Chief Judge Urges Restoring $3.4 Million to Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program

2016 Cook County Proposed Budget:  Chief Judge, October 30, 2015

Chief Judge Timothy Evans came prepared to secure support from the Commissioners for restoring the $3.4 million cut from his requested budget by the President in her Executive Budget.  This money would be used to hire outside attorneys to advise homeowners during mortgage foreclosure hearings.  In the President’s remarks in presenting the Executive Budget, the President had said this money was cut in recognition that the number of new foreclosure proceedings had fallen 52% (the Budget Director on Friday stated that the figure was now 67%).  Money for 8 County employees dedicated to the program was retained.

Chief Judge Evans argued that the $3.4 million should be restored because (1) there are currently 32,000 cases pending in the system which need to be dealt with, and (2) while new foreclosure cases have dropped considerably, there are still roughly 1,400 new cases being filed each month currently.  The Chief Judge said the outside attorneys were needed to advise the homeowners, which the County employees, who are part of the judiciary, could not do.  The Chief Judge also had examples of homeowners who had been helped by the program in each of the Commissioners’ districts.  It was clear that a number of the Commissioners were prepared to try to find all or at least part of the $3.4 million, though it was not clear where that money would come from.

Chief Judge Touts New Public Safety Assessment Tool

Chief Judge Evans was enthusiastic about the new Public Safety Assessment Tool being used in Bond Court to assist judges in determining whether and how much of a bond was necessary. The concept behind this tool is that it will scientifically help predict whether an accused person will show up for trial if released and whether the accused would be likely to commit a crime if released.  The Chief Judge says that so far the tool is working well: the monthly reports show that only 2% of those released have failed to show up and only 2% have committed crimes while released. These numbers compare favorably with Washington, D.C. where another tool has long been in place and which has been considered a model program with 6% of those not showing up and 6% committing crimes while released.

Commissioner Garcia said he had heard there were some issues with regard to how the different judges were using the tool. Judge Evans explained that each judge by state statute has to consider 36 parameters when determining a bond, and that this was an additional tool.  But ultimately, it is the judge who has to decide.  Further, this new assessment tool is only being fully implemented as of January 1, and it is only then that he will be able to see how often judges differ.

The Chief Judge also explained that his office had worked with the other Public Safety stakeholders, including the Illinois Crime Lab, to reduce the probable cause process from 21 to 14 days.  One improvement is that the State’s Attorney’s lawyers are now exchanging all evidence with the Public Defender’s attorneys prior to the bond hearing, as opposed to later after arraignment.  Chief Judge Evans, like the other Public Safety officials and departments, also cited the reduction in the average daily jail population from over 10,000 to 8,000. 

Chief Judge Adopting National Benchmarks for Comparing Case Disposals

The Chief Judge has been the one Cook County official who has refused to participate in the County’s STAR Performance Management program, citing the need to separate the departments under him from the Executive and Legislative branches.  But in a response to Commissioner Schneider’s question as to how Cook County courts are doing with case backlogs, Chief Judge Evans said that he was now using the American Bar Association and another national set of benchmarks to see how well the Cook County courts were doing in the time being taken to dispose of a case.  He said that for criminal cases, Cook County was about 80% there, though he did not provide any more specifics.

Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC)

Leonard Dixon, the new Superintendent of the JTDC, which is under the Chief Judge, was questioned by Commissioner Gainer as to whether it was sustainable to manage a workforce at the JTDC which had 193 FTEs (or about 1/3 of the total FTEs) out on leave. Mr. Dixon said this was a nation-wide problem, but offered no specifics as to what he might do to try to deal with this issue. Mr. Dixon received kudos from a number of Commissioners from both parties as to what they have seen thus far at the JTDC under his leadership. 

Commissioner Gainer pressed the Chief Judge to allow Mr. Dixon to meet with the Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, which had been established by unanimous vote of the Cook County Board and which is made up of volunteers with experience with youths.  After several minutes of back and forth, the Chief Judge agreed to that.

