Aldermen on the Council’s Public Safety Committee will meet back in the Council Chambers today to take care of some regular business: the appointment of Alicia Tate-Nadeau as the Executive Director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC).

Tate-Nadeau was appointed to the position in March. In addition to serving as an Assistant Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard, Tate-Nadeau made history in 2015 by becoming the first female in Illinois history to be promoted to the position of General. More recently, Tate-Nadeau served on FEMA’s regional team in Flint, Michigan to help address the ongoing crisis with the city’s water system.

The elimination of a $30 fee for the preparation, administration and processing of entry level police exams is the only agenda item for today’s Workforce Development and Audit meeting. The ordinance was introduced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the request of the Commissioner of Human Resources, Soo Choi.

Responding to criticisms that their public hearings on police accountability were a “sham”, the two chairmen of the Council’s Public Safety Committee and Budget Committee announced a plan to create “at least three subcommittees” to organize additional public forums on police reform across the city.

Nearly eight months after the death of Laquan McDonald and few structural reforms to show for it, police reform advocates call back-to-back City Council hearings on police reform a “sham”. Meanwhile, another Council Committee approves a plan from the Human Resources Department that would eliminate the $30 fee for the police and fire exam as a way to increase minority participation. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has appointed Mark Kelly to head the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Kelly, who is set to begin at the new position in about a month, has been Vice President for Student Success at Columbia College Chicago for more than 30 years. He will replace Michelle T. Boone, DCASE Commissioner since 2011, and the architect of the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan. The Plan meant “to elevate the City as a global destination for creativity, innovation and excellence in the arts,” but has been criticized as “an expensively out-sourced and pretty much useless epic of self-congratulation.”

As expected, few expert witnesses and no one from the Chicago Police Department showed up to testify at a nearly two hour long joint committee hearing on police reform held at City Hall yesterday, leaving the two chairmen to rethink their strategy to overhaul the department and the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA).

After sitting through more than a dozen witnesses, many of whom testified about the poor decision to hold only two public meetings at City Hall during business hours with limited public notice, Budget Chair Carrie Austin (34) and Public Safety Chair Ariel Reboyras (30) suggested they’d be open to extending the timeline for reform. They said they may hold additional meetings at public venues across the city.

Starting today, two City Council committees are scheduled to hold two days of public hearings on reforming the city’s policing policy, as part of a pledge to bring in subject matter experts and the public together to craft meaningful reforms. The first meeting is scheduled for today at 1:00 p.m., the second will be held on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. But, after a day of reaching out to subject matter experts, the Chicago Police Department, aldermen and their staff, Aldertrack has learned that the hearings Public Safety Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30) and Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34) promised in a letter released last month are not what is to be expected over the next two days.

Last month, on the same day the chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on Police Accountability (PATF), Lori Lightfoot and more than a dozen other activists released an open letter and held a press conference condemning the Emanuel Administration's delayed response to PATF's more than 100-page report on the structural and racial problems that plague the police department’s oversight apparatus. Hours after the Lightfoot presser, Reboyras and Austin released their own letter announcing their decision to hold two days of public hearings on police reform.

State lawmakers and Governor Bruce Rauner get their act together to pass a budget... even if it’s only a stopgap to get through the rest of 2016. And for the first time in a while, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools’ CEO Forrest Claypool sound fairly upbeat, as they received pension relief and the okay to increase property taxes for CPS. Plus: a new transit TIF has some state legislators up in arms, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle releases a budget forecast, and the issue of race takes center stage as commissioners decide on a ballot referendum to combine the Offices of County Clerk and Recorder of Deeds. 

Chicago has no comprehensive risk management program to identify trends or effectively track millions worth of risks and claims it faces across departments, an examination from the City’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found. “The City cannot analyze the total universe of its claims experience to reveal trends, and it takes no coordinated or proactive approach to reducing the frequency and severity of events leading to claims,” the report from Inspector General Joe Ferguson says.

“This is a matter of significant concern because the City spends many tens of millions of dollars annually to pay claims.” The OIG’s office estimated based on “limited data available” that the city spent an average of $4.4 million per week in claims in 2013 and 2014. The costliest of the two–workers compensation and public safety claims (including police misconduct)–cost the city about $350 million.

Yesterday afternoon the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill (SB2562) that would give Chicago the authority to create new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts near mass transit as a way to help fund improvements and new infrastructure projects at the Chicago Transit Authority. The bill, which had languished in committee, suddenly sprung to life following successful negotiations between the Assembly’s four leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner on yesterday's stopgap budget bill.

“This is a TIF omnibus bill,” explained one of the lead sponsors, State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), on the floor yesterday. “It provides the opportunity in Chicago for the development of transit oriented development around various kinds of subway stations and elevated lines.”

