No Lack of Input at Second Public Hearing on Proposed Budget

2016 Budget Public Hearing:  Maybrook Court House, Maywood,  November 5, 2015,  6:30 PM.

The hearing began on time and had 12 commissioners present. The hearing was chaired by Comm. Boykin. 

Approximately 25 people spoke, some alone and some on behalf of groups with many people standing at the podium.
Many people spoke out against the e-cigarette tax, one even claiming that such a tax would increase the amount of people who smoked regular cigarettes. One speaker was the owner of a “Vape” shop and worried about the loss of business that might occur. Also noted were several speakers who wanted more money for Restorative Justice programs. A group called Peacekeepers handed out sheets of statistics to the commissioners about lowering recidivism rates. These folks were very polite and thanked the board for the $500,000 donation to their group. Conversations about budget balancing ensued. Finally, Reclaim Chicago spoke about the Responsible Business Act. It basically taxes employers who pay less than a fair wage.

   

Some other interesting speakers included the Mayor of Lyons who complained about the 3% Amusement Tax hurting seniors the most. The Commissioners thanked this mayor profusely for the recent regulations placed on the gun shop in Lyons. Other speakers complained about the same tax. Comm. Daley stated that this tax probably would not happen.

A doctor from Access to Care based at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood asked for more funding. Some discussion ensued about treating illegal immigrants. Comm. Suffredin said that he would work with this program to try to come up with a solution to this problem. Others complained about county taxes treating illegals. Comm. Garcia said CCHHS has a mission to treat everyone equally and doctors have an oath to treat the sick.

The SEIU (state unionized workers) speaker complained about cutting the grafitti removal team because it has been very successful. A speaker from Safer Foundation thanked the board for its support in the past. Several cancer patients thanked the board for County Care and the expansion of Medicaid. Many had had no health care at all until 2 years ago.
 

A huge group from TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities) came to the podium. They explained their mission and looked forward to working with the State’s Attorney's Office and the Jail by expanding diversion programs. Another speaker asked for more county facilities to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. She complained about both downtown county buildings and the difficulties wheelchair bound people have negotiating some of the doors and elevators.

   

The most emotional part of the evening came when one speaker (calling himself “just a taxpayer") complained about the increasing sales tax which makes Cook County have the highest sales tax in the nation. Comm. Sims said that it was a fair tax because it hits everyone who shops in Cook County evenly. She became emotional when she told everyone how difficult it was to balance this budget when all groups are asking for more money.

--Submitted by Jan Goldberg

Opposition to Tax on Cable TV and E-Cigarettes; $2 Million for Restorative Justice; Tax on Corporations Paying Less than Living Wage; and Lost Animals Raised at Public Meeting

2016 Cook County Proposed Budget:  Public Hearing at the County Building, November 3, 2015

Lawrence Msall, on behalf of the Civic Federation, after complimenting the County government for the actions taken with regard to criminal justice reform, health care, and rationalizing the workforce, said that with regret, the Civic Federation could not support the proposed budget. The opposition was mainly to the 1% increase in the sales tax that the Board had approved this summer, and on which this budget is based.  The Civic Federation cited the competitive disadvantage the Board was creating for the many businesses in Cook County, particularly those on the County’s borders. 

However, in response to a question by Commissioner Suffredin, the Civic Federation thinks the $30 million in additional taxes and fees that are part of this budget proposal are reasonable.  This was clearly not what the Commissioner wanted to hear, as he expressed his concerns about these revenue proposals.   Subsequently, the Chamber of Commerce expressed its opposition to extending the amusement tax to (or rather eliminating the current exemption for) cable television.  There were several other speakers similarly expressing opposition, as well as one speaker in favor.  Chairman Daley stated that in talking with the individual Commissioners, it seemed unlikely that the Board would pass the expansion of the amusement tax, so the Commissioners will have to come up with proposals to cover the $18 million projected from this tax, either through other new revenues or through cost cuts.

Several speakers also voiced opposition to the proposed tax on E-cigarettes. 