-- Priscilla Mims, League Observer

Cook County Budget Hearings October 25, 2013

                         The following are budget reports from Cook County
                                  Public Defender and Chief Judge

Public Defender Abishi Cunningham presented some details of his budget requests and changes made to his department in the past year.  First, the employee count (FTE) will increase  by 11 people in the area of line staff, investigators,  and additional attorneys. Last year the increase was 24 FTEs.   This should reduce overtime over the next year.  Staff and attorneys are working with outside groups to do bond reviews in order to lower bonds and/or  increase electronic monitoring.

Three new grants have been received:   to train attorneys on forensics such as DNA results;  for adult re-deployment  for non-violent drug users;  and for mitigation specialists to produce more informal sentencing decisions.

The Public Defender's office is working with the Clerk of the Court to monitor continuances (which appear to be excessive) in order to close cases more quickly.  Staff is being trained to use digital technology to help decrease court case duration.

One money-saving change in this department is purchasing fewer cars for employee use.  Instead, the use of  Zip Car, which is a public vehicle rental used by the county, and sharing the county's fleet vehicles  will lower expenses in this area.

STAR performance management goals include performance goals for staff;  evaluation of attorneys;    decreasing open cases;  and lowering complaints toward the Defender's office.  These last two goals have been accomplished in that there were fewer than 1% open cases and complaints.


Chief Judge Tim Evans appears to disagree strongly with President Preckwinkle's budget recommendation for the court system he leads and has asked the Commissioners to make amendments to increase his budget.  There is about a $6 million difference in the amount he has requested ($146.9 million) and the amount the President has budgeted ($140.6 million). He argued that the separation of powers in government, with all 3 branches being equal, warrants his getting 1/3 of the total budget;  his department currently has 5% of the budget.  He also complained that the President's office has many more highly paid (grade 24) employees than his office.  He has asked for 108 more employees and was budgeted 7 more.

Specifically, he has asked for more employees for a pre-trial service system  to make risk assessments of defendants.  This would aid bond court judges in making better decisions in deciding bond levels.  Currently, 51 probation officers are doing this job.  Judge Evans stated that judges use 38 factors including the risk assessment, current charge, and criminal history in determining bonds.  However, bond hearings usually last less than two minutes per case.

Psychiatric evaluations (to determine if a defendant is sane enough to stand trial) are taking 90 days and DNA evaluations are backlogged, both of  which make cases begin later and last longer.  With regard to juvenile defendants, Judge Evans stated that 5,000 are in alternative programs and 263 are in the Juvenile Detention Center.   He deems these programs a success in reducing recidivism and providing better rehabilitation for young defendants.

The County's new Legistar System (a new computer program) will enable outside hired attorneys to submit their payment orders themselves.  This should reduce transcribing errors, but attorneys and employees in the Clerk of the Court office will need to be trained in how to use the system correctly.

Judge Evans does not use the County's STAR performance management system but has stated "we are going to let the public know how close we are to standards."

Cook County Board Meeting September 11, 2013

The Finance Committee meeting met before the General Board meeting.  Of interest was elimination of the Office of Coroner, which is now the Medical Examiner office. Also, the Medical Examiner now has the power to cremate bodies.  Most big cities allow cremations, and this will allow the medical examiner's office to act more quickly to deal with remains of indigents, unless the remains are unidentified.  Cremation will save the County almost half the amount that it now costs the County to bury unclaimed bodies.

Two interesting agenda items, a proposal urging the IL General Assembly to create stricter criteria for who can serve as a Metra Board Director, and one asking for resignations from suburban Cook County Metra Directors, were moved to the Legislation Committee.

A very involved ordinance amendment dealing with Solid Waste and the county code was referred to the Finance Committee. 

An agreement between the Cook County Medical Examiner office and the Gift of Hope was proposed for organ and tissue donation.  After death, tissue can be retrieved for up to 24 hours.

Several contract extensions or transfers of funds to the Court System were approved.  There was a lot of discussion, particularly from Commissioner Sims, on the award of a contract to Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center, Olympia Field, and how the guidelines are written for an agency to bid for the business. Comm. Sims asked the representative from the Chief Judge's Office to arrange a meeting with Judge Evans to discuss the guidelines.

