Wednesday Committee Meetings [remote]

The first meeting begins at 9:02 am. The Criminal Justice Committee is first up. There is one guest speaker and her concerns are about an alcohol tracking system (SCRAM). This technology has been in use for two years in Cook County without a contract.

The concern with this SCRAM app is that the app is being used in a wasteful way and being applied unevenly between different races. The Committee is now discussing whether or not they should submit a request for the County to acquire a contract with this private company.

Another public speaker has now joined the zoom meeting. He like the first speaker raises the concerns of racist application of this SCRAM technology.

Now the Public Defenders office of Cook County now has the floor. The representative of the Public defenders office warns the Board that SCRAM is financially ruining some of the low income people that end up wearing one of the ankle monitors.

For a lot of people the fees associated with the SCRAM technology will bury them while they are already in a vulnerable position.

Now a representative from the Chief Judge office is defending the SCRAM alcohol monitoring system. He leads his argument with a personal anecdote of a personal friend being killed by a drunk driver. He now reminds the Board that drunk driving can be tried as violent crime.

Finance Committee is now being roll called, the Board will skip this meeting. The Criminal Justice Committee is running too long. It also appears that the Rules Committee will also not be meeting. Now back to the Criminal Justice Committee. More talk on SCRAM.

The commissioners are now debating on whether or not county should be profiting from the suffering of those that are under surveillance of SCRAM. Also the current use of SCRAM may be questionable because these cases are not being oversaw by a substance abuse expert.

The vote is conducted and is the request for a SCRAM contract to be drawn up between the private company and the county. Quick correction, the Rules Committee is meeting right now. Most of the items on the agenda have to be deferred due to time constraints.

The Finance Committee is now meeting. It appears that I was wrong earlier, the meetings were not cancelled , just moved to a later time slot. The remaining meetings will have to be rushed in order to finish all meetings on time.

The Finance Committee meeting is spending extra time discussing their program for small business loans. Their current goal is to better identify what businesses are not being provided for through these loans and how to better serve these businesses.

The Cook County Small Business Source has identified that small businesses in the suburbs of Chicago have been forgotten about in a lot of cases. There is a lack visibility for these businesses.

There is a very interesting question raised during the closing stages of the Finance Committee on if TIFs can be created via the Small Business Source. The short answer is that the small Business Source will not be handling TIF creation.

Following the Finance Committee, the meeting of the Zoning and Building Committee. A public speaker is the first item on the agenda. The speaker is concerned about his property being affected by construction work of a neighbor’s property.

The public speaker is upset about almost missing the meeting because of miscommunication. He is also upset that he has talked to so many different offices but still haven’t gotten what he wants.

The Finance Committee concludes with a vote on a bundle of complaints on property owners that are having construction done to their property that may disturb or damage their neighbor’s property.

The Technology and Innovation Committee has a quick 3 minute meeting, the only thing they did was take a vote on approving their previous minutes. They all voted positively.

The Business and Economic Development has an almost equally as quick meeting. They also voted on whether to approve their previous minutes from their last meeting.

The Pension Committee is now up to bat. Their meeting will be focused on the benefit fund of Cook County employees, Forest Preserve employees and officers.

The meeting for the Pension Committee was about 15 minutes long. There was a short presentation on the fact that pensions for a lot of city employees might be in trouble in 20 years.

The city will have to allocate more money in the future to cover the need for more employees. Assuming that the city’s population grows on the same pace that it has been growing for the past decade.

The Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee’s meeting is now starting and they are here to vote on whether to approve three new city officials.

The 3 appointments pass without any resistance. Michael Lapinski is now a member of the Cook County Commission on Human Rights. Dr. Jay D. Bhatt is now a member of the Cook County Health and Hospital System Board of Directors. Sam A. Robinson, III is also approved to the CHH.

The Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee meeting lasted about 10 minutes.

The 3 appointments pass without any resistance. Michael Lapinski is now a member of the Cook County Commission on Human Rights. Dr. Jay D. Bhatt is now a member of the Cook County Health and Hospital System Board of Directors. Sam A. Robinson, III is also approved to the CHH.

So the Rules Committee meeting will be suspended. Not enough time. They are already 30 minutes over limit and still not done.

Asset Management Committee meeting is now underway. Their meeting begins with a vote on whether or not to approve a contract for the modernization of 118 N. Clark. The contract passes. This meeting ends in under 5 minutes.

The last meeting is the Veterans Committee. There a few public speakers to hear from to begin the meeting. One of the public speakers did not make the meeting.

Asset Management Committee meeting is now underway. Their meeting begins with a vote on whether or not to approve a contract for the modernization of 118 N. Clark. The contract passes. This meeting ends in under 5 minutes.

The Veterans Committee meeting will be last meeting of the day. The details of this meeting were not posted online. The meeting begins with talk of how effective the VA has been in Cook County.

VA is simply a group of volunteers from various VFW throughout the county. They reach out to veterans that need assistance with housing, food security, drug addiction and a number of other things. This group is in place to get these struggling vets the resources they need.

LATE ADDITION: The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.