Dept. of Human Rights & Ethics: “You Have an Advocate!”

2016 Cook County Budget Hearings:  Dept. of Human Rights & Ethics

Ranjit Hakim is the Director of the Department. The HR Commission is responsible for enforcing the CC Human Rights Ordinance first adopted in 1993. It protects all people [not just CC employees] who live and work in the County from discrimination and harassment in employment, public accommodations, housing, credit transactions, and access to County programs and contracts. 

The Commission shares jurisdiction with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, IL. Dept. of Human Rights, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and the US EEOC.  It investigates complaints of discrimination and harassment, mediating disputes when possible, and conducts hearings to award compensatory damages and/or other relief.

 

Mr. Hakim also oversees the CC Board of Ethics [5 seats – 2 of which are vacant and two that have expired terms] which enforces the County’s Ethics Ordinance and includes employee violations of the code of conduct and lobbyist registration enforcement. Ethics investigations can be proactive – the Board does not have to wait for a complaint to be filed. It works closely with the County’s Inspector General’s office and also provides advisory opinions.

His third responsibility is to enforce the County’s living wage ordinance which applies to contractors doing business with the County.  The living wage ordinance is set yearly by the Director of Finance.

2015 Accomplishments:

• Significantly reduced the backlog of cases and by the end of 2015 all filed cases will be concluded within a one year period. Prior to 2013 it was not unusual to be on the docket for 4-5 years.
• Two dedicated Ethics Investigators and four dedicated Human Rights Investigators are on staff. A new Deputy in charge of Ethics will allow for a better balance of work load and oversight. 
• Training manuals have been completed for Investigators administrative law judges. 
• Kept the 2016 Budget 2.2% less than the 2013 Budget. 
• Forty percent more audits conducted.

Submitted by Diane Edmundson

Hiring practices questioned during Inspector General's Office Budget Review

2016 Cook County Budget Hearings: Office of the Independent Inspector General

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

The mission of the Office of the Independent Inspector General (OIIG) is to detect, deter, and prevent corruption, fraud, waste, mismanagement, unlawful political discrimination (Shakman patronage issues) and misconduct in the operation of Cook County government.  There are currently 17 employees in the office with one job opening. Mr. Patrick Blanchard is the Inspector General, he has two deputy Inspector Generals. There have been 310 complaints to this office for the current year; this is an increase from last year.  OIIG works with the Cook County Ethics committee, and also covers the Health and Hospital system and Forest Preserve.

Most of the questions and comments by commissioners during the budget hearing related to referring candidates for jobs within County government. There was concern about the hiring practice and how applicants are selected for interviews.  Commissioner Deborah Sims stated that one of her constituents sent in applications for a job 32 times and never even had an interview or a response from the Cook County HR Department.  There was discussion of creating a person to oversee the hiring practices of the Health and Hospital Systems since they employ the largest number of people in Cook County. Cook County Jail is second.

Most commissioners seemed pleased with the work of this office. Patrick Blanchard is satisfied with OIIG budget.

Submitted by Nancy Marcus

Proposed 2015 Cook County Executive Budget: October 20, 2014 Department Meetings

Board of Review:  The Board is headed by 3 Commissioners elected by district.  The Board rules on appeals by property owners of assessments from the County Assessor.  The Board touted that it completed its work by the necessary deadline so that 2^nd installment property tax bills could go out on time for the 3^rd year in a row, after many years of being late.  In response to questions from Commissioner Gainer, the Board stated that the rate of appeals that got reductions from the Board was running between 60 and 72%.  Commissioner Gainer asked that the Board provide information by commercial vs. residential on the total number of appeals, the number that were successful, the amount of the reduction in the assessed value.  Commissioner Gainer expressed concern that those not sophisticated enough to appeal are paying higher taxes as a result of all the successful appeals.  Commissioner Daley wanted to know the rate of successful appeals by township.

Assessor:  The proposed budget reduces employee county by 23, but  only a slight reduction in the budget.  The Assessor explained that a number of those positions had only been budgeted for $1 in last year’s budget, so eliminating these positions did not result in a large $ reduction.  The Assessor touted the Fraud Unit which has gone after those trying to take senior or homeowners’ exemptions that they are not entitled to.  So far $5.1 million have been collected and $4.1 million are in the process of being collected by this Unit.