A new agenda item, offering a proposed resolution by Comms. Goslin and Schneider, urging the Illinois General Assembly to amend the Ethics Act, was sent to the Finance Committee.  Comm. Goslin explained that he sought to have County or board appointees to be included under the Act and used the Metra Board Members as examples of folks who would be covered with this resolution.  There was debate about which committee to refer this amendment to, and President Preckwinkle conferred with her counsel  who suggested that finance was the correct committee.  An amendment giving the Cook County Inspector General the authority to request the State's Attorney to enforce subpoenas was approved, with Comm. Sims voting present.

--Submitted by Laura Davis

Cook County Departmental Budget Hearings October 30, 2012

JTDC Administrator Expresses Concern with President’s Recommended Budget
Earl Dunlap, the Federal Court-Appointed Temporary Administrator of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), expressed concern that the President’s recommended JTDC budget of $42 million would not be enough and could either hamper the ability of the County to at last transition the JTDC from Federal Court supervision to the Chief Judge, or, if that transition occurs, hamper the Chief Judge’s ability to properly operate the facility.  Mr. Dunlap has presented the President with a $45.5 million budget. 

In particular, Mr. Dunlap is concerned that the President’s proposed budget relies on being able to close a second center within the JTDC (one is already closed) by June of 2013 based on being successful in the goal of lowering the daily population.  Mr. Dunlap pointed to the fact that as of that morning, there were 303 youths in the JTDC, which requires the use of the 3 current centers.  Mr. Dunlap says that the daily population can swing dramatically, and that it is common for there to be large increases over the weekend.  The problem is that there is no Judge on duty to make determinations on the weekend as to whether those youths picked up then need to be in the JTDC.  However, Mr. Dunlap did say that 46% of the population is there 7 days or less, which he says calls into question whether most of these youths needed to be in temporary detention at all.  So this is the area to look at if the daily population is to come down.

Budget Director Andrea Gibson told the County Board that unless the daily population does indeed drop, the second center will not be closed.  However, Ms. Gibson said that there is enough flexibility in the budget to handle keeping the third center open beyond June, and, if necessary, through the end of 2013.  Comm. Suffredin asked whether the Federal Judge overseeing the JTDC case has seen the President’s proposed budget.  Mr. Dunlap said “no.”  Comm. Suffredin suggested that the budget resolution to be passed by the Board be made flexible enough so the County could react to any concerns from the Court since the entire 2013 Budget is due to be passed before the Court will see the JTDC budget.

Mr. Dunlap, as in past years, expressed his disdain for the physical plant of the JTDC.   He also said that there were 2 main impediments to transitioning the JTDC to the Chief Judge:  (1) the critical safety issue resulting from a lack of video cameras, and (2) the lack of management technology.  However, there are capital dollars budgeted for 400 or so cameras to at last be installed at the JTDC.  These will provide evidence when youths complain about other youths or staff, and when staff complain about the youths’ behavior. 

A proposal is currently being reviewed by the County’s Chief Information Officer for a management system.  Related to that is the lack of any information from the Juvenile Probation and Court Services Department on youths being admitted to the JTDC.  However, since this department reports to the Chief Judge, it is unclear why information isn’t being given to the JTDC.

On the success side, Mr. Dunlap expressed his admiration for the majority of staff at the JTDC now.  He also said that the mental health services being provided to the JTDC are some of the best in the country.  

--Submitted by Priscilla Mims

2013 Budget Review October 30, 2012

Chief Judge of the Circuit Court, Tim Evans, spoke to commissioners on Tuesday, October 30th regarding his budget for the upcoming year--2013.  His main difference with President Toni Preckwinkle's recommendation for his office is that he wants 25 new employees to staff a Pre-trial Service Center at the court.  The duties of these employees would be to independently and objectively evaluate information given by prosecutors  and defense attorneys about a defendant regarding bail, bond, etc. before the trial takes place.   They would assess risk to the community and would make sure the rules are followed by defendants awaiting trial.  One goal of this is to keep more people out of jail before trial if they are low risk--at a savings of $145 per day.  Currently 57 other employees are doing this job along with their other duties.  He indicated that ideally 200 employees are needed for this Pre-trial Service Center as was the case during the 1990's. Budget Director Andrea Gibson suggested using vacancies already in the Chief Judge budget to fill those positions.  There was some talk of using "turnover" numbers of employees, but it was unclear whether this was effectively used by the Chief Judge last year.

