Commissioners Praise Completion of Labor Contracts and Others Complain about Hiring Software Tool

2016 Cook County Proposed Budget:  Bureau of Human Resources, Oct. 22, 2015

Martha Martinez, the head of the Bureau of Administration, is also currently the Interim Bureau Chief for the Bureau of Human Resources.  Her slide presentation can be found at http://cook-county.legistar.com under “Meeting Details” for the Finance Committee meeting of Oct. 22.  This Bureau is responsible for all the human relations activities for departments under the jurisdiction of the President.

Commissioner Suffredin noted that for the first time since he has been a Commissioner, this Bureau expects to have completed all, or all but 2 small contracts currently in arbitration, contracts for union employees through 2017.  In the past, the Bureau was still negotiating contracts for periods of time that had already expired. 

Commissioners Sims and Steele, however, complained about the Taleo software system which helps sort applications for positions, weeding out those which do not appear to have the minimum requirements, and then randomly selecting 10 applicants at a time for interviews from those applications which meet the minimum requirements.  This system was put into place as part of the County’s efforts to comply with the Shakman decree, which outlaws patronage hiring for the vast majority of County positions.  Ms. Martinez urged that the Commissioners advise anyone complaining to Commissioners that they are not getting interviews to contact the Bureau so it can see whether the applicants are qualified, whether they are completing the application correctly, or whether they are simply not being called for interviews because of the random selection process that is being used to avoid the appearance of favoritism.

-- Priscilla Mims

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting Wednesday, December 4, 2013

One item from the Finance Committee was to move a proposed resolution by Larry Suffredin-- Creating “Accountability Charges” for Violations of the Shakman Consent Decree-- to the litigation committee.  This resolution would deduct an amount equal to five percent (5%) of the total amount assessed for violation of the Shakman Consent Decree from the department’s operating funds and transfer those monies to the Cook County Self Insurance Fund.

One of the new agenda items from the Finance Committee dealt with the authorization of a contract with WestCare Foundation to supply substance abuse and mental health treatment programs for the Department of Corrections.  There was a lot of public testimony against this contract from current employees who fear losing their jobs, impact of wages, and increase in turnover.

Public testimony was given by Sharon Mulruney from Defend the Vote. She expressed concern with party affiliated judges presiding over another party’s voting machines. She stated that this is a clear violation of legal voting systems. The website for Defend the Vote states concerns with election security.

Before the start of the main board meeting, there was a recognition of several local communities and their involvement in Homeland Security. Over 30 people were recognized for their past and current service.

One agenda item dealt with new Time and Attendance Software that will be introduced in the county. Commissioner Daley asked if all separately elected officials would also be part of this new software program. He was told that the software would be converted over to cover all employees. The goal is to move all payroll processing from manual to computerized and improve accuracy and timeliness of payroll processing.

There was a great deal of discussion regarding the annual calendar of the regular cook county board meetings for 2014. Comments from commissioners who felt that there were too few meetings (formerly every 3 weeks in 2013 to 11 total meetings in 2014) included concerns that there may be too few meetings to get the work done and public perception of the how much work the commissioners were doing. Commissioners who supported the smaller schedule commented that the new efficiency of the board meetings allowed for fewer meetings, and Commissioners would be able to get more work done in their own districts.  The resolution approving the shorter meeting agenda was passed 10 to 6 with one commissioner absent.

The highlight of the presentation from John Yonan, Superintendent of the Dept. of Transportation and Highways, was the genuine praise from the commissioners for the work that John has done.  He was praised for his work ethic and ability to work with IDOT, the city, and suburban cook county governments, and coming up with practical solutions.

Submitted by Laura Davis, Palatine Area League of Women Voters

Cook County Departmental Budget Hearings October 29, 2012

Health & Hospitals System’s Budget Balanced Thanks to Receiving 1115 Waiver from Fed. Govt. 

David Carvalho, Chair of the Board of the Cook County Health & Hospitals System (HHS), and Dr. Ram Raju, Chief Executive Officer of HHS, both expressed their great pleasure and relief that they were able to announce that the HHS had received an 1115 Medicaid Waiver from the Federal Government allowing them to enroll people now with incomes less than 133% of the poverty level and receive the Medicaid portion from the Federal Government, which is 48 cents on the dollar billed.  Currently, HHS might not be receiving even that amount.  In 2014, when the Affordable Health Care Act goes into effect, HHS will receive 100 cents on the dollar from the Federal Government for these people for 3 years, when it will drop down to 90 cents on the dollar.  (The State of Illinois is supposed to be supplying the remaining portion, but given the State’s financial condition, HHS is not expecting to receive any amount any time soon.)

