This post was updated on Monday, November 28, 2016 to include comment from Vasyl Markus.

Vasyl Markus, Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s Special Assistant for Government Affairs, has tendered his resignation, effective January 2, 2017. In an email sent to commissioners Wednesday afternoon, Brian Hamer, Preckwinkle’s Chief of Staff, noted the “challenging position.” Markus, the president’s go-between with commissioners, has served in the position for less than half a year, saying his skill set is more suited for policymaking than legislative affairs. He will be stepping down just after passage of the President’s “grueling” $4.4 billion FY 2017 budget, which included the narrowest of votes on the penny per ounce soda tax, and after the abrupt exit of Ernest Brown, who headed the county's Department of Homeland Security.

As the city rushes to establish a matching local revenue source to receive a nearly $1 billion federal grant by the end of the year, administration officials briefed aldermen on the City Council’s Finance Committee on the financing plan for the first phase of the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) Red and Purple Line Modernization (RPM) Plan.

Five candidates have submitted their petitions for the special election to fill the Fourth Ward aldermanic seat so far, less than 100 days shy of Election Day on February 28. Three challengers to incumbent interim Ald. Sophia King, who was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel this past spring, lined up outside the door of the Chicago Board of Elections just before 9:00 a.m. Monday to turn in thousands of signatures gathered since August: Marcellus Moore Jr., Ebony Lucas, and Gregory Seal Livingston. One other, Jack Taylor, filed just after the morning rush. All noted their own independence and a perception that Ald. King, a mayoral appointee, is lacking it.

A Cook County Chancery Court judge ordered an additional hearing for one count and promised rulings next month for five others regarding a preliminary injunction charging the City Council has repeatedly violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA). Plaintiffs Andy Thayer and Rick Garcia charge they and other protesters were kept from attending the May 18 and June 22 City Council meetings because city employees packed the Council gallery, preventing members of the public from getting in. Monday’s hearing was a follow up to one held in October.

A subject matter hearing on the city’s plan to designate new transit-oriented TIFs along the northern portion of the CTA’s Red and Purple Line, from the Belmont to Howard stops, is on tap for the Council’s Finance Committee today. It’s one of two subject matter hearings on city’s effort to create new transit-oriented TIFs, which the state approved this summer, to help the city secure a federal grant to fund phase one of the Red and Purple Line Modernization (RPM) Plan.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office released a progress report Monday afternoon on the city’s police reform efforts in the past year, the same day the Chicago Police Department closed out a public comment period on its newly proposed use of force guidelines.

The Chicago City Council and Cook County Board both approved their respective budgets for next year. Chicago’s $8.2 billion plan passed without a peep of dissent or debate, while Cook County’s $4.4 billion budget passage was a bit more… dramatic. We’ve got the highlights from both in this week’s episode.

A group of O’Hare Airport workers voted to walk out on the job sometime during the holiday season, says a spokesman from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1. The workers, which are employed by five companies contracted by airlines and the city, are not part of a collective bargaining unit, but are threatening a walkout as part of a drive for a $15-per-hour minimum wage and better working conditions.

A subject matter hearing on the use of money bonds in Cook County’s court system drew broad agreement that the practice unfairly targets the poor–but the hearing elicited few concrete or easy solutions. Commissioners listened to almost four hours of testimony from experts and advocates, as well as former Cook County Jail detainees that had not been allowed to leave the jail because they couldn’t afford bond.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved all items on their agenda Thursday with minimal public comment. The largest project approved is a new industrial retail complex Clarius Partners will undertake in the North Lawndale community on the city’s West Side. The smallest project is a gas station on the South Side.

It was a subdued and shorter day at the Cook County Board Wednesday, with little out of the ordinary. Commissioners approved changes to the handling of consent calendar items, and honored philanthropist and perennial candidate Dr. Willie Wilson. The board also approved $3.2 million in claims and court costs, including about $2 million in settlements for negligence, violation of first amendment rights, and wrongful death.

Without debate, and with minimal discussion, the City Council unanimously approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.2 billion spending plan for next year. Three Progressive Caucus aldermen voted against the revenue ordinance, citing concerns over the new Community Catalyst Fund, a new financial board aimed at spurring private equity in blighted neighborhoods. Often referred to as a “fund of funds”, its overall purpose is to invest in funds that will in turn, invest their funds in businesses or organizations to stimulate job growth and support public infrastructure improvements, among other goals.  

A multi-building industrial and commercial complex developer Clarius Partners has planned for a 21 acre site in North Lawndale is on the agenda for the Chicago Plan Commission Thursday.

In a mere fifteen minutes, the Workforce Development Committee approved a collective bargaining agreement for the city’s non-emergency public safety personnel, although a third of the time was taken up by testimony from public hearing gadfly George Blakemore.

Fresh off a full day of budget hearings, the Cook County Board will meet for regular business again today. Most major items of note, including a public hearing on a rideshare surcharge, significant changes to the county’s property tax incentives, and amendments to the ethics code regarding elected officials who serve as attorneys, have been put on hold. But there are a few major financial settlements to be approved, and what appears to be the final changes to the way the county handles consent calendar items.