Drawing the most energized crowd yet, yesterday morning’s budget hearings focused on changes to taxi and rideshare regulations, while the afternoon’s Police Board, Fire Department and Animal Control hearings moved swiftly with considerably less aldermanic attendance and questioning.

Morning Attendance: Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Will Burns (4), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Anthony Beale (9), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Marty Quinn (13), David Moore (17), Howard Brookins (21), Ricardo Munoz (22), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Anthony Napolitano (41), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49). VIce Chair Jason Ervin (28) chairing.

BUSINESS AFFAIRS

In a raucous hearing marked by cheers and catcalls from the gallery, proposed regulatory changes for rideshare companies took the majority of the morning, with calls for more strict enforcement of Airbnb regulations running as a secondary theme. But everything ground to a screeching halt shortly before the lunch break, when Budget Committee Chair Carrie Austin gave a pointed speech excoriating aldermen for asking “silly questions” and to the overflow gallery audience for rowdy behavior.

Speaking after television cameras had left and there were few reporters present, Austin’s speech praised Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Comm. Maria Guerra Lapacek for her work, and took just about everyone else in the room to task. Austin, who arrived around 11:00 a.m. and had let Vice Chair Jason Ervinconduct business for the morning, took the microphone for two minutes around noon.

“But if they was having any other problems, why didn’t they come to us before today? But to use this chambers as place for them to have some...oops, calm down Carrie,” the chamber was blanketed in silence as she seemed to compose herself before launching again.

“All of this handclapping like, in my community the taxicabs didn’t come and Uber don’t either! So I don’t know why everybody’s so gung ho on either one. Cause anything on the far South Side Alderman Beale and I haven’t see them. Be it a taxi cab or be it an Uber driver.”

Austin continued for another minute defending Commissioner Lapacek, “Everybody want to showboat!...The next time you come into this chambers to attack you, they’re going to have to deal with me.” Then she slammed down the microphone.

Comm. Lapacek’s written testimony.

Rideshare

Nonetheless, the morning was filled with clapping, cheers and boos, as a group of aldermen (Anthony Beale (9), Scott Waguespack (32), Antonio Munoz (22), Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Harry Osterman (48), Nick Sposato (38), Pat Dowell (3), John Arena (45), David Moore(17)) pressed Comm. Lapacek on the state of taxicab regulations. As the questioning continued, the administration’s position on rideshare became clear: Industry evolution can’t be stopped and the administration is taking a hands-off attitude.

In one back-and-forth between Ald. Anthony Beale (9) and Comm. Lapacek, Beale was attempting to make the point that unregulated rideshare companies have decimated the value of regulated taxi medallions. In her answers, Comm. Lapacek revealed that in 2014, there were 100 private party medallion sales. In 2015, only 12.

Beale said, “Doesn’t that tell you that we have a problem?”

Lapacek responded, “That WE have a problem?”

Her comment was followed by derisive laughter and applause from large gallery section of taxi drivers.

Despite the charged atmosphere, most of the discussion focused on requiring rideshare drivers to have the same licensing as taxi drivers, for both safety and city revenue reasons. Assuming 30,000 drivers and $200 annual fee, many aldermen focused on a $60 million annual revenue estimation. Comm. Lapacek retorted that the revenue would likely be significantly less and the number of new staff required to manage rideshare licenses would mean “not a net gain” in city revenue.

Ald. Joe Moreno (1), Joe Moore (49) and Howard Brookins (21) took the side of the rideshare companies, with Moreno giving a fiery speech: “These Uber drivers, mainly Hispanic and African American, are earning money they couldn’t do before Uber and rideshare came here… The taxicab industry didn’t innovate because they didn’t have to… I got your back on rideshare,” said Moreno, followed by battling catcalls and cheers from the gallery.

Some other facts from Comm. Lapacek and her staff from the Q&A session on rideshare:

• There are about 20,000 Uber drivers and another 10,000 Lyft drivers in Chicago. It’s unclear how much is overlap.

• 60-80% of rideshare cars are within five years of age.

• Taxicab industry fees brought in $4.6 million last year, while rideshare companies brought in $3.1 million last year.

• It costs $200 to obtain a taxi driver license, of which the city only keeps $15. The rest goes to City Colleges for training expenses.

• About 6,000 taxi rider complaints are registered with the city a year. Last year, only 13 rideshare complaints were registered, but most rideshare complaints likely go to the rideshare companies, not the city, according to Lapacek.

Vacation Rentals/Airbnb

On another topic, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) and Michele Smith (43) pressed Comm. Lapacek to increase enforcement of Airbnb regulations passed earlier this year. Ald. Reilly asked why there are, “about 3,000 nightly vacation rental units advertised in the city of Chicago, yet only about 200 of them are licensed?”

Comm. Lapacek claimed that she does not have the manpower to enforce the law. Reilly suggested requiring a permit number for anyone advertising a location. Those advertisements could just be checked using an internet search, resulting in approximately $1.5M in missed revenue.

 

POLICE BOARD

The first official meeting between new Police Board Chair Lori Lightfoot and the full City Council was sparsely attended Friday afternoon, as Vice Chair Jason Ervincontinued to conduct hearings while a handful of aldermen and staffers stayed in the cloakroom after lunch instead of sitting for Lightfoot’s testimony, which lasted under an hour.

Afternoon Attendance: Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Anthony Beale (9), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Carrie Austin (34), Gilbert Villegas (36), Nicholas Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Anthony Napolitano (41), Michele Smith (43), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46)

Vice-Chair: Jason Ervin (28)

The Police Board is one of several law-enforcement related budget hearings this month (the Police Department and the Independent Police Review Authority also have their own budget hearings). The Police Board is a civilian body that decides disciplinary cases about allegations of police misconduct, nominates candidates for Superintendent of Police to the Mayor, and adopts rules and regulations for the governance of the Chicago Police Department.

Lightfoot’s submitted written testimony.

Lightfoot’s July appointment hearing in the Committee on Public Safety was markedly testier than Friday’s Q&A with aldermen. At July’s committee meeting, new aldermen Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41), Ald. Chris Taliaferro (both former officers), and Ald. David Moore (17), pressed Lightfoot on improving police/community relations, increasing diversity within the CPD, and how the board would handle a police officer caught lying under oath.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) was one of six aldermen who had questions for Lightfoot, admitted she doesn’t follow the board, but asked whether police were being adequately punished for misconduct.  

Lightfoot said that impression is one she’s working to correct, and the Police Board is a unique model for civilian oversight in the country. “I can tell you in the two months that I’ve been Police Board President, we’ve had three cases that have come before us that have been fully litigated, if you will. And of those 3 cases, involved a total of 4 officers, we’ve recommended termination in every single one of those instances.”

Those officers have a chance to appeal to Circuit Court. Lightfoot says part of her new role is to publicize the Board’s work and, “disabuse the misnomer that police officers can do whatever they want with reckless abandon.” She says police haven’t gotten away with much in any of her various roles with CPD and law enforcement.

Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30) asked about Dante Servin, an officer recommended for termination by IPRA for shooting into a crowd, killing Rekia Boyd. Superintendent Garry McCarthy could send the case to the Police Board. “It’s not to us [sic], but I can pledge if that case does come to us with a termination recommendation, we’re going to treat it very very seriously. The commitment I made to [Rekia Boyd’s] family is that we make sure we give them information at every step of the process.”

In her prepared testimony, and in response to questioning from Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), Lightfoot said she’s focused on getting cases wrapped up sooner, and says since she started in her role, the average time from filing charges until a decision has dropped, to seven months.

She also pushed back against the Chicago Justice Project’s comparison between the Superintendent’s recommended disciplinary action versus the Police Board’s decision. CJP’s numbers suggest the two rarely agree. Lightfoot says those estimates don’t paint an accurate picture, because the Superintendent and the Police Board work off different information, often from different points in an investigation. “The number’s low, it’s not accurate.”  

 

ANIMAL CARE AND CONTROL

Attendance was bigger and questioning was more spirited during Animal Care and Control Executive Director Sandra Alfred’s hearing than during the Police Board’s moments before. Aldermen complained about raccoons, thanked Alfred for removing snake eggs, praised dog and cat adoption events, and asked the Commissioner whether she’d heard of the now-famous missing rare parrot.

Attendance: Pat Dowell (3) Leslie Hairston (5), Michelle Harris (8), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Raymond Lopez (15), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Carrie Austin (34), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Anthony Napolitano (41), Brendan Reilly (42), John Arena (45), Vice Chair Jason Ervin (28)

“I have some special issues on the Northwest Side,” namely deer, Ald. Marge Laurino (39) told Alfred. She responded, “Yes, we had one ward that was leaving Whole Foods type of food out for deer… First of all it’s illegal to feed deer in Illinois.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Laurino said.

