Good morning, uh,
committee come back.
We'll begin this morning with, uh, public comment.
Uh, we have four people who have signed up.
Are there any others? If not, we'll start
with Danielle Carter, followed by Zoe Lee.
Hello, everyone. So I just want to talk about the, uh,
police response and that we need more police officers.
So I called the police about a domestic
and no one showed up at all, period.
And I called Elise around four more times
and no one showed up.
So what we need to do, we definitely need to start
hiring more police officers and we need to train them.
So we need to probably start with, uh,
making sure that we do the training.
Do, uh, have some the ones that's on the force.
'cause we see the police officer just got
shot and he's scared.
Most of these police officers are scared to, uh,
defend their lives or,
or scared to do things that they should be doing
because of the, the restrictions
that you all the Democrats have put on them.
They're scared to do their job.
So I believe that these officers need, you all need
to retrain these officers and take and,
and don't have it where they had to be so fearful.
If they, if they defend themselves or,
or do something that they should be doing, which their job
position calls for it
and not feel like they have to lose their pension
or their livelihood, then I think that you all need
to go back and train these people
or get people who are experience in this field
to train them more.
So the thing is, I just wanna say that I think
that you all definitely need
to spend more money on funding po police officers,
getting more police officers on the street,
and then making sure you all, uh, do a reeducation
with the police officers.
Thank you, ma'am. Next, we'll have Zoe Lee, followed
by Taiwan Sims.
Good morning. Um, first, uh,
I would like to, uh, talk about the dispatch when it comes
to people do calling 9 1 1.
Um, I don't know if they need to be trained
because they always get the addresses wrong
or don't understand what the, uh, problem is.
Um, and that's always been a problem.
A lot of people think that it's the police,
but it's the dispatchers.
Uh, they have, uh, so, and I'm,
and I'm pretty sure you guys have enough money
to train dispatchers when it comes to that.
Also, this is the second, um, Hispanic cop
that has been shot by a black boy.
And, um, that's gonna start being an issue if we do not
start policing our own communities.
It's a lot of young black, um, uh, police officers who,
um, have, are now out here on the street,
but you have them downtown
and you have them, um, in Streeterville,
and you have them in Lincoln Park.
Um, and then you have a lot of Hispanics, uh,
police officers in our areas.
Um, and that is how this problem keeps occurring.
And then now you, in one sense, you guys say black
and brown are supposed to come together,
but then you put these Hispanic, um,
cops in our communities,
and this is a second boy that has a black man has killed
a police, a Hispanic police officer,
and it's gonna continue to be a cycle if nobody does not,
uh, do anything about that or talk about that.
And I'm pretty sure, uh, that is what needs to happen.
So we need to start policing our own communities.
Uh, that's a first and foremost.
That's something that Dick Gregory always expressed
and pushed, uh, that we need
to start policing our own communities
and we need to start doing it now, as you see, uh, the, um,
Republicans have taken the house
and have taken the majority Senate also, um,
in 20 26, 20 27.
If we don't see a change, we've already started mobilizing.
We plan on getting out Tony pre WinCo, uh, JB Pritz, uh,
of course this, this, this, this mayor,
and then some of these aldermen who do not care.
Nobody is not playing with y'all no more.
We are taxpayers, and we need safety.
We need common sense,
and we need people who want to be public servants.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Next we'll have Taiwan Sims followed
by George Blakemore.
Good morning committee. Good morning committee.
Good morning. This staying on.
Oh, um, it would be great to have allies,
especially in our city government, people that represent us,
that take our grievances into consideration
and mobilize around those things instead
of considering us the enemy.
It'd be great to have that.
You know, it'd be great to have city government
that respect you enough to cut their ringers off.
It'd be great to have city government that didn't chase you
around in your life, that didn't persecute you.
And for four years, this is
what I've been suffering from my city government.
Maria Hadden, whose ward I'm from, the 49th Ward,
has chased me around the city, the whole of Chicago.
And further in what attempt?
I don't know, just like Jason Irving Saturday.
And what was your attempt, Jason? To what?
Show that I'm a frustrated what constituent show
that I'm somebody that's enraged
by what's what he going through?