As a result of this Waiver, HHS was presenting a balanced budget to the Cook County Board, albeit with a continuing subsidy from the County.  HHS expects to net $99 million over the costs of implementing the Waiver.  Absent the Waiver, HHS would have had a $99 million budget shortfall.  However, HHS has to do several things to maintain the Waiver, including signing up 115,000 people under the program.  HHS already has 67,000 qualifying people in its system and there are another 47,000 people in other federally qualified programs.  HHS estimates that there are 215,000 people in Cook County who would qualify under the program, meaning there are another 100,000 or so people that HHS could potentially sign up.  Work is underway to develop methods for reaching out to these people.

2013 Critical to Transforming HHS

Dr. Raju said that the 2013 budget presented to the Board is critical to transforming the health care system under the County to a patient-centered model.  When the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014, many of the patients Cook County currently serves will now have health insurance and thus will have more options for care.  In order to keep patients with insurance who can pay for the care HHS provides, it is critical that they view HHS as an attractive option.  Otherwise, HHS will be left with only those patients who do not qualify to obtain insurance. 

While HHS continues to need significant dollars from the County to balance the HHS budget, Dr. Raju pointed to improvements in the HHS collecting fees from patients.  Revenues are up $100,000 more than in 2011, and physicians are at last billing for their services, with $5.2 million collected already thus far in 2012, and $12 million projected in 2013.  In addition, significant cost savings are being realized due to supply chain improvements.

Dr. Raju said that HHS needs to hire 444 people this year, with 144 positions needing to be filled in the next 8 to 10 weeks, and a plan to hire about 30 new people a month beyond that.  Dr. Raju stressed that HHS actually needs more people, but this budget reflects what can realistically be done during the course of the year.  He also stressed that he has eliminated all positions that won’t be filled this year.  (Often, departments maintain approved positions, but carry them at a $1/year salary.  All such positions have been eliminated from this HHS budget.)

Mr. Carvahlo stressed that one problem facing HHS is that the upper level salaries are not competitive enough to attract the talent needed.  HHS is working with Human Resources and the Shakman Compliance Officer to streamline the hiring process.

Patients from Outside Cook County

Based on a past survey, about 7% of the population being served through HHS comes from outside of the County, which amounts to about $25 to $30 million in costs.  In the past, HHS has not done a good job of keeping track of these people, but expects to do so in the future.  A new Illinois law prohibits a hospital that provides care from billing a patient whose income is less than 200% of poverty, no matter where the patient lives.  But a hospital is not obligated to provide care, except in emergency situations to save the patient’s life.  Currently, HHS provides all care.  The HHS Board is starting to have discussions as to whether there needs to be a change in policy for patients who come from outside the County.  Commissioner Tobolski stressed that Cook County taxpayers cannot continue to be asked to pay for care given to people from outside the County.

--Submitted by Priscilla Mims

Cook County 2013 Budget Departmental Reviews, October 22, 2012

October 22, 2012  Bureau of Finance
(CFO, Revenue, Risk Management, Budget and Management, Comptroller)

Commissioners Absent:  Butler, Goslin, Reyes, Murphy, Tobolski

CFO Tariq Malhance presented the balanced budget which had its audits done on time, is paying down the debt, is increasing efficiencies through collaboration with Chicago, and has shown savings in employee health care costs of 1/2 million per month.  This and other practices earned them AAA bond rating allowing lower interest rates for borrowing.

 Highlights of the budget is that it is down 2% from last year and has a revenue shortfall of $267.5 million  (Expenditures-Revenue=Shortfall).  The shortfall has been less each year of the last 3 years.  This gap is closed by eliminating 462 positions, most of which are vacant anyway; employee health care savings; and a hoped-for waiver of $99 million from the state to add non-paying residents to the Medicaid rolls.

Also some additional new taxes are proposed:  an additional $1.00 per pack of cigarettes ($25.6 million); a non-titled use tax for purchases made outside of Cook County by businesses, contractors and residents of Cook County ($15 million); tax on bullets & guns ($1million); gambling machine tax of $800 per machine ($1.3 million).