“I’m seeing more raccoons, possums, I’ve even seen a coyote in my ward,” Ald. Dowell (3) said, “They’re having babies, so we need to have some kind of response. I raise this every year, we do this every year.” Alfred said increased construction is likely leading to more wildlife sightings, and wants to work with aldermen to identify wildlife hotspots.

CACC has received more than 36,000 service requests so far in 2015. Their budget is $5.7 million in FY2016.

Other figures:

• 1,385 animal bite reports submitted to CACC in 2015

• 2,504 Municipal Code violations issued by CACC in 2015

• $75,677 in revenue from dog licensing since 2011

• 453 specimens submitted to CDPH for rabies testing

Of all the wildlife stories about roosters, “more raccoons than I can mention,” and bats, Ald. Brendan Reilly’s (42) questioning provided the most amusing bit of the hearing: “Are you familiar with this parrot that went missing in Lincoln Park?”

“This what now?” Alfred asked.

“A parrot. A pet parrot.”

“A pet parrot?”

“Parrot. A bird.”

“A bird.”

“Yeah.”

Reilly asked whether CACC dealt with lost pets. Alfred said yes, but mostly cats and dogs, and said people are free to inquire whether the department had found lost pets.

“Keep an eye out for the parrot,” Reilly told aldermen before asking about, and praising a conversion of several full-time positions to part time positions. Alfred said the shift helped with students and part-time applicants who wanted more flexibility. Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) also brought up an issue from his Clerk’s testimony about pet licensing through veterinarian’s offices.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

A quick and mostly laudatory hearing for the Chicago Fire Department closed out the day, with a few aldermen asking about overtime pay for CFD firefighters, which the Office of Inspector General says has increased “significantly.” “While some use of overtime is expected, excessive overtime or inequitable distribution of overtime may indicate that personnel assignments have not been optimized.” Fire Comm. José Santiago told aldermen overtime has actually gone down.

Attendance: Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Ricardo Munoz (22), Michael Scott Jr (24), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Carrie Austin (34),

The Fire Department has exactly $30 million budgeted for overtime in 2016, up from exactly $20 million in 2015. Santiago says overtime is actually down by a third from last year, when the Department spent over $57 million.

“We had some litigation in the past that prevented us from hiring, but now we’re catching up and we’re continuing to hire.” Santiago told Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30).

Santiago told Ald. David Moore (17) vacancies and a collective bargaining agreement that says a minimum amount of people have to man a truck are driving those costs. “When we have a position that’s open, we have to put someone in that.”

16% of expenditures from the City’s corporate fund go toward Fire–the third biggest expense after Police and the Finance General Fund. It’s budgeted personnel costs for this year are more than $592 million, and its overall budget is up by roughly $29 million.

Other figures from Santiago’s testimony:

• The entire Chicago Fire Department ambulance fleet is now rated and certified for advanced life support, with 2 licensed paramedics on every ambulance

• CFD responds to roughly 700,000 calls for service each year

• The Department’s Public Education Unit has reached out to 55,000 for drills, training, and education on fire safety

• Fire deaths in Chicago are among the lowest in major cities, which it says is from a robust smoke detector program entirely funded through corporate donations and grants. The majority of deaths are in homes with no smoke detectors

Ald. Willie Cochran (20) pushed Santiago on salary raises and upcoming lieutenant promotions. There are nearly 20 lieutenant promotions planned that will open up vacancies at the firefighter and engineer level. “We are going to hire in November at the firefighter level, so we can fill those vacancies, thus reducing overtime.”

Ald. Carrie Austin (34) closed testimony by thanking the first responders who, “I could almost say saved my life…It was for their fast action that I sit here today, along with the prayers that people prayed for me.” She also said, along with other aldermen, she’d be interested in a round of fire training, though she admitted, laughing, she couldn’t carry equipment up three stairs.

Yesterday’s morning hearings moved quickly under the sharp tongue of Budget Chair Carrie Austin, although at one point Board of Ethics Director Steve Berlinsaid Aldermanic ethics were “doing OK.” The afternoon hearings were focused on three hours of questions for Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita on the city's mental health services and HIV clinics. Keeping things moving, Austin waived the testimony of department heads and went straight to aldermanic questions and answers.

Morning Attendance: Budget Chair Carrie Austin (34), Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Marty Quinn (14), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Ricardo Munoz (22), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Milly Santiago (30), Ariel Reboyras (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Anthony Napolitano (40), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49), Deb Silverstein (50)

BUILDINGS

Comm. Judy Frydland announced in her written testimony that city building permits issued increased by 2.2% in 2015, the highest number of permits in the last five years. As a response, the city will be adding 21 new inspectors before the end of the year. To help pay for growing department needs, permit fees are proposed to go up in the coming budget, the first building permit fee increase since 1999.

Her submitted written testimony.

The majority of aldermanic questions were either praise for the Commissioner and her staff or questions about how the department can assist their ward in one way or another. Although there were a few nuggets of information that came out during the Q&A.

Asking about the building registration program created in 2011 the Emanuel administration, Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30) asked if banks are being compliant with registration.

Frydland responded, “We have over 7,000 buildings that are currently registered this year. The banks seem to be very responsive when we hear something has been broken into… We’ve been focusing our efforts on buildings that don’t have a lender involved. A lot of times you have a building where an owner passed away and you don’t have someone who has inherited or there’s no probate involved... We’re putting those buildings into court.”

“Banks are no longer the primary problem. It’s now about getting people to stay current on their mortgages,” she said.

Ald. Sue Sadlowski Garza (10) asked about vacant buildings with large outstanding water bills, and whether there’s a way water bills could be waived so they could be sold and back on tax rolls.

Frydland responded, “We do have a plan to try to help find new developers and buildings that have demolition orders. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be posting a list of all the demo orders on our website and we’ll be posting a procedure if someone is interested in [vacant property] so we can do a forfeiture in circuit court.”

 

FLEET AND FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Interrupting a 41-minute light speed question and answer session, Comm. David Reynolds turned somber to apologize to aldermen for problems with landscaping.

“Our kickoff for the landscape season this year is one of the most embarrassing things I have overseen since I’ve been in this department… This was an aberration, I will not let it happen next year,” he said. Reynolds blamed contract transitions and claimed personal responsibility.

Reynolds’ submitted, written testimony.

Most of the aldermanic questions focused on what properties the city plans to sell or if there are ways to sell certain properties. But at one point, Ald. Marty Quinn (13) broke his long Council meeting silence when he asked how city properties are selected for sale for proceeds. Reynolds replied that the lots sold near 740 N. Sedgwick was “opportunistic” and unusual. For the most part, the city will continue to liquidate former fire and police stations and ward yards.

Finally, answering a question from Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) about how many police cars are in the entire police fleet, Reynolds listed:

• 424 marked sedans

• 692 unmarked sedans

• 852 marked SUVs

• 301 unmarked SUVs

Regarding Ford Interceptors, produced in the 10th Ward, the city has received 744 new vehicles, 132 on order.
 

BOARD OF ETHICS

Another brisk question and answer session, mostly focused on explaining city procedures, was marked by a brief exchange between Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) and Ethics Director Steve Berlin.

“How we doing ethically, we doing OK?” asked Ald. Reilly.

“Ethically, yes, I think we’re doing OK,” responded Berlin cheerily. “Yes we are. I am very happy to say that.”

As Ald. Walter Burnett (27) later called it, the Board of Ethics Q&A session was a “lovefest.”

Berlin’s submitted, written testimony.

Ald. Joe Moore (49), who requested extra time from the Chair to ask additional questions about Board procedure, received a sharp look from Chair Austin and, “You want a round two?”

Moore in particular drilled in on the results of investigations from the now-expired Office of the Legislative Inspector General. According to city ordinance, OLIG investigations needed to be forwarded to the Board of Ethics for review. Responding to questions from Moore, Berlin revealed that:

• 47 petitions were made by OLIG to the Board of Ethics

• 26 investigations are still underway

• 21 resulted in completed investigations

  • 8 were dismissed by the OLIG

  • 4 were dismissed by Board of Ethics for lack of probable cause

  • 2 cases were referred and are still pending

  • 7 have been completed

Berlin referred aldermen to the tally of OLIG reports on the Board’s website for more information.
 

PUBLIC HEALTH

Hammering away at the 2012 shutdown of six city-operated mental health clinics, aldermen questioned Department of Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita for more than three hours Thursday about a possible privatization of the City’s HIV care clinics and the state of CDPH’s role in city mental health.

