Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board Meeting
October 5, 2021

​Special Meeting:

• President Preckwinkle submitted the executive budget for the FPCC for 2022. The budget is $136M total, a 1.8% increase from last year. $23.4M for the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden, which is the same level as 2021. This 2022 budget includes borrowing $17M from the Corporate Reserve Fund to make ends meet next year. 
• Preckwinkle talked about the importance of the 2022 ballot initiative which would put the Preserves on a sustainable path. This would only increase property taxes by 1/10th of 1%. She also spoke about the importance of the Preserves for the community during Covid. In 2020, visitors increased from 62M to 100M, and there was a 33% increase in visits to the FPCC website. 
• There will be a public hearing to discuss the budget on 10/21/21 at 6pm, and 10/28/21 at 9am. These meetings will be virtual. 
• The 2022 proposed budget was referred to the Committee on Finance. (Agenda Item 21-0471)

Board Actions:

• The board approved an increase in the grant amount from the Audubon Great Lakes in the amount of $165,000. This increase is for finalizing the design and construction of a water control and fish passage system at Powderhorn Lake in Chicago. Costs have exceeded the original grant amount of $807,290, and Audubon wishes to contribute additional funding to complete the project. (Agenda Item 21-0451) 
• The board approved a partnership agreement with Openlands. Openlands has received a $400,000 grant from the Walder Foundation for the ecological restoration of Beaubien Woods. (Agenda Item 21-0453)
• The board added a resolution on Planning for the Development of a Model Police Department. This item was referred to the Law Enforcement Committee. (Agenda Item 21-0474)

The proposed calendar of events was approved for October. Please check the Forest Preserve’s Website for events and activities www.fpdcc.com/events 

Observer: Amber L Elmer                                      Meeting Length: One hour, six minutes

Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board Meeting
September 21, 2021

Board Actions:

• Agenda Item 21-0406  The board passed a resolution in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Chicago Zoological Society, which is the non-profit organization that operates Brookfield Zoo on land owned by the Forest Preserve of Cook County
• 21-0405  The board passed a resolution honoring Dr. Stuart D Strahl on his retirement as President and CEO of the Chicago Zoological Society after 18 years. Dr. Strahl participated in the meeting and spoke about the great honor it has been to serve the zoo and community. 
• 21-0427  Resolution passed honoring the life and legacy of Albert Pritchett for his leadership and contributions to numerous Cook County governments. 
• 21-0415  The Forest Preserves’ Palos Preserve region, known as Mt. Forest Island, was officially certified an Urban Night Sky Space. There was some discussion about the significance of this designation by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), as it is the largest designated Urban Night Sky Place in the world. The Adler planetarium collaborated with the Forest Preserve for over 200 hours to make this possible. 
• 21-0430  Calendar of Events approved. Check the Forest Preserve’s website www.fpdcc.com/events for a list of events and activities.
• 21-0391  Ordinance Amendment was approved by the board to allow for remote participation and voting in meetings, as allowed under the Open Meetings Act. A quorum must still be physically present, and the member must give 24 hour notice to the Secretary of the Board for reasons such as personal illness, disability, or family emergency. The ordinance amendment was passed and is effective immediately. 

Observer – Amber L Elmer                               Meeting Length: 2 hours

Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board Meeting 
July 27, 2021


Agenda Item 21-0346- Proposed Referendum for an Increase in the tax rate to be placed on the November 2022 ballot    

• Among those who testified were the CEO of the Chicago Botanic Gardens, West Side Ministers, the CEO of the Chicago Zoological Society, Audubon Great Lakes, Orland Grasslands, Chicago Area Mountain Bikers, Friends of the Chicago River, the chair of Open Lands, Illinois Environmental Council, and the Filipino-American Council. 
• In addition, each commissioner spoke in strong support for the referendum.
• There was passage of 21-0346 by roll call vote. Unanimous (17 ayes).

Board Actions:

• All CCFP commissioners spoke in support of a resolution honoring retiring secretary of the Board, Matthew de Leon. He has had a tenure of ten years with the Board of Commissioners.
• All action items on the agenda were passed. 
• 21-0262- was referred to the Law Enforcement Committee
• 21-0315- Board approved the code of ethics that would conform with that of the Cook County Board. 
• Bid recommendations and license requests of the finance committee and the real estate committee were passed. (Those of the real estate committee by roll call vote.)
• 21-0391-Commissioner Suffredin moved that this item be referred to the rules committee. It involves the open meetings act, allowing, under limited circumstances, for a member to participate and vote remotely. (Limited circumstances would be such things as personal illness, family emergency, etc.)  Vote: all ayes.