Several speakers called on the Board to increase the $500,000 for restorative justice programs in the budget to at least $2 million. The dialogue between a couple of the Commissioners and one of the speakers got a little heated at one point, as the Commissioners explained that they supported more money for restorative justice programs, but also were faced with trying to balance the budget.  The speaker argued that if the County would stop spending so much on the jail, it could fund restorative justice, which would do much to reduce the jail population.  Commissioners pointed out that they have a responsibility to see that there is sufficient money for the jail in order to protect the public from those committing crimes.

Several speakers spoke in support of a proposed ordinance (the “Responsible Business Act”) that would impose a tax on employers who had 750 or more employees making less than a “living wage.”  Chairman Daley pointed out that this proposal is not part of the budget, and has been referred to a Board committee for separate consideration.

Several speakers also urged that the focus of the Animal Control Department of the County be expanded to include helping owners find their lost pets. 

One speaker complained about the Health & Hospitals System treating undocumented immigrants.  Chairman Daly stated that the mission of the County’s health system has always been to treat everyone.

Next Steps

The Finance Committee finished its last department meeting on Nov. 2, and has one more public hearing at the Maybrook Courthouse at 6:30 pm on November 5.  Chairman Daley indicated that the deadline for the Commissioners to submit amendments to the proposed budget would likely be next week, but had not been finalized.  Check on the budget calendar.  A meeting of the Finance Committee to vote on these amendments and the resulting budget will then be held, followed by the Board meeting to vote on the budget, as amended.

-- submitted by Priscilla Mims, League Observer

Jail Population Down, But the Mentally Ill, Illegal Guns and Other Challenges for Sheriff

2016 Cook County Proposed Budget:  Sheriff, November 2, 2015

In his opening remarks, Sheriff Dart announced the closing of 3 divisions (the oldest ones) of the Cook County Jail since the population is down. He wanted to make it very clear that he had an understanding with President Preckwinkle, however, that if the jail population should spike again, money would be set aside to rebuild a division. Currently, the jail population is around 8,000, down from over 10,000 just a few years ago. Electronic monitoring, in lieu of detention, accounts for about 2,000 at present. He does not want to get into a situation in which overcrowding is a problem.  However, he pointed out that his mental health division is always overcrowded. He also talked about the high numbers of illegal guns his officers have confiscated in the southern suburbs.

   

Many commissioners asked about the cost savings of closing 3 divisions. The sheriff made the point that the cost savings for the closings cannot be measured “dollar for dollar”.  For example, when he closes these divisions, the employees who used to staff them, along with the personnel costs, are not let go.  Instead, he utilizes those employees within the other buildings in order to bring down the high costs of overtime.  While the jail population is down, he has more people to attend to who are on Electronic Monitoring. He also is spending more on health care professionals in his mental health unit and special treatment center. He is also training several police forces in the southern suburbs and sending more officers to those areas throughout the county that need help.

Commissioner Boykin called the sheriff the “best sheriff in all of the USA" and commended him for doing a difficult job quite well. Most of the commissioners had a great deal of praise for the job Sheriff Dart was doing. When asked about mental health, the sheriff spoke at length about his new Mental Health Treatment Setting in the area that was once the boot camp. He also said that the heroin epidemic was tied to some extent to the issue of mental health in that some detainees use heroin instead of prescription drugs to ease their difficulties.

Commissioner Garcia asked about the role of the new Gun Violence Coordinator that was just approved by the Board. Sheriff Dart explained the work he and the sheriffs from several counties in NW Indiana are doing in order to work together to stop the sale of illegal guns. This coordinator could help with that. In addition he praised the Lyons government and the gun shop in Lyons which negotiated on a new ordinance that, among other things, institutes a requirement for the gun shop to have a “Do Not Sell List” for people who are known to be purchasing guns for others (“straw buyers”). This store will also notify the police if a person is turned down for a sale. The coordinator could help this become the model for other towns. (Three gun stores were recently sued for perpetuating gun violence. The Lyons Gun Store settled out of court with these new rules).

Commissioner Murphy asked if the old Boot Camp program was completely gone. The sheriff explained that he stopped the old program because the results did not warrant the cost and did not assist the men in the program in getting a job. The new program is training detainees in carpentry, plumbing, and other trades by tearing down and refreshing abandoned buildings throughout the county.  He is sure that the new program will have better results. She also asked about using the RICO statute to go after gang leaders. He thought that RICO was a very complicated statute and is tough to use in prosecution. He also noted that the “War on Drugs” has failed.

