Cook County Board Meeting February 15, 2012

At 9:30, Comm. Murphy called members together to re-appoint Don DeGraf to the Metra Board. He had served nine months in the position and will now have a complete, one-year term. He expressed his gratefulness to the Board and discussed measures to prevent Metra service cuts in spite of budget problems.

Finance Committee Chair Daley called the Finance Committee together at 10:20. There was much discussion of the fact that subcontracts are not getting paid responsibly. Amendments to the payments proposal were presented just before the vote.  Comm. Gainer then opened the issue of the days for the members to discuss an item. She did not think that this was right. Comm. Silvestri stated that he felt that they were common sense and – “let Administrators do their work and it will lead to large savings.” Comm. Suffredin stated that there are some legitimate questions on procurement but that the Board does not have that much understanding of how contracts are done for payments and in effect was not that upset about the issue.

The parliamentarian was asked for clarification on many of the issues for this discussion and the amendment on the medical examiner next. A report on court house closings will be coming soon.

There was a heated discussion on a proposed ordinance amendment dealing with the medical examiner. The amendment was sponsored by Comm. Fritchey and co-sponsored by Comms. Tobolski and Reyes. The ordinance dealt with the removal of the examiner and length of service. Comm. Fritchey and Comm. Murphy exchanged some words but peace was made. Comm. Tobolski was angry about problems at the morgue and did not want “more fodder for the press.” Comm. Beavers stated that the medical examiner is not in charge of the burials. At the next Board meeting, Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Nancy Jones will not speak, but a representative will attend.

A nice event also took place. Comm. Sims and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle , co-sponsored by Commissioners Beavers, Daley, Garcia, Goslin, Gorman, Murphy, Silvestri and Steele, presented a Resolution to the family of Raus’l Lee Clark. who died in January, 2012. His mother and friends were appreciative. ”Rocky” sustained a paralyzing back injury 9/15/00 as a high school football player, and he worked to bring forth awareness of health and safety issues for high school athletes.

The meeting adjourned at 12:55.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Ginsburg, Observer

Cook County Board Finance Committee Meeting February 14, 2012

There were not enough commissioners for a quorum.  Commissioners present:  Daley, Gorman, Sims, Suffredin, Garcia,  Fritchey, Tobolski, Gainer.  Ten were needed, eight were present.  Many of the absent commissioners apparently opposed the proposal to move the duties of the Office of the Recorder of Deeds to the County Clerk and abolishing the office.

State Representative Karen Yarborough (D-07), a Democratic candidate for Recorder of Deeds, was present with an aide, but did not speak.  She spoke with Clem Balinoff from David Orr’s office before the meeting, asking him reasons why he thought it was a good idea.  Fritchey praised her often as one of his most esteemed colleagues from his congressional days in Springfield.  

Although there was not a quorum, Daley wanted all those present who had signed up to speak, to do public testimony.

1)  First Jesse White, current IL Secretary of State, spoke.  He said that before he became Secretary of State, he had been Recorder of Deeds and in that office had generated increased revenue for Cook County.  He did a lot to streamline the computer systems.  He wants to keep the Recorder of Deeds office because it provides a good revenue stream, offers a good service to voters, and believes Cook County should keep it the way it is.

2)  Laurence Msall, President of the Civic Federation of Chicago, testified next.  The Civic Federations supports the referendum.  The proposal would be less costly and more efficient.  There is little policy debated in either the Recorder or the County Clerk’s offices – the offices are purely administrative.  $1 million savings per year could be realized and spent elsewhere.  All IL counties less than 60,000 people have combined offices.

LA county, the largest in the US, merged all functions into one site in 1968.  There were 160 million documents merged and put into one location.  By 1991 LA had fully merged the Recorder function.

Mr. Msall urged that Cook County just put the issue in front of voters.  The last time we did that was in the 1970s concerning elimination of the elected coroner’s office. 

Commissioner Sims responded and said that “Cook County was special”.  Just because other counties have merged the offices doesn’t mean that Cook County should do this.  “We don’t know what will happen with a merger”.  “We wasted money on contractors in the Cook County Hospital because the Civic Federation recommended an independent governors board.  We have spent millions hiring contractors and we shouldn’t have wasted the money”.

3)  Darlene Williams-Burnett spoke, from the Recorder of Deeds office.  She issued a dire warning that the Recorder's Office was “under repair” and that the county should proceed “with caution”.   The Recorder of Deeds office has reduced its budget by 50%, and has produced $347 million in the past six years.  It is the only viable lifeline for mortgage foreclosure issues.  She cautioned about the costs of retraining, that it may cost labor strife, and warned that they worked with public safety agencies to defeat criminals in the bank and financial agencies. She questioned the cost of retraining employees.  She said the Recorder of Deeds office was the final line between predatory lending and the consumer.

