Anticipate a packed day at the Cook County Board, as commissioners consider an overhaul to the county’s property tax incentives system, a new role for the Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership, rules to make county employees and elected officials more FOIA friendly, and routine settlements and tax breaks. A debate on federal funding–and how to ask President Donald Trump for assistance in fighting violence–is also expected.

Plans to strengthen city Building Commissioner Judy Frydland’s control over the permitting process–by giving her the authority to suspend permits or bar contractors and tradesmen from applying for future permits–will be the subject of a joint hearing of the Council’s Zoning and License Committees. Changes to various licensing fees ranging from licenses for Uber and Lyft drivers to slashing the mobile food vendor license for senior citizens and veterans are on tap as well.  

Commissioners will have their chance to pose with the Chicago Cubs’ World Series trophy this morning during consent calendar proceedings before hearing an update on vaccinations and tracking of animals that carry disease. Much of the day’s major proceedings–including possible real estate acquisitions and updates on court cases–will occur in executive session.

An intergovernmental agreement between the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) and the Regional Transportation Authority is up for consideration today by the Council’s Human Relations Committee.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has promoted two long-time county staffers to her executive team, completing the shuffle after the exit of her Chief of Staff, Brian Hamer and main county board lobbyist Vasyl Markus. Hamer and Markus left before the new year after serving less than nine months on the job.

SEIU is issuing mailers, scheduling patch-through auto-calls, and protesting outside the offices of Aviation Committee Chairman Mike Zalewski (23) and Ald. Walter Burnett (27), targeting both for not sponsoring an ordinance aiming to increase wages and benefits for airport service workers, a union rep tells The Daily Line.

The Chicago Board of Ethics issued an advisory after their monthly meeting last Wednesday obliquely referencing “an individual” and his or her company for illegally lobbying a city official. An analysis by The Daily Line of emails contained in the recent FOIA dump of Mayor Emanuel’s personal account and the city’s lobbying database suggests the likely individual and company are David Plouffe, then the Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy for Uber. The fines for violation "are substantial", the advisory from BOE states, $2,000 for the company and $90,000 for the individual.

City and Cook County elected officials raised more than $4.3 million between October 1 and December 31, 2016, according to the most recent quarterly expense reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The total includes all money fundraised through individual campaign funds, political party funds collected by Democratic Ward Committees, and independent expenditure groups or PACs created by or in support of electeds. City officials, which includes all fifty aldermen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and City Treasurer Kurt Summers, significantly outraised County officials by about $2.9 million.

Week one of the Trump administration has wrapped, and Chicago is on guard: over crime, its status as a sanctuary city, and federal intervention. Mayor Rahm Emanuel defended (for the umpteenth time) Chicago as a safe haven for immigrants, and rolled out new crime-fighting policies in police districts with the most acute gun violence issues. He also welcomed new City Clerk Anna Valencia, said goodbye to Corporation Counsel Steve Patton, and helped Superintendent Eddie Johnson to a chair after a health scare mid-press conference. We talk about it all this week.

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Responding to last year’s surge in gun violence–there were more than 4,300 shootings in Chicago by year's end–several measures introduced at this month’s City Council meeting aim to address the toll of violence on residents. One resolution calls on the city to declare the surge in violence as a public health crisis; another warns of the long-term mental health implications of those caught in the crosshairs of shootouts and demands a city-sponsored counseling program. Another introduction questions the impact of a federal effort to deregulate the purchase of gun silencers on the city’s crime reduction efforts.

Newly-sworn-in City Clerk Anna Valencia has been steadily staffing up since her December appointment. Here’s a look at her executive team, which is still in the works–no one has been chosen yet to fill Deputy Clerk Carina Sanchez’s spot since her reassignment as head of the Public Building Commission. According to sources close to the Clerk’s office, close to a dozen other staffers have also left since Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s exit.

As the Chicago City Council officially welcomed a new City Clerk, they bid farewell to its top lawyer, who will be stepping down from the position he’s held for the past six years. The swearing in of Anna Valencia as City Clerk and a reading of a resolution honoring Corporation Counsel Steve Patton bookended three-hour City Council meeting, the first of 2017. All items outlined in our rundown from Wednesday were approved with no pushback and minimal debate.

But a contest may be brewing on another issue in the upcoming weeks: how to spend $14.7 million in unused funds from last year’s vastly underutilized property tax rebate program. Only 16% of eligible homeowners, or 25,300 people, applied for the rebate checks, according to numbers provided by the Mayor’s Office, leaving $14.7 million on the table.