Commissioner Suffredin appreciated that closing 3 buildings would not bring the massive savings that everyone wanted. He did want to know where most of the increase in costs proposed in the budget were being applied. The sheriff said that mostly the costs went to COLA’S and step increases for employees.  He also said that his IT budget was higher than before. There was some talk later on among Commissioners Daley, Gainer and the sheriff about pulling back some automatic raises for non-union employees in departments under the elected officials that are due to take effect December 1 in order that the elected official could reallocate the money to reflect job performance. Daley said that this idea could be considered at the Nov. 18 Board Meeting (the last one before Dec. 1).   

No one at this hearing discussed STAR goals or targets, but the budget book mentioned several. Some of the overall goals for the Sheriff’s Office include compliance with the Shakman decision in hiring, reviewing revenues to bring down costs, and having more transparency for his programs. For the sheriff's police some STAR goals include improving the Child Protection Response unit and more illegal gun recovery. And for the jail some STAR goals include enrolling more detainees in mental health programs and improving the discharge procedures so that detainees know where they can get mental health help, housing and job information.

Submitted by Jan Goldberg, League Observer

Cook County Justice Advisory Council Budget Hearing

2016 Cook County Budget Hearings:  Office of the President/Justice Advisory Council
October 23, 2015

Lanetta Haynes Turner is the 2^nd Executive Director since the Council was formed by the President in 2011.  Its mission is to work collaboratively with key stakeholders in the County’s criminal and juvenile justice system to reduce the population of the Cook County Jail and the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, while ensuring systematic and community supports to reduce recidivism and increase public safety.

2015 Accomplishments:

• Jail population is down below 8,000 on average.  Currently more than 45% of detainees are out on a no money bond or electronic monitoring [compared to 19% before the stakeholder intervention and collaboration]. 
• Worked with the IL General Assembly and other County Stakeholders to pass a law increasing the age of automatic transfer of juveniles to adult court from 15 to 17 with murder and rape as the exceptions. 
• Continued to work on systemic reforms including sitting at the table of the IL State Supreme Court mandated regular stakeholder meetings to address pre-trial and diversion issues in the County’s Circuit Court. 
• Secured a MacArthur Grant to implement and assess the pre-trial assessment tool selected by the Chief Judge and other issues pertinent to Bond Court. 
• Will pilot a 24/7 Community Triage Serve to serve behavioral arrests or pre-arrests involving mental illness or drug addiction.

Issues

• While Grant Money has been used to reduce violence and improve recidivism, Commissioner Boykin wants more used to specifically address Gun Violence.  The division of 2016 grants monies is:  $1.9 m for violence prevention; $800,000 for recidivism; and $500,000 for restorative justice. 
• Commissioners wanted the savings from the jail diversion and demolition programs applied to violence reduction and mental health.  Only $500,000 of the savings of $3.2 million was applied to this purpose and was used to keep the 2016 JAC budget the same as 2015.

Submitted by Diane Edmundson

 

Hearing on Opiate Addiction and Usage, Legislative Committee of the Cook County Board, April 29, 2015

The Legislative Committee held hearings on Opiate Addiction and Usage on April 29, 2015 at 2:25 pm.    A complete video of the testimony by various experts may be viewed below.

http://cook-county.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=1134

Commissioners Gorman and Suffredin called the hearings to try to understand opiate addiction to be able to address cost and treatment issues for the Criminal Justice System and HHS in Cook County.

Commissioners Butler, Boykin, Sims, and Garcia were also present, although nearly everyone had left by the end of the meeting almost 2 hours later. 

The hearings called many experts in Cook County and beyond to help explain the patterns and origins of opiate addiction.  Drug poisoning has overtaken motor vehicle accidents for deaths in Illinois and around the nation.

Usage is well distributed all over suburban Cook County, according to Dr. Mason, a specialist in treatment for non-Chicago Cook County area hospitals.

Opiate addicts typically start using and abusing OTC (over the counter) opioids like Vicodin, Tylenol 3, Oxycontin.  When they can no longer justify a medical excuse for obtaining OTC “legal” opioids, they switch to heroin.

