Cook County Board Meeting April 17, 2012

Upon this observer's arrival at 9:40 am, the Committee meetings were already in session.  President Toni Preckwinkle called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m. Tim Beuher, the newly appointed Commissioner of Building and Zoning, was introduced and recognized for his outstanding experience and ability.

Several resolutions were introduced and approved including one recognizing the serious problems relating to heroin addiction and the County's commitment to work to alleviate it; another recognizing the Sandburg High School State Champions Boys Wrestling team, the Sandburg State and National Champion Cheerleaders Team and the Whitney Young State Champion 4A High School Women’s  Basketball Team; and one recognizing a World War II decorated veteran.

During the Finance Committee Meeting, there was extensive discussion about the bills for Shakman compliance cases and how much longer this process and expense would continue.  It was pointed out that this problem started in 1969 but the County fought it for many years, and the compliance process did not begin until 1992.  The President’s Office is nearing compliance but there is still work to be done.

Discussion during the Finance Supplemental Agenda, Commissioner Silvestri indicated that a solution to allow closing of bond courts on the weekends had been achieved.  Those arrested would be delivered by the local authorities to either the Markham or Maywood facilities and the County will provide transportation to 26^th Street thus saving the municipalities the transportation and overtime expenses.  These two locations were picked because they have appropriate facilities to hold the arrestees and the other county buildings do not.  Commissioner Silvestri explained that county funds had been found to cover the costs since the closings were slated to save $1.6 million annually.

This was followed by the Revenue Report for the 1^st Quarter.  Collections were $521.4 million against an anticipated collection of $521.8.  The Treasurer’s office was up six million plus and the Clerk of the Court’s office was down, due in part to lag time in processing.  Revenue is 14.9% higher than last year. 

Under Health Services it was reported that billing has improved and accounts receivable has increased.  They are ahead in Medicare receipts and are working to solve problems in medicaid.  They are still working on getting the 1115 Waiver [which allows states to have flexibility in administering medicaid plans], which is critical to significantly improving payments for services by qualifying clients for medicaid services. Health Services has hired 54 people including 17 nurses and are interviewing to fill additional nursing positions.

Discussion of a contract for $1.35 million with W.W. Granger for availability in emergency/unexpected situations for maintenance, repair and supply resulted in a prolonged discussion of “why”.  Homeland Security and other agencies explained the need to be able to respond to emergencies, such as flooding or a pandemic, without having to waste time in responding to the problem with vital equipment.

The CFO reported that a legislative coordinator had been hired for $65,000 to process grants and perform other work.  This led to a discussion of the hiring of an attorney who would represent the Board of Commissioners.  The President’s office has not yet hired such an attorney, and this led several Commissioners to state that this attorney is for the Commissioners, should not report to the President’s office and they will work to resolve this disturbing difference.

The meeting had not adjourned when the observer departed at one o’clock. Those Commissioners not present for the meeting were Commissioner Goslin, Commissioner Daley after the first hour, and Commissioner Garcia.

Cook County Board Meeting, April 3, 2012

Finance and Rules Committees met immediately prior to the County Board meeting.  Finance committee approved all negotiated salary schedules, to bring all labor contracts up to date, to expire in November 2012. Rules committee merely approved minutes of the prior meeting.

At the outset of the full County Board meeting, there was an extended resolution to honor Cpl. Conner Lowry, a marine from Mt. Greenwood who died in combat in Afghanistan on March 1, and an extended welcome resolution for the Mayor of County Cork, Ireland, part of the Sister-Counties program..

The Office of the President asked for the establishment of the Cook County worksite Wellness Program, which was approved.  Various Commissioners praised President Preckwinkle for establishing such a program.

Periodically the Board meeting was adjourned for actions by various Board committees:  Finance approved payment of various court orders, workers’ compensation claims and a variety of other claims against the County.  Various Commissioners objected to several of the proposed payments for various reasons, but all passed and were recommended to the full Board for approval;  Zoning approved all special use permit requests and referred a number of others to Zoning Board of Appeals.

The rest of the Board meeting consisted of plowing through over 40 items and resolutions having to do with acceptance of various grants from public and private entities to further the work of various county departments (Homeland Security, the Criminal Courts); approval of a number of procurement contracts and highway projects. During this portion of the meeting, several commissioners expressed their frustration with the system as it relates to juvenile offenders, asking if there is anything that can be done to prevent intake into the system, rather than dealing with them once they are inside.  There is a City-County Task Force on Violence Prevention and Community Building presently examining current and proposed solutions.  A report is expected soon.

Commissioner Silvestri moved to refer to committee a wide variety of resolutions moving non-criminal offenses out of the Judicial system and into Administrative Law Review (such as snow removal onto to public streets). Commissioners liked the idea of clearing up court calendars for more important business, and will be involved in “tweaking” the language during committee process.

