City Hall is pictured in a file photo. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations will meet Tuesday and consider the appointment of a new fleet and facility management commissioner, an ordinance to require City Council consent for the appointment of the public health commissioner and an ordinance to establish hiring preferences for residents from disadvantaged areas. 

The budget committee will meet at 11 a.m. in council chambers.

Alderpeople will consider the appointment (A2024-0007823) of Julie Hernandez-Tomlin as commissioner of the city’s Department of Fleet and Facility Management (2FM). Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Hernandez-Tomlin to the post in February. 

Hernandez-Tomlin has held leadership roles at the Chicago Department of Water Management and the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation and has “nearly two decades of experience” working with the city, according to the mayor’s office.  

Hernandez-Tomlin was previously an executive vice president of business affairs at SPAAN Tech Inc., a Chicago-based engineering and construction management firm. 

“Julie’s proven track record of efficient leadership will ensure that 2FM continues to operate effectively and successfully,” the mayor said in a news release announcing the appointment in February. “I am excited to welcome her to 2FM and look forward to our collaboration on the assets and services utilized by my administration in order to continue providing for a better, stronger, safer Chicago.” 

The budget committee will also consider an ordinance that would require the commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Health receive City Council confirmation.  

The proposal was sparked by a 2021 code change that omitted language requiring council confirmation for health commissioners, leading to questions about the process during a recent health and human relations committee hearing with newly appointed Public Health Comm. Olusimbo Ige.

Related: Alderpeople ask new public health commissioner about Treatment Not Trauma, staffing vacancies  

The ordinance (O2024-0007880), which is sponsored by Ald. Bennett Lawson (44), would not apply retroactively and would allow Ige to serve as commissioner without additional action by the City Council. But future health commissioners would require confirmation votes.  

Lawson previously told The Daily Line he believes the mayor’s office was acting within the scope of the existing language of the law when it appointed Ige and did not schedule a confirmation vote.  

Related: Lawson proposes ordinance to ensure City Council confirmation of future health commissioners

Alderpeople will also consider an ordinance (O2023-0006443) that will give a hiring preference to residents of socio-economically disadvantaged areas for multiple positions in city government — departmental employment service employees, career service employees and seasonal or temporary labor that does not exceed 180 days in a year.

The ordinance is sponsored by Ald. Jason Ervin (28), budget committee chair, and would require that — unless prohibited by a federal, state or local law, a hiring plan or monitor — department heads over the positions included in the ordinance must hire at least a quarter of the covered workforce from socio-economically disadvantaged areas, a designation set by the city’s Department of Planning and Development. 

In order to qualify for the preferential consideration, applicants would need to agree to maintain residency in the qualifying areas for at least seven years and would not be penalized if the area loses its socio-economically disadvantaged status during that period. 

Finally, the budget committee will consider an ordinance (O2024-0007734) that establishes “a reward program for individuals who provide information resulting in a conviction or finding of liability for illegal dumping.”

A similar pilot program used to be in place but expired in 2015. Under the proposal, also sponsored by Ervin, people who report illegal dumping through 311 could receive a $100 reward.

The ordinance also would impose an additional $20 penalty on illegal dumpers, in addition to other existing penalties, solely for the purpose of funding the reward program.