Meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, December 17, 2014

The meeting was rescheduled to the afternoon to allow Commissioners to attend the memorial service for Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. Committee meetings began at 1:00 p.m. and included the Rules, Government & Legislation, Finance, Zoning & Building, and Roads and Bridges.  Of particular interest:

• Dr. Erica E. Marsh’s appointment to the Health and Hospital Systems independent board was enthusiastically received and approved in Committee and by the full Board.
• An approved appointee to the Weller Creek Drainage District, Thomas Munz, is an advocate for rethinking if this District is still needed. Commissioner Suffredin agreed and expanded  the concept to include all small drainage and sanitary districts. This is important because Illinois has over 8,000 taxing bodies, many of them very small and with little oversight.
• There was public testimony and lengthy discussion about a residential zoning variance in unincorporated Northfield. It is mentioned here because there is increasing effort on the part of the County to encourage annexation or consolidation  with established municipalities.  There is a new study out by the CivicFederation on this topic which would result in both cost and time savings for the County [but not for the unincorporated areas]

The Board of Commissioners meeting began at 2:30 p.m. presided by President, Pro Tem, Richard Steele. Absent from the meeting were President, Tony Preckwinkle and Commissioners Gorman and Tobolski. Newly elected Commissioners Luis Arroyo, Jr (8^th District) and Richard Boykin (1^st District) were welcomed.   

Public testimony included George Blakemoor, Karen Hobbs of the Natural Resources Defense Fund, and Sue Warwick of NAMI in support of a Resolution to be introduced by Commissioner Boykin to increase mental health funding. The Consent Calendar was approved in total, but several individual resolutions were pulled for reading into the minutes, comments, and picture taking. This Observer was struck by how much time was allocated to these resolutions considering the hour.

Agenda Item 15-0659: The Annual  Board Meeting Calendar was approved as presented with Commissioner Schneider stating that he would approve but will continue to advocate for increasing the number of meetings. The League agrees.

15-0708:  Boykin introduced and all in attendance signed on to urging the Governor and State Legislature to support additional mental health funding in Illinois pursuant to the successful Cook County Ballot Referendum. Resolution Approved.

15-0709:  Boykin introduced a Predatory Lending Resolution and asked the Board to waive the 24- hour notice to allow for acceptance of an amendment to change the language in several sections to be inclusive of all races and ethnicities affected by predatory lending. Fritchey recommended that it be sent to Committee, but Boykin asked leave to table the resolution until the end of the meeting so that he could meet with Commissioners and work out the language changes.  Leave was granted and the resolution was re-introduced at the end of the Board Meeting and approved by those commissioners remaining in the room. Banks will now be barred from doing business with the County if they are found guilty and/or settle a predatory lending lawsuit or an investigation.

15-0703, Introduced by Fritchey, this Zero-Based Budgeting Ordinance was referred to the Finance Committee without discussion.  [The League of Women Voters of Cook County will monitor.]

15-0712, Introduced by Fritchey, this Sweat-Shop Free Procurement Ordinance referred to the Finance Committee without discussion.

15-0675, introduced by Suffredin, this Presidential Appointments to Cook County Departments or Agencies Ordinance appears to reduce the number of Presidential appointees requiring Board approval. Referred to the Legislation Committee without discussion.

15-0012, Extends and increases contract with vendor for licenses, maintenance, hosting and support of equipment manager, and the on-line training website for election judges.  Approved.

15-0013, Extends and increases Circuit Court contract with Presence Behavioral Health for mental health counseling and aftercare referral services.  Approved.

15-0014, Extends and increases Circuit Court Contract with TASC for “client care management services” while a new RPF is completed. Approved.

15-006, Extends and increases s State’s Attorney contract with TASC for “first time offender drug diversion programs”.  Approved.

15-0587 Renewal of grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority to the State’s Attorney’s Office to provide the salaries and fringe benefits for staff at the West Side Community Justice Center and the Central Community Justice Center.

There is a new section on the Agenda "Committee Items Requiring Board Action" which lists what actions were taken in the various committee meetings so that Commissioners and the public have the information before them when voting to accept, reject, or defer actions taken by the Committee.  [CC League of Women Voters is pleased that the Board heard its suggestions and responded].

Three New Items were added to Agenda during the Board Meeting:

1)     Resolution introduced by Commissioner Boykin urging President Obama to establish a national commission to examine the criminal justice system and the impact of race.  The rule requiring Committee review was suspended by a voice vote and the resolution was approved by the 7 or 8 commissioners left in attendance.

2)     Resolution introduced by President Preckwinkle urging the Illinois General Assembly to convene and pass House Bill 4733, raising the minimum wage from $8.25 per hour to $10.00 per hour state-wide beginning on January 1, 2015.  This bill was passed in the Senate on Dec. 3, 2014.  Approved.

