The Meeting began at 10:05 with a meeting of the Finance Committee. This was brief and uncontroversial with a number of disbursements being voted on. Revenues are now on target for the CCFPD as the tax revenues from real estate taxes have come in as expected.
Dr Robert Donaldson, Mayor of Hazelcrest, was honored for his many years serving as the statutorily-mandated representative of the Forest Preserve District on the Public Building Commission of Chicago. He was first appointed by Pres. George Dunne and has retained tenure under 5 different Board Presidents. General Superintendent Arnold Randall has been appointed to succeed him in this work.
The second unanimous item was an ordinance proposed by President Preckwinkle to grant official authority to Cook County's Independent Inspector General to "detect, deter and prevent corruption, fraud, waste, mismanagement, unlawful political discrimination or misconduct in the operation of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County...." This was a formality as the Inspector General had already been active in the CCFPD but apparently there was not a law in place to make the relationship official.
The action above was partly in response to issues already uncovered by the Inspector General which took place last summer and are being addressed by the administration now. To see a press conference from April 4 on these issues, go here: http://blog.cookcountygov.com/2011/04/04/president-preckwinkle-forest-preserve-superintendent-randall-announce-sweeping-reforms/
Other items voted on were continuation of programs with the Audubon Society, the Fishin' Buddies group, and various contracts for other services.
Also, interestingly, Superintendent Randall asked for permission to reallocate $200,000 from the full-time salary account to the part-time salary account. Apparently savings have been realized from re-organization (with no futher firings) and this money will be better spent on hiring more seasonal workers for the summer.
They also have to start spending money on tree removal due to Emerald Ash Borer damage.
The meeting moved quickly and was adjourned at about 10:40 am.
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