Special Purpose Funds are down 13.9%,  from $156,221,000 last year to $117,220,000 in the new budget.  Full Time Equivalent employee count is down about 400 positions to 21,526 employees for the next fiscal year.  New hires in Finance Department are 48 employees.  Some new hires will work on Technology and Capital Projects.  Others will be in area of tobacco tax enforcement.

There was a long discussion about the approach to revamping technology for the county.  Twelve new hires will need to start on preparing the scope of new systems. There were questions on why hiring of these important, high-level positions takes so long.  It appears that the Compliance Monitor  (and the inspector general and the plaintiffs) of the Shakman decree are taking up to 6 months to  decide whether a position is Shakman exempt.   These decisions are being negotiated among the parties involved.  Also not enough resumes of qualified people are coming in, probably because of the lower pay compared to private business. It was suggested that perhaps a headhunter could be hired to more efficiently find these needed employees.

Risk management, which deals with employee benefits, liability, safety and workers compensation, has also produced some savings in the new budget.   They have 22 employees with some of the newer hires dealing with disability leave checks.  There have been savings in employee and detainee medical rates. Seventy percent of employees are now in an HMO plan and detainees in the jails have a reduced Medicaid rate.  There has been a $293 million reduction in fringe benefit expenditures.  There will be exploration in encouraging employees to use the Cook County Health and Hospital System (Stroger Hospital).  There was also discussion on reducing the backlog of workers compensation cases by allowing cases under $25,000 to be more quickly processed and spending more resources and time on bigger claims.  There has been an increase of about $2 million per year due to the Affordable Care Act mandate to include children up to age 26 on parent's insurance.  The benefits package in the county (especially insurance) is considered very generous.

Budget and Management director Andrea Gibson stated that STAR management reports are considered in budgeting for the various elected officials and departments .  There will be a growing gap of the budget deficit due to increased wages/benefits, lack of  fees in the Health and Hospital System, and debt payments in years 2015-2017.

Cook County Board Meeting April 17, 2012

Upon this observer's arrival at 9:40 am, the Committee meetings were already in session.  President Toni Preckwinkle called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m. Tim Beuher, the newly appointed Commissioner of Building and Zoning, was introduced and recognized for his outstanding experience and ability.

Several resolutions were introduced and approved including one recognizing the serious problems relating to heroin addiction and the County's commitment to work to alleviate it; another recognizing the Sandburg High School State Champions Boys Wrestling team, the Sandburg State and National Champion Cheerleaders Team and the Whitney Young State Champion 4A High School Women’s  Basketball Team; and one recognizing a World War II decorated veteran.

During the Finance Committee Meeting, there was extensive discussion about the bills for Shakman compliance cases and how much longer this process and expense would continue.  It was pointed out that this problem started in 1969 but the County fought it for many years, and the compliance process did not begin until 1992.  The President’s Office is nearing compliance but there is still work to be done.

Discussion during the Finance Supplemental Agenda, Commissioner Silvestri indicated that a solution to allow closing of bond courts on the weekends had been achieved.  Those arrested would be delivered by the local authorities to either the Markham or Maywood facilities and the County will provide transportation to 26^th Street thus saving the municipalities the transportation and overtime expenses.  These two locations were picked because they have appropriate facilities to hold the arrestees and the other county buildings do not.  Commissioner Silvestri explained that county funds had been found to cover the costs since the closings were slated to save $1.6 million annually.

This was followed by the Revenue Report for the 1^st Quarter.  Collections were $521.4 million against an anticipated collection of $521.8.  The Treasurer’s office was up six million plus and the Clerk of the Court’s office was down, due in part to lag time in processing.  Revenue is 14.9% higher than last year. 

Under Health Services it was reported that billing has improved and accounts receivable has increased.  They are ahead in Medicare receipts and are working to solve problems in medicaid.  They are still working on getting the 1115 Waiver [which allows states to have flexibility in administering medicaid plans], which is critical to significantly improving payments for services by qualifying clients for medicaid services. Health Services has hired 54 people including 17 nurses and are interviewing to fill additional nursing positions.

Discussion of a contract for $1.35 million with W.W. Granger for availability in emergency/unexpected situations for maintenance, repair and supply resulted in a prolonged discussion of “why”.  Homeland Security and other agencies explained the need to be able to respond to emergencies, such as flooding or a pandemic, without having to waste time in responding to the problem with vital equipment.

