms, mis-filing of information, fund tracking, and payment procedures are concerns.
• Site visits to check on grant funds use needs to be regularly done with a check list and agenda.  Also visits need to check on accuracy and effectiveness of the service provided by the organizations—validation.

Four recommendations were made by the Auditor:    *

• need to update, from 2018, the policies and procedures they use regarding the grants distributed
• ensure funding documentation is collected, stored, and retained appropriately—currently not consistent
• improve tracking of funds distributed
• structure a fraud awareness program

These were accepted by the JAC—to be completed by May, 2024.  JAC will also use the Federal Government ARPA’s (more strict) standards on all grants going forward.

The Audit report of ARPA on the Small Business Grant Program showed adequate controls on the $50 million distributed to 3,000 small businesses in Cook County.  $18 million more will be granted out by 2026.

Building Healthy Communities ARPA grants of about $5 million were also audited.  Because of a change in designation of recipients (from sub-recipients to beneficiaries), these grants were not required to be monitored. Commissioners were concerned that no metrics, risk assessments, or financial monitoring was done. The Public Health (PH) department wanted to get the funds out upfront and quickly as COVID was prevalent at that time.  The grants were intended to increase access to healthy foods, youth development, mental and behavioral health.  PH department was told by Commissioners they should establish base-line monitoring so the county knows where the funds went and what the outcomes of the programs were.

RULES AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE:
    There was a lot of discussion among commissioners and the staff of the Dept. of Human Rights & Ethics (HR & E) regarding the rules for the public to follow on the recently passed Paid Leave ordinance—effective for private businesses since January, 2024.  Concerns by some Commissioners were

• The public local governments that will have to follow this ordinance by January, 2025, have not had time to give their input on these rules. HR & E wants the rules made public now so businesses have knowledge of how to follow the ordinance; changes can be made later. 
• There was concern that the rules were not contained in the ordinance when passed (quickly) last year.  This ordinance goes further than a similar law at the state level, which did contain the rules.
• Questions arose on how specifically to amend these rules at a later date—Counsel explained process.
• Several commissioners noted they had numerous complaints about the ordinance, especially from school and park districts that hire part time employees for only part of the year. 

The vote to accept the public-facing rules (24-1181) was very close:  4 Yes, 4 Present and 1 absent.  PASSED in committee.

ASSET MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE:
    Item 24-1056 regarding a lease in Sauk Village for a new restorative justice court was passed in committee.  Both the Public Defender and a representative from the States Attorney office seem to have smoothed over any concerns by commissioners from 2 weeks ago when those offices sent a letter stating they could not staff a new court this year.  All involved will “continue conversations,” so it seems to this observer that behind the scenes agreements were made that the lease go forward and any problems would be dealt with later.

What to watch for:

• ARPA funding monitoring
• Paid Leave ordinance rules and any amendments to the ordinance

Observer :Karin Hribar