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle released the preliminary forecast for the County budget at a press availability yesterday morning, projecting a $174.3 million operating shortfall, a hike in expenditures, and declining revenues.

“While our costs keep growing, our revenues are flatlining or in some cases, declining,” Preckwinkle warned, mentioning lower than expected revenues from delinquent property taxes, cigarette taxes (due to Chicago’s decision to hike the smoking age to 21), court fees, and the sales tax.

In a tight vote accompanied by tense testimony, Cook County Commissioners approved what sponsor John Fritchey described as a “historic” and “miraculous” binding ballot referendum that would consolidate the Cook County Recorder of Deeds with the County Clerk’s Office. The question reads, “Shall the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds be eliminated and all duties and responsibilities of the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds be transferred to, and assumed by, the Office of the Cook County Clerk by December 7, 2020.”

The final vote, and the debate, broke along racial lines. 

Finance Committee Roll Call:

No (5) - Richard Boykin, Jerry “Iceman” Butler, Stanley Moore, Deborah Sims, Robert Steele

Yes (10)- Luis Arroyo, John Fritchey, Bridget Gainer, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Gregg Gosselin, Sean Morrison, Tim Schneider, Peter Silvestri, Larry Suffredin, Chairman John Daley

Absent (2) - Joan Patricia Murphy, Jeffrey Tobolski

Comm. Fritchey (D-12) said he was disappointed race was brought up in the first place. He and fellow Commissioner Richard Boykin (D-1) had a tense exchange in which Boykin told him constituents had asked why Fritchey was engaged in an “all-out assault on black office holders.”

“It’s Dorothy Brown last month, it’s Karen Yarbrough this month… if you want to rush something through and just say ‘I’m going to ram it through, forget about the costs, we’ll just deal with that after the voters approve it,’ that’s the wrong approach,” Boykin said. He was referring to an effort from Commissioner Peter Silvestri to make the position of Clerk of the Circuit Court, an office currently held by Dorothy Brown, an appointed instead of elected one. He was met with stiff opposition from Brown’s employees and withdrew his ordinance.

While Boykin said he assured his constituents attacking black female elected officials wasn’t Fritchey’s intent, the racial aspect of the vote re-emerged throughout public testimony and in debate among commissioners.

Marshall Hatch, pastor of the West Side’s New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist, asked what Fritchey’s “real motive” was. He said Yarbrough’s office was independent, saved $2 million over the past two years, and looked out for the needs and the interests of poor and minorities. “What political interests are being served by this action? This is not the time for this… not in this year when we celebrate in Chicago the 100th anniversary of the Great Migration,” Rev. Hatch said, also mentioning Dr. Martin Luther King’s march in Chicago. “What is the real motive? It could not be fiscal, it is not in the public interest, and it certainly sends the wrong message in this time of minority empowerment, particularly African American political empowerment.”

Boykin moved to defer the item until a financial impact statement could be prepared describing how much money the consolidation would net. Fritchey pointed to a Civic Federation estimate from 2012 that said the consolidation would lead to a 5% reduction in costs: a savings of roughly $800,000. Boykin’s motion failed.

“Wow, am I disappointed that that comment got made,” Fritchey said of Boykin’s “all-out assault” comment after a sigh. He reminded commissioners he sat on Congresswoman Robin Kelly’s host committee at a fundraising event the night before, supported Barack Obama’s presidential run, and worked for initiatives in the black community. “I will put my record on work I’ve done in the African American community up against most anybody: white, brown or black. This is about reforming government.”

The current Recorder of Deeds, Karen Yarbrough, came to testify as well. She told commissioners she’d been successful in streamlining the office in her term, and said consolidating her office with the “bloated” Clerk’s office would put black and brown constituents who rely on the Recorder’s services at risk. “Making such a drastic and risky move to save pennies is not a tightrope this county should attempt to walk,” she said. “Especially when a rebounding economy could overwhelm a gutted office with a million recordings a year.”

Recorder Yarbrough lives in West Suburban Maywood, and is the Democratic Committeeman for West Suburban Proviso Township. Boykin’s district consists of the West Side and West Cook suburbs, including Yarbrough’s hometown. Yarbrough was on Boykin’s transition team.

Debate lasted more than an hour, with some that voted against the measure in 2012 switching sides, including Comm. Larry Suffredin and Finance Chairman John Daley. Suffredin said the extended timeline of the transition helped change his vote. If voters approved the measure in November, that the consolidation would play out over four years. “I believe in referendums, and the power of the people to make decisions.”

After the vote, Fritchey and Boykin hugged, and Fritchey shook hands with the African American commissioners who voted against. Two commissioners Aldertrack spoke to did not want to comment further. The measure passed the full County Board later in the day with the same roll call.