Legal experts have extensive questions about the enforceability of two executive orders on immigration and sanctuary cities issued by President Donald Trump today. While White House officials are publicly threatening to revoke federal grants from cities like Chicago that fail to assist with strict enforcement of federal immigration law, the actual effect of the executive orders may be considerably different than advertised.

Council’s Budget Committee focused largely on public safety changes that were a surprise to some aldermen: two new hires The Daily Line reported on last week overseeing major public safety initiatives in the Mayor’s Office. The addition of Deanne Millison and Brandon Nemec to the public safety team, and the fact that their salaries are partially funded by grants from the Joyce and MacArthur Foundations, seemed to catch a few aldermen off guard.  

Finance Chairman Burke waived the reading of Law Department statements on the three settlements totaling more than $5 million, which the committee ultimately approved. But it didn’t stop Ald. John Arena (45) from sounding off the cost the city had incurred because of settlements related to CPD Commander Jon Burge. The committee also approved an amendment to the Michael Reese hospital site refinancing, a fee waiver for the Public Building Commission, and transfer of a bond cap to help an affordable housing development in the 24th ward.

Attendance: Chairman Ed Burke (14), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Derrick Curtis (18), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Scott Waguespack (32), Emma Mitts (37), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), Harry Osterman (48)

Legal Settlements

“What was concerning to me was that the officers involved had been involved in other settlements that related to the Burge era, and totaling somewhere in the range of up to $30 million, collectively,” Ald. Arena noted Tuesday. “I just think it’s important to publicly point out that while this is a $4 million settlement we’re dealing with now, that this particular era has been incredibly costly to the city of Chicago.”

He was referring to the $4 million settlement unanimously approved; the plaintiff, Shawn Whirl, alleged he was tortured into falsely confessing to the shooting death of a cab driver. Whirl spent about a quarter of a century in jail for that confession. There are a number of false confession cases still pending against the city, First Assistant Corporation Counsel Jenny Notz said.

“We have two cases pending, they’re called Wrice and Kluppelberg, in which case there are allegations against Jon Burge,” Notz said. “We have 25 wrongful conviction cases, not all of them involve Burge or officers who served under him.”  

“Years later, decades later, the taxpayers of Chicago are still trying to make restitution,” Arena said. The public and aldermen should keep that in mind as the city makes its next decisions on police reform in light of the Justice Department’s investigation, he concluded.

Aldermen approved another police-related settlement in the shooting death of Willie Miller. Ald. Nick Sposato (38) voted against the $750,000 settlement. During testimony, Notz told him Miller was shot in the “rear right flank.”

“The shooting officer and his partner testified that the decedent had a gun in his right hand, turned to his left, and pointed back at them… The argument at trial would have been that that testimony is inconsistent with the Medical Examiner’s report,” she said. Defenders of Miller, including his mother, alluded that the gun found at the scene of the shooting was planted by CPD.  

Aldermen also approved a settlement related to a disability suit brought against the city by a night watchman.

Michael Reese Site Refinancing

Another large portion of the meeting was related to the refinancing of the Michael Reese site. Aldermen already heard testimony on the refinancing in November, and gave the city’s CFO, Carole Brown, authorization to refinance. Yesterday’s discussion was related to an amendment to that authorization.

Brown testified again on the basics of the refinancing, which (after some market shifts since November) is expected to save the city at least $4.2 million on the original $91 million note. The city, anticipating winning the 2016 Olympics bid, was planning to flip the property. That bid ultimately went to Rio, and the former hospital site has been vacant since. The city has issued a Request for Proposals on the site, due later next month.

The existing loan has $72.8 million outstanding, and payments for that loan are estimated to be a total of $120 million without the refinancing. The current rate on the loan is 5.95%, and the city is hoping to get a full percentage point (or 100 basis points) in savings.

CHA Bond Cap

One of the only other agenda items to draw comments from aldermen was the reallocation of the city’s bond volume cap to finance a Chicago Housing Authority development in North Lawndale. The move won the support of local Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24). He said the agreement would “help housing stock in the 24th ward.”

The city is allocated a certain “volume cap” per calendar year to issue tax-exempt bonds, and is allowed to reallocate any portion of its unused allocation to other agencies, including to the CHA. The owner of New Sterling Park LLC, in the process of constructing a new building at 3301 W Arthington St., “experienced certain unanticipated costs in connection with the completion of the Project”. The group won approval from the city to reallocate up to $10 million to the CHA to help complete that building.

“This bond cap will help them get to the end of the line, they’re just about finished with this project, with this additional revenue they’ll be able to finish this project and move people in,” Ald. Scott said.