Afternoon Attendance: Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Deb Mell (33), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Anthony Napolitano (41), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45) James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49)

Morita, hoarse after her testimony, told Aldertrack the changes are less about privatization and more of a partnership. “I think we’re exploring an opportunity to actually partner with community service providers who provide care already,” she said after the hearing. “There’s $21.5 million that already goes to community providers to provide primary care for HIV. What we’re considering whether or not we’d take the $1.5 million that we’re using for our own primary care clinics and making it available to providers to provide care in our locations.”

Morita's full testimony.

Morita says services will continue at the city’s Englewood Clinic location, and would stay in the Uptown community, but not necessarily at the same clinic location because there are a variety of providers in the area already.

AFSCME Council 31, who WBEZ reported represents at least 17 employees at those clinics, did not respond to requests for comment after the hearing.

Through the transition, Morita says, the City can achieve a broader spectrum of care, including help with housing, case management, and substance abuse for more people than they would running clinics by themselves, and ultimately prevent the spread of HIV. She says this would increase care for 2,000 patients, 1,500 more than they’re currently serving. HIV care stakeholders have been advocating for this partnership, Morita says.

Several aldermen, including some who voted for the 2012 closures, asked what measures CDPH would take to prevent people “slipping through the cracks.” CDPH is committed to making the transition seamless, she says. Morita says during the mental health clinic transition there were no funded agencies like the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Chicago House to specifically help with the transition.

Ald. Joe Moore (49) asked, “What are we going to do to try to address this continuing issue that besets us with respect to the mentally ill? I know we’re not being helped by state cuts,” he asked.

Morita says the city is focusing its mental health efforts on at-risk communities, including work with the Cook County Jail, homeless and undocumented populations, and school children. “We know we have limited resources, we’re looking to foundations and philanthropy…we don’t want to be duplicative, we don’t want to be redundant.”

Ald. John Arena (45) asked for more information on case managers through the chair, and Ald. Moore asked for data on the transition from CDPH clinics to private providers in 2012. Aldermen were also referred to a June 2014 Mental Services Report from CDPH.

Out of 6 clinical sites left after the closings in 2012, CDPH only has one full time psychiatrist, an issue aldermen revisited several times. The Department has been using temporary psychiatrists to fill the gaps.

“We have a job posting out,” Morita says, “It’s not just a problem specific to Chicago, it’s a national shortage.” 

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) pushed back. “You’re nowhere near competitive,” saying state psychiatrists make $50 more per hour than in Chicago. “You all are so far below the bar that you’re not going to get anybody.”

Morita says the department is already starting to interview candidates, after several changes to make positions more appealing, including a salary increase and a new designation for Chicago health centers as Health Shortage Service Areas. This allows applicants with outstanding medical school loans to be repaid by the federal government in exchange for working in underserved areas. Morita says CDPH is also considering loosening residency requirements to get more candidates.

Aldermen also asked about whether additional tobacco taxes were on the way.

“As far as I know, there have been no fatalities linked to the use of e-cigarettes, yet, it’s real easy to get cancer from chewing tobacco. Why have we not touched that?” Ald. Brendan Reilly asked, saying the UK has recognized e-cigarettes as a way to quit smoking.

Ald. Joe Moreno (1), currently championing an ordinance taxing e-cigarette containers and liquid that’s currently included in the FY2016 budget said laws in Springfield prohibited the city from taxing smokeless tobacco. But he says now the Law Department seems to have found a way to make it happen. “I have an ordinance ready to go,” he said.  

Morita defended the e-cigarette tax, saying CDPH is focused on cutting down tobacco use by youth overall. Reilly asked whether the tax, currently set at $1.25 per cartridge and $0.25 per milliliter of liquid, is enough. Morita says yes, because “youth are more price sensitive,” but says she is open to other measures to reduce all tobacco use.

A low-attendance, end of the day hearing on the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was punctuated by a forceful, two word call to action and rebuke from IG Joe Ferguson on oversight of City Council: “Fix this.” By the end of Ferguson’s testimony at around 6:40 p.m., only a dozen aldermen were left.

Attendance: Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Michelle Harris (8), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Ricardo Munoz (22), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Scott Waguespack (32), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Michele Smith (43), Joe Moore (49)

For close to a year, a carefully crafted ordinance to fold in the Office of the Legislative Inspector General, currently headed by Faisal Khan, into the OIG, has been on hold. Khan, who rubbed many aldermen the wrong way (Ald. Moreno said Khan had a “cowboy mentality” and a staff of “political operators”), sent letters to aldermen and the Mayor this summer pleading for an adequate amount of money to do his job. His task was to provide oversight of 50 aldermen and roughly 450 staff with a budget of about $350,000. He eventually turned to paying staff out of his own pocket.

He told Aldertrack in early August, “It’s impossible to do your job when you’re supposed to ask for money from the people you’re supposed to oversee.”

Ferguson alluded to the subject’s touchiness when Ald. Scott Waguespack asked whether he was up for taking on the oversight task. “This is a long standing loose wire, a raw, sore spot for many people in this body,” he explained. Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), Ald. Ameya Pawar (47), Ald. Michelle Harris (8), representatives of the Law Department, the Mayor’s Office and the OIG’s office worked on the ordinance introduced last October to give OIG the power to investigate and audit City Council.

“There were 37, 36 sponsors,” Ferguson said, “And I think it didn’t include you, Ald. Waguespack, it didn’t include members of the so-called Progressive Caucus, that generally are along for that sort of good government ride. And it sat.” Ald. Michele Smith (43) and Ald. Joe Moore (49) worked to tweak and re-introduce the ordinance at the start of the new term in 2015.

That’s yet to see a vote either.

“I will say, as a resident of the City of Chicago, and as somebody who has tried to work for good government in the City of Chicago, it’s an embarrassment that it sits there. Let’s fix this…bring it up for a vote.” If not that ordinance, then give that same authority to Khan’s office, Ferguson says, which is expected to fold from lack of funding in November.

Ald. Joe Moore mentioned reservations some aldermen might have about unfounded accusations against them being made public, potentially damaging during elections. Aside from the Inspector General’s office good track record and the significant legal repercussions of a leak, Ferguson says an investigation going public is ultimately unlikely to happen because “it’s my ass on the line. You can call me before this body and ask what happened.” He was similarly not concerned about needing more funding than the OLIG, given the employees and institutional knowledge the office already has. “We’d make good use of that money.”

Ferguson also talked about the evolution of his office, which he says has moved beyond just investigations, and toward a more multi-faceted approach that includes audits, compliance and program review. “There’s a cultural shift that still needs to occur” with middle management in city departments who sometimes take months to provide publicly available information. He singled out a 17-month-long “game of cat and mouse” with management at City Clerk Susana Mendoza’s office, who he says won’t hand over basic data on city stickers. He said his office is also working on investigations into overtime at CPD, and possibly the Chicago Fire Department.

He also mentioned missed opportunities for City efficiencies, including a 2011 report his office issued saying the City is losing out on more than $100 million on unnecessary motor truck drivers. “As we approach the 2017 bargaining round, since the unions are the greatest beneficiaries of the increase in taxes…the workforce and their representatives in the unions need to be partners…to work with the administration and the City Council to take their hands off of work rules that result in this sort of waste.”

For the third day in a row, numerous alderman called on officials from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) to preserve 311 employees’ jobs, while Department heads tried to reframe the privatization plan as a first, necessary step to bring the system up to speed. Aldermen also sought answers on new crossing guard responsibilities hoisted on on the Department by the Mayor’s Chicago Police Department shuffle, and aggressively confronted the Department’s Executive Director over minority hiring and contracts.

Afternoon attendance: Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Will Burns (4), Leslie Hairston (5), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Sue Sadlowski-Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Danny Solis (25), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Pat O’Connor (40), Anthony Napolitano (41), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49), Debra Silverstein (50)



311 PRIVATIZATION

311 employers sporting green AFSCME Council 31 buttons that read “Privatization NO!” stood outside Council chambers, while inside, aldermen like Pat Dowell (3) testified she wanted tech upgrades, but not at the expense of staffers’ jobs and knowledge base.

“It’s important to invest in the equipment, but also to invest in the workers and to maintain them over time,” Dowell (3) told OEMC’s Executive Director, Gary Schenkel.

Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24) and Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38) backed Dowell up, saying they didn’t want to see 311 jobs outsourced to the suburbs, another state, or even another country. Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) called it a matter of civic pride to keep the jobs local, and Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) suggested private operators would seek profit over public safety.

“Whatever model we look at will have extreme Chicago oversight and involvement. It won’t be just a hand-off. That’s not the concept whatsoever… it may look very much like the same. We set the bar very high.” Schenkel said. The RFP would serve as a total re-examination of the system, and many questions about staffing and technological improvements would stay unanswered until bids come back in, he said. Some aldermen mistakenly believed there was already an RFP out to bid. Schenkel told aldermen he expects OEMC and DoIT to co-release one in 2016. Under Ald. Roderick Sawyer’s (6) privatization ordinance (that’s still awaiting passage), the change would then come back to council for a vote, he said.  