In May, Mayor Rahm Emanuel raised $72,500 from a fundraising event he reportedly held last month at the Gold Coast home of developer Robert Wislow of CBRE. The mayor reported sixteen checks at an average amount of $4,500. All carried the date of May 24, 2015. The Astor Company, a recycling consulting firm, donated the largest amount to the Mayor: $10,000.

[May Contribution Report - Spreadsheet]

The Mayor reported seven checks with the maximum allowable contribution from an individual: $5,400. This includes checks from Kevin J. McKenna, the Executive Vice President of Clayco, a real estate, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that moved its headquarters from St. Louis to Chicago in 2013. Clayco reported $1.35 billion in revenue for 2015 and more than 1,645 employees across the country, according to its website. The firm worked on some big ticket projects across the city of Chicago: renovating an old sausage factory into a medical office for Mt. Sinai Hospital, upgrades at Harold Washington Library, and renovations for Thompson Coburn’s law offices. McKenna’s wife, Patricia, who is listed as a “homemaker”, also donated the maximum amount to the Mayor.

The McKennas are followed in maximum donations by restaurateur Richard Melman, the owner of Lettuce Entertain You; Alexander Tompsidis, President of AT Mechanical LLC, an HVAC contractor and mechanical service provider based out of Franklin Park, Illinois; and Erich Worple, a senior contract administrator for Ryan Inc. Central, a general contracting company based out of Janesville, Wisconsin.

One company, Adamson Plumbing Contractors, a commercial plumbing contractor that works closely with Walsh Construction, donated $5,400 to the mayor. Adamson helped work on numerous municipal contracts as a subcontractor for Walsh, including a $5 million contract at the 31st Street Harbor, a $1 million contract for the Wacker Drive Reconstruction project, a $3 million contract for improvements at CPS’ Westinghouse High School, and a $1 million contract for the Cook County Jail Dormitory, among a slate of other projects.

Mayor Emanuel received three checks for $5,000 from Chicago business leaders Shawn Clark (Vice President of GRC-Clayco), Robert Wislow (chairman of real estate firm CBRE Inc.), and Wislow’s wife, Susan.

CBRE brokered the 2015 sale of four city-owned River North parking lots, making a 3.75% commision on each. The parking sites were used by city employees who work at the Administrative Hearings building at 400 W. Superior St., which is where people go to contest or pay city owed debt related to red-light, speed camera, and other city violations. Due to the parking lots’ high property values and the increase in development in the area, the Inspector General’s Office recommended the city sell those lots to help fill the 2016 budget hole. The Mayor agreed and announced his intent to sell in early September. The city made approximately $12.4 million.

On the City Council side, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) was the biggest fund raiser in May, reeling in about $82,000. Ald. Ed Burke (14) came in second place, collecting $67,000 in donations to his PAC, the Burnham Committee.

All the donations to Ald. Hopkins’ personal campaign fund, Hopkins for Chicago, were in the $1,000 to $5,400 range. Attorneys and developers made up a large chunk of the donations: JDL Development ($2,500); Jack George, a well known land-use attorney for Schuyler, Roche, & Crisham ($1,000); Dave Cocagne, CEO of Vermilion Development ($1,000); Sudler and Company, a property management firm ($5,400); and Structured Development ($2,500).

Oddly, at the June City Council meeting, Ald. Hopkins voted against a redevelopment agreement with JDL Development for nearly $16 million in TIF reimbursements for a luxury high-rise they plan to build at the former Cuneo Hospital/Maryville Academy site in Uptown.

Meanwhile, Burke’s Burnham Committee received donations from about 40 individuals and businesses, including: $5,000 from Brackenbox, Inc., a garbage collection service; $2,500 from Choice Benefits of America, a Massachusetts-based tax preparation agency; $2,500 from J.N. Pritzker; and $3,000 from Geoffrey Ryan, and executive at Exxonmobil.

New Non-Candidate D-1s

• A D-1 (Statement of Organization) was filed for a new 41st Ward Regular Democratic Organization. The Chair of the new PAC is Timothy Heneghan. John Delaney is listed as Treasurer. The organization hasn’t raised a cent, yet. Heneghan won a three-way race to succeed former 41st Ward Ald. Mary O’Connor as the new Democratic ward boss. O’Connor, who lost her seat on the council to former firefighter Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41), chose not to run for re-election and instead supported Heneghan, a veteran firefighter and member of a local school council, as her successor. Ald. Napolitano supported a different candidate.
• Another D-1 was filed on May 19th for the creation of a political action committee titled, “Citizens Against Rauner.” The stated purpose is simply to “Save Illinois.” No funds have been raised. Dillon C. Clark is listed as Chair and Treasurer.