The CFO reported that a legislative coordinator had been hired for $65,000 to process grants and perform other work.  This led to a discussion of the hiring of an attorney who would represent the Board of Commissioners.  The President’s office has not yet hired such an attorney, and this led several Commissioners to state that this attorney is for the Commissioners, should not report to the President’s office and they will work to resolve this disturbing difference.

The meeting had not adjourned when the observer departed at one o’clock. Those Commissioners not present for the meeting were Commissioner Goslin, Commissioner Daley after the first hour, and Commissioner Garcia.

Cook County Board Meeting January 18, 2012

The County Board Room was filled to capacity with people protesting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detainer Ordinance.  This observer arrived at 9:55 am and was denied entrance until 10:45 am due to overflow capacity in the chambers.  While the observer waited in line, Commissioner Garcia came out to address the crowd and promised that the policy wording would be returned to committee.

Formal observation began at 10:45.  All commissioners were present except Commissioner Suffredin.  It appeared there had been a series of resolutions concerning retirements and football before observation began.

The Finance Committee, a subcommittee of the whole, convened.  Commissioners Sims, Murphy and Collins voted against all payments to the attorneys working under the Shakman decree. The Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Takashi Reinbold, addressed the fretting about the Shakman decree by observing that the Sheriff’s office was in substantial compliance, and that the Forest Preserve and Recorder of Deeds were getting there quickly.  He predicted the Shakman expenditures would end soon for these offices.

2011 Cook County revenues overall are down $166.3 million relative to 2010.  Most of this is due to health revenues being down.  Without Stroger Hospital, revenue decline was just $9.5 million.

Cook County Health and Hospital Systems CEO Dr. Ramanathan Raju, declared he was embarrassed by the poor results.  He attributed the dramatic decline in revenues to several things:  the large increase in unemployed and no-insurance people seeking care at Stroger Hospital; the fact that Illinois State government had not yet paid $39 million in Medicaid payments to the system; and the financial consolidation of the three hospitals in the system. 

Physician billing just started December 1 where the hospital should get reimbursements from the highest value medical practitioners.  Dr. Raju reports that 28% of its Medicaid applications failed.  This points to the need for better training of personnel who put together the applications.

A 2014 rule in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will allow uninsured people who receive no Medicaid to get it.  Cook County is asking the federal government for a waiver to be able to sign people up early for Medicaid, as many large counties have already done this in Texas and California.  Currently 60% of Stroger’s in-patient and 85% of its out-patient populations are “self-pay/no-pay”, which essentially means Cook County will not be reimbursed for their care.

Commissioner Silvestri asked about the Price Waterhouse contract that has been ongoing.  The contract allows data entry personnel to be charged at $300 per hour.  Dr. Raju will definitely be eliminating the contract.  Commissioner Daley asked about Cook County receiving Medicaid monies directly from the federal government rather than have to wait for the state to make payments.  Comm. Daley remembered this was allowed in 1998.  Dr. Raju will investigate.

An amendment to the responsible bidder process, requiring that contractors pay fair wages, use responsible and trained workers, and other measures, was discussed. Commissioners Collins, Beavers, and Butler complained that the requirement for apprenticed labor eliminated many minorities.  Other commissioners voted to pass the amendment, arguing that even unions are hiring untrained cheaper workers.

After the Zoning Committee was convened by Commissioner Silvestri, the regular Board meeting agenda continued.

A Comcast agreement for all unincorporated Cook County franchise fees to be consolidated and to be paid to the County was approved.

A six month complete review of Bail Bonds by the Cook County Judicial Advisory Council to be presented back to the Board was approved.

Agenda Item 6 concerning charging parking fees at Cook County courthouse facilities, was returned to the Finance Committee for further review to make sure that excluded categories of individuals who would not have to pay parking were finalized.  Commissioners appeared to be in agreement that fees should be charged and disabled veterans and handicapped persons should be exempt.

There was much discussion about an amendment to the ICE detainer.  Commissioner Gorman objected to letting felons out on the street, and that Cook County has not honored ICE detainer requests and in several cases felons have been released and left the country.  Commissioner Garcia called for a roll call vote to send it back to Committee.  Commissioner Daley wanted to make sure the Sheriff can weigh in on what to do and how to respond.  Part and parcel of the ICE detainer requests from the Federal Government is the bail bond issue.  Comm. Murphy said that everyone should have an opportunity to post bond--if ICE wants Cook County to detain illegal immigrants they should pay Cook County to house them.  Comm. Schneider wanted to pass a decently amended ordinance.