Show that nobody like, like Mr.
Matt Martin, civil rights, these people have been trying
to show me, I have no civil rights, Mr.
Matt Martin. They've been trying to show me this,
that this skin tone of mines has hindered me, has taken all
of my liberties, all of my constitutional rights,
and pushed them to a side.
And y'all have not acknowledged that my children
two 3D 7, 9 5 9 7.
That's Yake Roosevelt Sims, the woman over there
at 50 West Washington.
That's one civil rights violation for the fact
that I get no equal protection under the law for the fact
that the law has been weaponized against me.
This is my older woman. I'm 30 years in the ward.
This lady chased me outta my neighborhood.
And I'm sure when she is properly investigated,
you're gonna be properly jailed.
This is a open racist
that they allowed when he was a candidate to mean children.
You was a candidate then.
You should not be sitting as an older person.
But this is the machine that we have serviced,
have given so much to our tax dollars.
Y'all tried to wipe us out.
Can y'all explain to me what destabilization is?
And that's what we just experienced in the city of Chicago,
a city government that has a socialist agenda
or whatever it is that y'all exercising here,
but it's not American because you don't have not considered
the American for 11 months.
I'm still homeless. And instead of helping me,
they've been attacking me.
And Saturday are short best,
but I didn't even know that
that was the Inspector general sitting there.
All those people that heard
what they should have heard against the girl.
Yes, I lived in the city.
Yes, I did so many things to survive as a child,
this look in, in this war.
But I was a child then. But I'm a man now.
Thank you, Mr. Sims.
Our final commenter today is George Blakemore,
Public Safety.
What is public safety
and who job is it to to protect the public?
We have a black faces in high places,
but one of the speakers says,
and I was going to speak on that topic too,
community police, the police should reflect the people
that they are policing.
When you bring a white policeman in a black neighborhood,
that's not good.
And a few or months ago, I was talking to someone speaking,
I said, have you ever heard of a
black policeman shooting a white woman?
Shoot a white man. I said, I've never heard.
They said, oh yeah, it, it happened up in Minnesota.
That doesn't happen.
These black policemen know their place
and they stay in their place.
Why? Only one in America,
one in the United States of America,
a black policeman took his gun out and shot A white woman
or a white man is not going to happen.
Why? It is not going to happen.
But you see, these white policemen are at liberty,
the shoot blacks, because black lives doesn't matter.
Black lives doesn't die. You heard all the speakers?
And I asked, I said, you don't see, uh,
black policemen shooting white folks?
Uh, uh, they said, oh, yes, it happened one time
in American history.
These black policemen,
and they stay in their place and they know racism.
They know racism. Not shoot a white person, a white man,
a white woman, a white boy or white girl,
because white lives matters.
And it matters to these black policemen.
Man, this is something. Now, am I a damn fool?
I as large as this country, all these policemen,
these black policemen, you know your place, you know,
you not a white police.
And you know, you still on the,
even though you might get the same page,
the same community policemen, the young lady says, we need
to police our community.
We don't need any.
And last time, ladies life folks was talking about getting
rid of these LAN policemen.
There's plenty of them.
You gonna get rid of the whole force,
and you can't get rid of them.
They going still be on the porch. They'll hate us.
Don't you know black folk that people hate you
because you are you,
because you have been brought something different on.
Thank you, Mr. Blakemore, for your comments this morning.
We will begin today's hearings with the
Office of Public Safety Administration.
Uh, we'll start with a short presentation from the
Council Office of Financial Analysis,
after which we will proceed, uh, with, uh, acting
director Lin Bloom, with his opening statement, introduction
of the people here in the well,
and those that are in the box.
Director Gray
Chairman Irvin, vice Chairman
Lee Alder, persons and guest.
Good morning. My name is Janice Soda Gray, director of kofa.
We're going to start with a snapshot of OPSA.
The proposed budget for FY 25
for OPSA is 1 66 0.9 million,
which is a 4% decrease over FY 24.
For FY 25.
The total number of full-time equivalents has been reduced
by four compared to FY 24.
Additionally, contractual services have seen an 18% decrease
in FY 25.
