Patrick Blanchard, the Independent Inspector General, explained that his budget is lower than 2009 because the costs of the Shakman decree oversight officer are being paid out of the County’s litigation budget, not his budget, and he cut several lower level Investigator II positions in order to fully fund some higher level positions that will be more valuable to the work of the office. He currently has 9 filled positions, and the 2010 budget proposes 15. The ordinance that established this department was recently amended by the Board, at Mr. Blanchard’s request, to expand his authority. He expects to come to the Board in 2010 to seek recognition as an Illinois law enforcement agency so that his area can qualify for grant money. In determining which issues to follow up on first, he and his deputy perform a triage analysis to determine if criminal behavior might be involved, the availability or potential availability of evidence, and the wideness of the effect of pursuing the issue. In response to a question from Comm. Gainer, Mr. Blanchard agreed that his area was authorized to pursue issues related to employee absences of all types.
---Submitted by Observer Pris Mims
