Cook County Board Meeting March 20, 2013

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 40^th anniversary of promoting the empowerment of Latino women.  The Third congratulated radio station WVON on its 50^th 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