A multi-building industrial and commercial complex developer Clarius Partners has planned for a 21 acre site in North Lawndale is on the agenda for the Chicago Plan Commission Thursday.

In a mere fifteen minutes, the Workforce Development Committee approved a collective bargaining agreement for the city’s non-emergency public safety personnel, although a third of the time was taken up by testimony from public hearing gadfly George Blakemore.

Fresh off a full day of budget hearings, the Cook County Board will meet for regular business again today. Most major items of note, including a public hearing on a rideshare surcharge, significant changes to the county’s property tax incentives, and amendments to the ethics code regarding elected officials who serve as attorneys, have been put on hold. But there are a few major financial settlements to be approved, and what appears to be the final changes to the way the county handles consent calendar items.

Tensions rose during the Tuesday, November 15, 2016 County Board 2017 budget debate when Comm. John Fritchey (D-12) shouted at Comm. Richard Boykin (D-1), demanding he retract accusations of racism. Boykin would not, and later he called Fritchey racist "from his head to his toes." (Credit: Mike Fourcher)

Correction: An earlier report said Comm. Sean Morrison (R-17) led the push against procurement changes affecting the Medical Examiner’s office. It was Comm. Jeff Tobolski (D-16). We apologize for the error.

Board President Toni Preckwinkle won approval of this year’s $4.4 billion operating budget and $475 million capital budget in a 11-4 vote yesterday, with all four Republican commissioners voting against. Two Democrats, Comm. Robert Steele (D-2) and Comm. Ed Moody (D-6) were absent. (Both were hospitalized this past week. Preckwinkle said Steele is recovering from surgery, but did not elaborate on Moody’s illness. He has been in office for just a few weeks. His twin brother, Fred Moody, was present yesterday.)  

Registered sex offenders would be barred from specially designated child and teen areas in city libraries under an ordinance the Council’s Public Safety Committee approved Tuesday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed $8.33 billion 2017 budget ($9.81 billion counting grant funds) faces its final hurdle today with a vote by the full City Council. And it’s likely to be an easy one: no major fees or taxes are included in this budget, and unlike last year, there weren’t any last minute meetings to hash out contentious issues or amendments tacked on to the spending plan.

The City Council’s Zoning Committee met for more than four hours Tuesday, approving nearly 50 zoning applications, five landmark designations, and one city-wide ordinance regarding corporate building signs on high-rise buildings.

An independent analysis of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 2017 budget from the Council Office of Financial Management (COFA) is generally supportive of the mayor’s proposals, with only a few minor critiques, according to a draft obtained by The Daily Line. The COFA report has been held, awaiting Budget Chair Carrie Austin (34)’s approval. Because Austin has not reviewed the report, it was held for a Wednesday early morning release, the day of the budget vote, leading some aldermen to question the value of the report at all.

UPDATE: Only a few minutes after The Daily Line spoke with COFA Director Ben Winick, he emailed the report to Council members.

Cook County Commissioners will meet for brief committee hearings before launching into its amendment debate and approval of Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $4.4 billion FY2017 budget. That budget includes a beverage tax approved on the slimmest of margins last week, a pledge to freeze taxes until FY2019, and a boost in county transportation dollars (including a menu-like program to allocate $500,000 per commissioner for district projects).

In each of the past three years, Ald. Marty Quinn (13) has introduced an ordinance to bar registered sex offenders from the city’s libraries. Today, his most recent ordinance, introduced in September, has finally made it on the Public Safety Committee agenda, along with two appointments to the Emergency Telephone System Board

The Council’s Finance Committee held a proposed ordinance on Monday to authorize a Class L Real Estate Incentive for Tucker Development, which would help offset some of the $21 million in expected rehabilitation costs. The proposed commercial retail development is in the historic Fulton-Randolph area.