Observer - Georgia Gebhardt                      Meeting Length: 56 minutes

Forest Preserve District (FPD) of Cook County Board Meeting
June 22, 2021   

Board Action:

• Item #21-0315    Code of Ethical Conduct   This was needed to comply with State Officials and Employees Act and needed to be updated to correspond with current County policy.  Referral to Litigation and Governmental Relations Committee approved.
• 21-0302    Recognition of Dedication of Somme Prairie Grove and an Illinois Nature Preserve.  This is the 27th nature preserve area for FPD that has been recognized by Illinois Nature Preserves Commission as restored to health and one of 600 restored nature preserves in Illinois. With 5 Land And Water Preserves, the FPD manages 10,405 acres with the support of many partner organizations. This is consistent with recommendations of the Natural and Cultural Resources Master Plan.  Approved.
• 21-0316.   Proposed grant by Illinois Dept of Natural Resources.  $1.2 million over 2 years to complete Caldwell Woods Wellness Studio located in Chicago.  This will be a Renovation construction of a facility formerly used as a warming shelter.  This is a matching grant with a $409,700 from FPDCC.  Approved.
• 21-309     Proposed IGA with Dept. of Planning and Development and CC Sheriff’s Office to extend for 3 yr contract for building deconstruction and salvage service of vacant buildings through the assistance of men in the Sheriff’s Dept.’s Renew program.  This is a vocational program for volunteers who are non-violent detainees. Work was delayed by Covid 19 restrictions.  Participants receive an OSHA  safety certification and learn construction skills, deconstruction skills and training in safe salvage removal practices.  Participants volunteer and are not paid. Commissioners raised many questions which were answered by Joe DeLisi from the Sheriff’s Office Renew program.  Comm. S. Morrison suggested that the dept. provide a briefing to the Board to more fully answer questions.  Com Daley stated that Budget hearings are a good time to ask questions of the Sheriff’s Office.  Approved.
• 21-0304   Corporate Fund Analysis of Revenue and Expenses Report.  Motion to receive and file was approved.  CFO Steven Hughes presented the report.  In April, property tax collection was down from that time in 2020 by about $1M.  By May, it had rebounded ahead of 2019 and 2020.  Fees are trending up from 2020 for licensing agreements and use of campgrounds and picnic areas. YTD, Revenue exceeds expenses by $14.8M which is similar to though a bit behind 2019 and 2020.  
• 21-0317  Proposed Calendar of Events.  Received and filed.  Supt. Randall reported that the FPD is operating at Phase 5  and continues to respond to Covid 19 guidance.  He stated that many outdoor events are taking place throughout the FPD including the 8th year of Juneteenth celebrations, teacher workshops, Kids Fest and Insects Fest.  Campground are fully open; there are no capacity limits for events.  Visitors are asked to mask indoors if not vaccinated and outdoors if not vaccinated when maintaining social distance is not possible. FPD employees are masked.  For details of events see FPDCC.com

New Business

• 21-0266   Clean Energy Framework - Proposed Resolution was approved.  This was developed by the University of IL Prairie Research Institute with the collaboration of key stakeholders, content experts, climate experts and FPD staff.  One goal change is that 100% of electricity consumed by Forest Preserves will be generated through renewable energy resources and associated technologies by 2050. 
• 21-0346.  Proposed Resolution to increase the tax levy rate for the FPD to be voted on in the General Election to be held on Nov. 8, 2022.  Referred to Finance Committee.  Com. Suffredin stated the final form for the Resolution will be submitted to the Board at the Dec. meeting. 

 Carolyn Cosentino - Observer                                                    Meeting Length: 1 hr 36 min     

Cook County Forest Preserve District (FPDCC) Board Meeting
May 11, 2021
Virtual meeting called to order at 10:00 a.m.

The Meeting began with a PowerPoint presentation by John McCabe, Director of Resource Management for the FPDCC on "Poaching - An Invisible Problem".
Highlights of the presentation:  

