A snow storm — followed by a polar vortex — welcomed Chicago’s new head of the Office of Emergency Management, while City Colleges faculty prepared to strike and Cook County is set to go carbon neutral — eventually.

When Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls the meeting of the City Council to order at 10 a.m. Wednesday, he will not see Ald. Ed Burke (14) front and center, ready to usher his proposals through the City Council or deliver a stemwinder about Chicago history or a paean to the valor of police officers or firefighters.

Instead, Burke will be seated to the mayor’s far right — still in the front row of the chambers, but literally shunted aside after being charged by federal prosecutors with attempted extortion. Burke’s attorney has said he is innocent, and Burke has defied calls to resign or drop his bid for a 13th term.

Emanuel will formally introduce the package of ethics reforms he unveiled in the wake of the criminal charge filed against Burke. The mayor’s proposal would bar committee chairmen from invoking Rule 14 and recusing themselves from a vote before their committee more than three times per year, and presiding over matters they plan to recuse themselves from.

In addition, the revised rule would give the Board of Ethics the authority to review disclosures for sufficient detail, request further detail when necessary and assess penalties under the Ethics Ordinance for violations.

Aldermen would have to update their annual Statements of Financial Interest within 30 days of any changes “relating to outside employment, board service or business interests,” according to Emanuel’s proposal.

Emanuel’s proposal would also require the Committee on Zoning to act within six months on proposals. Aldermen who object to a permit must detail their reasons in writing and must have “substantive reasons” to block the permit.

Finally, the package would block campaign contributions from parties with matters before City Council for six months before the matter’s consideration in addition to the current ban for six months after consideration.

The mayor’s proposals are significantly less strict than those offered by several mayoral and aldermanic candidates as well as the Progressive Caucus — and are expected to face significant opposition.

However, aldermen are expected to rubber stamp the first part of the mayor’s reform proposal, which would move the city’s workers’ compensation fund to the comptroller’s office, a transfer endorsed Tuesday by the Finance Committee.

That fund had been controlled for decades by Burke before he was forced to resign as Finance chairman after he was charged.

Related: Burke abstained from votes every month for 10 years under the city’s Ethics Ordinance, records show; Lightfoot, aldermanic candidates commit to curbing aldermanic prerogative, non-partisan remap, term limits; Aldermen, mayoral candidates scramble to take advantage after charges filed against Burke alter political landscape

Emanuel is also likely to face a rebuke from aldermen on his decision to close six mental-health clinics in 2011 as part of his first budget.

Forty-three aldermen have signed on to a plan to create a task force to determine whether — and where — to reopen city-run mental health clinics, despite the vehement opposition of the Emanuel administration.

Related: Defying Emanuel, aldermen green light task force charged with determining where to reopen mental health clinics closed in 2011

Ald. Sophia King — who authored the measure (R2018-1398) to create the Public Mental Health Clinic Service Expansion Task Force — said the closures of the mental health clinics had led to “increased 911 calls and jailings.”

The measure requires the Health Committee to hold a public hearing in 45 days — which would be just about the same time aldermen are up for re-election — to allow Chicagoans to weigh in on the need to reopen the clinics. The task force will have 180 days to report its findings to aldermen.

Aldermen are expected to back Emanuel’s call to expand the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance to include projects planned near busy bus routes in an effort to spur development in blighted areas.

Only Ald. Deb Mell (33) voted against the proposal (O2018-9304) when it was considered by  the Zoning Committee, saying the city was moving too quickly.

Related: Aldermen back mayor’s call to expand transit-oriented development to busy bus lines

Aldermen are also set to approve a number of items:

• SO2018-8121— A measure designed to give seniors displaced by renovations or rehabilitations in large affordable housing buildings more notice and coordination from building owners. [Our coverage]


• O2018-9270 — Permission for the new Jewel-Osco under construction in Woodlawn to sell liquor, as well as several other changes to rules for the sale of packaged alcohol across the city. [Our coverage]


• O2016-5571 — A measure to restore the Congress Theater and build a seven-story, 72-unit tower next door.


• O2018-8010 — A $75 million redevelopment of the Uptown Theater, which is set to get $13 million from the area’s tax-increment financing district.


• O2018-8006 — A proposal to build an observatory deck atop the Aon Center at 200 E. Randolph St.


• O2018-9263 — A proposal to turn the long-vacant Grace’s Furniture building at 2618 N. Milwaukee Ave. into a boutique hotel with 44 rooms and two restaurants, as first reported by Block Club Chicago.