Case Management of Defendants:
Several commissioners questioned the Chief Judge regarding communication between Sheriff Dart's office, the probation department and the courts.  It appears that complete information about defendants (place to stay, phone number, risk, etc.) is not transferred from the court to the Sheriff so that effective electronic monitoring could take place. The length of trials was also discussed (an increase of 3 days from last year), especially the number of continuances.  According to the Chief Judge, 94% of trials take 2 years or less to complete. Basically, the Sheriff is asking for more effective case management of defendants throughout their involvement with the court system.

Juvenile Defendant Issues:
Other commissioners brought up the lack of weekend court for juveniles. If they are arrested early on the weekend, there is no one to release them so they remain in jail for longer than an adult in a similar situation. Evans replied that state law does not require charge or release within 48 hours for juveniles. If the state law were changed, he would provide a weekend judge. There was also talk of supporting staff union issues preventing weekend work.

The Chief Judge is also in charge of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) which has had a temporary administrator for the past 5 years due to a court order to revamp that center.  Judge Evans feels the court order will soon be satisfied and that he can select a replacement by late spring of 2013.

After much back and forth on these and other issues, Commissioner Daley suggested a "sit down" between the Chief Judge's office and the Sheriff to work out their differences for a more effective system.

Mortgage mediation has again been budgeted at $3.5 million, though $500,000 of this was not spent last year and will be carried over to next year.  Ten full-time judges are assigned to mortgage mediation with about 8,000 cases per judge and over 500 days per case for the foreclosure process.  According to Judge Evans, there is a space issue with not enough courtrooms in the Daley Center to accommodate all these cases.

February 1, 2012 Cook County Board Meeting: Courthouses, the Morgue, and Redistricting

At this board meeting, a few “hot topics” were on the agenda and/or discussed but decisions regarding them were delayed.

First off, the controversy over closing suburban courthouses on weekends came up in a resolution that requested Chief Judge Tim Evans to review possible alternatives to completely closing these courthouses on the weekends. Originally these closures came about as a cost-saving measure for the County. Suburban police departments are concerned that they will bear additional costs and reduction of police on the streets
while having to transport detainees to the Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California Sts. in Chicago. The Chief Judge is expected to address this issue at the February 15th Board meeting.

Secondly, the recent news about bodies being piled up at the County morgue brought a proposed ordinance amendment by Comm. Fritchey to make it easier for the Board to fire the Medical Examiner. Currently, the Medical Examiner remains in this office until he/she resigns or is removed for cause. Fritcheyʼs amendment would allow removal by a majority vote on the Board. Most of the other commissioners voted to delay this vote until more information could be obtained from the Medical Examiner and others regarding the reasons for the delays in burials of indigents. Some commissioners pointed out that this amendment does not really address the issue of decreased funding for this office and other reasons for burial delays.

The Board passed a resolution to establish a special committee to redraw the districts for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. This is needed because the 2010 census shows changes in population numbers and location within Cook County. The special committee will consist of all 17 commissioners with Comm. Sims as chair and Comm. Silvestri as vice-chair. Many commissioners expressed their confidence that the county will use an “open, positive process”--(Comm. Schneider); “can be done better than the city & state”--(Comm. Fritchey); and a “good process for citizens”-- (Comm. Steele). The redrawn districts will be in effect for the next county board election in 2014.

Procedurally, this board meeting began 1/2 hour late and spent the first hour presenting and discussing honorary resolutions about various county residents. This observer would like to see this use of time dramatically shortened or better yet, done before the regular meeting. This observer was pleased to see that many commissioners are making efforts to briefly summarize ordinances and resolutions they
vote on (rather than just referring to the agenda number) so the audience can better follow the proceedings.

Submitted by Karin Hribar, observer

Nov. 10, 2011 Budget Meetings--Last Day of Meetings before the Voting Begins!