President Preckwinkle reminded everyone that in this country people are innocent until proven guilty.

Commissioner Silvestri said we have an obligation to protect people and treat people equally.  The Board voted to send the Amendment to the Legislative Committee with only Commissioner Gorman opposed.

  

The Board approved joint code enforcement between the City of Chicago and the County.  Commissioner Fritchey pointed out that sometimes the City has instituted ordinances that “steal” income from the County.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:20pm.

--Submitted by Observer Amy Little

Nov. 9, 2011, Meetings on the Budget: Bureau of Human Resources & County Clerk

Bureau of Human Resources

The Director, Maureen O’Donnell, stated that the Bureau was in a shambles when she took over about 6 months ago, and since then, they have made great strides.  

• They are making progress in reaching compliance with the Shakman decree, which prohibits the hiring and firing of county workers for political reasons (other than in positions which the Court has specifically found to be “exempt”).
• The Bureau has presented 27 union contracts for Board approval to get caught up with the backlog of contracts covering periods from 2008 through the present. There are 104 bargaining units.  
• The Bureau is also focusing on absence management. The absence statistic is 10.5 days per year per employee, which is very high. The County could save $7 million per year if that average could be reduced by just one day, which Comm. Schneider highlighted in his questioning.  
• The Bureau is currently getting ready to deal with the proposed layoff of 1,000 employees that is called for under the 2012 proposed budget. 
•  Finally, Ms. O’Donnell said that the Bureau has a longer-term goal of creating a merit-based compensation system (at least for non-union employees) rather than the current step system, which is based on years of service.

Comm. Collins asked about the Taleo system that the Bureau is still implementing for processing applications on-line. A year ago, it took an average of 180 days to fill a position. Now it takes 124, which is still far more than where the County should be. Comm. Gainer urged that the Bureau include on its list of items in union negotiations reducing the number of holidays from the current 12 or 13 to the more standard 7; also to eliminate an employee's ability to carry over sick days and receive compensation for unused sick days when the employee leaves the County’s employ. She also asked about how the County can get to merit pay, and Ms. O’Donnell said the first step is to institute regular employee appraisals. Comm. Gainer also urged that the Bureau inform employees (as well as potential hires) about the value of their benefits, which are often much greater than in the private sector. Finally there was a discussion as to how much work the Bureau is still handling for the Health & Hospitals System (“HHS”), which Ms. O’Donnell characterized as still a lot. Comm. Gainer’s point was that the budget for human resource work in HHS is about $2.9 million and in this Bureau it is about $2.9 million; thus, it would seem that the HHS budget may be too large.

County Clerk

Clerk David Orr said that his area had exceeded the budgeted revenues for 2011 by about $400,000. For 2012, the election budget is $3.35 million lower than in 2008 (the last presidential election year), much of which is due to reducing the number of precincts. Clerk Orr said that his area had taken all the furlough days, and his employees were resentful of those departments which hadn’t. He also complained about other elected officials in the County who were paying much higher salaries to employees in grade 24 than he was. He feels the Board should look into this. Finally, he noted that his suburban offices were bringing in more revenues than in the past, and he is concerned that people will be discouraged from going there if the County institutes the proposed parking fees. He is also concerned about employees having to pay them.

-- reported by Priscilla Mims

Nov. 2, 2011 Budget Departmental Budget Meetings

Chicago Board of Election Comissioners; Cook County Board of Commissioners; Independent Inspector General

Chicago Board of Election Commissioners

Under the proposed budget, this Election Board, which has jurisdiction over all elections within the City of Chicago, will receive $17.4 million from the County.  This covers only 4 employees: the Chairman and 2 Election Commissioners, plus the Executive Director.  In addition, the County pays the fees for election judges and other related expenses as set forth in the statute which created the Board.  The rest of the expenses for conducting elections in 2012 (the primary and general elections), including the salaries and benefits for all other employees, will come from the City and amounts to another $14.2 million for a total of $31.6 million.  The City has about 1.4 million voters, about the same as the suburbs in Cook County, which fall under the election jurisdiction of the County Clerk.  Comm. Schneider noted that the Clerk was asking for $24.6 million, and wondered why the City’s Election Board needed $5 million more.  Chairman Landgdon Neal explained that the County Clerk is able to call upon services of other County Departments, while the Election Board had to provide its own IT, purchasing, and legal counsel, etc.  (Not asked or answered was why the Election Board couldn’t look to the City to provide some of the services the Clerk receives from the County.)

