City Council’s Committee on Human Relations meets Monday to consider four reappointments to the city’s Commission on Human Relations, and two new appointments to the city’s Advisory Council on Equity.

 

Aviation officers represented by SEIU Local 73 upped their criticism of Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans last week, sending her a letter of no confidence that said she’s made “repeated attempts to downgrade their ability to protect public safety.” Evans’ office announced it would institute new measures meant to enforce that Aviation Security Officers (ASOs) “perform security functions, not policing functions” at the city’s airports, and repeating a January mandate that the word “police” be removed from uniforms and ASO vehicles.

On Friday afternoon, Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued a press release announcing 300 layoff notices were issued “to address an approximately $68 million gap in our FY2017 that is directly related to the Illinois Retail Merchants Association’s (IRMA) lawsuit and Temporary Restraining Order that prohibits us from collecting the Sweetened Beverage Tax... Along with the layoffs, we are closing more than 600 vacant positions.” There is likely more pain to come: these layoffs cover the FY2017 gap, but not FY2018, which is projected to be $287.5 million.

The administration has denied repeated requests for department-specific breakdowns of requested budget reductions, or layoffs in Offices Under the President, citing ongoing talks and the impact of collective bargaining agreements. But crucial public safety departments–the Public Defender and State’s Attorney–told The Daily Line they’re laying off roughly 100 employees. Sheriff Tom Dart’s office was asked to reduce its budget by $21.4 million–the equivalent of 925 positions–to meet its target by the end of FY 2017, but has not reached final numbers yet.

Budget Director Tanya Anthony sent notice to bureau chiefs, department heads, and separately elected officials last week calling for a 10% holdback effective August 1 to cover the remainder of the fiscal year. Department heads could meet those targets with layoffs, vacancy eliminations or other spending reductions, including on capital equipment, planned projects, or contracts.

Cara Smith, a spokesperson for Sheriff Tom Dart, said the Sheriff’s Department–one of the county’s biggest–will “be coming to a conclusion with our plan early next week.” She said President Preckwinkle’s budget office asked for a $21.4 million reduction in the budget for the rest of the 2017 fiscal year, equal to 925 employees. That’s 15.4% of the workforce, Smith said, and would likely impact guards at the County  jail the most. “We’re in a painstaking, thoughtful process of evaluating our budget and operations to see where savings will be realized,” she said. “It’s a very heavy, heavy assignment.”

Earlier this week, Sheriff Dart joined Commissioners Richard Boykin (D-1), Tim Schneider (R-14), and Jeff Tobolski (D-16) to blast the proposed cuts, which they said would have the biggest impact on public safety operations. “County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s solution to her inability to collect her sweetened beverage tax is to take a hatchet to the county’s public safety departments,” Boykin said in a statement. “That is the height of irresponsibility” that could lead to the Sheriff’s Department re-entering federal oversight. “With these layoffs, it is only a matter of time until the federal government again intervenes and again forces the county to boost the numbers of officers in the jail. Where will these supposed savings come from then?”

The State’s Attorney’s office is laying off 39 people. A spokesperson said the office was able to hit its $4 million reduction target by making non-personnel cuts, implementing two mandatory unpaid furlough days for non-union staff, and laying off 17 prosecutors and 22 staffers. The office had a budgeted total of 1,168 employees for this year.

There were no layoffs in commissioners’ offices, nor at the Cook County Assessor’s Office. Assessor spokesperson Tom Shaer said the office was able to “find savings elsewhere in our budget and avoid layoffs at this time… We hit the total dollar figure we were asked to reach,” but said he could not share that figure.

Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough’s office also avoided layoffs, but has significantly reduced its headcount in recent years. “When I came in it was 200 people, now we’re down to about 130,” she said.

This round, “we gave up a couple of vacancies. It was over $200,000 from other stuff. They asked for 8% last year, and we gave it to them,” Yarbrough told The Daily Line. “The rest of these folks didn’t do anything,” she said, referring to other offices. “[Finance Chairman John] Daley had commented on it, that were one of the only separately elected officials to do that. Last year we gave up 15 people from layoffs.”

Fewer than 100 employees were given layoff notices at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, spokesperson Alex Normington said. “We have complied with the requested 10% reduction through a number of expense reduction strategies designed to minimize service disruption including deferring planned projects and reducing vendor contracts. This has enabled us to keep staff reductions to fewer than 100.” Normington did not respond to a request to break down how the cuts affected nurses, technicians, doctors, or administrative staff.