Aldermen might’ve been thinking of the Request for Proposal the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) put out in Fall 2013 to renovate 311's technology. Responses to that RFP gave the department the estimated $25-30 million upgrade price tag they’ve repeated throughout this week’s hearings.

The 2013 request called for a system, “not only replace the City's current technology, but to provide a holistic, transformative solution” to help the City provide constituent services, to “fundamentally transform” the way the City interacts with residents on a new system “that will rival best-in-class private sector offerings, such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Amazon.com.” Schenkel repeated the hope for a new, “holistic” system on Wednesday.

“What’s the difference between us doing it and someone else doing it?” Budget Committee Vice Chair Jason Ervin (28) asked. There is a 311 call center in his ward.

“That’s what we hope to find out through the RFP process,” Schenkel said. “The system we have now is 16 years old and our yearly maintenance cost is $1.7 to $2.3 million a year.” An annual lease of a CSR from a private company might be a better way to keep up with fast moving technology, and keep costs down.

Mayor Emanuel gave the Sun-Times a higher estimated cost to modernize 311 than commissioners suggested this week: $40 to $50 million over the next three years. He suggested privatization is the City’s best option, given its fiscal straits, telling the Editorial Board, “Doing it with a private operator is a better way to do it. We don’t have that type of resources, so I’m being upfront about it.”

The 2013 RFP called for leveraging existing call center resources, a standardization of call-taking policies and procedures, and a revamp of the roughly 600 codes 311 uses to track requests. The switch-over was planned to begin with a pilot program in 311 and the Department of Water Management, then spread to service requests for “foundational” departments: Buildings, Family and Support Services, Transportation, and Streets and Sanitation, then eventually to the rest of City services.  

 

CROSSING GUARD CHANGES

Aldermen also spent a large portion of OEMC’s hearing asking about crossing guard reforms. As part of Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to move more than 300 CPD desk officers back to the street, the police department will transfer responsibility for hiring and supervising crossing guards to OEMC. The Mayor explained the move in a press release on September 20, “While civilians are already hired to serve as crossing guards, we expect this move to increase police manpower during the school year when CPD typically backfills crossing guard vacancies with police officers.”

“We’re using this first year to stabilize the whole operation,” he told Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), who suggested guards should live where they work. There are 806 crossing guard posts out there, and nearly 100 vacancies to fill, Schenkel says. “Maybe we need 910, maybe we need 750. According to CPS, those have not been reviewed comprehensively in quite some time. So we’ll be doing that as part of our first year stabilization and transition.”

 

ALD. MORENO CONFRONTS SCHENKEL ON MINORITY HIRING

The most heated moment of the day came at the end of the OEMC session, more than 2 hours in, when Ald. Joe Moreno (1) called Schenkel “rude and insensitive,” and later, a modern day racist. Continuing a common line of questioning at these hearings about minority hiring, Moreno asked, “Has this administration, has the Mayor or his staff or your liaison to the Mayor ever had a discussion with you about hiring numbers in terms of Hispanics and/or African Americans?”

Schenkel replied, “I’ve never had a conversation, nor have we been directed to hire any ethnicity, nor do I pay particular attention to that. I look for the best qualified candidate. I prefer to think that I’m colorblind, and I’d like to stay that way.” Moreno ended his questioning there.

But when Ald. Walter Burnett (27) later enquired about contracts awarded to African American bidders, Moreno jumped back in. There was some confusion between Burnett, Schenkel, and Vice Chair Jason Ervin about the exact percentage Burnett was looking for. Ald. Moreno spoke up, “This Commissioner said that he didn’t put importance on hiring of Latinos or African Americans, that he’s colorblind. So I would assume that he has the same position when he’s doing contracts, so I might be able to save your time and your questioning because of his rude and insensitive and his out of place comment to me, which is going to be taken up with the Mayor’s staff.”

As Vice Chair Ervin tried to interrupt, Moreno audibly slammed his microphone back down. Ald. Emma Mitts (37) went to speak with him, and he circled around chambers after the OEMC meeting concluded, talking with other aldermen, including those in the Latino Caucus. He later posted on Facebook, “Many in Latino & African American community see this kind of statement as modern racism.”

According to budget hearing documents shared Wednesday, roughly 37% of OEMC’s spending is on MBE/WBE contracts. 90% of its new hires, 72% of its department employees, and more than half of its department managers are non-white.

Questions surrounding the Chicago Police Department’s hiring practices, especially how it relates to minority hiring and the use of psychological evaluations, dominated the two hour hearing with Human Resources Commissioner Soo Choi.

Budget Vice Chair Jason Ervin (28) suggested CPD do away with the psychological exam, noting a “historic problem” of a disproportionate number of African Americans scoring poorly on the tests, despite receiving high marks on the written exam.

“We have heard the concern for a number of years,” Commissioner Choi said.

CPD hires an independent contractor to administer its written and psychological tests. But according to Ald. Willie Cochran (20), the contract is 20 years old.

“They have been providing that same test, over, and over and over again, no revisions or no changes in that,” Ald. Cochran explained. “Our society has changed and it doesn't suit well for us having not looked at other tools and instruments that are out there.”

But the Department of Human Resources has no authority over the RFP process. It’s a point Commissioner Choi made repeatedly, even as she agreed with the aldermen’s concerns. “Taking a look at the psychological exam is certainly warranted, and I believe that the [police] superintendent has also expressed that same desire.”

Former police officer Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) suggested the test be done in-house with a scantron sheet. But Commissioner Choi said that kind of testing is “a complicated process” that requires “an appropriate entity to develop and administer the exam”.

In preparation for the upcoming Police Officer exam next February, the Human Resources Department is working with CPD and David Axelrod’s former public affairs firm, ASGK, on developing a recruiting and outreach campaign focused on increasing the number of minority applicants. The last time the CPD administered the test in 2013, more than 14,500 people sat for the exam and 12,713 made it to the eligibility list. That’s a significant increase from the 2010 recruitment pool of 8,621. Choi said the city would like to see those numbers grow.

South and West Side aldermen used the Department of Planning and Development hearing to demand more housing and economic development in their underserved wards.

Morning attendance: Pat Dowell (3), Will Burns (4), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Anthony Beale (9), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Ricardo Munoz (22), Michael Zalewski (23), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Danny Solis (25), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Pat O'Connor (40), Anthony Napolitano (41), Michele Smith (43), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Debra Silverstein (50)

“I want to share my frustration with the department over the last 16 years and not getting anything tangible,” South Shore Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) opined, noting that while developers were “stepping over each other” to build in the City’s more affluent neighborhoods, she “can’t even get a phone call back” from developers. Hairston has spent the last two years trying to get a supermarket chain to open a store in the South Shore after the neighborhood’s only grocery store went out of business.

“Without the muscle of the City and the Mayor, this [kind of development] isn’t going to happen in our communities,” Hairston told newly appointed DPD Commissioner David Reifman.

Yesterday’s hearing was the first time aldermen had a chance to publicly speak to Reifman. He was recruited by the Mayor from global law firm DLA Piper in August to replace Andrew Mooney, who retired.

Due to time constraints, Reifman didn’t get a chance to read his statement, but we have uploaded a copy.

Raising similar concerns about the inequity of development in the City, Ald. Pat Dowell (3) told Reifman it was his and the Mayor’s responsibility to “use the power of the office” to look beyond the central business district when they are courting businesses and developers to relocate to Chicago. And Far West Side Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) said his Austin neighborhood is in desperate need of housing, as he continues to see an exodus of businesses and residents to the suburbs.   

Downtown aldermen Brendan Reilly (42) and Walter Burnett, Jr (27) had concerns of their own. Recalling a time when DPD was mostly focused on neighborhood development, Ald. Reilly said he and the Mayor worked “really hard to promote development downtown,” and expressed concern that the new Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) would stifle that growth.

The reforms to the ARO the City Council passed last year increase the number of required affordable housing units. 10% of units built on land sold by the City are required to be affordable; 20% if financial assistance is provided. Developers also have the option of paying an in-lieu fee per required unit depending on where it’s built. For downtown and high-income areas, the price ratchets up this month.

“I’m already seeing an impact on residential proposals in the central business district,” Ald. Reilly told Commissioner Reifman. “Meaning, that due to slimmer margins, some of these projects are falling out of queue because they simply can’t get financing.”  

“Do you have any insights for us, whether the ARO needs to be further tweaked, changed to address that sensitivity?” Reilly asked, adding that he knows of 6 projects that won’t move forward because they won’t make the October 13th filing deadline, which is when the new requirements take effect. But Reifman said it was too early to talk revisions and suggested another conversation down the line, “I think overall that ordinance achieves a balance for what we need as a City.”