Chairman Neal said that in order to compare the 2012 budget, one should look at the last year in which there was a presidential election; namely, 2008.  The 2008 budget was 1% greater, and included $3 million from the Help America to Vote Act.  A chief reason for the reduction for 2012 is that the Election Board intends to reduce the number of precincts by 20%, which amounts to about 500 less precincts.  Because of Early Voting and “no-fault” Absentee Voting, there are fewer people actually voting on election day, which allows this consolidation without creating long lines.  Fewer precincts mean fewer election judges and fewer sites that have to be rented.

The Election Board is not proposing to add any new touch-screen equipment, and, in fact, the company that supplied what both the City and County have, no longer makes that model.

Chairman Neal touted the 2,000 high school and 2,000 college students who have been helping on election day, and he says that no other election authority in the country can boast so high a number of young people participating.

Unlike past years, none of the Commissioners raised the question about cost savings should the election duties of the Chicago Board of Elections and the County Clerk be merged under one entity.

Cook County Board of Commissioners

While this meeting supposedly was to cover the departments of the Secretary to the Board and each of the County Commissioners, only the budget for the Secretary to the Board was discussed.  Surprisingly, several of the Commissioners took this public meeting time to ask the Secretary, Matthew DeLeon, about any changes in procedures as a result of Mr. DeLeon and part of his staff moving to a different floor from where the Commissioners have their offices. 

The other main area of questions was directed to the two new positions for legal counsel and administrative assistant called for in the budget.  Many of the Commissioners seemed to have forgotten that they had voted to amend the 2011 budget to add these 3 positions.  This was done in the late hours of the day prior to final passage of the budget, which is why the Commissioners may have forgotten about it.  Another reason may be that the positions have still not been filled.  This is due to the fact that they would be exempt from the Shakman decree (which prohibits the hiring and firing based on politics) and so the County had to seek court approval for the positions before filling them.  There were some questions about the need for these positions and whether they could be eliminated in order to provide some money for salary increases for Commissioners staff whose salaries are proposed to be frozen from 2011.

Mr. DeLeon stated that new cameras for the Board room were being purchased that should allow Board and Committee meetings to be broadcast live on the County’s web site.  Commissioners Suffredin, Tobolski and Silvestri all suggested additional equipment, such as tote boards (for recording votes), screens and projection equipment so the audience in the room (and watching on Channel 900 or on the web) could better follow what is occurring.  This is an issue the League recently raised with Commissioners in letters to all and meetings with many of them.

Even though there was no discussion about the Commissioners’ budgets, which the President is recommending be kept at $360,000 for each (same as that in 2011), this observer noted that the President is also recommending that the number of FTEs for Commissioners Collins (1^st) Steele (2^nd), Murphy (6^th), and Gorman (17^th) be reduced to 1 (just themselves and no staff).  I verified with Commissioner Tobolski that this is not a typo in the budget book.  Expect this to change, but obviously, the President was sending a message.

Independent Inspector General

Patrick Blanchard, the Independent Inspector General, has one of the few areas where the number of employees and overall budget is proposed to be increased.  He explained that his office is dealing with an increase of about 10% in complaints, and he expects to add 2 more people to deal with Shakman decree-related oversight.  He stated that he expects that the Federal Court to find that the County and Forest Preserve District (which his office is also dealing with through an inter-governmental agreement) and Recorder of Deeds’ office to be in compliance with the Shakman Decree in 2012, in part because of the oversight to be provided by his office.  If so, the County will save significant money being paid to the Court-appointed compliance officers and other related costs.  (Note that the Sheriff’s office, the other area in the County that had been under court oversight, has been found to be in compliance by the Court earlier this year.)

Comm. Beavers questioned Mr. Blanchard about his investigation into the $90 million error in the County’s 2010 Annual Report.  Mr. Blanchard stated that there were numerous factors which resulted in the error and it was not appropriate to put the blame on a single person.  Comm. Beavers stated that he thought the President had done just that by firing two people, including the prior Comptroller.

-- reported by Priscilla Mims