Improving on Technology Front, But County Still Has a Ways to Go

2016 Cook County Proposed Budget:  Bureau of Technology and Board of Commissioners, Oct.27, 2015

Bureau of Technology

Simona Rollinson, the Chief Information Officer (CIO), explained that the Bureau is moving away from customized solutions to looking at commercial, off-the-shelf solutions which are more reliable and take far less time to implement.  In addition, they are looking at multi-phase development for incremental change.  She heard many complaints that in the past the Bureau would spend years working on a new system, only to find that when it was ready to be implemented, it was out of date. 

This new approach requires special skills, which is why 1/3 of the Bureau are either new hires or new promotions.  While the number of employees is down, the total salaries are up for 2016, reflecting what is needed to both hire and retain employees with the necessary skills.  There were several questions by Commissioners about some of the salaries, and the CIO was to get back to them. 

Ms. Rollinson cited a number of accomplishments in 2015, including the awarding of contracts for the “Big 4” new systems:  the Integrated Property System, the Integrated Revenue System, the Integrated Justice System, and the County-wide Enterprise Resource Planning System. Implementation will begin in 2016.

For many years the Commissioners have expressed concern over the separate systems in each of the different elected officials’ offices.  Ms. Rollinson said that 2015 saw the rollout of the new process whereby any new contract for technology anywhere in the County must first obtain the concurrence of the CIO.  This should reduce duplication and encourage collaboration, even though technology personnel still remain in each of the separately elected officials’ offices.  Several Commissioners stated they were willing to help encourage the elected officials to cooperate with the Bureau as needed.  Chairman Daley said one way the Board can help is to not authorize money for individual systems unless a department is cooperating.

Commissioner Schneider said that in the past the Board has authorized many dollars to be spent on technology with the expectation that this would result in a reduction in personnel.  But this has not happened in most cases.  The CIO stated that she thinks that the new Time and Attendance system being implemented will show results. But she also said that the question about technology improvements and employee count needed to be directed to individual departments.

Commissioner Boykin asked how the CIO would grade the County in terms of technology.  The CIO said that it was moving toward being comparable to other counties of its size, but that means that more improvement is necessary.  Commissioner Tobolski asked whether the County would be able to implement the Chicago Mayor’s proposal in Springfield which would exempt properties less than $250,000 from the new increase in property taxes just approved in the city (or provide rebates).  The CIO stated that the County had just received the bill the prior Monday and were evaluating what would be required.  Commissioner Steele offered to connect the Bureau with the Seattle Assessor’s office which has utilized its Geographic Information System (GIS) to grow economic development and which has a wonderful integrated property system. 

Board of Commissioners

The Secretary to the Board, Matthew DeLeon, presented the budget for the Board, which includes the Secretary’s budget.  Overall, the total budget is up $203,000, or 2.7%, most of that for salary increases for staff (the Commissioners’ salaries are set by ordinance, and have not been raised in many years).  There was some discussion about the fact that several years ago all the Commissioners’ budgets were equal, but that is no longer the case. Commissioner Boykin stated that his office is not implementing any new salary increases out of concern for the impact on the poor and seniors as a result of the sales tax increase.  Commissioner Schneider made the point that he has never utilized his entire approved budget, in effect giving back money to the County each year.  Commissioner Sims suggested money could be saved if there was a central office supply purchasing plan, rather than each office purchasing its own supplies.

Commissioner Schneider asked about the reference in the Capital Budget for changes to the Board Room. Mr. DeLeon explained that the goal is to make the Room accessible for the public, the Commissioners, and the County staff, which it clearly is not now.  The 2016 Capital Budget contains money to start on this.  Commissioner Tobolski asked why they can’t go ahead and purchase a couple large television screens to project agendas and presentations.  After Mr. DeLeon stated some issues that had to be considered first, Mr. Tobolski (jokingly?) offered to purchase them himself.

Several Commissioners complained about the salary increased in other County departments, in contrast to their own salaries.  Chairman Daley reminded them that they have the power to increase the salaries for Commissioners, but that any increase would not take place until after the next election for Commissioners, in 2018. 

