The meeting was called to order at 10:20 a.m. by President Toni Preckwinkle. A resolution honoring Jerry "Ice Man" Butler for 25 years of service as a Commissioner of Cook County was read into the record. Over the next 40-50 minutes various commissioners paid honor and respect to Commissioner Butler. Several mentioned his wonderful voice and singing career. All talked about his commitment to accessible and good health care for the people of Chicago regardless of income level.
Commissioner Daley thanked the Board members for their condolences in the death of his sister-in-law Maggie Daley and noted that President Preckwinkle has invited the entire Daley family to the Thursday, December 14 Board Meeting in which a resolution honoring Mrs. Daley will be presented. Commissioner Daley said that he hoped the family could be together on that date.
Under Old Business:
1) The Dept. Of Environmental Control requested authorization to accept a grant award of $530,508 from the Federal Highway Administration to install EPA verified diesel retrofit technology to Highway Department and Forest Preserve District trucks. It was approved.
2) During a discussion of a contract award to remove and recycle discarded electronic equipment, Commissioners asked if some of these items could be donated to non profits. The answer was no because of the liability the County has for disposal and because the equipment is usually outdated.
3) Discussion was held regarding the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities [TASC] for drug court services. Some commissioners felt that TASC has too much of the County’s business and Commissioner Beavers asked the Probation Director to come back with information on the minority representation of the County contracts for this purpose.
4) Extensive discussion was held when the Board was asked to extend the storage contract with Whitfield Security Services until April 2012 when a new RFP will go out for an additional 6 months of services which are required because Whitfield was found not to have paid property taxes. The Purchasing Dept. needs until April to do the RFP and select a new contractor. Apparently, there is a new storage facility [Hawthorne Center] that should be ready in September 2012. It has been delayed several years because the funding requests were not granted by the Board under the previous administration. The upshot is that County dollars have been wasted.
Under New Business
1) The Board was asked to transfer funds within the Clerk of Court’s Office budget to pay for Inspector General and Auditor functions [employees] that were reduced in the salaries budget line. The plan is to use “savings found in the new budget” to rehire 17 staff. This would be paid both by the found funds and the use of furlough days for the entire department’s staff. Commissioner Daley and several others voted no and wondered how the Clerk came up with the “savings” if in fact her budget prepared just three months ago was “bare bones” as requested of all CC elected officials and department heads when preparing their 2012 budget. Daley wondered why these savings could not be found just three months ago. However, the request did PASS.
2) The Board referred to the Legislative Committee a proposed resolution to support US House of Representatives Bill #3179, The Marketplace and Equity Act. This Act would require internet vendors to collect sales tax. The proposed resolution urges the members of the US House and Senate from the state of Illinois to support #3179.
Submitted by Diane Edmundson
LWV Chicago