Treasurer:  The Treasurer touted the fact that taxpayers now have 9 payment methods for their property taxes vs. only 2 when she took office in 1998.  The headcount is down 65% since 1998 and the Treasurer’s goal is to get down to 60 people.  Commissioner Gainer raised concerns about the new state law which moves the tax sales earlier and the expected resulting increase in the “sales in error” which could cost the County as much as $30 to $50 million.  Purchasers of properties under the tax sales do have to pay a fee that goes into a fund in the event the property should not have been sold for nonpayment of taxes, but this fund currently is quickly depleted and the County has to pay any remaining costs associated with the sale in error, which includes interest on the payments made by the purchasers.  It was implied that the date of the tax sales was moved up as a result of the strong lobbies of the purchasers in Springfield.

Recorder of Deeds:  The proposed budget for 2015 is down by $680 thousand and 9 FTEs.  A work flow analysis had been done and the Recorder expects to further streamline the processes within the department.  Commissioner Gainer asked how long it will take to digitalize all the files, and the Recorder answered about 10 years.  Commissioner Gainer wondered whether the Recorder needed a special purpose automation fund, like the Treasurer has, but the Budget Director explained that the special purpose GIS fund can be used for this.

Department of Human Rights & Ethics:  The Director reported on the improvements in this department, which was tainted by scandal under the prior Administration, since she took over almost 4 years ago.  There has been a 72% reduction in the backlog of cases in 2014, and the goal is that by the end of 2015, there will be no cases older than one year.  Commissioner Gainer asked about coordination with equivalent offices at the State and Federal levels.  The Director said that the County cross-references to see whether the same case is at the State and/or Federal level and the government offices divide up any duplicates.  The Director stated that there are federal dollars available for handling cases if this department is found to be equivalent to the Federal department.  This is in the process of being reviewed.

Department of Human Resources:  There are 2 remaining issues left to be found in compliance with the Shakman Decree and the Director of HR stated that the County was close to finalizing these.  One new initiative for 2015 is an executive development program.  The Director stated that it is hoped that the major unions’ contracts for 2012-2016 will be resolved by the end of 2014.  Commissioner Suffredin expressed concern whether there was sufficient money in this budget to take care of any resulting increases.  The Budget Director stated that the budget does reflect the expected outcome of contract negotiations.  Commissioner Gainer asked about the provision in the Budget Resolution which allows the Chief Judge to transfer money among the different funds under the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) without having to go back to the Board in the event the JTDC is moved under the Chief Judge’s control from the Federal Court’s. Commissioner Suffredin explained that this is similar to what was done 2 years ago to allow the newly elected Recorder of Deeds to revise the budget submitted by her predecessor. Commissioner Suffredin stressed that in both cases, the total budget could not be increased, just a movement of dollars among funds. Further, any new contracts to employ outside services would have to come before the Board. 

Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management:  Commissioner Gainer asked about the plan for dealing with cyber-security. The Director said that that area is moving from the Bureau of Technology to his Department, and a new team is being built. His Department will be responsible for all systems under the President and for the court system and HHS. However, any systems that are entirely for a particular elected officer will be the responsibility of that elected official. But the Department could propose standards that the Board could enact that would apply to all areas in the County.

Office of the President and Justice Advisor Council (JAC):  The current lower level of the jail population as compared to last year tracks with the increase in the number of judicial orders for electronic monitoring which began at the same time as the President wrote seeking assistance from the Illinois Supreme Court in September of 2013.  Commissioner Sims mentioned that she and Commissioner Fritchey have had problems with the awarding of grants by the JAC.  The JAC is intentionally giving smaller grants to help smaller organizations that may not have the capacity to obtain larger grants, but it was suggested that the RFP (request for proposal) should indicate that.  Commissioner Suffredin asked what was being done to give judges more information so good decisions can be made concerning bail and alternatives to incarceration prior to trial.  The Budget Director pointed to the proposed budget for the Chief Judge which adds 27 positions for electronic monitoring and for the new “2^nd look” program.  In addition, more there is more money for the “no place to stay” program under the Sheriff’s budget for those who otherwise could not go on electronic monitoring because they have no place to stay.

Commissioner Gainer asked about the status of the President’s motion to the Federal Court to take over the Sheriff’s authority to release those in jail due to overcrowding.  The motion is still pending.

Clerk:  The Clerk touted that the special purpose Election budget for 2015 is less than it was 4 years ago, the equivalent year in the election cycle. Voter registration in suburban Cook is up by 30,000 and it looks like more people will be voting by mail based on the increase in applications received thus far.  Commissioner Suffredin asked about online voter registration, that is a new program this year.  Statewide, there were 31,000 online registrations and 3,200 in suburban Cook.  Commissioner Sims asked whether there would be more touch screens, which she is a fan of.  The Clerk is not purchasing more, but is looking for the next step in technology.  E-poll books will be in every suburban precinct, with the paper back-up.  The advantage to the E-poll books of voter registrants is that they have up-to-date information and allow for immediate corrections since it is connected to the online database. 