The Council’s Zoning Committee is scheduled to consider designating three shuttered Chicago Public School buildings as official city landmarks as developers seek to transition the historic buildings into residential uses. Two other former CPS schools, also shuttered in 2013, are the subject of zoning applications to facilitate new uses: one would become a meeting hall for a local union, the other would become a Chicago Housing Authority-owned mixed office and residential building.

A renewed collective bargaining agreement for the city’s non-emergency public safety personnel is on the agenda for the Council’s Committee on Workforce Development and Audit.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel got thirty minutes of airtime to answer a series of softball questions on  dozens of Chicago radio stations last night. The first ever “radio roadblock” hosted by former news anchor Bill Kurtis was simulcast across 47 radio stations commercial-free during the 6:00 p.m. drive-time half hour. Kurtis, who has recently become better known for light documentaries on the A&E cable channel than his 1970’s hard-hitting newsman days, posed seven easy questions from Chicago-area residents, and sometimes lent a sympathetic ear to the Mayor during the interview.

One of City Council’s most influential aldermanic staffers is also working as a lobbyist for two of Chicago’s largest property holders, The Daily Line has learned. Madeline Hill, who acts as chief of staff for Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), is actually paid as a contractor for Citizens for Alderman Reilly and not a city employee. Hill’s consulting group, VX Consulting, is also a registered lobbyist for Wirtz Realty and M. Fishman & Company, two of Chicago’s larger residential landlords and developers.

“It’s unique, but not wrong,” Hill told The Daily Line Monday. “It’s not written, but obviously I keep a very far distance between the 42nd Ward, even the old 42nd Ward [boundaries], and other wards. That stuff I don’t do. Nothing in downtown Chicago. That’s a no brainer.”

According to city ordinances, Hill’s split relationship between being a senior staffer for Ald. Reilly, who has more development in his ward than any other alderman, as well as a consultant for two large real estate companies, is not illegal, nor is it officially unethical, according to advisory opinions posted by the Chicago Board of Ethics. However, Hill’s situation is unique among lobbyists and aldermanic staff, where she could attend to high-stakes policy for an alderman and a private developer in the same day, all while receiving payment from both groups.

Hill says that when she talks to city planning staff she keeps a clear line between when she is working on a 42nd Ward matter or a client. “What I always do, whenever I talk to them is make clear what I’m talking to them about. If it’s for an outside client, I’ll say it’s for a non-42nd Ward matter, I’ll say this is for X client. I’m always clear about what matter I’m on...I don’t mix conversation and I make sure keep things tidy.”

Since 2009, Hill or her consulting group has received $247,000 in payments from Citizens for Alderman Reilly, including $95,450 during 2016.

Contacted by The Daily Line, developer Marc Fishman was asked if he knew about Hill’s work for both Reilly and his company. He demurred, “I’m sorry, I’m at a construction site. I didn’t recognize the number,” and then quickly hung up.

The Daily Line also contacted Wirtz Realty for comment, but did not receive a response by publication.

Hill has received official city communications referring to both of her roles as aldermanic staff and lobbyist. For one development in July 2015, Hill acted as a representative for Wirtz Realty on a project in the 44th Ward, where she received a carbon copy from Zoning Administrator Patty Scudiero on her decision to provide zoning relief. On another occasion in March 2016, Hill was carbon copied as the 42nd Ward lead staffer on a request to Planning Commissioner David Reifman for a request to use a pocket park for private use.

The city ethics ordinance specifically bars employees (which includes aldermanic staff) from influencing decisions from which they have “derived any income or compensation” in the past 12 months, or the upcoming 12 months. However, the ordinance does not apply to contractors, providing Hill a loophole so she may work for both Alderman Reilly and outside clients simultaneously.

An analysis by The Daily Line found that while nine other aldermanic chiefs of staff did receive outside campaign payments by their bosses, they retained city employee status. Campaign payments for other aldermanic staffers were significantly less than Hill’s and was for campaign work done while not working on city time, conduct explicitly permitted by the Board of Ethics.

“It’s a lot of perceived power. I have a lot less power and influence that people think,” said Hill.