3)     Resolution #150789 introduced by Suffredin and immediately referred to the Environmental Control Committee is a statement in support of efforts to strengthen and restore certain provisions of the U.S. Clean Water Act.  When the Committee next meets, it will consider two opposing resolutions–the 1^st introduced by Murphy is against the changes; the 2^nd introduced by Suffredin is in support of the changes. The State and County LWVs are in support of the changes and have been lobbying the commissioners.

Submitted by Diane Edmundson

Departmental Review Meetings for 2014 CC Proposed Budget: Monday, Oct. 28

Public  Hearing, State's Attorney's Office

The meeting began with a Public Hearing on the budget. There were 26 public speakers. First was Lawrence Msall of the Civic Federation and he stated that his organization's analysis of the proposed budget is available on their website at www.civicfederation.org. He raised at least 2 concerns – one being the uncertainty of the Medicaid revenue within the HHS budget, and the other being a needed long term plan for dealing with the pension issue which soon will be critical. Karin Hribar, LWVCC Co-President, gave testimony commending the board for improving the budget process in line with recommendations that the League has provided over the past several years. Her testimony is available on the LWVCC website at www.cookcounty.il.lwvnet.org.  Veterans organizations were well represented as well, and requested additional money for the Veterans Assistance Commission. The remaining speakers represented various non-profit and business organizations and were for the most part in favor of the budget and commended the President for various programs and for not introducing any new taxes.

Departmental reviews continued with Anita Alvarez, CC States Attorney, presenting for her office. She first reviewed the achievements of her office citing their focus on gang and gun violence that are their most significant issues and require the bulk of their budget. She stated that over the past five years they have had staff reductions due to budget constraints while their workload has continued to increase. Prosecutors have very heavy caseloads, a factor in the length of time required for adjudication of cases. She also stated that she does not have adequate staff to provide coverage for misdemeanor court at all times. She had requested funding for 34 new positions and the proposed budget includes funding for 12 new positions. 

Ms. Alvarez said that her office wants to work towards President Preckwinkle’s goals of decreasing the jail population by seeking alternatives to incarceration. All parties involved need to come to the table to work on the issues of bond court, diversion programs, and treatment courts. She stated that every part of the justice system needs to have the resources to hold up their end of the system so they can do what is necessary to make the justice system work better. 

Commissioner Suffredin commended Ms. Alvarez for her endorsement of a holistic view of the concerns and asked if she could put a value on the savings from the diversion programs. She stated that $15 million savings had been realized in all the diversion programs. 

Commissioner Fritchey wanted to know why only 8% of those arrested were being released on I-bonds while the numbers for NYC were 70% and for Wash. DC were 80%. He asked that since the SA’s provide information to the judge so that a decision can be made about bond, what can be done to ensure that people are not being held in jail who could be out on bond?  He also stated that the number of pre-trial detainees in the CC jail is 50% higher than in other major systems and that $44 million had been paid for cases that were eventually dropped. Ms. Alvarez said that she was not certain about his numbers but that the efforts to work on these issues will continue. 

Commissioners also wanted to know if the ticketing for marijuana offenses had made a difference in the workload for her office and she stated that there did not seem to have been a significant impact.

Cynthia Schilsky, LWVCC Observer

Cook County Departmental Budget Hearings October 31, 2012

State’s Attorney’s Budget
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez stressed that the proposed budget for her department does not reflect what is needed but the realities of what money is available.  While the American Bar Association says that the average case load for prosecutors should be no more than 150 criminal or 450 misdemeanor cases, her assistant state’s attorneys average 217 criminal or 940 misdemeanor cases.  Staffing shortages result in longer case times. There is a backlog in the appellate division, which has resulted in her asking assistant state’s attorneys to volunteer their free time to help write appellate briefs so that court deadlines are met.  She said that she had just heard about a proposal to create a Gun Court, and if that does come into being, she may be coming back to the County Board for more money to staff it.

--Submitted by Priscilla Mims

Nov. 8, 2011 Meetings on the Budget: Sheriff, Clerk of the Court, & State's Attorney

Sheriff Tom Dart

Sheriff Dart stated that his budget of $401 million is down from both 2011 ($412 million) and 2010, despite $54 million increase in salaries to be paid as approved by County Board.  The savings is due in part to the following:  inmates helping out at Animal Control; reduction in overtime from $22 million in 2010 to $11 million; payments from the Illinois Dept. of Corrections for housing some of their inmates; reducing the cost of food by having inmates prepare lunch (and may be able to have inmates prepare breakfast, both of which are “cold meals”); and reduction in jail population.  He praised the judiciary for increasing the number of those on electronic monitoring from 300 to 1100 currently.  He noted that while the total admissions has decreased (75,000 in 2007 vs. 65,000 in 2011), the average length of stay has increased from 47 to 54 days.  The inference was that it is taking longer to bring these people to trial. The Sheriff also stated that he thinks that they are getting close to putting the Duran court case and oversight behind them after 30 years.

