Chicago News
-
NOV 03, 2017
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson faced a full day of laudatory remarks and softball questions from aldermen Thursday. The conversation barely scratched the surface of one of the biggest issues hanging over the department: ongoing contract negotiations with the union that represents all rank and file police officers, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7. It is the city’s largest collective bargaining unit.
A controversial Bill of Rights section that has been accused of fostering a “code of silence” and hampering misconduct investigations is a major part of that contract. The topic was also noticeably absent at Wednesday’s meeting with the the interim chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).
Instead, aldermen kept the questions granular and focused on quality of life issues: people parking on vacant lots or on their front lawn, staffing issues at the local precinct, follow-ups on specific shooting incidents or crimes, and concerns about increased drug sales. This gave Johnson and bureau chiefs time to focus their message on new crime-fighting strategies and initiatives to rebuild trust between officers and the neighborhoods they patrol.
“CPD entered 2017 with a revitalized and reimagined crime strategy as well as a number of planned reforms in the areas of personnel, use of force, training, transparency and community policing,” Johnson testified at the opening as he read from his prepared remarks.
-
Interim COPA Chief Administrator Judge Patricia Banks spoke with reporters
after her testimony before the City Council Budget Committee. Credit: Claudia Morell
The one-month old agency tasked with investigating cases of alleged misconduct by Chicago Police officers is more than a million dollars under budget, aldermen alleged Wednesday. A spokesperson for the city budget office counters that aldermen are “misreading” the budget. -
NOV 02, 2017
-
-
Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar told commissioners Wednesday that deaths from multiple gunshot wounds and the growing opioid crisis were a stressor on her office, and that the county was gaining a national reputation for the deaths. The Bureau of Administration, which oversees close to a dozen departments, held court for the entire morning at budget hearings. Questions from commissioners largely focused on the cost of those deaths, as well as the county’s position bargaining with unions.
-
The License Appeal Commission is one of the city’s smallest departments with a 2018 budget appropriation of $186,667 and a staff of two. Its commissioner is Michael Fleming, and his staff assistant is Michelle Guzman-Flores. This is likely why Fleming had a quick, early morning hearing with few questions from aldermen.
-
NOV 01, 2017
The Chicago Department of Public Health’s public commitment to prioritize behavioral health services in Chicago was called into question Tuesday when aldermen asked how it stacks up against an overall reduction in the number of city-run clinics and unfilled psychiatrist positions.
-
Union officials representing county workers, hospital and clinic advocates, and fiscal hawks gathered for the second of several public hearings on Cook County’s budget Tuesday. Some pleaded with commissioners not to cut services, others warned not to negotiate contracts in public, and the Civic Federation’s Laurence Msall urged commissioners against taking the easy way out.
-
-
OCT 31, 2017
Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans (center) testifies before aldermen on CDA’s $823 million budget for 2018. Credit: Claudia Morell
Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans spent much of her budget testimony Monday assuring aldermen that her department has no plans to remove the city’s existing Aviation Security Officers (ASOs) with a private firm. Several referenced a bid the department issued in May for “unarmed security guard services” at both airports. -
OCT 31, 2017
Though the Department of Aviation was the main event of Monday’s budget hearings on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s spending plan for next year, aldermen also heard from the commissioners for the Department of Fleet and Facilities Management (2FM), the Mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities, and the Department of Special Events and Cultural Affairs (DCASE).
-
Cook County’s Independent Inspector General Patrick Blanchard estimated he could take on extra IG functions if commissioners decide to consolidate offices, but he’d need extra resources. The office makes up .0034% of the overall budget, he said. “We have 15 investigators that are all there for the right reason, as a whole they’re very, very good.” But a broader effort would necessitate a bigger budget.
-
Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough says while she has only met once with County Clerk David Orr’s staff about their offices combining, she predicted, “We’re going to be fine.” She also said after roughly 25 years, she expects her office to exit a consent decree related to political hiring in 2018.
-
Aldermen approved the reappointment of the chair of the city’s Board of Ethics after a year of crackdowns on improper lobbying, and meet today to amend the city’s electrical code. On the county side of the building, commissioners will hear from members of the public on the proposed FY 2018 budget, which is still in flux.
-
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas offered her characteristically blunt budget assessment Monday. She cut 25% from her operating budget, presented a 123 page budget book, and provided her own illustration of how the county landed in its fiscal situation–offering step raises and COLA increases that it didn’t know how to pay for.