She claimed the office has consistently reduced its costs and now collects five times the revenue of its costs.  It operates as a “profitable small business”.  The projected savings has already been realized she claimed.  They operate a robust e-commerce site.  “We are restoring integrity to our database and defend property rights in Cook County”.

Com. Fritchey responded that the resolution does not single out any person and that it does not propose to eliminate any of the functions of the Recorder of Deeds office.  Ms. Williams-Burnett claimed that Cook County was unique in that it maintained a full legal description of all properties, and that other counties use title companies to keep track of their documents.  

4)  Clem Balinoff from David Orr’s office spoke.  He said that the resolution for a referendum had nothing to do with individuals but rather improved efficiency.  He proposed that consolidation of the two offices would combine 2 IT structures, 2 purchasing departments, two office spaces, and two supervisory staffs, resulting in savings of $1 million per year through permanent consolidation of staff.  He thought this could be achieved through attrition and no re-hiring. 

Mr. Balinoff has been at the County Clerk’s office for 15 years, during which time, the office has absorbed the City of Chicago’s bureau of vital statistics.  The county clerk’s office has increased revenues by $1 million with a total cost of two employees, handling all the responsibilities that Chicago once performed (badly).  A one year time frame for absorption of Recorder of Deeds duties should be very doable.  The county clerk’s office has never missed a deadline.

5) Adam Clement from the Bureau of Technology spoke.  His specialty has been in IT for Recorder of Deeds offices all over the country.  Despite Cook County saying they are unique, they utilize the same software as most other Registrar/Recorder offices around the country.  The transition would be smooth and aided by internal IT people.  A year’s timeframe to merge would be doable.  Mr. Clement was called to testify by Com. Fritchey.

Com. Fritchey gave his presentation.  LA county has only 8 elected officials while Cook County has 29, including the 17 commissioners.  The last time Cook County eliminated a position was in 1972 with the Coroner.  It is the right time now to continue consolidation.

Fritchey has not heard a constructive reason why not to do this referendum.  The time is now.  He said he knows that commissioners have been getting calls from influential people to table the resolution but that we owe it to the voters to let them decide.

Chair Daley will decide when to call this to the Finance Committee again.

--submitted by Amy Little

February 1, 2012 Cook County Board Meeting: Courthouses, the Morgue, and Redistricting

At this board meeting, a few “hot topics” were on the agenda and/or discussed but decisions regarding them were delayed.

First off, the controversy over closing suburban courthouses on weekends came up in a resolution that requested Chief Judge Tim Evans to review possible alternatives to completely closing these courthouses on the weekends. Originally these closures came about as a cost-saving measure for the County. Suburban police departments are concerned that they will bear additional costs and reduction of police on the streets
while having to transport detainees to the Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California Sts. in Chicago. The Chief Judge is expected to address this issue at the February 15th Board meeting.

Secondly, the recent news about bodies being piled up at the County morgue brought a proposed ordinance amendment by Comm. Fritchey to make it easier for the Board to fire the Medical Examiner. Currently, the Medical Examiner remains in this office until he/she resigns or is removed for cause. Fritcheyʼs amendment would allow removal by a majority vote on the Board. Most of the other commissioners voted to delay this vote until more information could be obtained from the Medical Examiner and others regarding the reasons for the delays in burials of indigents. Some commissioners pointed out that this amendment does not really address the issue of decreased funding for this office and other reasons for burial delays.

The Board passed a resolution to establish a special committee to redraw the districts for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. This is needed because the 2010 census shows changes in population numbers and location within Cook County. The special committee will consist of all 17 commissioners with Comm. Sims as chair and Comm. Silvestri as vice-chair. Many commissioners expressed their confidence that the county will use an “open, positive process”--(Comm. Schneider); “can be done better than the city & state”--(Comm. Fritchey); and a “good process for citizens”-- (Comm. Steele). The redrawn districts will be in effect for the next county board election in 2014.

Procedurally, this board meeting began 1/2 hour late and spent the first hour presenting and discussing honorary resolutions about various county residents. This observer would like to see this use of time dramatically shortened or better yet, done before the regular meeting. This observer was pleased to see that many commissioners are making efforts to briefly summarize ordinances and resolutions they
vote on (rather than just referring to the agenda number) so the audience can better follow the proceedings.

Submitted by Karin Hribar, observer