Stray Highlights

• Ald. Mike Zalewski (23), who rarely raises money to his personal campaign, brought in a sizable $44,500. Most of the donations to the Chairman of the Council’s Aviation Committee are in the $1k and $1.5k range. A few of the checks are from companies or individuals in the surrounding suburbs, such as Schiller Park, Dundee, Park Ridge, Hampshire, and Westmont. One $1.5k check came from Monte Kushida, the Owner of O’Hare Ventures, another $1.5k check came from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, which owns a handful of concession stands at O’Hare airport. Zalewski also received a $1.5k donation from a company called “Midway Restaurant Development/Subway”, which is owned by Hamid Hussein of Glenview.

• Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1) donated $18,750 to himself on May 3rd.

• Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), Chairman of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, received $10k from AFSCME Council 31.  

• The Burnham Committee, a political action committee controlled by Ald. Ed Burke (14), received three separate $2.5k checks from Pete’s Fresh Market. Each donation is cited from a different store location, but all share the same address (4333 South Pulaski). A separate $1K check to the Burnham Committee from Peter Michael Realty, Inc. lists the same address.

• The 13th Ward Democratic Organization, controlled by House Speaker Mike Madigan, collected a total of $50k in two separate checks from the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Committee.

• Speaking of construction PACs, the Construction and General Laborer’s District Council of Chicago, a labor union representing about 20,000 construction workers in Chicago, donated $1k each to Ald. Rod Sawyer (6), Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), and the Chicago Progressive Caucus.

• New 2nd Ward Democratic Committeeman Tim Egan donated $1.5k to Ald. Burke’s Burnham Committee and $2.5k to Ald. Hopkins’ personal campaign fund. Egan successfully won the committeeman seat following Ald. Hopkins’ decision not to run. Egan is the CEO of Roseland Hospitals and a two-time 43rd Ward aldermanic candidate.

• A West Humboldt Park day care center, All Things Are Possible for Kids, Inc., gave $1k to the New 37th Ward Democratic Organization, which, interestingly, isn’t controlled by Democratic Ward Committeeman Emma Mitts, but rather her Ethics Officer, Mary Phillips, who is listed as the committee’s Chairperson.

• After a failed bid for congress, Ald. Howard Brookins, Jr. (21) transferred $5,335.97 from his congressional campaign committee, Brookins for Congress, to his aldermanic campaign fund, Committee to Elect Howard B. Brookins, Jr.

• Utility company ComEd gave $1.5k each to the Burnham Committee and City Treasurer Kurt Summers’ personal campaign fund.

• David Gassman, the president of DLG Management, a property management firm that owns apartments in Lakeview, Uptown and Edgewater, donated $1.2k to Ald. Pat O’Connor (40) and $1.5k to Ald. Joe Moore (49).

• The real estate developer behind the Montclare Senior Residences, MR Properties, LLC, donated $8k to the 8th Ward Democratic Organization, run by Ald. Michelle Harris (8).

• The president of Riot Fest, an annual music festival held in Chicago, Michael Petryshyn, donated $3k to Ald. George Cardenas (12). In 2015, when Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26) blocked festival organizers from renting out Humbolt Park for a fourth year in a row after it got trashed the year before, Ald. Cardenas offered up Douglas Park.

One of the very last items at a marathon meeting of the Cook County Board, Commissioner Bridget Gainer introduced an ordinance (16-4229) mandating paid sick leave for county workers. That ordinance is in addition to one introduced byCommissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, which was light on details at the time it was introduced. Gainer said the differences between the two versions would be reconciled in committee.  The preamble to Gainer’s ordinance estimates the additional operational cost to businesses to provide leave will be between 0.7 to 1.5 percent.

The ordinance applies to all employers, defined as “Any person employing one or more employees, or seeking to employ one or more employees: a. If the person has its principal place of business within Cook County; or b. Does business within Cook County.” Regulations don’t apply to federal or state employees, or employees “of any municipality in Cook County,” Indian tribes or corporations owned by Indian tribes. The ordinance is nearly a carbon copy of the city’s version of paid sick leave passed by Council earlier this month.

President Toni Preckwinkle will outline Cook County's preliminary FY 2017 budget forecast at a press availability this morning at the County Building. The county released its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Monday, and has already started briefing commissioners on the county's fiscal picture. Preckwinkle has warned this budget season will be another difficult one. The CAFR was presented by County CFO Ivan Samstein and Comptroller Lawrence Wilson. 

This time last year, the County's Pension Fund shortfall stood at $6.5 billion, and was growing by $1 million a day. The county also had a projected operating shortfall of $198.75 million, "driven by increasing labor costs, rising legacy debt service, increased costs of the Presidential election cycle, and reductions in court filing revenues."