Prior to the start of the County Board meeting, three Board committees met briefly: Zoning and Building, Rules and Administration, and Finance. Of the three, Finance had by far the largest number of items on its agenda. These were submissions for approval by the County Board of various court-ordered attorney fees; worker’s compensation claims; and special court case payments, including one to the ACLU for its successful constitutional challenge to the Illinois Eavesdropping Act. The total dollar amounts are large (did not total up the complete amounts) but appear to be within expected costs anticipated in the 2013 budget.
The final
item on the Finance committee agenda brought about a serious conversation and
some questions about the State of Illinois
Medicaid Expansion plans, and vendors hired to follow
up on Cook County applications for Medicaid. Commissioner Gorman asked for a report on
such vendor payments. Commissioner
Suffredin raised a concern about partisan politics becoming more heavily
involved in the issue of Medicaid expansion.
The Cook County Legislative Liaison with the Legislature will be
appearing before the Legislation and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee during
the Easter recess to report on events in Springfield.
The actual Board meeting was mostly uneventful, as the
Commissioners efficiently and quickly made their way through a 72-page, 62 item
agenda, plus “errata” and two additional new business items. Meeting called to
order at approximately 11:10 a.m.
All Commissioners, with the exception of Commissioners Tobolski and Beavers,
were present for at least part of the meeting.
The Consent Calendar, which consists of congratulatory
resolutions to retiring public officials, private entities celebrating
anniversaries, private individuals being congratulated and so on, had some of
the most spirited participation by Commissioners. One such resolution cited Barrington High School students for their
charitable and community activities, including significant fund-raising, which
led to a special award including a concert by Rihanna. The second congratulated Mujeres Latina en Acion on their 40th anniversary of
promoting the empowerment of Latino women.
The Third congratulated radio station WVON on its 50th
anniversary of broadcasting in the Chicago
area. Cliff Kelly accepted the
resolution on behalf of the station owners, and many commissioners spoke of
their connections with WVON as the voice of the African-American community and
their own personal relationship to the station.
The remainder of the agenda held several items which were
referred to various committees, and which will come before the Board once
further discussions have been held. First, a proposed amendment to the Cook
County sales tax on non-retail sales for motor vehicles, assessing a flat fee
based on the age of the vehicle; second,
a proposed ordinance amendment barring the operation of municipal solid waste
landfill units and sanitary landfills in unincorporated Cook County; third, a
resolution to reduce heroin and other opioid deaths through the use of naloxone;
fourth, a proposed resolution to amend the County’s parental leave policy to
allow for paid parental leave for non-union employees; and finally, a resolution
seeking a moratorium on felony charges for prostitution arrests in Cook County,
which may be a way to correct some of the jail’s capacity problems.
A great part of the Agenda was devoted to approval of a wide
variety of contracts or contract extensions for services provided to the county
for roads and bridges, IT, materials, supplies, services and so forth. From what little discussion took place, all
seemed to be within the scope of the 2013 Budget.
One item, a proposed lease agreement with the State of Illinois to rent some
space at 69 W. Washington
in Chicago to
the Office of the Inspector General, brought about a discussion of the state’s
payment history. Several Commissioners
asked for a report on how many months in arrears is the state, with the
implication that perhaps they might be amenable to halt doing business with the
state of Illinois.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 1:10 p.m.
Submitted by Jura Scharf, LWV
Palos/Orland