His biggest concern is in the number of inmates with mental illnesses (regularly runs between 1200 to 2500 out of the 9,200 in custody), and this population produces the most costs to the County. With the closing of more state-run mental health facilities, he expects that population to grow even more.  Comm. Steele raised his concern about the proposed changes at Cermak  (which is responsible for treating the inmates) that the Health & Hospitals System is making with regard to changing out the mental health specialists who are currently not licensed with higher-level licensed specialists, but who are not known by the inmates.  Comm. Steele asked the Sheriff to talk to the Health & Hospitals System about the negative effect wholesale and quick changes may have.

Sheriff Dart said that his department could and should be handling more of the closings of foreclosed home sales since they can do them well and at lower costs than others who are doing them.  If his department handled all such closings, it would amount to $13 million in revenues for the County, but in 2011 he is bringing in only $118,000 for 448 out of the 9,500 he expected to do.  He has no explanation yet as to why his department isn’t being used.  On the plus side, in only 7 weeks of stepped up enforcement, his department has issued $1 million in citations for unpaid cigarette taxes.  He expects significantly more in 2012.

While Sheriff Dart stated that his department is 100% in compliance in taking the required furlough days, upon questioning, it turns out that about 5500 of his employees have been deemed “essential” and thereby exempt from taking the days.  In addition to the fact that much of his area (the patrol officers and jail) operate 24/7, the Sheriff stated that if these employees had to take furlough days, that would result in other employees covering through overtime, thereby increasing those costs.  Comm. Tobolski said that rather than some of these “essential” employees being allowed to take personal days, maybe these days should be furlough days. 

Comm. Silvestri stated that he had reached out to all the townships to see if they would help fund the graffiti unit which is being eliminated in this budget.

Clerk of the Court Dorothy Brown

Clerk Brown explained some of the achievements of the past year, including having motorists paying tickets online for $10 million; and piloting a program with 4 municipalities to have e-tickets issued and sent directly to her area with the expectation that all 128 municipalities will be participating this year.  She expects all judges to have computers on the bench in 2012, which will eliminate the need for her employees to bring paper files into court. 

At the time the proposed budget was published, her request was not in alignment with the President’s recommendation. However, Clerk Brown stated that she is working on coming into compliance and will submit proposed amendments by the deadline of Nov. 16.  In order to meet the recommendation, either layoffs or some furlough days will be necessary.

She noted that she did a study comparing her area to those in the 6 largest counties in the U.S.  While Cook is the 2^nd largest in # of cases filed, Cook is the 3^rd largest in # of employees.  Looking at 2010 numbers, her budget is at the bottom.  Comm. Tobolski stated that court filings are down 28% over the past 10 years, but the number of employees under the Clerk of the Court is down only 12%.  Clerk Brown pointed to her county comparison study in response.

Comm. Fritchey expressed concern over Clerk Brown’s proposal to seek State authorization to charge a 50 cent or $1 fee for every filing in a case, over and above the $303 to initiate a case.  Comm. Fritchey also asked about the Clerk’s Inspector General’s office with 20 FTEs, vs. the County Inspector General who has 18.  Clerk Brown stated that some of those employees are actually filling an auditing role, as opposed to handling complaints.  She is going to clarify the roles.  Comm. Fritchey also asked about the Controller’s office under the Clerk of the Court which has 65 FTEs vs. the County Controller only having 38.  Clerk Brown stated that her area handles lots of over-the-counter transactions and has to disburse funds to 950 agencies, necessitating lots of oversight and controls. 

State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez

While the State’s Attorney’s office has submitted a budget request in line with the President’s recommendation, it was clear that Ms. Alvarez was seeking additional money from the Board to reduce the number of layoffs that are necessary under the proposed budget (113, 93 of whom are administrative, including a number of those in the Victims’ Assistance department who have received a lot of attention in the public hearings).  She has done a comparison with other large counties and says her attorneys carry a much larger caseload.  Her proposed cuts in attorneys are more on the civil, rather than criminal side, to which she has given a priority out of public safety concerns.  However, she said the cuts on the civil side will necessitate having to go outside for some of the civil actions which will mean that the County will be paying a minimum of $185/hr vs. the $45/hr cost to handle inside.

It was clear that a number of the Commissioners will be trying to find more money for this office through the amendment process.  Comm. Tobolski stated that he is looking to cut more from the Health & Hospitals budget to provide more for the State’s Attorney.

-- reported by Priscilla Mims