Dr. Timothy Condon works with TASC as the Chief Science Officer, and is at the National Institute of Drug Abuse:  Drug abuse is a disease which is treatable.  It is a brain disease.  Death rates from opiates in the Northeast and Midwest are six times higher than in 2006-2007.  Nationally abuse is concentrated in non-Hispanic Whites and Black users.  We now have tools to deal with opiate addiction, which we did not in the past.  It doesn’t matter what is in the syringe, whether it is heroin or an opiate prescription drug, the user is still an addict, and has to be treated.

Narcan or Naloxone is a powerful “new” drug that can revive people who ordinarily would have died from an opiate overdose, but Narcan does not treat the addiction.

The drug of choice for treating opiate addiction is Naltrexone.  Unlike the imperfect Methadone “treatment” that likewise created dependency, Naltrexone is an addiction agonist so it blocks the euphoria that the opiate creates in the brain.  Vivitrol is the time-release version of Naltrexone.

Dr. Eka Jones is with the Sheriff’s office inside the Women’s Justice program for mental health and drug treatment within Cook County Jail.  More than 50% of her enrollees cited heroin as their drug of choice.  Drug treatment has to be tailored to meet individual needs.

Dr. Minella, the Head of Cermak Mental Health Clinic at the Cook County Jail, has been there since 1991.  Everyone gets screened for physical and mental issues during Cook County jail intake, and about 80% have substance histories.  12% actively use heroin of the intake population at the jail.  Of the 500 people in the Detox unit every month, about 80% are heroin users, committing crimes to get heroin.  The inmates are very vulnerable when in detox and the issue is that they don’t stay long enough to get off the substance.  25% leave within 2 days, and 50% leave within 12 days.  6 weeks is considered the proper amount of time to get someone off of opiate addiction.

Judge Charles Byrne from 26^th Street courthouse has the Drug Treatment Court.  Addicts have to be dealt with differently from young people who are caught for the first time.  80% of addicts are heroin “frequent fliers” where they have been in and out of jail and the penitentiary between 5 and fifteen times.  You have to try to get them clean.  Every $1 spent in treatment saves $2 later.  They are typically using $200 to $300 in heroin each day.  They need to be supervised in a sober environment.  If they complete the treatment program, 85% of them stay out of the criminal justice system for at least one year.  74% non-recitivism after three years.  They need jobs as well so they can be able to make money.  Everyone who graduates from the program gets their case dismissed.  Many groups now, including the CTA, have a felon-hiring program.  The drug treatment program gets funded from Judge Evans’ budget.

Dr. Aix, a Stroger Emergency Room doctor and head of Toxicology at Stroger, says we are in the middle of an opioid epidemic.  It began to take off in 2000 when there was over-prescription of opioid OTC drugs.  The opiate prescription drugs lure teens into experimentation.

At Stroger ER there are 5000 patients admitted for drug overdoses in a year, with 20% of them repeat overdosers.

There needs to be an increase in Detox and addiction facilities. 

There are two pilot programs being tested by the State of Illinois in Winnebago County and Madison County.  Both use Vivitrol for long term easing off of opiates, and both use community treatment and outreach to maintain the link to support once the person has left jail.  They use Medicaid to treat people in jail.

Another speaker, Joel Johnson, at HRDI, Human Resources Development Institute, said it was very hard to get Medicaid to pay for Vivitrol treatment, even though it has proven successful.

Chief Scofield, Fire Chief in Orland Park, testified that Orland Park went from 3 to 70 overdoses in the last ten years.  The families are embarrassed and hide their kids and the addiction from the public.

Chief Roberts, head of the Cook County Forest Preserve police, lost his son to a heroin overdose in 2009.  There were 7000 deaths in the nation in 2007, 43,000 in 2014.  He is happy to see the Cook County Board doing something proactive.

Dr. Dan Lustig of the Haymarket Center said that heroin addicts need 6 or 7 treatments of Vivitrol before “freedom from opiates” can take hold.

Sally Thorin, Executive Director of Gateway Foundations, says there are three key parts of treatment.  Proper diagnosis, therapeutic mindfulness, and Vivitrol treatment.

Respectfully submitted by Amy Little