Like Ald. Reilly, Ald. Burnett has seen a significant number of high-density, mixed-use residential developments break ground in his ward, which includes the recently-designated landmark, Fulton Market. He was mostly concerned about the growing backlash from residents who oppose large scale development. “It’s just getting crazy with the NIMBYs,” Burnett said, suggesting DPD commission a video touting the benefits increased density has on keeping housing prices low by growing the City’s housing stock.

TIF reform was a recurring discussion topic, with aldermen repeating many of the same points throughout the hearing. Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) and Ald. Burnett suggested DPD allocate more TIF dollars to employment programs and business development.

“When we voted for these TIFs [...] we told folks the TIF money would be used to get jobs in our community. Not just for companies to be retrained and all of that stuff,” Burnett said.

Suggesting DPD was the wrong department to oversee TIF money, Burnett floated the idea of having the Department of Family and Supportive Services in charge of the neighborhood funds because “they are giving people jobs.” Burnett said he’s considering drafting an ordinance explicitly detailing what projects TIF money can be spent on.

On day two of budget hearings, alderman heard details on how the 311 system would be privatized, one commissioner said city departments were ordered to make 10% across-the-board cuts, Clerk Susana Mendoza wants to create a special parking pass for Realtors, and Treasurer Kurt Summers is hoping to make money from idle cash.

Morning Attendance: Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Leslie Hairston (5), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Ricardo Munoz (22), Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Milly Santiago (31), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Anthony Napolitano (41), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49) 

CITY CLERK – With a statewide campaign for Comptroller around the corner, City Clerk Susana Mendoza touted her efforts to cut waste in her office by reducing overtime spending and streamlining vehicle sticker sales. The Clerk’s Office has a $10M budget and generates about $122M in revenue to the city through vehicle sticker sales. Since the City implemented year-round vehicle sticker sales this year, City Clerk locations saw an 85% reduction in wait times, according to Mendoza’s testimony.

Overtime in the City Clerk’s Council Division, the office that handles legislation and the City Council’s Journals of the Proceedings, is down 75% since Mendoza took office in 2010.



Clerk Mendoza said the department is bringing in an independent contractor to help find more efficiencies to work toward a paperless system. “Anything we can do to make our office more digital, I think is going to save a significant amount of money, and make our entire process much more streamlined.” 

Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34), Vice Chairman Jason Ervin (28), and Vice Mayor Brendan Reilly (42) took turns leading the morning hearing, which mostly consisted of aldermen showering Mendoza with praise. Somewhat peeved, Reilly reminded his peers to stay on topic, “Let’s try and keep our comments and questions focused now on the budget request itself. I think we have done a good job praising staff. Sorry, we have other departments to be with today.”

One innovation: An ordinance Mendoza introduced to create a special vehicle sticker for Realtors that would let them park in any residential zoned parking spot during business hours (9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.). Mendoza estimates the new sticker would bring in an additional $900,000 annually.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) suggested aldermen get a similar sticker, because they too have the same dilemma: going to community meetings in an area with permit parking. Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) suggested the program be expanded to include construction contractors too, because they are “getting ticketed like crazy” when they park outside work sites.

Mendoza said that while she is open to expanding the program down the line to include other occupations, her office needs to see how much demand the Realtor program will net, should the City Council approve it. “We don’t want to take up too much, without having any indication of what the popularity of the program is going to be.”

Mendoza also endorsed lifting the parking ban on noncommercial pickup trucks, after aldermen told her about complaints from residents who aren’t allowed to park their pickup trucks in front of their homes. “no one tells you when you buy a pickup truck that you can’t park it on any Chicago street,” Mendoza said, expressing a willingness to work with any aldermen that wants to make that happen.

And there was no shortage of new licensing proposals at the City Clerk budget hearing. Ald. Harry Osterman (48) went so far to suggest implementing a registration and licensing program for bicycles, and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) floated the idea of creating a license for pets. Ald. Tom Tunney (44) asked about the feasibility of having a Ventra-style machine to sell city stickers, because his office has a full-time employee at the ward office in charge of selling City stickers. Mendoza reminded him residents can buy the stickers online, but Ald. Tunney said he gets a lot of complaints from residents who didn’t realize buying guest parking passes online meant waiting 9 business days for delivery.

 

CITY TREASURER – The City’s operating portfolio, also known as working capital, contains $3B dollars, enough to keep the City running for approximately three months, according to City Treasurer Kurt Summers. Until recently, the money had been sitting in a fund untouched, losing out on the opportunity to generate increased returns, he said. “It’s like cash sitting under a mattress,” Summers explained, before outlining his plan to invest two thirds of that money, which he estimates would net the City $14-$30M in annual returns.

Summers says national standards and rating agency requirements calls for Chicago to only have enough cash on hand to keep the City running for 45 days, or approximately $1B. “We are going to manage our cash better, more efficiently, more responsibly,”

The 2016 appropriation for the City Treasurer’s office increased significantly, from $2.58M to $4.9M, and calls for 8 new positions. All of those new hires will be auditors, which are sorely needed, according Summers. “Today, we don’t have a single regulatory compliance function in this office.” Summers told the Council that all of the trades to date haven’t gone through a regulatory compliance check. “That’s a risk on a $6B dollar investment portfolio.” It was also revealed that the Deputy City Treasurer makes more money than Summers.

By altering the funding structure for his office, Summers cut the general fund allocation by 30% (from $2.36M to $1.66M), supplementing most of that revenue with funds from the O’Hare Airport Fund (from approximately $76,000 to $1.128M). Summers said this change will "put an end to taxpayers subsidizing enterprise funds", as the corporate fund generates revenue through tax dollars while the O'Hare fund gets its revenue from airport fees. 

The City Treasurer’s office is in charge of paying all credit card transactions at City-owned locations. For example, if a person parks at O’Hare Airport and pays the parking fee with a credit card, the Treasurer’s office eats the credit card fee. By the end of 2015, Summers projects his office will pay out $16.9M dollars in fees for $920M in credit card transactions, or a rate of about 2%.

But the real eye-opener was the confusion aldermen had about the different responsibilities between the Treasurer’s Office and the Department of Finance. When a few aldermen asked Summers about the City’s bonds and debt, Summers said those topics are better suited for City’s Chief Financial Officer, Carole Brown. After having to explain that a few times, Budget Chairman Austin snapped at aldermen, telling them that they should have directed those questions to Brown when she testified before the Council Monday.

And while Treasurer Summers may have ambitious plans for his office, like significantly increasing investments in local neighborhoods through small business loans and financial education programs, he didn’t have much time to convey those initiatives during the hour and a half hearing. Not only did Budget Chairman Austin tell him to skip his open testimony because it was “45 pages and too long", she rushed him several times throughout the hearing, and even complained that listening to his testimony was "like watching paint dry". (For the record, Summers’ testimony was 5 pages, but it was part of a packet with a lot of supplemental information detailing his initiatives).

Other Highlights from Summers’ testimony:

• As of September 21, the City has $629M in its reserves


• The Treasurer monitors 1,521 different fund accounts; Summers found that 408 are dormant as of last quarter (which means little to no activity since January 2014)


• The City has $389.6M in unused bond proceeds sitting in accounts dated 2010 or older. Summers says this money should be used to supplement the capital program.


• 293 fund accounts have have a balance of $0.


• The City will have $77.6M dollars in total investment income across the funds by 2016 ($30-40M more than the previous years).


• The Treasurer’s Office earned $32.2M as of August, and is on target to earn $50.8M by the end of the year.


• The 33 year-old Treasury System Summers' office currently uses is so old that that it was implemented "three mayors ago."

Afternoon Attendance - Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Leslie Hairston (5), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Ricardo Munoz (22), Jason Ervin (28), Milly Santiago (31), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Anthony Napolitano (41), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49)

INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY – On day two of budget briefings, aldermen seemed to be agreeing that the 311 system needs to change. Brenna Berman, Chief Information Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), backed up Monday’s testimony from Budget Director Alex Holt,who said the City’s 311 system was outdated and would take $25 to $30 million to replace.

DoIT made major cuts in this year’s budget as part of the Mayor’s request for efficiencies in his administration. Berman says the Department saved $3.9 million in part by shutting down an old contract related to the city’s nearly phased-out mainframe, streamlining telecom management, consolidating licensing costs, and applying efficient systems across departments. Read her full hearing statement.

Ald. Sue Sadlowski-Garza (10) and Ald. Milly Santiago (31) asked why inputting 311 requests online sometimes took as long as 7 minutes to complete. The system’s just old, Berman said. “Chicago was the first city to launch a robust 311 system in 1999,” she explained. “It’s kind of like dog years, that’s an ancient system. It’s old. And it is just time to replace it.”