Lester Finkle in the Public Defender’s Office said there were 69 total layoffs in the office. Of those, 63 are attorneys. That’s a 15% cut in attorney staff, he estimated. “The situation is evolving,” he said, noting the Budget Office asked for $2.5 million in cuts. “The [layoff] notices went out for 30 days from today. We’ll do everything we can to find other resources to prevent those layoffs from occurring.” Union members in the public defender’s office warned in a budget hearing Wednesday that the cuts would lead to unsustainable caseloads for attorneys and a potential for the county to become the next “center of national scandal [for] miscarriage of justice,” akin to New Orleans or Missouri.

Officials with County Clerk David Orr’s office, Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown’s office, and Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ Office could not be reached by publication. Pres. Preckwinkle’s statement said she would continue to work with the Chief Judge and Sheriff Dart “to ensure real expenditure reductions in their budgets,” and more layoffs are likely coming.

“I regret that these actions are necessary – and I deeply regret the impact they have on individual employees,” Pres. Preckwinkle said in a statement. “One of the main reasons I proposed the modest tax on sweetened beverages last year was specifically to avoid these kind of cuts.”  

“The FY2017 budget, which was passed by the Board last November in a 13-4 vote, included that revenue. Unfortunately, the lawsuit filed by the IRMA and others just days before the tax was to take effect has led to what is likely to be a protracted legal fight. And while we believe we will ultimately prevail, we must take fiscally responsible actions now.”

 



Cook County Democratic Committeemen from the city’s South and West Sides “unanimously” chose Dr. Dennis Deer Thursday afternoon to replace the late 2nd District Commissioner Robert Steele. Deer is a psychologist who operates a rehabilitation and training center in North Lawndale. He is also the longtime head of Steele’s political organization, and came into the crowded proceedings with the endorsement of Chairman Michael Scott (24), former Board Pres. Bobbie Steele and the Steele family, who sat front row, just to the left of candidates. The day’s proceedings were held in an unfinished, echoey space at the Lofts at Arthington in North Lawndale. There were about 30 people in the audience, a dozen interviewees, and 15 committeemen conducting interviews.

The Council’s Workforce Committee meets Friday to amend a section of the Municipal Code concerning city benefits for domestic partners in light of a state law that already extends those protections to same-sex couples. Also up for discussion: a hearing procurement task force report, the first of its kind.

“What I’m about to say is not what I hoped to say this evening,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle told a packed board room on Wednesday evening, laying out revised budget estimates that show the County will likely begin next fiscal year with a $287.5 million operating gap to fill. That number is nearly three times the amount the county projected less than a month ago. The state’s budget agreement and a restraining order against the county’s beverage tax has changed the administration’s arithmetic, and will likely lead to layoffs for hundreds of county employees “through no fault of their own,” she said.

A group of Democratic Committeemen convene Thursday morning to hear pitches from hopefuls interested in becoming the next commissioner of Cook County’s 2nd District. Ald. Michael Scott (24), a mentee of the late Comm. Robert Steele (D-2) will chair the selection committee of 19 members, each with a weighted vote based on vote totals from Steele’s 2014 election. With a scant 15% of the weighted vote, the largest share of the bunch, Ald. Scott will have to cobble together a coalition of South and West Siders to agree on a candidate–some of whom are gunning for the job themselves or for family.

A routine Housing Committee meeting Wednesday evolved into a longer policy discussion on affordable housing in Chicago and whom should benefit–the very poor, or middle class families who are being priced out of Northwest Side neighborhoods in the midst of a luxury housing boom.  

Chicago police officers would serve as the the lead on all disturbance calls at city airports, including planes, to prevent another incident like the one on United flight 3411 in April, when O’Hare Aviation Security Officer dressed as a police officer dragged a passenger off the plane.

The policy change, which the city’s Department of Aviation will formally institute through a new directive, is one of several to come out of an external audit of the Aviation Department’s security division released Wednesday.

CDA Commissioner Ginger Evans commissioned the report in response to the public outrage of the forceful eviction of an airline passenger who refused to exit the plane in order to make room for United flight staff. Cell phone video footage of the encounter went viral, played on local and national television, as well as in the City Council Chambers during an Aviation Committee hearing held shortly after.

The 12-page report details planned upgrades to Aviation Department security procedures and which department has jurisdictional responsibility–an issue made particularly murky during that April 7th altercation when an Aviation security officer (ASO) was seen wearing a jacket with the word “Police”, even though ASOs are separate from the police department and are specifically barred from wearing jackets with Chicago Police Department markers.