Chicago Board of Elections:  The head of the Board said that there have been no major advances in voting technology yet to replace the touch screens, but that this Board would work with the Clerk to leverage their purchasing power when the time was right.  The  budget is down quite a bit for 2015 because the City of Chicago covers most of the Board’s activities for this year when the only elections in the city will be for city offices. 

-- submitted by Priscilla Mims

January 15, 2014 Cook County Board Meeting

Dealing with Recycling, Bad Deeds, Criminal Justice and Ethics

This very long Cook County Board meeting was at times difficult to follow, even for some commissioners:  a lot of switching back and forth between committee meetings, the general board meeting, and the consent calendar.  However, several important ordinances/amendments and resolutions were passed, often with lengthy discussion and public testimony.

Recycling:  With a close 8-7 vote in favor, a very long amendment (20 pages) to the Solid Waste ordinance was passed.  This basically describes a new method of inspections by the County of solid waste and recycling facilities (transfer stations).  New fees will be charged to these facilities, reporting requirements are more stringent and frequent, penalties are delineated, and future policies will be formed based on information collected from these facilities.  Objections to this ordinance included the additional fees per ton of waste that would be passed on to the taxpayers/users;  increased record keeping by owners of the facilities;  possible anti-business focus;  and the large number of exemptions in Cook County making this ordinance cover only 1/3 of the county.  Chicago already has a plan in place to cover this and municipal-owned facilities are exempt.  Sponsor Comm. Moore indicated that this ordinance would help encourage recycling and prevent surrounding land from being tainted by waste pollution--particularly in southern Cook County.

Bad Deeds (Unlawful Clouding of Title):  Apparently in Cook County it is easier to steal a house than steal a car--according to Karen Yarborough, Recorder of Deeds.  It appears that for only a small filing fee, a person can change another person's title of land--their home--and then take it over physically by changing locks on the doors and moving in.  Although there is state law prohibiting this,  the County Board passed an additional ordinance that would address this problem by invoking thousands of dollars in fines and hopefully make the enforcement against this quicker and more effective.  (As an aside, homeowners can sign up with the Recorder of Deed's office to get an alert anytime someone changes their land/home title.)

Criminal Justice:  An ordinance amendment and a resolution were both passed with regard to the criminal justice system in Cook County.  The first establishes an Advisory Committee to the Justice Advisory Council Department.  Members of this non-paid committee (the President or designee, 3 members of the CC Board, 1 law enforcement person, 2 social service people), all appointed by the President, would issue a recommendations report at the end of the year regarding violence prevention, intervention and reduction strategies, and programs.  Topics would include gun court, straw purchases of guns, violence with guns.  This was deferred until the next board meeting as some discussions about this committee are still ongoing.
The second is a resolution transferring the court-ordered Prisoner Release Order to the President's Office instead of the Sheriff's Office, where it originated.  This issue has been in the news quite a bit lately, with controversy over who is in charge of releasing more prisoners from the county jail, which tends to get overcrowded.  Objections to this transfer center on whether this process should be under the Judicial branch rather than the President's office.  This still needs to be approved by  a higher authority (State of Ill., U.S.?) before it can be in effect.

Ethics:  Two items that were passed dealt with ethics in Cook County government.  The first is an amendment to the procurement code sponsored by Comm. Suffredin requiring employees to report "skullduggery" in the procurement process to the inspector general.  The second is a resolution sent to the State General Assembly to include Cook County in the state's Ethics Act.  Apparently this was an oversight on the part of the sponsor of the legislation in the General Assembly.

Notes on the processes at the Board meeting:  This observer has attended numerous Cook County Board meetings over the past six years and procedures have markedly improved.  However,  there are still some that make it difficult for the public audience to fully understand what has transpired at the meeting:
1.  The League is pleased that public testimony is now a part of all meetings, but during this meeting's public testimony, many commissioners were engaged in side conversations rather than listening to the speakers.  Although the commissioners themselves may already know the information, this observer found some valuable viewpoints brought up by some outside speakers.
2.  There were  many "last minute" substitute amendments that were not available to the audience--even on-line.  Because the substitution difference was not  explained nor mentioned at the meeting, the public audience did not know what specifics the Board actually passed.
3.  Committee reports which contain resolutions and other important content are sometimes passed as a whole without mentioning the particulars.  At today's meeting, this lead to passage of a Committee Report without it being obvious what was contained in that report.  This is especially difficult for the observer to know when the committee met and passed ordinances, amendments and resolutions just the day before.
This observer hopes some adjustments can be made to help the public better understand and follow the Board Meetings.