Commissioner Sims expressed concern over speakers who utilize the public comment time to make derogatory comments and/or fail to stick to a subject on the agenda for a Board or Committee meeting.  Mr. DeLeon stated that per the State’s Attorney General, a public comment time must be offered to all, but that the chair does have the authority to regulate the speaker should the speaker go off topic. 

-- Priscilla Mims, League Observer

Cook County Committees & Board of Commissioners Meeting Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The board meeting was called to order at noon as committee meetings took longer than scheduled.   Three Committee items of note:

Commissioner Boykin introduced an Ordinance [15-1565] banning the use of Choke Holds by Law Enforcement within the County.  Some commissioners felt the ordinance was a duplication of state law being considered and could lead to a increase in law suits filed.  The Ordinance passed in the Criminal Justice Committee and later by the full board.

Legislative & Intergovernmental Relations Committee:  Amy Patton Campanelli was unanimously approved in Committee and then at the full board meeting to be the next Cook County Public Defender serving a 6 year term, effective April 1, 2015.

Ms. Campanelli spoke about how delighted she was to be appointed the county’s second female Public Defender since the department was established in 1930, in the second largest Public Defender’s office in the country. Ms. Campanelli listed her five goals, with reasonable bond her top priority. The other four goals are to end the practice of prosecuting children in adult court, proactive community outreach, expand the special courts, such as mental and drug courts, and to offer consistent training programs to public defenders.

Finance Committee:  Commissioner Gainer expressed serious skepticism about the Hospital Systems efforts to take in-house its collection efforts and asked for calls to be made to other Chicago hospitals to see if any have in-house collection operations and their experience.

Board Meeting: At 12:10pm, Commissioner Daley offered the consent calendar for approval. Calendar discussion continued until 12:25 and included a tribute to Jan Ortwell, former President of the League of Women Voters of Illinois and Director of the IL Dept. of Aging.

Resolution 15-2499. Lengthy discussion occurred regarding this resolution urging the General Assembly to pass legislation to reform percentage based bail bond fees. The issue is whether the current 10% of posted bail bond, which is a state statute, should be changed to cap the bond fee at $100 which is closer to the cost of processing.  Several commissioners wondered whether requesting other levels of government to take action is worthwhile. Others felt that passing resolutions is a way to ask other government levels to listen to the County’s concerns particularly when the issue in question primarily affects Cook County.  The resolution passed.

Resolution 15-2421. Commissioner Schneider introduced with sponsorship from Arroyo, Fritchey, Gorman, Goslin, Moore and Silvestri, which stated: “The members of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County ….shall oppose a property tax increase and look for other methods to fill the budget shortfalls in the 2016 CC fiscal budget.”  Daley moved that the resolution was out of order and President Preckwinkle agreed.  A roll call vote was called which resulted in the motion being defeated by a comfortable margin.  Schneider stated that he would contact the States Attorney for validation of the motion and ruling.

Resolution #15-2463 offered by Commissioner Tobolski and sponsored by all attending commissioners to engage in outreach for Veteran-owned businesses was moved to the Veteran’s Committee.

Resolution # 150961. The Bureaus of Technology, Finance, and Assessor’s office asked for a $1,633,594 increase and a contract extension through 2019 with Acxiom Corporation in order to run parallel systems while implementing the new platforms. Several commissioners expressed frustration at the continued request for money with no concrete assurances that the problems are resolved and a solid plan and timetable are in place. The new Chief Procurement Officer stated that she is confident this money is needed and that over the next two years more platforms will be up and running with the entire project completed by 2019. The Contract extension passed. 

15-2372. The Assessor’s Office proposed a contract amendment to add $600,000 for [tax] fraud  collection research. Sixty percent of the data gained via this contractor have been good hits. Commissioner Gainer expressed privacy concerns with all the data generated. It was stated that the data was deleted shortly after the search was completed.

Resolution #152543 opposing right to work zones was referred to the Legislative Committee.

Commissioner Gainer asked commissioners to support colleges in reporting sexual abuse attacks on campus. 

A note: 16 commissioners were in attendance at the start of the board meeting and 13 were in attendance at conclusion.  We observers were very pleased to see Commissioner Suffredin back from his medical absence.

