Cook County Board Meeting

January 4, 2011

The board meeting was preceded by a Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee meeting to review the appointment of Ms. Robin Kelly as the Chief Administrative Officer. In her presentation to the committee she indicated that she would be overseeing a reorganization of the Administrative Bureau that is overseen by the Cook County President. The committee approved her appointment.

The Board Meeting was called to order promptly at 10am by President Preckwinkle. Comm. Fritchey and Comm. Reyes were absent. After spending 30 minutes devoted to a resolution recognizing Organ Donor Awareness Day in Cook County, the meeting was recessed for committee meetings.

During the Finance Committee Meeting the following issues were discussed:

• Comm. Gainer again requested that the Chief Judge's Office provide a rundown of the grant money spent in the Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program that his office has been conducting for the past several months. Comm. Collins stated that she did not understand why the county had to give the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) money to do housing counseling in this mediation program when there are plenty of other agencies that provide this service and get funding from other sources.


• Comm. Daley asked Comm. Silvestri if the Litigation Subcommittee would be providing the information on remedial action taken in the civil rights cases that come before the board. A request was previously made to obtain information from the Sheriff's Office concerning action taken against employees that were named in law suits. Comm. Silvestri stated that the information would be supplied in a confidential manner that is in accordance with the law on disclosing such information. Comm. Gainer reported that the Sheriff's Office is working on a tracking system for incidents that occur in an effort to decrease the outflow of money in settlements.


• The comptroller's preliminary Revenue Report for fiscal year 2010 indicates a shortfall of $30.2m. The amount of revenue from the home rule taxes was down but the comptroller stated that was in line with what the state and the city also saw and was not unique to the county. The revenue from patient fees was under by $2m. Mr. Ayres, CCHHS CFO, stated that $40m in claims have been submitted to the state in medicaide claims that are waiting to be processed.


• Comm. Daley asked Mr Ayres if the issues with the billing for physicians services had been rectified. Mr. Ayres stated that there was an ongoing training for physicians to correct the billing procedures. This billing has been done incorrectly for several years and changing the process requires retraining and adjustment to the system which should be completed by the end of the summer.


• Mr Ayres was asked if the $500m revenue estimate provided in the HHS 2011 budget is realistic. He stated that it would be difficult to reach but possible depending on medicaide changes at the state. Further discussion revealed that the county has attempted to make an arrangement with the state to provide some financial resources to expedite the processing of the $40m in medicaide claims for the county so that payment on qualified claims would be forthcoming soon. Mr. Ayres also indicated that the contract with Med Assets, the company with the contract for medicaide qualification, was bought out, and Price, Waterhouse, Coopers is now doing this service.

The Board Meeting resumed at 11:45am amd most items on the board agenda were referred to committee so there was minimal discussion during the meeting.

• There was a notification to the board of the salaries of some Grade 24 employees. Comm. Collins wanted to know again why the board had to be notified about these salaries. Comm. Daley explained that the reason was that they board needed to be aware of new Grade 24 hires or salary adjustments since these are Shakman exempt positions.


• Comm. Suffredin introduced an ordinance amendment based on a new state statute that requires all public bodies to approve the minutes of their meetings within 30 days. He stated that the journals of the CC Board Meetings have not been approved since 1998. Based on this new law there will now be a standing Rules Committee Meeting at 9:45am prior to each board meeting to approve the corrected journals of the previous meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:35pm.

January 26 Cook County Board Meeting

At the Cook County Board meeting on January 26, 2010, Commissioner Butler offered his condolences to Haitian families who had lost loved ones in the recent disastrous earthquake.  Commissioner Suffredin reminded those in attendance that after New York City, Chicago has the largest Haitian population in the country.  Other commissioners also expressed sympathy and support for the people of Haiti.  Dr. Baptiste provided a brief history of Haiti, including its vulnerability to storms such as Hurricane John in 2004 and four hurricanes in 2008. Individual tributes were paid to Robert "Squirrel" Lester, reknown blues singer; Carlos Hernandez Gomez, passionate news reporter and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award; as well as Michael E. Lavelle, Sr., election law scholar and chairman of the Chicago Election Board.


The Board debated a comprehensive immigration reform proposal, authored by President Stroger and Commissioners Gainer and Moreno. The resolution, which the commissioners discussed at length, urges passage of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (H.R. 4321). A vote was taken on the motion, which carried with thirteen yays; Commissioners Goslin, Gorman, and Schneider opposed its passage.  Board members then questioned how much money the county was paying to Shakman compliance officers.  A county spokesperson promised to provide this information the Board requested regarding this issue. Commissioner Schneider called attention to the county's payment of $8000 to an employee who fell off of a chair.  The commissioners turned to the Comptroller Revenue Report, which revealed that the Health and Hospitals budget has suffered because this arm of Cook County government had to return $53.1 million.  Commissioner Collins asked whether the public is aware of Stroger Hospital's state-of-the-art medical facilities, implying more should be done to let others know.


Commissioner Peraica drew the Board's attention to the revenue report.  He stated that the county is losing money on its sale of cigarettes because of the county sales tax.  Commissioner Moreno expressed disagreement over this statement, suggesting that the reason cigarette sales have fallen is because fewer people are smoking and also because of the recession.  Commissioner Moreno argued that business is coming to Chicago, while Commissioner Peraica countered that conventions are no longer bringing their business to Chicago.  Commissioner Peraica continued to question the county budget, calling the Board's attention to the Public Safety Fund, which was $35 million over budget due to salaries and a high personnel turnover.  According to Cook County CFO Jaye WIlliams, the increase in salary payments are due to an increase in personal services.


Commissioner Gainer brought up an additional budget concern regarding Health and Hospital systems.  She questioned whether the county is paying a standard rate to hospitals, or a reduced rate, citing the county's recent payment of $35,000 to Christ Hospital, which contained no discount.  Finally, Commissioner Peraica proposed an amendment to repeal the entire county sales tax.  A suggestion was made to bring his proposal to the Finance Committee.  The motion to do so was passed with eleven yays and six nays.

--Submitted by Observer Stephanie Polito