In this post:  Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, Chief Judge, Public Defender, and County Treasurer

This is the last day the Finance Committee is meeting with Elected Officials and Department Heads to go over their individual proposed budgets. On Monday, November 14, the Finance Committee is going to be considering and voting on proposed revenue increases. Proposed amendments to the budget are due on Wednesday, November 16. And the Finance Committee expects to debate and vote on the entire budget on Friday, November 18. The Commissioners on the Committee will likely then immediately reconvene as the County Board and vote to accept the budget as amended by the Finance Committee (which is composed of all the same people).

Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (“JTDC”)

This was probably the longest of the departmental meetings, lasting about 3 hours. However, during that time, there was no direct discussion of the fact that the President’s recommended budget is about $6 million less than the departmental request. Based on information from other sources within the budget books, the President expects the costs to be less than the department requested if more of the juveniles now being housed there can instead be placed in alternative places in the community. The Transitional Administrator, Earl Dunlap, did say that the Court would need to determine who would qualify for these alternative placements, but generally, it would be the juveniles who are now housed in the JTDC for 7 days or less (who comprise 67% of those admitted) and those who come in on bench warrants. Mr. Dunlap stressed that the JTDC is just a pre-trial facility and its purpose is for public safety, not for rehabilitation (and 80% of the population is there for 2 weeks or less). He also stressed that the JTDC is a costly operation and the County is getting very little for its investment. A fair number of the juveniles would be better served in community-based programs, but that is going to take a commitment from the communities, as well as the County and Judiciary.

The number housed in the JTDC is down considerably from the average of 402 in 2008; as of this July, there were 296 juveniles there. However, Mr. Dunlap said that the numbers could start going up based on legislation in Springfield which would treat 17-year olds, currently treated as adults, as juveniles instead. Mr. Dunlap said that he now has a great deal of confidence in the staff working there. Comm. Gainer and Silvestri commented that they have both seen a big improvement in the atmosphere there. While Mr. Dunlap said that the school at the JTDC has improved tremendously, Comm. Gainer still has concerns that further changes are necessary. For example, the school hours should start later (consistent with studies that show teenagers need more sleep in the morning) and run longer, so the juveniles have less free time in the afternoons.

Mr. Dunlap also vigorously defended the money budgeted for mental health services provided by the Isaac Ray Center. He said that there were 519 incidents requiring mental health expertise, 404 (78%) of which were due to suicide issues.

Upon questioning from Comm. Murphy, Mr. Dunlap said that the $24,000 salary increases for Asst. Superintendents is due to the fact that they were hired last year at a lower rate and now, after one year of service, he is convinced they can do the job and deserve the higher rate. He also explained that overtime is going up in the budget (by $500,000 over 2011) because the JTDC is reducing its reliance on contract employees (down by $2.4 million from 2011) now that the staff is more settled.

Mr. Dunlap said that he expects that in 2012 the JTDC’s transition from Federal Court supervision to coming under the supervision of the Cook County Chief Judge will at last take place.

Chief Judge

Chief Judge Timothy Evans explained that the budget submitted by his area called for 73 reduced positions, but that under the budget submitted by the President, 85 more positions would be lost. He is working on submitting a proposed amendment that would be budget neutral, but which would allow him to save those positions. 

There was some confusion in looking at the overall budget of the Chief Judge, because that includes all the departments under him, including that of the JTDC, even though it is still under Federal Court supervision. Judge Evans said that he has started the process of looking for a new head of the JTDC in anticipation of it coming under his supervision.

Comm. Gainer expressed concern that there are no measurements in place yet for determining the effectiveness of several different providers of services related to foreclosures, even though the contracts have been in place for 4 months, totaling $3.6 million. However, she also praised the specialty courts that have been established (e.g., for prostitution and veterans).

Judge Evans touted the fact that the judges have helped reduce the jail population by ordering electronic monitoring in lieu of incarceration for those who pose no threat. However, he says that 1/3 of those ordered to go on electronic monitoring actually do. He told the Commissioners to ask the Sheriff why the difference. (Ironically, in past years, the Sheriff was complaining to Commissioners that judges weren’t ordering electronic monitoring.) One of the costs incurred by the Sheriff is to transport inmates to court from the jail. Judge Evans said that he will allow video-conferencing in lieu of transport if the defendant waives the right to be in court. However, he also admitted that most defendants would take the opportunity to get out of the jail to appear in court. One of the cost savings in the overall budget is due to eliminating weekend bond courts in the suburban courts and having 26^th & California be the single location on the weekends. This was a cost savings that the Sheriff had pushed for several years, to which Judge Evans has now agreed.