Submitted by:  Laura Davis & Diane Edmundson

Departmental Review Meetings for the 2015 Budget, October 22, 2014

BUREAU OF TECHNOLOGY

Simona Rollinson, director of the Bureau of Technology began by explaining what her department did. She stated that her department was responsible for the County’s data center, wide area high-speed network, office technology and phone and wireless devices. They also plan, develop and manage software applications, websites and geographic information systems (GIS) to improve workflow process in County offices and meet County residents and business needs for simple responsive transparent and cost effective government. Some of their recent accomplishments include:

• Implemented County-wide email systems
• Installed a jail inmate phone and broadband system and integrate technology to manage criminal justice system
•  Designed and implemented a video conferencing network to improve communication with municipality
•   Reduced telephone cost by reducing the total number of telephone system 
•  Improve property

Some of the issues facing this department are the cost of maintaining Technology and improving Technology. The concern is that by the time they bid-accept and implement systems they are outdated and the maintenance cost of these systems is high.  The cost of consultants in particular has made the cost of maintaining and improving technology very expensive. Disaster recovery system is also very costly. It was suggested that they look into consulting with smaller firms instead of the larger companies.

Commissioners Suffredin, Gorman and Sims all expressed frustration with the Bureau of Technology. They feel that money is allocated to purchase new technology and by the time it is ready to go it is outdated. There has been a lot of turnover in the job of director and all the new directors have asked for more money to improve services but the Commissioners do not see that services have improved. Commissioners suggested that top IT people should be brought in to help with the system with better cooperation from all departments. Commissioner Gorman wants a chart of the past, present and future needs of technology. 

SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

Sheriff Tom Dart stated that as of today there are 11,677 people incarcerated at Cook County Jail, the average amount is 9,000. 38% of those incarcerated suffer from a mental illness. There are 1700 on electronic monitoring with 70 of those not having a place to go. There is a need to increase the amount of beds and the department is working on this. The biggest issue is that many of these people cannot pay the bond and have no place to go due in part because many of these people suffer from mental illness.

There has been a decrease in the number of employees hired and there is a need to consolidate courthouses especially the old ones like 51^st & Wentworth and Harrison & Kedzie.  By consolidating these courthouses they will save money, provide better security and better services. Sheriff Dart is pleased with the program of using detainees with minor offenses to teardown abandoned houses.

Sheriff Dart stated that they are in a good position with staff, however, there is an overtime issue that has some concern. Overtime is expensive. The issue is more prevalent with employees of the Department of Corrections. They call in sick more often than those of other departments.

Commissioner Suffredin asked if Sherriff Dart will see an issue if the Pension Bill is passed.  Andrea Gibson from the Sheriff Department budget review stated that they are preparing for if bill passes but no extra money has been set aside.

In technology, the Sheriff’s Department purchased a new computer system and is working with local police departments to have them join this system. This system is a cooperative system that will allow the Sheriff’s Department to share information on criminals, etc. with local municipalities. 

CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT

Clerk Dorothy Brown stated that the Clerk of the Circuit Court serves the citizens of Cook County and participants in the judicial system in an efficient, effective and ethical manor. There were 4 key items that the Clerk’s office strived to do:

11.  21^st Century information technology

·         Website that is easy to use and clearly organized

·         Online traffic ticket system

·         An online interactive court system connecting Judges, State’s attorney, public defender to allow them to file online and to send records

·         System with the Sheriff to send information electronically on whether to retain or detain prisoners.

·         Image and document system to be able to send records and forms electronically so that they do away with paper and especially carbon paper.

·         Smart Kiosk in criminal courts to receive court information.

Bottom line she wants her department to become totally paperless.

22.  Customer Service: Strives to provide great customer service to citizens.

33.  Operational Efficiency: all of the new electronic systems will provide greater efficiency to the office.

44.  Financial accountability: going paperless will lower the cost. The commissioners were glad to see that there will be an end to this department use of carbon paper. This will save money. They also closed a warehouse with the saving of 1.2 million however they are in the process of opening a Records and Digitization Center in Cicero, which should improve the system at a cost savings. Clerk Brown stated that her department is going Lean and Green.

The Commissioners commented that they are pleased with the changes to this department. Clerk Brown requested that the Commissioners promote the use of electronic traffic ticket system in their districts. There is a saving to municipalities that use the Electronic E-Ticket system. There were no large increases to her budget for 2015.

Submitted by Nancy Marcus