When asked what a 311 alternative would look like, Berman pointed to Philadelphia, Houston, and New York, who have taken a page out of the corporate book–they’re using customer relationship management (CRM) systems like Salesforce and Oracle to manage city services. Slow 311 logging online might also be because of ward office locations, she said. Some lack access to internet speeds sufficient for City work. Berman said several offices are currently in the process of getting network upgrades.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) also asked when the City will be in the position to switch to zero-based budgeting software, where every function is analyzed for needs and costs from a “zero base”, rather than comparing costs to the previous year. Berman said Budget Director Alex Holt is pushing to switch over, but it would have to be weighed against other technology investments the City needs over the next 1 to 2 years.

HUMAN RELATIONS– Providing a window into city budgeting, Commissioner Mona Noriega testified that the Commission on Human Resources was "one of many" City departments asked to make 10% cuts ahead of FY2016, but Noriega claimed the reduction will not impacted turnaround time on investigations. Questioning for Noriega lasted just over half an hour, with most spent on Noriega updating aldermen on the enforcement of the recent Ban the Box Ordinance. Starting January 1, 2015, Chicago expanded Illinois law restricting employers from using an applicant’s criminal background information to discriminate early in the job application process. The ordinance is aimed at giving former prisoners a fair chance at employment.

“We have no statistics because we have no complaints,” Noriega said, explaining the Department focuses more on spreading the word about Illinois state law and the Chicago ordinance through Chambers of Commerce, mailings, and newsletters. “Every place that we go we talk about it, and we try to get visuals out there as well. The outcomes are that we have more people who know about it, but I would always suspect that we could do more.”

Ald. Jason Ervin’s (29) questioning of Noriega bumped up against his 10 minute time limit, asking about housing and other discrimination that might not be quantified. “I think there are many employers that are discriminating and I don’t think it’s limited to Ban the Box,” she said, talking about the work to be done. There have been 206 complaints of discrimination so far this year, Noriega says. The largest category is employment discrimination, the next is public accommodations, and the third is housing. There have been 51 hate crimes reported this year, which like Ban the Box violations, Noriega says are likely underreported.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s office released a list of potential investigation targets and is taking public suggestions for investigative audits this upcoming fiscal year ahead of the release of the OIG's annual plan, which is tied to passage of the City’s budget.

Yesterday the office released 25 projects it is considering pursuing, and asked Chicagoans to pitch in with their own at the OIG’s website. On the regulatory front, the office is considering targeting the Department of Planning and Development’spossible under-enforcement of the Affordable Requirement Ordinance, overspending on the building and rehab of affordable housing in multi-family developments, unremediated building code violations that led to “several fatalities” in 2014, the fact that more than 75,000 cited electrical violations haven’t been fixed, whether the Chicago Department of Public Health has adequately taken on the responsibilities of the City’s now-shuttered Department of Environment, and City employers not paying contractors the minimum $13 per hour required by municipal code.

Gaps in community services make the list too, from a lack of access to City services for limited English speakers, to whether new developers comply with disability requirements. Ferguson’s office is also considering if there’s fair and efficient staffing at public libraries and whether tons of construction waste is ending up in landfills when it could be recycled.

The Chicago Police Department is also a potential target for audit. The IG’s office lists several projects, including a closer look at whether dashboard cams are functioning and if footage is archived properly, as well as intervention for at-risk officers. While overtime for Chicago police has been the target of public scrutiny, even at Monday’s budget hearing, the OIG is considering taking a closer look at firefighter overtime.

Ferguson’s past reports on city government waste and inefficiency has led the Mayor’s Office of Budget and Management to make changes in this year’s budget, including with garbage pickup. It’s also inspired several revenue generating pitches from members of the Progressive Caucus, who has said the OIG should conduct regular audits of every City department.

The Annual Plan from OIG is reviewed, updated, and published no later than four weeks after Council passes the annual City Budget Appropriation. Audit projects are selected based on risk assessment of programs and services, the unique value the OIG’s office can provide as a government insider, the need for a follow-up on past reports, and/or what resources the office has. You can email your audit suggestions to [email protected].

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s property tax hike will likely continue to go up after 2018 and may not be enough to cover pension costs, the garbage fee could be amended over time, and the Chicago Police Department will again spend $100M on police overtime, according to testimony from Budget Director Alex Holt Monday. She fielded a marathon of questions from aldermen on the first day of budget hearings in Council Chambers, sitting in the hot seat for most of the six hour hearing alongside Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown and Comptroller Dan Widawsky.

Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34) and Vice Chairman Jason Ervin (28) took turns leading the hearing, which started a little after 10:00 a.m. and concluded around 5:30 p.m.

Each alderman was allocated 10 minutes for questions, and spoke in order of seniority. It will likely be one of the best-attended budget hearings of the coming weeks. Only Ald. Will Burns (4), Ald. Ed Burke (14), Ald. Derrick Curtis (18), Ald. Emma Mitts (37), and Ald. Deb Silverstein (50) did not make an appearance. Ald. Curtis’ former campaign manager, Scott Biszewski, said Curtis got married over the weekend.

Holt, who fielded the most questions, had to sometimes answer the same ones multiple times, as aldermen came and left the chambers throughout the day. She rarely paused to refer to documentation and recited most figures and estimates from memory.

The most frequently discussed topics:

PROPERTY TAX HIKE – The proposed property tax hike will not be sunsetted or rolled back, and will need to go up after 2018, according to CFO Brown. Answering questions about a potential, sunset or rollback, Brown said proposed property tax hike will remain in place until the City’s pensions receive the "actuarially required contributions". In other words, because the new tax would be devoted to payment of police and fire pensions, pension payments would need to match the schedule set in SB777, the pension payment extension bill awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature. If the costs of payments were to go up at some point in the future, for instance because of a growing number of retirees or increased benefits, the payments would have to go up as well.



Holt also acknowledged that if SB777 is not enacted, and SB1922, which stretches out laborer and municipal worker pensions, is not approved by the Illinois supreme court, the proposed increase will not be enough. "We're going to need Plan B," she said. "We're going to have to come up with some sort of alternative."

“We’re moving forward with a budget that largely does not need support from Springfield,” Holt said, with the exception of the passage of SB777. Without it, the City’s pension obligation will jump from $328M to $550M. Holt, like Mayor Emanuel, believes the Governor will sign the bill, which has passed in both chambers of the state legislature.

Each alderman was provided a property tax breakdown for their individual ward, detailing how many homes would see a bigger property tax bill next year, and which homes would qualify for the exemption. Several aldermen asked why they didn’t get a citywide breakdown instead. A representative from the Mayor’s office circulated this citywide property tax worksheet to reporters later that afternoon.

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) asked what he could tell his constituents, many of whom are police and firefighters relying on a pension, about what will happen to their tax rate after 2018. 

Brown says the rate will keep climbing, but not as rapidly. “In 2020, we start paying at the actuarially required contribution, and so it’s a smaller increase, but they still increase. The City would not be in the position to roll back the property tax increase, but what we’re hoping is by doing these gradual ramps that the impact of an increase in the out years would not be as severe as it could be.” After 2018, the rise is “just based on investment returns and wage growth” Holt said, and becomes more “manageable.”   

Some aldermen worried whether 2015 property assessments might lead to a “double hit” for homeowners. Ald. Harry Osterman (48) said he wouldn’t want to approve a budget without a clearer picture from the Cook County Assessor, and Ald. Michele Smith (43) read from a prepared statement about a resident whose assessment jumped 77%. A rise in property value doesn’t necessarily mean an equal hike in taxes, Holt said, and property values are rising across the board.

When asked about the feasibility of a property tax rebate, should Springfield shoot down the Mayor’s exemption, Holt said any rebate program would force the city to find additional revenue to pay for checks to homeowners. The City would need to find an extra $15M to fund a rebate program for Chicagoans that make $35,000, and $40M to fund a rebate program for homeowners whose property is valued at $250,000 or less.

GARBAGE FEE - Mayor Emanuel’s proposed $9.50 a month garbage fee for homeowners is just a starting point, according to Budget Director Alex Holt, in response to persistent questioning over the fairness and enforcement from many Black and Latino Caucus aldermen.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation based the fee structure on the number of homes that rely on city run garbage collection, not the number of bins at each household. Streets and San doesn’t have an official bin count. “There is potential inequity there,” Holt said, adding that the city will keep the door open for a volume- or cart-based fee structure down the line. “That is going to take us some time to look at that and think about the structure to think about the implementation, and also to make sure that we are doing that in a way where we don’t have people incentivized to throw their garbage in the alleys or to put their garbage in their neighbor’s carts,” Holt said. 