Public Defender

Similar to the State’s Attorney, the Public Defender, the Hon. Abishi Cunningham, Jr., has agreed to a reduced budget, but warned the Commissioners that the cuts were getting dangerously close to not allowing the department to meet its mandate. He asked that any additional money that could be found would be directed to his office. Comm. Daley said that the President was working on an amendment which would restore some of the positions that have been cut, which include some 10 attorneys, 29 investigators, and 20 support people, which represent $2.8 million in cost savings.

County Treasurer

Treasurer Maria Pappas touted her budget which is a 6% reduction in General Funds from 2011, or a reduction of $150,000. She is utilizing $225,000 more from the Tax Sales Automation Fund, a special purpose fund that can only be used to cover automation-related expenses. She is very proud of the automation efforts of her department which have resulted over the past decade in a reduction of employees from 250 to 110 for 2012. In response to a question from Comm. Gainer, Treasurer Pappas said the state legislation which requires the tax sales to be moved earlier in the year to July results in about $5 million less per month. Previously, the Treasurer determined when to hold the sale.

-- reported by Priscilla Mims

Finance Committee Budget Hearings – Feb. 7, 2011

Offices under the President, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Inspector General, Sheriff, Chief Judge, & Juvenile Temporary Detention Center

During the course of these meetings a number of questions are raised by Commissioners that will be responded to outside the public forum in private meetings between the departments and individual Commissioners or in writing in response to written questions from the Commissioners that are shared with all Commissioners. Also, many of these questions and those that are answered in the public forum do not directly relate to the budget, but to the workings of the department.

Offices under the President

Composed of the Office of the President; Department of Human Rights, Ethics, Women's Issues; Judicial Advisory Council; and Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

As a totality, the budgets of these offices decreased by 17% from the General Funds, though individual areas may have increased. There were a number of questions about the entire budget, and it is clear that some Commissioners are still trying to understand why the cuts are necessary. Commissioner Sims pointed out that the County has not raised the property tax levy at all since the early 1990's. If the County were to levy the normal increase that most taxing bodies follow with regard to the growth in the CPI for this coming year, that would generate about $10.8 million more.

Despite the impression that some Commissioners had, the President's Chief of Staff state that all the new employees under the President are at salaries at or below their predecessors.

Commissioner Fritchey asked about possible overlap between the Dept. of Human Rights, Ethics, Women's Issues and the Independent Inspector General. Commissioner Gainer raised the issue of whether the Judiciary Advisory Council (a volunteer board) should have someone with experience in juvenile justice issues with the expectation that the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center is expected to move from federal court supervision to the Chief Judge and a new director will be needed. With regard to the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, several Commissioners expressed concern that the department is located downtown, where the City's and Federal equivalent departments are also located. There was talk of possibly re-locating to the Oak Forest county campus along with the Highway Dept.

Clerk of the Circuit Court (Dorothy Brown)

While the budget reflects only a small reduction of FTEs under the General Funds (and an overall increase of 85 FTEs when also considering Special Purpose Funds and Grants), the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Dorothy Brown, stated that under this budget 45 to 160 current employees would lose their jobs. The range is due to the fact that she is negotiating with the unions as to whether reductions in costs through furlough days or other means could be done in lieu of cutting positions. Commissioner Suffredin explained to this observer later that some of the FTE positions in the budget are funded at $1, meaning that those positions would not be filled unless money becomes available.

The Clerk stated that there is about a 1 to 4 ratio of supervisory personnel to workers, which tracks the number of non-union to union personnel.

Currently, electronic court filings are done only for commercial litigation, but the IL Supreme Court has approved expansion to all areas, which the Clerk expects to implement over the next 18 to 24 months. However, the IL Supreme Court continues to require the Clerk of the Court to print out one paper copy of each pleading. Thus, document storage will continue to be necessary. The Clerk is working with 17 other municipalities to implement electronic traffic citations that could be paid online. The Clerk provided the Commissioner with handouts containing ideas for revenue initiatives and cost savings initiatives, but these were not made available to the public.

