Department Review Meetings for 2014 Budget: Thursday afternoon, October 17, 2013

Offices under the President, Auditor, Bureau of Administrative

Hearings, & Department of Facilities Management

Kimberly Fox, who previously headed up the Commission on Women and is now President Preckwinkle’s  Deputy Chief of Staff, presented the budget for the Offices under the President.  The 27 positions and $3.2 million proposed budget include the following departments: Public Affairs, Legal & Legislative Affairs, and the Justice Advisory Council.  The Commission on Women’s Issues, which has no separate positions or budget for 2014, now falls under the Office of the President.  The Justice Advisory Council, headed by Juliana Stratton, is to work collaboratively with those primarily responsible to safely reduce the population of the Cook County Jail and the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.  President Preckwinkle has also given the group the mandate to improve the efficiency and fairness of the criminal justice system by fostering collaboration. 

Chief Auditor Shelly Banks said that following the county-wide risk assessment program that has been completed, the Audit Department has developed an audit plan based on this which is expected to entail 24 audits for 2014.  She confirmed that she has the authority to audit County contractors. The Health & Hospitals System has its own internal audit department.

John Allen, who heads the Bureau of Administrative Hearings, talked about the improvements in this area.  To catch up on a backlog, the administrative judges are currently holding hearings 2 days a month, and the case load has increased to 500/day.  The morning docket is set aside for arraignments, and the afternoon for trials.  This division means that people no longer have to be there all day waiting for their case to be called. This Bureau has absorbed hearings for the Department of Human Rights.  The costs per hearing are averaging just $17.  Commissioner Suffredin raised a concern about the Assessor, under new state legislation, now being able to appoint hearing officers, but the Assessor’s budget reflects a higher cost for such hearing officers.  Mr. Allen said that he had offered to handle the Assessor’s hearings, but the Assessor turned him down.*  

James D’Amico heads up the Department of Facilities Management, and he talked about the STAR Performance Management program has assisted the department in speeding up and improving their processes in maintaining the County’s many buildings.  The average costs for the County are far less than those reported by the Building Owners and Managers Association for privately owned buildings in Chicago.  There has been a $2 million reduction in costs to the County as a result of transferring the custodial work under the Sheriff to his department. 

* Note:  when Assessor Joseph Berrios subsequently appeared on Oct. 21, he stated that volume of cases is relatively small and the salaries of his two hearing officers reflect the fact that they have other duties.

-- Priscilla Mims, Observer

Dept. Reviews Cook County 2013 Budget, October 22, 2012

Contract Compliance Director Shannon Andrews (new to the position) explained that this MBE/WBE/VBE office now includes Veterans (as well as minorities and women) in the effort to increase the use of  businesses run by these groups in Cook County contracts.  A relatively new ordinance was passed to accommodate this.  There are 10 FTE employees in this office.  Some accomplishments this year have been to make the registration process easier and more streamlined for these businesses, tracking contract compliance businesses, and having more outreach to minority-, women-, and veteran-run businesses.  The City of Chicago and Cook County now have the same requirements which should make it easier for these businesses to comply.  This year 19% of contracts have been awarded to minority-owned  and 5% to women-owned businesses.

Procurement/Purchasing Agent Lourdes Koss has been working on efficiencies and savings. This department has been training vendors on how to do business with the county.  She has been working on quicker bidding process because so many contracts are extended  instead of being re-bid on time. The cycle time for all contracts is still too high:  64 days for contracts under $25,000 and 264 days for larger contracts.  Much of the department has been restaffed from clerical to professional status and 35% of them are ready to take the qualifying Certified Public Professional Buyer exam.

Several commissioners questioned the use of consulting firm Accenture.  Concerns centered around this company getting paid to reduce expenses (for example in electricity use) when they really had no input on lower prices.  Another commissioner became angry at "middleman" use for office supplies.  Comm. Daley explained that the board had passed an ordinance--"procurement code"--which describes this process.  He did not feel the commissioners could exempt themselves from this code.

Kurt Summers, Chief of Staff, Office of the President explained that fiscal responsibility and streamlined methods transparency and accountability were goals of this office.  The budget calls for a $1.56 million decrease and lower staff numbers.  There are now 16 FTE employees.  The President's Office has partnered with 30 companies on a pro bono basis to improve services and lower costs.   They have reduced energy usage, produced on-time tax bills to save local governments money, and reduced hiring time.  Salaries for new hires are lower than under past administrations.  One commissioner expressed concern that there still isn't an attorney hired for the Board of Commissioners to help with ordinance writing and legal research.  It was explained that candidates have been interviewed and that several commissioners submitted members of their own staff for this position.

The newly named Justice Advisory Council deals with juvenile justice efforts and criminal justice in general.  They have been working on a bond court study to reconfigure bonds for low-risk offenders--reducing bonds so those awaiting trial  do not have to remain in jail.   Other areas of concern reducing the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center population as it is very expensive to house these youth and seems to be unproductive for their eventual release in society.  Fifty fewer youth detainees were held this year than last and the goal is to reduce the population even further.  Employment, housing, and healthcare for released detainees/prisoners is also a concern of this department.

The revamped Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department is designed to prepare for any type of incident--natural and man-made--that might arise in Cook County.  This department has had a lot of controversy in the past and it appears that reorganization, accountability, and more efficient use of equipment are goals.  There is also an increase in obtaining federal grants and in their efficient use.

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