South Side Ald. Anthony Beale (9) was one of the most vocal opponents of the proposed garbage fee, criticizing the city for moving forward on the plan without knowing the number of bins across the city. He asked why the City couldn’t fold the garbage fee into the property tax bill. Holt noted half of the City’s residents pay for private collection, which costs significantly more than that mayor’s proposed fee. “I hope we go through the amendment process, and you look to amend this, and put this garbage proposal right in the garbage,” Beale said.

The garbage pickup fee is one of few actionable items the city can take to raise revenue, Holt reminded aldermen throughout the day. The City chose to add the fee to the water bill, because roughly 96% of Chicagoans pay their water bill, Widawsky says. Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), the only person to vote against an end to free garbage pickup for residential buildings with four or more units, suggested those buildings be included in the $9.50 a month fee instead of hiring a private company to haul their garbage. In July, the City Council ended free pickup for multi-unit buildings in response to a 2014 Inspector General report that found the Department of Streets and Sanitation was wasting $3.3 million collecting trash from buildings that were no longer exempt under the city’s grandfather clause.

Aldermen continued to question Holt on garbage pickup as the meeting extended into the evening. Ald. Joe Moreno (1) suggested the city look to a pay-as-you-throw system, which Inspector General Joe Ferguson estimated could generate $125M in a 2011 report.

TIF REVENUE - TIF surpluses aren’t the answer to fund pension obligations, Holt told several aldermen who wondered if those funds could pay for pensions in lieu of the garbage and property tax fee.

“There’s a lot of conversation about TIF being the savior of our financial future, but for most neighborhoods, TIF is a source of community investment,” Holt said. Of $1.38B in TIF revenue collected in 2014, $1.24B was committed to capital projects, she said. 

The city projects a $113M TIF surplus for next year. $97M will come from freezing and sweeping the surplus revenue from four of the seven of the largest TIFs, all of which are located in the central business district. This means revenue collected but not committed to existing, planned or emergency infrastructure projects will be split between the City and the school district. Those four TIFs are Canal Congress, Chicago Kingsberry, Jefferson Roosevelt, and River West. The other three central TIFs–LaSalle Central, River South and Roosevelt Canal–didn’t report a surplus for next year, but will be included in the TIF sweep the following year.

Ald. Danny Solis (25) asked how much the city expects to recoup from expiring TIFs over the next four years. Holt said from now until 2019, the City expects to collect $2M in revenue from expired TIFs, with projections growing significantly after 2019 ($8M in 2020, $9M in 2021, and $17M in 2022). Those numbers are based on property values, and are subject to change.

PUBLIC SAFETY -  Police overtime will cost the City an additional $100M this year, Holt told Ald. Anthony Beale, who asked if CPD was stretching its overtime payment for the second year in a row. 

“Are we still paying $100M in [police] overtime?” Ald. Beale asked Holt. “Yes, [CPD’s] overtime projection for the end of the year is approximately $100M, $60M of which, roughly, is the regular overtime, extension of tour of duty, and court overtime.” The remaining $40M is associated with the City’s Expanded Anti-Violence Initiative, which concentrates police in high crime neighborhoods.

“Do you think that is an efficient way of running the police department knowing that murders and up and crime is up, but we’re still paying $40M in overtime?” Beale asked. While she said she couldn’t comment on police strategies, she could say from a budget perspective, the city can buy more policing hours with overtime than straight time. $10M in police overtime provides about 150,000 hours of police time, while straight time nets 90,000 hours. 

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (36), a former firefighter, and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), a former police officer, expressed skepticism about Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to move more than 300 cops off desk duty and on to the streets. Sposato equated the move to putting a housecat on the street, calling it, “the biggest bunch of crap I’ve ever seen.” Taliaferro called the proposed move, “smoke and mirrors.”

“I’ve seen that over the years, and many end up back inside. It’s not an actual number getting on the street,” Taliaferro said. “Unfortunately, it can be to the detriment of our community,” but said he would save his reservations for the budget hearing on police scheduled for October 6.

311 PRIVATIZATION - While many aldermen have fixated on $1M in savings estimated from outsourcing the City’s 311 system, replacing it would cost between $25 and $30 million dollars, Holt told aldermen Monday. That estimate prompted the City to look at whether outsourcing would be more cost-effective. The proposal came as a surprise to many aldermen, some of whom found out about it the night before the Mayor’s budget announcement. Comparisons to the maligned parking meter deal came soon after.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) made a point Monday to ask whether 311 outsourcing would fall under scrutiny of  a privatization ordinance championed by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) and Mayor Emanuel, which has not yet been called up in committee. The ordinance would require the city to make a clear case for why a proposed privatization would benefit the city, provide sufficient time for public debate before moving forward and establish an accountability and transparency framework. Holt told him she expected 311 privatization would be subject to the ordinance, but framed the proposal as a jumping off point for reform, and not a done deal. There are 72 call center and management employees at 311 still in the budget as of January 1. “We might not be looking at full outsourcing,” Holt said. Limited outsourcing or no outsourcing at all are both possibilities. “We’re interested in finding out what the options might be.”

Aldermen from different caucuses voiced opposition to the possible outsourcing, including Brian Hopkins (2), Chris Taliaferro (29), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston(5), and Scott Waguespack (32).

RIDESHARING FEES - Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft can start picking up passengers from O’Hare and Midway airports starting January 1 if Council passes the Mayor’s proposed changes, Holt says. But aldermen like Ald. Pat Dowell (3), said Council should work to “level the playing field” between cab and rideshare drivers before then, by subjecting rideshare drivers to some of the same fees, standards, and licensing requirements cab drivers currently have to follow. Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) told Holt, “When you open up the airport to them in January, this is going to be a disaster for taxi drivers.”

The mayor’s proposal gets rid of ground transportation tax that taxis currently pay, subjecting cab and rideshare drivers a .50 per ride charge instead. Of that proposed $0.50 surcharge, $0.10 would go towards the wheelchair accessible fund, and $0.40 would go towards the city’s corporate fund. The proposal would also charge rideshare a bigger pickup and drop-off fee at airports than cabs currently pay, and would reduce the medallion transfer tax, Holt says.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9), chair of the Transportation Committee, said medallions “are pretty much useless” at this point, and suggested Holt work with the Law Department on a new proposal to get more revenue and “truly level the playing field.” He has favored a $1 surcharge on all rides with Lyft and Uber.

Among the dozens of Mayoral appointments to the City’s boards and commissions announced at yesterday’s City Council meeting we heard a familiar name: Ray Suarez. Mayor Emanuel introduced an ordinance appointing the former 31st Ward alderman to the Illinois International Port District Board, the policy making body for the city’s port and harbor. The nine member body issues construction permits and regulates the district’s facilities and waterways. Suarez would finish the unexpired term of Rev. Lynette R. Santiago, Co-pastor of the Christian Fellowship Flock Church, who resigned.

Unlike most city boards and commissions, the job comes with an annual salary of $20,000. Since the appointment requires approval from Ald. Anthony Beale’s (9) Committee on Transportation and Public Way, Suarez will have to make a trip to City Hall to get confirmed by his former peers.

Ward offices across the city have received hundreds of calls from constituents opposed to Ald. George Cardenas' (12) proposed penny-an-ounce tax on sugary drinks. The calls to aldermanic offices were prompted by an autocall to city households, which then give call recipients an opportunity to be transferred to their local alderman's office.

The Illinois Beverage Association’s Executive Director, Jim Soreng, confirmed that it engineered the astroturf lobbying. “It’s a city-wide effort in response to Ald. Cardenas’ proposal,” Soreng told Aldertrack. While he wouldn’t say which wards the group targeted, he did say robocalls were made to registered voters.

But unlike most robocalls, which consist of a recorded message, these calls immediately direct the recipient to the ward office after the call’s message completed. IBA would not provide the audio or script of the call, but ward offices Aldertrack contacted said most calls routed to them opposed the tax.

At least eleven wards reported receiving the calls, and we found that Latino, low-income and border wards were hit especially hard.

Kevin Lamm, chief of staff for Ald. Milly Santiago (31) says the their office received more than 150 calls on the issue in the past few weeks. Staff from the 11th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 22nd and 41st Wards all confirmed receiving waves of calls in the last month. And yesterday, a representative of the Chicago Coalition Against Beverage Taxes, visited Ald. Rick Munoz’s (22) ward office to drop off literature.

Earlier this week, Cardenas told Aldertrack he won’t pursue his plan in the City Council, because he's worried it could open the City up to a costly lawsuit. He said he and the Mayor agree it would be better for Springfield to pass the tax instead.