Independent Inspector General (Patrick Blanchard)

The President proposes to increase this budget by $375,786 and add 2.9 FTE positions, including 6 new investigators (other positions are being dropped to net to the 2.9 FTEs) to deal with the issues being raised and in order to provide sufficient oversight of the county's compliance with the Shakman decree which is one of the pre-requisites in order that the county could come out from under federal court supervision. The cost of these additional investigators is far less than the costs the county is currently paying to cover the costs of the court-appointed Shakman overseer. Commissioner Fritchey asked about the Clerk of the Court having an inspector general in her office (with 20 FTEs and a $1 million budget) and whether it would make sense to merge that function with the Independent Inspector General (who said he thought it could be done).

Sheriff (Tom Dart)

Has cut his budget 12%, which includes a reduction of FTEs in all areas exception correctional officers at jail, where he is under court order to increase number. These budget cuts will result in the elimination of the graffiti unit and K9 drug unit that are used by suburban municipalities. There will also be fewer deputies assigned to provide security to the court rooms and to patrol the unincorporated areas, which concerns the Sheriff. About 100 current employees will be let go under this budget.

The Sheriff will also no longer be responsible for custodial duties in the courthouses. This function will be transferred to Facilities Management.

Sheriff Dart explained that while the average daily population of the jail has gone down considerably since he took office (due to such alternatives as electronic monitoring), the average stay of those incarcerated has increased by 1.9 days, which amounts to an extra $21 million, showing how important it is to speed up the court process and pursue alternatives to incarceration when safely possible for those awaiting trial.

Other ideas for cost savings that the Sheriff has suggested in prior years, which have not been implemented, include closing the suburban bond courts on weekends (freeing up about 50 Sheriff deputies for duties elsewhere that will cut down on overtime, as well as saving the costs of operating the building), using closed circuit television in lieu of transporting prisoners to court for routine appearances, imposing fees for electronic monitoring, instituting a fee on inmates who can afford it for doctor's visits, consolidation of the Forest Preserve police unit with the Sheriff, and providing video visits rather than personal visits to people in the jail (other than visits by attorneys).

The Chief Judge is going to provide the Sheriff with the means to increase revenues to the county by allowing the Sheriff to oversee about 1/3 of the foreclosed home sales (which are currently all done by private entities that get the revenues for handling the sales).

Commissioner Fritchey told Sheriff Dart that Facilities Management would like to charge back to the Sheriff the costs of repairing damage caused by vandalism inside the jail (see the Feb. 4 report). Sheriff Dart said that since most of the vandalism takes place inside the cells and the guards are not there, he does not believe there is anything he can do to prevent the vandalism, and he cannot absorb those costs.

The Sheriff is partnering with the President's office to look at ways to reduce the number of employees on family and medical leave, utilizing more sophisticated computer tools to alert of possible abuse. Having employees on leave, for whatever reason, raises the overtime needed. Commissioner Suffredin asked whether there could be any cost savings in this budget year that could be used to offset some of the cuts. The Commissioner also suggested the possibility of an ordinance allowing the county to "buy back" vacation and sick leave from employees who are retiring. This would mean the positions of these retiring employees would be vacated sooner, allowing the positions to be filled sooner and reducing overtime.

Commissioner Silvestri said he would like to explore having the suburban municipalities fund the graffiti unit in order to maintain it. Commissioners Murphy and Gorman stated they were against merging the Forest Preserve police into the Sheriff's department. Sheriff Dart said that if there weren't considerable cost savings, then he would not be interested in doing. Commissioner Garcia said he was concerned about reports that federal immigration service personnel were coming into the jail and holding and then deporting undocumented immigrants who were charged with minor offenses. Sheriff Dart said that his department was not working with the immigration personnel and they were not coming into the jail, but they were in the Criminal Courts building. Commissioner Reyes asked about the Boot Camp, an alternative to the State prison system for those convicted, and the Sheriff confirmed the recidivist rate is a relatively low 20%. The Sheriff would like to get additional funds from the State to expand it.