• Poaching of plants & fungi, wildlife and cultural artifacts is an ongoing problem in the forest preserves.  Hunting, trapping and the taking of any plant/fungi or part of an animal, dead or alive, is illegal. 
• The FPDCC consists of slightly over 69,000 acres which constitutes 11% of the land in Cook County (CC), so any removal of animals or plants takes a toll on populations and robs citizens from seeing pristine areas  Vandalism of cultural artifacts from archaeological sites is also a big problem. 
• 41% of threatened or endangered plant species and 37% of threatened or endangered wildlife in CC have ceased to exist in FPDCC lands.  There are other sensitive wildlife populations with reduced breeding populations. 
• Poachers' wildlife targets are white-tailed deer, snakes, birds, turtles, salamanders, insects.  Plant/fungi targets are leek/wild ramp (type of wild onion), mushrooms, native plants, timber, orchids, berries. 
• The story of a white tail deer with a large set of unique & desirable antlers was presented.  A picture of this animal was posted on social media which sparked people to come to the preserves in case they could pick up the deer's shed antlers, which would be illegal. The FPDCC decided to sedate the animal and remove the antlers and put large, visible GPS tracking tags on the animal to ward off poachers.  A large unique set of antlers can bring $10,000 plus to the seller.  Unfortunately the next season this deer was poached. 
• The FPDCC lands contain over 550 archaeological sites and some sites are dated thousands of years B.C.  Looting of archaeological artifacts is an irreplaceable loss of history.  Professionals use  "shovel testing" (digging up land and sifting through a wire mesh looking for artifacts) and  looters use the same process.
• Social media posting of animals/plants/places in the FPDCC can normalize illegal behavior but could also be used to track offenders.   Posting these pictures can unknowingly provide location data for poachers. 
• Trail Watch is volunteer program for frequent users of the preserves and they undergo training to observe unusual/suspicious behavior- they are an extra set of eyes to alert forest preserve police. 
• The Forest Preserve Police, in addition to safeguarding the public in the preserves, also have extensive training in the protection of the preserves' natural and cultural resources.  When in the preserves any unusual/suspicious behavior can be reported to the police: 708 771 1000 and they will investigate.

The Board adopted a resolution recognizing May as Mental Health Awareness Month. 

• Started in 2014, the FPDCC was a founding member of the Nature, Culture and Human Health Network  (NCH2).  The network's goal is connecting people interested in the health benefits of nature.  
• The FPDCC and NCH2 have created a "Tools 2 Thrive Outside" campaign encouraging outdoor activities as beneficial to mental health.  The website is nch2.org/calendar. 
• Helpful activities are hiking, gardening, birding, volunteering, listening to birds chirping & leaves rustling, feeling the warm sun and breezes, and sensing fresh air and fragrant flowering shrubs.

The Clean Energy Framework was adopted to implement plans to reach the 2030 & 2050 greenhouse gas emissions goals. 

• In January 2019 a resolution was adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 
• Purchase of nineteen vehicles for law enforcement, 16 of which are hybrid (two are K-9 equipped), and one hybrid vehicle for the Resource Management Dept support the clean energy goals.  

The calendar for events for 5/11/21 to 6/22 21 was adopted, www.fpdcc.com/events. 

• May is Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month and events planned are Asian-Pacific traditions related to the moon, a Haiku Walk, and the ancient Japanese are of Gyotaku. 
• Events such as bird walks, virtual watercolor painting, hiking, wildflower walks, & yoga are posted. 
• Learn about snakes, hawks, butterflies, camping,  the moon/lunar eclipse, kites, frogs, animal homes, kayaking/canoeing, shrubs & trees, hummingbirds, bees, fungi, pond life, invasive species, Juneteenth.
  
• "Dinos Everywhere!"  is at Brookfield Zoo- 40 animatronic dinosaurs located throughout the zoo.

Observed by:  Michele Niccolai                                                                   Meeting length:  One hour, 15 minutes

Cook County Forest Preserve District Board Meeting
April 13, 2021
Virtual meeting called to order at 10:10am 

Public Comment: None

Board Meeting:

• Agenda Item #21-0190   The FPDCC approved a contract extension with Openlands to continue restoration efforts being done at Deer Grove East to continue restoration work on over 200 acres of land, including the Valentine wetlands. The work is being done at no direct cost to the Forest Preserve, but from the Deer Grove East Modernization Mitigation Account (“OMMA”) through 2023. 
• Item #21-0194   Contract approval for Space Haus of Chicago, IL to design building and exhibit renovations for Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington Hills. A Museum Capital grant awarded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) would fund about 65 percent of design costs and 70 percent of estimated construction costs. 
• Item #21-0228   The Department of Conservation and Experiential Programming submitted their Calendar of Events for 4/13/2021-5/11/2021, including many activities for Earth Day. The Forest Preserve wants to continue to offer quality virtual events throughout the year in addition to their in-person events. The calendar can be found at www.fpdcc.com/events

Committee Items requiring board action

• The Recreation Committee discussed and the FPDCC approved item #21-0202, a bike ordinance which approves the use of e-bikes on Forest Preserve bike trails. This would allow people who would otherwise not be able to utilize the trails because of age or health to continue to ride. The FP plans to add signage on the trails for a speed limit and use police patrols where necessary. 

​Observer – Amber L Elmer                                                                            Meeting length: 31 minutes