• O2018-9559 — A proposal to use $1.85 million from the Pulaski Industrial Corridor Redevelopment Area to renovate Kosciusko Park in Logan Square.


• Three lawsuit settlements worth $1.36 million [Our coverage]


• O2018-9957 — $45 million in loans for the 134-unit Parkside Four development. The land was once home to the Cabrini-Green Housing project.


• O2018-9534 — $2.3 million in loans for the Cicero Senior Lofts at 4801-57 S. Cicero Ave. in the 14th Ward.


• S2018-9195 — A pilot program offering a free city sticker to all veterans who are honorably or generally discharged from the armed services through January 2020.


• O2018-9339 — A measure to expand the Chicago Department of Health’s vision program to include the 4,000 students who attend private or parochial school.


• O2018-9307 — A measure to give the health commissioner the authority to issue a subpoena to investigate “serious public health threats” or discover the location of people “exposed to a health attack agent.”


• A2018-153 — The appointment of Latasha Thomas to the Community Development Commission


• A2018-154 — The reappointment of Eileen K. Rhodes to the Community Development Commission.


• A2018-145 — The appointment of Barbara McDonald to the Board of Ethics.


• A2018-142 — The reappointments of Raul Garza and Smita N. Shah as members of Chicago Plan Commission.


• A2018-143 — The appointment of Ashley Hemphill Netzky to the Chicago Park District.


• A2018-144 — The appointment of Timothy J. King to the Chicago Park District.

The mayoral contest is set: 14 candidates are vying to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel, elections officials decided. Candidate Toni Preckwinkle vowed to roll back the city sticker fee increase backed by Emanuel — and rival Susana Mendoza, who has said she regrets the impact of the hikes.

Aldermen delayed approval of a tax break for a massive distribution center in Little Village Tuesday after opponents said the already-approved development would pollute the environment.

Aldermanic candidates across Chicago raised $7.2 million, spent $4.9 million, and ended 2018 with $15.7 million cash on hand, according to The Daily Line’s analysis of quarterly filings with the State Board of Elections.

Elections officials are set to meet Tuesday morning to hear the challenges filed against mayoral candidates Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and tech entrepreneur Neal Sàles Griffin as well as those lodged against treasurer candidates Ald. Ameya Pawar (47) and Certified Public Accountant Peter Gariepy. Meanwhile, some high-profile candidates finally defeated the challenges keeping them off the ballot.

For the first time in nearly 30 years, Ald. Ed Burke (14) will not gavel Tuesday’s meeting of the Finance Committee to order shortly after 11 a.m.

Former Ald. Will Burns (4) agreed to pay a $5,000 fine to settle charges he improperly lobbied the city on behalf of Airbnb — his new employer — soon after stepping down from the Chicago City Council.

A day after Ald. David Moore (17) blocked former 17th Ward Ald. Latasha Thomas’ appointment to the Community Development Commission over questions about campaign cash, Thomas amended her campaign finance reports. Meanwhile, aldermen will consider a scaled-back proposal from City Clerk Anna Valencia to waive the fee for a city sticker to all veterans who are honorably or generally discharged from the armed services.

A Muslim woman who said a handful of officers assaulted her near a Downtown train platform in 2015 after assuming she had a bomb should be paid $160,000, city lawyers recommended Friday.

Police officers detained Itemid Al-Matar while she climbed the stairs of the State/Lake "L" station on July 4, 2015. CTA surveillance footage showed the officers tackling her from behind and ripping off her hijab and face veil.

Al Matar’s lawsuit claimed that she was taken to a nearby police station, where she was unlawfully strip searched. That federal lawsuit alleged excessive force, unlawful search, and a violation of her constitutional rights by the Chicago Police Department. She is being represented by Phillip J. Robertson, the trial attorney for the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Police charged Al Matar with disorderly conduct, reckless conduct and resisting police in connection with the incident, but was acquitted on all counts, according to the complaint.

City lawyers have also recommended paying $1 million to the family of Charles Edward Jones, who died in August 2015 while being held in the lockup at the Grand Crossing Police District Headquarters.

The lawsuit filed by Jones’ family said he asked for medical care and was ignored by officers.

In addition, aldermen will consider a recommendation from lawyers to pay $200,000 to former Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief Ernie Pinkston, who claimed he was discriminated against because of his race and disability before being terminated in 2011.

The fire department has long faced allegations that racism is rampant within the department’s ranks, and that officials have not done enough to hire and promote African Americans.