Chief Judge (Timothy Evans)

Judge Evans stated he had cut the budget by a greater amount than is shown in the proposed budget, and that 100 positions have been eliminated. He also said that by maxing out the Special Purpose Funds, he has provided the county with $17 million. However, it is not clear how this can be so.

The Chief Judge said that electronic monitoring has increased by 26%, and he is encouraging the judges to utilize this wherever appropriate since it saves the county about $147/day. He has pledged to work with the President to make sure that judges are imposing the maximum fees. He also said that he is willing to consider the Sheriff's suggestion to close suburban courts on weekends if the Sheriff can ensure that those arrested will be transported to 26^th and California for bond hearings on the weekend. He is concerned about using closed circuit television in lieu of prisoners being physically present in the court rooms for "routine appearances," since he is not sure what is meant by "routine."

Judge Evans discussed a plan to create a new Diversion Program with the State's Attorney that would include a new court division to review bond amounts and consider electronic monitoring.

Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (Earl Dunlap)

This is still under federal court supervision, and it is the court which sets the budget, which is slightly higher ($10,000 more) than in 2010 with 1 less FTE. Mr. Dunlap said that he hoped to have the staffing plan fully implemented by June. He said the Board should consider feasibility and needs assessment for the physical plant. Mr. Dunlap stated that the existing building is not appropriate. Further, the county is getting very little return on its investment in the JTDC. It would be better to put the money into the community to prevent the need for a JTDC. On the plus side, the county has some good alternatives to the JTDC, which is evidenced by the relatively low population of around 340. However, 98% of the young people housed at the JTDC are African American or Latino. The observer left at 6:30 pm, prior to the completion of the questioning by Commissioners.

-- submitted by Priscilla Mims

Nov. 9, 2009 Finance Committee Meeting to Review the Proposed Budget--Chief Judge

Chief Judge Timothy Evans explained that while the Executive (proposed) Budget presented by the President has a 1.1% increase over 2009, the Chief Judge had sought a 3.3% increase due to the increase in juvenile justice cases (now handling 17 year olds charged with non-violent crimes, but the Chief Judge says that the money from the State that used to go to the Criminal Courts for these cases has not come over to the Juvenile Justice system), more domestic violence cases, and the mortgage foreclosure crisis.  However, the Chief Judge reported that he has applied for and received grant funding for probation officer positions that had been cut in the Executive Budget, so he will seek an amendment to add those positions back.  Chairman Daley asked the Chief Judge about the backlog of criminal justice cases that the Sheriff had discussed.  The Chief Judge said that there had been great strides in eliminating the backlog and currently, 94% of the cases are disposed of within 2 years.  With regard to the Sheriff’s comments that more arrestees should be on electronic monitoring, the Chief Judge said that 1/3 of those arrested are on electronic monitoring or on their own reconnaissance.  The Chief Judge also said that the Sheriff’s proposal to close courtrooms after 6 pm would not be feasible because it is in the evening that the Traffic Safety School, Juvenile Deferred Prosecution program, Victim Impact panels and other programs run.  He also expressed concern over the impact that municipalities would have if the weekend bond court closings were done as the Sheriff had suggested.    

Commissioner Beavers said that he feels that the Interim Administrator of the Juvenile Detention Center is spending too much money and is concerned that long time employees are being laid off just because they don’t have college degrees.  The Chief Judge said that the Juvenile Detention Center still has not been turned over to him, but that he has heard that that might occur by June.  [As a result of a lawsuit, a federal court has appointed an Interim Administrator who reports to the court.  Once the federal court feels that sufficient improvements at the Center have been made, then it would go back to being run by the County.  Previously, the Center was under the President, but as a result of state legislation that was passed after the federal court took jurisdiction, the Chief Judge will assume responsibility prospectively.]  The Chief Judge pointed out that the Interim Administrator would be appearing before the Finance Committee that afternoon and Comm. Beavers could address his concerns directly to him.  [However, Comm. Beavers was not present then – see the post for the Juvenile Detention Center.]

--submitted  by Observer Pris Mims