Forty-two aldermen signed on to Ald. Roderick Sawyer’s (6) resolution calling for a moratorium on new charter schools in Chicago. Given CPS’ financial woes, Ald. Sawyer said he doesn’t think it is in the City’s best interest to approve any of the 22 new charter school proposals currently awaiting consideration by the Chicago Board of Education. “Just a few years after CPS closed 50 public, neighborhood schools, and with our school system facing a continued funding crisis, the last thing we need is 22 new, privately managed charter schools added to the pool,” Ald. Sawyer was quoted saying in a press release.

The resolution was referred to the Committee on Education and Child Development, chaired by Ald. Will Burns (4), one of the eight aldermen not signed on as a co-sponsor. The other seven aldermen are: Ed Burke (14), who recently expressed interest in having a Noble Charter School in his ward; Willie Cochran (20); Walter Burnett (27), an outspoken charter school supporter; Carrie Austin (34), who was absent at yesterday’s meeting; Emma Mitts (37), who ran a tough campaign against a Chicago Teacher’s Union backed candidate; Michelle Smith (43); and Joe Moore (49).

Expanded Transit Oriented Development rules, a new Chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority Board, a new mobile food cart license, and $2.6 billion in new bonds all made it through yesterday's full council meeting. Shortly after, aldermen in the Latino and Black caucuses adjourned to discuss plans ahead of Monday’s budget hearing kick-off with Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown, Budget Director Alex Holt, and City Comptroller Dan Widawsky.

Did Bond Issue Pass Finance Committee Without Quorum?

One of the most contentious committee issues, $2.6 billion dollars in new bond issuances, got two no votes at Thursday's meeting. Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) and Ald. John Arena (45) voted against three ordinances authorizing the city to issue $500 in general obligation bonds to help pay down the city’s debt, $2 billion in Chicago O’Hare Revenue Bonds to pay for capital improvements, and $125 million in Wastewater Transmission Revenue Bonds to terminate previous swap agreements. Ald. Burke and Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) invoked Rule 14.

Waguespack said he voted no for procedural reasons. “The vote actually failed [in committee], but it passed anyway,” Waguespack said, noting the ordinances should have never advanced to the full Council yesterday because only 8 of the 35 aldermen on the Finance Committee were present when the bonds were voted out of committee. And of those 8 aldermen, five voted against the bonds (Ald. Waguespack, Ald. Willie Cochran (20), Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7), and Ald. Arena).

“We were basically saying, next time if you want us to pass [a $500 million general obligation bond], get everybody in this room,” Waguespack said.

After the full Council passed all three bond issuances, Mayor Emanuel and CFO Brown praised the move. “We continue to manage our debt portfolio in a way that seeks to improve our position in the bond market and find savings for Chicago taxpayers without sacrificing capital investments,” Brown said in a press release. “But the City's difficulties can't be reversed overnight. The upcoming issuance converts expensive variable rate debt, identifies savings, and invests in O’Hare Airport and our water and sewer system.”

The City anticipates issuing the bonds over the coming months.

Former CHA Employee Ald. David Moore votes against CHA/CPD Agreement

Ald. David Moore was the lone vote against a renewal of an intergovernmental agreement between the Chicago Housing Authority and Chicago Police Department. The deal provides supplemental police services for CHA properties and programs in an amount not-to-exceed $6 million but with an option to bump up to $8 million annually, subject to CEO approval and budget authorization.

At Monday’s Budget and Government Operations meeting, Moore, a former CHA employee, said he didn’t think it was appropriate for the committee to approve the agreement without being given a breakdown of cost. Vice-Chair Jason Ervin (28) insisted it was a routine matter at Monday’s meeting, “Ultimately, this is essentially CHA paying the City of Chicago for services it is rendering on the city’s behalf.”

Moore worked at the CHA from 1999 to 2008 as a development manager and senior advisor to operations. He said he wasn’t given sufficient data on how much CPD has charged CHA historically for those services, and why that number hasn’t gone down as CHA has demolished more buildings. “They gave me three invoices from 2015, which did not show what I was asking for,” he told Aldertrack. “In good conscience, I can’t vote for it.”

John Hooker Appointment To CHA Chair

The Council approved the appointment of former ComEd executive John T. Hookeras the new Chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority Board. Ald. Burke testified on his long relationship with Hooker, recalling inviting him to Beverly Country Club for games of golf, “many decades ago,” during an era when members, “were not opening and welcoming to minorities…. In fact, some of those members might even have been hostile. But we were proud to welcome John Hooker to play golf with us despite what anybody might think.”

Both Burke and Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) heaped praise on Hooker, complimenting Mayor Emanuel on an “outstanding” appointment. “With John Hooker’s long history of civic and community building in Chicago, he will play a crucial role in helping to lead CHA as the agency works to meet the ongoing affordable housing needs for families throughout the city,” Mayor Emanuel said in a press release.

CHA is facing pressure from community groups like Chicago Housing Initiative, who want a hearing on the “Keeping the Promise” Ordinance to tighten funding and management of the Authority, which currently has a $423 million surplus. By the end of 2015 the City says CHA plans to provide affordable housing vouchers to more than 43,000 families.

TOD Expansion

After being temporarily held in Zoning Committee this month, Council also approved rules that double the distance Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) can be built away from CTA and Metra stations and allow for up to 100% efficiency units in new developments within a block of stations.

Aldermen wrestled over details like floor area ratios, parking allotments and the community input process. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) praised the amendments the committee agreed to, including greater aldermanic control. “Transit Oriented Development truly is the future of our city,” Ald. Ramirez Rosa said, “but we also have to ensure that we maintain local control, that we protect local residents’ ability to have a say over the zoning and development changes that occur in their community, via their elected official, the alderman.”   

Food Carts Legalized

Food cart vendors and supporters who filled the upper floor gallery looked on as Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26) asked council to approve his ordinance legalizing mobile food cart sales in Chicago, which he says will have “a powerful long term impact” on the city. The Illinois Policy Institute estimates the ordinance, which council passed Thursday, could generate as many as 6,000 new jobs and $8.5 annually in new local sales tax revenue. 1,500 food cart vendors are already operating in the city, Maldonado says.

Members of the City Council’s Black and Latino Caucuses are more concerned with the Mayor’s plan to slap a $9.50 monthly garbage fee on homeowners’ water bills than the proposed property tax hike plan, according to sources present at closed-door Caucus meetings yesterday.

Our sources say that at the Black Caucus meeting, aldermen were less concerned with the property tax hike, because most of their constituents are renters, or would fall under Mayor Emanuel’s proposed exemption for homes valued $250,000 and less. 

We were also told members of the Latino Caucus aren't thrilled with the garbage fee either, mainly because it would be added to a homeowner’s water bill instead of their property tax bill. By including the garbage fee on the water bill, the city can enforce the fee by shutting off the water if a homeowner refuses to pay.

And several members of the Paul Douglas Alliance, who met before the full Council meeting Thursday, signed on as co-sponsors to Ald. Joe Moreno’s property tax rebate plan, because they see it as a Plan B should the Mayor’s exemption plan fail in Springfield. 

But Mayor Rahm Emanuel doesn't think the two rebate plans introduced in Council yesterday will help much. When reporters asked the Mayor why he would rely on Springfield's help to get a property tax exemption instead of backing one of the aldermanic rebate plans, Mayor Emanuel said rebates add additional bureaucracy and still require a full payment up front, rather than the immediate discount an exemption offers.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) wants a new permit for all moving and delivery vehicles in the City. The fee structure would be broken down into two categories. A permit to park and load merchandise anywhere in the city would cost $20 a day, $20 a month, and $1,000 a year. A permit for vehicles that park outside the City’s central business district would cost $4 a day, $20 a month, $200 a year.

An ordinance introduced by City Clerk Susana Mendoza would offer a new all-zone parking pass for Realtors. The special city sticker would give licensed Realtors the ability to park in any residential parking zone during business hours (9 a.m.-9 p.m.). They would still be barred from parking near a sports stadium on game days or other special events. Realtors living in Chicago could get an annual sticker for $500. Those who commute into the city would have to pay an additional $200. In order to qualify for the pass, an applicant can’t have any outstanding debt owed to the city. 

On the cost saving side, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) introduced an ordinance calling for a pay cut for City employees making $100,000 or more a year, contingent on the approval of Mayor Emanuel’s proposed property tax increase. According to the example provided in the ordinance, if there is a 0.8% property tax increase, an employee making an annual salary of $100,000 would see a $8,000 reduction in pay. When we tweeted out the ordinance, Finance Committee Legislative Analyst Chris Lentino, tweeted back: “Aldermanic salary dictated by State Law. Aldermen can opt to reduce salary by Municipal Law on individual basis, though” and referred Rosa to Municipal Code (65 ILCS 20/21-7) "...and his salary shall not be increased or diminished during his term of office." Aldermanic salaries for FY 2015 range between $105,939 and $117,333.