Layoff notices to more than 1,100 county employees will begin rolling out next week, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle told reporters at a media availability at Stroger Hospital on Tuesday morning. Those layoffs, plus non-personnel spending “holdbacks”, will make up for the $67 million the county is missing in anticipated sweetened beverage tax revenues in FY2017 and $200 million in FY2018. Making matters worse, the County has projected a $98 million budget shortfall for FY2018. President Preckwinkle said those layoffs are “inevitable” and will hit doctors, nurses, public defenders, and sheriff’s officers this fiscal quarter. “The crisis is real so the cuts must be real,” she said.

The City Council’s Housing Committee meets Wednesday morning to consider five land sales and one lease agreement that would allow for a new sculpture garden across the street from Guichard Gallery in Grand Boulevard.

 

Cook County closed out fiscal year 2016 with more than $2 billion in tax revenue, and over $5 billion in expenses, according to its most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).

Ald. Michael Scott (24) the chairman of the selection committee to fill the late Comm. Robert Steele’s (D-2) seat on the Cook County Board, said the committee will make its decision on Thursday, July 13. “I am looking forward to an open and fair process,” Ald. Scott said in a release sent Friday afternoon. “The committee will be respectful of Commissioner Steele’s legacy while charting a new direction for the 2nd District of Cook County.” The district covers portions of the West and South Sides of Chicago. Steele was a native of North Lawndale on the West Side, and those close to the committee proceedings predict a West Sider will ultimately be appointed.

Edwin Reyes, who served as 8th District Commissioner on the Cook County Board from 2010 to 2014, has returned to Cook County government, The Daily Line has learned. Reyes assumed his seat representing the city’s Northwest Side when Roberto Maldonado left to become 26th Ward Alderman, with the backing of then-33rd Ward Ald. Dick Mell and 31st Ward Democratic Committeeman Joe Berrios. Reyes is now a Planning and Preparedness Manager at the Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM), administration spokesperson Frank Shuftan confirmed. He started on May 30.

While all eyes were focused on the state budget, Chicago politics continued to chug along, if largely unnoticed. Here are four things that happened that maybe you might want to think about.

1. CPS Makes Incomplete Pension Payment

Just before the Independence Day Weekend, Chicago Public Schools closed out their fiscal year by making an incomplete payment to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. Paying only $464 million of the $713 million due, it was a denouement with surprisingly little fanfare considering the hystrionics of previous months about how CPS wouldn’t have enough money to pay its bills.

The Pension Fund is allowing CPS to make installment payments over time. Meanwhile, the state owes the school system hundreds of millions of late payments, and the system owes over $8 billion in debt.

So, let’s be clear here: CPS ended up the fiscal year $249 million short, and the pension system is allowing it to make installment payments over time. This has never happened before, so effectively, CPS ended up the year bankrupt. But since everyone is looking the other way and pretending it’s no big deal, it isn’t.

2. School Funding Bill In Statehouse

While state legislators pay themselves on the back for passing a budget, looming in the background is an unsigned school funding bill, SB1. Passed by the House and Senate, the bill still needs to be transmitted to Governor Bruce Rauner by Senate President John Cullerton for his signature. Gov. Rauner has promised to veto the bill, essentially because it favors Chicago too much, sending CPS too much money. Without a school funding bill, schools across the state don’t get money, and many expect their first payments on August 1.

Exactly when Cullerton plans to send Rauner SB1 for signature is an open question. Does he wait until the last minute, hoping to threaten the governor with a school closure crisis? Or does he send it sooner, with the expectation that a new special session will have to be called to retool the bill? Subscribe to the Springfield Daily Line to find out!

3. Emanuel Announces New Police/Fire Training Academy

Of all the things found in the U.S. Department of Justice and Police Accountability Task Force reports that all police officers like, it’s the idea that Chicago needs an up-to-date police academy. And hey! The city is about to begin negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police for a new contract. So, this week Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new $95 million police and fire academy in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood.

But, as the Chicago Tribune reports, “Asked how the city would pay for the project, city spokeswoman Julienn Kaviar said ‘the city will identify funding as the project progresses.’”

That means, they don’t know yet. And since construction isn’t expected to begin until 2018, the city has some time to figure it out.

4. Cook County Wants To Do Muni ID

For almost a year, the Chicago City Clerk has been working on launching an identification system that could be used for immigrants, homeless and others to allow them to access social and banking services. With plenty of momentum behind the plan, it seemed like a sure thing, until a pair of Cook County Commissioners and the County Clerk announced their own plan to create a County ID. They also noted that traditionally, the County Clerk (not the City Clerk) was the keeper of vital records (like birth, marriage and death records). So, the County should be the one running this program.

“This is not a competition,” County Commissioner John Fritchey said. “It’s about how we can do this best and how we can do this most efficiently.”