Three non-competitive contracts for the Sheriff, Recorder of Deeds, and Animal and Rabies Control Departments are up for consideration in the Cook County Technology and Innovation Committee today, chaired by Comm. John Fritchey.

The City Council’s Budget Committee will consider five ordinances that would amend the city’s procurement process, most of which were introduced by Budget Chair Carrie Austin (34) in conjunction with the Department of Procurement Services. The amendments would add more incentives for minority- and women-owned (M/WBE) firms, and create a new incentive for mid-sized construction firms.

The Council’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee approved a substitute ordinance from Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) that would allow mobile food stands in certain parts of downtown.

Updated October 4, 2016 at 7:21 a.m.

On Tuesday morning, the City Council Joint Committee on Budget and Public Safety will take up Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed police reform ordinance, which contains some of the biggest changes to Chicago’s criminal justice system in decades. Two other draft ordinances on police reform sponsored by Ald. Leslie Hairston (4) and Ald. Jason Ervin (28) are not on the agenda, but aspects of both plans were included to the mayor’s reform plan. The full Council is expected to vote on the ordinance on Wednesday.

The final draft of the mayor’s draft ordinance, released last Friday, focuses on two major changes to police oversight. First, the creation of a Civilian Office of Police Oversight (COPA) to replace and enhance many of the functions of the failed Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). Second, the creation of a Deputy Inspector General, a “Police IG” who will have the power to audit COPA and the Chicago Police Department. The Police IG will be located within the Chicago Office of the Inspector General, currently led by Joe Ferguson.

One significant element missing from the proposed ordinance is the creation of a community safety oversight board, a recommendation from the Police Accountability Task Force (PATF) to create an entity comprised of community representatives that will have the power to oversee CPD, its Bureau of Internal Affairs, and the new COPA organization. That aspect of the reform plan won’t be considered for another six to nine months, according to the Mayor’s Office.

Briefing Materials From Mayor’s Office

Draft Ordinance Up For Debate

Ervin (FAIR Cops) Ordinance Comparison – This document outlines which aspects of Ald. Jason Ervin’s (28) FAIR Cops Ordinance the administration included in their police reform plan. According to the chart, one recommendation, that the police department could be forced to implement recommendations from the new Public Safety Inspector General, was not included.

Hairston Ordinance Comparison – One provision in Ald. Leslie Hairston’s (5) police reform ordinance was not included, according to this chart. Ald. Hairston called for the creation of a selection process for the new chief administrator that involves community input.

IPRA/COPA Matrix – This chart compares IPRA’s current powers and duties with that of COPA, what Ald. Hairston had called for in her police reform ordinance, and what the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force recommended.

Public Safety Deputy/FAIR Cops Matrix – Similar to the above chart, this document compares the proposed role of the Public Safety Deputy, the recommendations outlined in Ald. Ervin’s FAIR Cops ordinance, and the recommendations of the PATF report.

Listen to our podcast: The “Fatal Flaws” In The Mayor’s Police Oversight Fixes

Drafts of the ordinance were closely held until last week. The Mayor’s office conducted briefings with dozens of community groups in August and September, according to those who participated. Over a dozen community meetings were held across Chicago by the City Council, the Justice Department, and the PATF. Not leaving anything to chance, private briefings were  held with community leaders until the last minute, including a briefing of black activists Monday afternoon at the Chicago Police headquarters at 35th Street and Michigan Ave.

As a result, many community leaders and aldermen expect it to pass through committee easily tomorrow.

“Not smooth sailing but enough support to finish, I think,” said Latino Caucus Chair Ald. George Cardenas (12), on Monday. Half a dozen other aldermen contacted by The Daily Line agreed with Cardenas’ assessment. If there were any stumbling blocks, aldermen thought the lack of a community oversight component would be the biggest.

Despite expectations of easy passage, two groups plan protest press conferences Tuesday morning. One led by Rainbow PUSH, NAACP and The Community Renewal Society, plan a protest at 9:30 a.m. outside Council chambers to urge a no vote against a "toothless police oversight ordinance."  A second group, The Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, will protest at 9:00 a.m. outside Council chambers to urge passage of a elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC).

One the city’s leading proponents for police reform, Police Board President and Chair of the Police Accountability Task Force, Lori Lightfoot, is unreservedly in support of the proposed ordinance.

“I support it and urge passage of it. Most of the key elements from the Police Accountability Task Force are in the ordinance, like giving access to [outside] counsel and a guaranteed minimum budget,” Lightfoot said.

The access to counsel component was clarified in a final draft released by the Mayor’s office Friday, which would allow COPA to hire legal counsel outside of the city’s Law Department to assist in investigations from a pool developed in consultation with the Law Department. A guaranteed minimum budget of 1% of the police budget would be set for COPA, which results in about $14 million a year based on CPD’s current $1.4 billion annual budget. And the Inspector General’s annual budget would increase from 0.1% to 0.14% of the city’s general fund to support the new deputy position.