During an extended discussion of the process by which the County “pre-qualifies” potential bidders for County work—the Job Order Contract (JOC) in cooperation with the City—Commissioners expressed concern about potential limitations on the ability of small- and medium-sized. women and minority contractors to have a chance at receiving a contact.  Staff from the President’s Office argued that just the opposite was true—by pre-qualifying  and doing the extensive paper-work once, they would then be in line the receive contracts during the year, and that major contractors would have a pool of women and minority sub-contractors available to them.

A number of requests for property tax abatements and other property tax issues were referred to Real Estate and Development Committee.

--Submitted by Observer Jura Scharf

April 3, 2012 Meeting of the 2010 Redistricting Committee

Public Hearings Set on Redistricting, Public Invited to Submit Maps

Public Hearings

The Committee approved holding 4 hearings at which members of the public may provide comments on the redistricting process:

• Tuesday, April 17 at 6 pm at the Markham Court House, 16501 S. Kedzie, Room 098, Markham, IL
• Tuesday, April 24 at 6 pm at Oakton Community College, 1600 E. Golf Road, Room 1610, Des Plaines, IL.
• Thursday, April 26 at 6 pm at the Maybrook Court House, 1500 S. Maybrook Drive, Room 106, Maywood, IL, and
• Tuesday, May 1 at a time and location to be determined later.

Speakers are asked to pre-register with the Secretary to the Board and provide 30 copies of any written comments.  For more details, see the notice published on the Cook County web site.

Maps from Public and Help

The public is also invited to submit their own maps (either at the hearings or by the previously established May 1 deadline).  Computers and staff will be available in Room 1134 in the Cook County Building to assist the public and Commissioners in drawing such maps.  For information on what must be submitted in conjunction with the maps, see the official Committee Report of the March 13 meeting on the Secretary to the Board’s web site.

A web site is also supposed to be set up to provide the public with information and allow people to sign up for e-mail notices:  www.redistricting.cookcountyil.gov. 

Note:  At the time of this post, this web site is still not functioning, and the League has been told that Room 1134 will likely not be up and running until maybe the end of the week.  That means the public will have only about 2 weeks to prepare maps before the May 1 deadline.

Public Comment

League of Women Voters of Cook County President Cynthia Schilsky then spoke during the public comment period (1) stating that the May 1 deadline for the public to submit proposed redistricting maps did not provide a reasonable amount of time for the public; (2) asking what is the plan for informing the public of their right to submit maps; (3) asking how will the public know the parameters for drawing maps and the criteria the  Committee will use to assess the maps submitted; and (4) again urging that the Committee establish additional procedures for the public to have an opportunity to review and comment on any map(s) chosen by this  Committee for further consideration prior to the Committee taking a vote and then prior to the full Board voting to approve a map.

Chairman Deborah Sims responded that the Committee does plan to provide for further review and input by the public as Ms. Schilsky suggested, but said that she considers May 1 an appropriate deadline for the public to submit maps.

District 17 Map Source:  Cook County, accessed 4/10/12 

George Blakemore also spoke and similarly objected to the May 1 deadline as being too soon and wondered how the public would even hear about this.  He said that the purpose of redistricting was not to re-elect existing Commissioners, but to create compact districts of people who have things in common so they can be represented.  He pleaded with the Committee not to gerrymander the new districts, citing District 17 which  runs along the far west side of the county from very far south to close to the northern border of the county, as an example of a district that is definitely not compact.

Rest of Meeting

Chairman Sims then read from prepared remarks that included a statement that the Committee would produce a map and have public comment.  Nevertheless, Chairman Sims believes that an approved map can be submitted to the Board by June.

The Committee then heard from the people hired to provide advice and expertise.  Peter Creticos, who had been involved with prior County redistricting, said that public input was critical to the process.  In fact, he said, the current districts have their origin in a map submitted by the Urban League and a Mexican American group when the first districts were drawn in the early 1990’s. 

Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services which is to provide census data for the redistricting, said that based on the total county population (which is 182,000 people less than in 2000), there should be 305,569 people in each district, though a 10% deviation (5% above or 5% below) is legally permissible. However, his staff is looking at only a 5% deviation ideally, so the range would be between 293,000 and 313,000 persons per district.  Looking at the total population of Cook County, it might be expected that there would be 3 to 4 African-American majority districts and 3.5 to 4 Hispanic majority districts.  But that does not take into account how each of these minority groups are dispersed throughout the county, which will, of course, impact how many such districts can feasibly be drawn.

Judd Minor, the lead outside counsel, reiterated that the districts could have up to a 10% deviation in population, as long as there were reasons for the disparity.  The law was very strict that districts could not be drawn so as to dilute the voting strength of protected minorities.  And he said that intent was irrelevant; courts look to the effect.  Districts also must be contiguous.  Then, there are requirements, that are very loosely construed, that districts are to be compact, not divide communities of interest, consider other government boundaries, consider shared interests, and may consider protecting the relationship of the incumbents with their current districts.

The Committee stands in recess until the April 17 public hearing in Markham.

Submitted by Priscilla Mims