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
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