The City Council's Finance Committee is scheduled to consider all of the settlements at its meeting set for Tuesday. The full council could approve the settlements Wednesday.

 

Aldermen backed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call to expand the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance to include developments planned near busy bus routes on Thursday, sending the proposal to the full City Council on Wednesday.

Ald. David Moore (17) slammed the brakes on former 17th Ward Ald. Latasha Thomas’ appointment to the Community Development Commission, blocking a vote at least temporarily after asking Thomas about campaign cash.

Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) promised to add an important bit of information to some of his window signs after a complaint was filed by his opponent with state officials. Former Cook County Clerk David Orr backed a slate of "independent" candidates and mayoral candidate Bill Daley saw a familiar face around the office Thursday.

• Sign complaint — David Mihalyfy, who is running against Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson in the 11th Ward, filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections, alleging that Daley Thompson’s campaign signs do not include a required notation that indicates what entity paid for them. “Everyone’s saying we can do better in the ward,” Mihalyfy said. “That’s about big picture stuff like youth and helping people with cost-of-living, but we also deserve an alderman who pays attention to everyday details, not to mention basic legal boundaries.” Daley Thompson said an error by the printer left off the notice on his campaigns’ English-language signs, and would be corrected immediately.
  
  


• Orr endorses slate of aldermanic challengers – Former Cook County clerk and 49th Ward alderman David Orr endorsed a group of aldermanic challengers at a City Hall press conference Thursday. Orr backed Rafael Yañez (15), Mike Rodriguez (22), Jessica Washington Gutierrez (30), Tara Stamps (37), Robert Murphy (39), Dianne Daleiden (40), Erika Wozniak Francis (46), Matt Martin (47), and Maria Hadden (49). Orr said he was encouraged by the group’s commitment to “efficient” government and said he expected them to pursue a long list of reforms – from TIF reform to police abuse, zoning scandals to school closures. “These candidates are independent, they’re proactive, and will demand change, accessibility, transparency and to make council a real legislative body,” Orr said.
  
  


• Daley joins Daley — Thursday was John R. Daley’s first day as the political director for Bill Daley’s campaign. Bill Daley, the brother of John R. Daley’s father, Cook County Comm. John P. Daley (D-11), the uncle of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11), the brother of former mayor Richard M. Daley and the son of former mayor Richard J. Daley, denied the existence of a family business in his interview with the Tribune’s editorial board. “Yes, my brother, my father were career politicians,” he said. “Yes I was a political advisor and ran Rich’s campaigns, but I never had any business at City Hall.” Bill Daley pledged in October that if elected, he would bar family members from benefiting from his position — including bidding, lobbying, or managing public pension funds at the city or its sister agencies. John R. Daley said his role will be in a “small advisory capacity” and “as was stated in the ethics roll out, I will not lobby a Daley administration.” John R. Daley is on leave from his lobbying role at Reyes Kurson, where he abstained from lobbying the county.
  
  


• Vallas focuses on pensions — Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas held a jam packed press conference Thursday to offer a blueprint to end the city’s pension woes. Vallas said he could find the roughly $300 million that the city will owe in 2020 by cutting the, including a 5 percent reduction in base expenditures. Vallas also pledged to cap property tax increases, “depoliticize” pension fund investment decisions and pursue a state legislative agenda that reverses the hundreds of millions of dollars he says the city is being “short-changed.” Vallas’ statements Thursday echo many he made in a speech about his financial plan in at the City Club in October.


• Preckwinkle and Mendoza applaud Pritzker —  Mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Susana Mendoza praised Gov. JB Pritzker for signing SB 337, which requires gun dealers to be licensed by the state. Former Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the bill, which had been championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This bill will have a tremendous impact in the city of Chicago, as strengthening gun dealer licensing requirements will reduce the number of guns that come into the wrong hands,” Preckwinkle said in a statement. Both Mendoza and Preckwinkle said they looked forward to working with Pritzker on future gun control bills. “It is so incredible to finally have a governor who recognizes the effects of gun violence on our communities and has the courage to sign the Gun Dealer Licensing bill,” Mendoza said.

Seventeen employees failed to complete the city’s required online ethics training course on time — and six have yet to do it all, the Chicago Board of Ethics announced Thursday. About a month after the first charter-school strike took place in Chicago, another looms.

Some seniors displaced by renovations or rehabilitations in large affordable housing buildings are on their way to receiving more notice and coordination from building owners, after the Housing Committee unanimously endorsed the Chicago Relocation Plan Ordinance.