Steve Patton, the city’s Corporation Counsel, has said numerous community organizations requested legislation on a community oversight board be delayed. Lightfoot and other PATF members confirmed that request.

“There were ten to twelve community groups that met with the mayor’s office over the summer. They asked that they needed more time to find ways to increase engagement across the city,” said Lightfoot. “There needs to be a very robust community engagement process, and I was supportive of taking the time we needed to get that right.”

Those community groups, coordinated by Rev. Ron Taylor of United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations include Communities United, ONE Northside, Southwest Organizing Project, Inner City Muslim Action Network, Target Area Development Corporation, Workers Center for Racial Justice, Action Now, Enlace, Community Renewal Society and Southsiders Organized for Unity And Liberation (SOUL).

“It would have been crazy to have the Mayor’s office draft an ordinance about community oversight without community engagement,” said Adam Gross of Business and Professional People For The Public Interest, who participated in discussions with the Mayor’s office. “Under pressure, the Mayor’s office said they’d step back and let there be a process.”

The Chicago Board of Elections reports 1,471 people have voted through Sunday since the early voting polling place opened at 69 W. Washington Ave. on September 29. This is the first time Illinois has allowed voting 40 days before Election Day. Typically early voting begins 15 days in advance.

The late Cook County Comm. Joan Murphy’s replacement will be chosen at a special meeting scheduled for Saturday, October 8 at 9am. The democratic committeemen of the 6th District will vote, based on the weighted number of votes Comm. Murphy received in the 2014 general election (weights and links to clout.wiki entries below).

A plan to borrow an additional $25 million to pay for 600 new police cars over the next two years advanced out of the City Council’s Finance Committee Friday, even as some aldermen expressed concern that the city was bonding for short term assets.

Chicago aldermen are about to take a vote on a total overhaul of the city’s police accountability structure. It will establish a new agency to investigate police misconduct and establish a new auditing position that can diagnose law enforcement trends. It has been in the works for months, and from what we can tell, it’s a done deal with aldermen–it’s unlikely there will be be much of a fuss.

In a sit-down with the Aldercast this week, Tracy Siska, a criminologist and mayoral critic who has contributed to the drafting of the ordinance up for a vote, says even with this vote, the city is far from fixing the relationship between police and the community, and that both bodies have fatal flaws that damage their credibility. We’ll talk to Siska, the Executive Director of the Chicago Justice Project, about the remaining recommendations from the Police Accountability Task Force, the looming Department of Justice investigation, and the Mayor’s PR problem.

Questions, comments, or corrections? Email us: [email protected]

Building on the briefing documents released by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office last Monday (free access), the Mayor’s office transmitted his official proposed police reform ordinance to the Joint Committee on Budget and Public Safety Friday. The draft, which will be debated in committee on Tuesday, includes two major changes.

[Listen to our podcast: The “Fatal Flaws” In The Mayor’s Police Oversight Fixes]

The first change addresses the new Civilian Office on Police Accountability’s (COPA) ability to determine it’s own outside counsel, by adding language that the city’s Corporation Counsel would now determine choices “after consultation with [COPA]”. Reform advocates had been concerned the Corporation Counsel, who is effectively the Mayor’s attorney, would have undue influence in determining the legal assistance for COPA.

The second change eliminates the possibility of current or former police officers working for COPA as investigators. Police reform advocates have been concerned that Chicago police officers would not be objective enough investigators into potential police misdeeds.

Vice Chair of the City Council’s Housing Committee, Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7), raised skepticism yesterday in how the Department of Planning and Development appraises city-owned property before advertising bids for sale.

A plan to codify the City Council’s policy on public comments into the official Council Rules of Procedure was held in Rules Committee Thursday amid concerns raised by several Progressive Caucus and freshman aldermen who called the rules too “subjective” and “limiting.”  After about an hour of debate on Ald. Ed Burke’s (14) and Rules Chair Michelle Harris’ (8) ordinance to add a new Rule 58 to the Council’s meeting guidelines, Chair Harris announced she’d hold the item and recess the meeting until Oct. 5th at 9:15 a.m., about an hour before the full City Council meeting. 

The Emanuel Administration will ask the Council’s Finance Committee to issue an additional $25 million in general obligation bonds this year to pay for part of the Mayor’s public safety agenda. Specifically, the money raised will pay for the purchase of 600 new police cars over the next two years. This comes as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson last week announced a two-year plan to hire over 500 new police officers and promote hundreds more to the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant and detective.

A resolution from Ald. Ed Burke (14) and Rules Chair Michelle Harris (8) that seems to be aimed squarely at Council gadfly George Blakemore is the most unusual item on today’s agenda and would impose new written rules on public testimony at City Hall. There is no mention of limits on public testimony or comment in all of City Council’s Rules of Order for this term.

The Committee approved all five applications Class 6(b) property tax breaks for industrial properties that plan to expand their operations in the city, including relief for for a bakery in the 12th Ward and a vodka distillery in the 25th.

The City Council’s License Committee approved an ordinance that would include the entire 14th Ward on the list of prohibited areas for peddling in the city.