Currently, 36.8% of the department funding
comes from the corporate fund.
Personnel costs for FY 25 are projected
to be 37.5 million Non-personnel,
1 29 0.4 million.
Thank you.
Thank you, director, uh,
director Limb bloom, please proceed.
Uh, good morning. Bring that closer to you.
Good morning, chairman and members of the City Council.
My name is Franklin Lum, acting Executive Director
of the Office of Public Safety Administration.
I'm pleased to be here today to discuss our 2025 budget.
Please allow me to introduce my staff.
Sitting next to me is Ante Smith, the Deputy Director
of Finance, and if you guys can stand up.
Uh, next is Natalie Gutierrez, managing Deputy Director
of Finance and Administration.
Next to her is Dan Casey,
managing Deputy Director of Public Safety.
It next to Dan is Tenaya Williams, managing Deputy Director
of Human Resources.
Next to Tenaya is Joy Brown, director of Human Resources.
Next to Joy is Leon Leak, deputy Director of Video
and Analytic Systems in cybersecurity.
Next to Leon is Adam Pondexter, director
of Information Technology,
and next to Adam is Kevin Patter,
deputy Director of Contracts.
And in the back, Thomas Tomas Moin, director of Grants.
And then John rti, deputy Director of Public Safety Payroll.
And Clara Sanchez, medical Administrator,
the Office of Public Safety Administration, known as PSA,
was established in 2020 to manage
and streamline the administrative
and back office responsibilities of C-P-D-C-F-D.
And O-E-M-C-P-S-A manages administrative matters
for these departments, including finance, budgeting, grants,
contracts, and payroll, as well
as supporting human resources, fleet and facilities
and public safety technology.
We also supervise
and manage, manage the daily operations
of the new Public Safety Training Center.
Located at seven oh one North Kilborn Street,
PSA's Combined experience
and expertise, administrative, technological
and fiscal management not only allows us
to leverage best practices and learning,
but also allows our public safety departments
to focus on their core emissions.
PSA is responsible for managing the budgets of CPDC, FD
and OEMC, which collectively represent over 45%
of the city's corporate budget.
PSA's responsibilities include administering over 3 billion
in public safety finances,
including over 334 million in grant funding,
overseeing more than 100 contracts,
processing human resources transactions
for 23,000 public safety employees,
including executing payroll for these employees
and filling over 2000 vacancies,
managing public safety technology,
managing public public safety vehicles and facilities.
PSA is also tasked with setting goals
for ization cost reduction, finding efficiencies,
and improving administrative
and technology functions for public safety.
The value gained from consolidating functions at PSA,
which previously operated independently across public safety
departments as a resulted in fiscal benefits,
employee retention and other efficiencies
through new initiatives.
For example, PSA has returned officers
to CPD modernized timekeeping,
streamlined the finances payables process,
created a transparent customer service portal
for tracking employee payroll inquiries
and invested in technology modernization for radios,
body-worn cameras, records management
and law enforcement software.
Subject matter experts
who previously worked in silos in separate departments now
collaborate daily and leverage one another's expertise.
Other city departments
and partners have also found value in the ability to consult
with PSA and matters that would've previously required
separate redundant conversations with multiple departments
over the next few days.
You'll see some of the PSA staff here today returning
to support C-P-D-C-F-D and OEMC at their budget hearings.
Prepared to answer any additional questions related
to the work that PSA supports
for each of their core missions.
As acting as acting executive director, it is my mission
to continue to make efficient use of all resources
and build on the progress we've already made.
I, along with my staff, am prepared
to answer your questions at this time.
Thank you.
Thank you, director. Uh, we'll open with, uh,
chairman Dow, followed by Altman Riley.
Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, uh, director Wind bloom.
You know, I never really got P-S-A-I-I, it's one of those
departments that I,
I don't think it's really clear on ex exactly what you do.
Um, when it was sold, when it was created
and it was sold to us, it was sold to us as a department
that was gonna create savings for the city.
Um, but as I look at your budget history over time,
the budget keeps going up and up.
I mean, you started at, uh, for example,
30 million in fiscal year 20,
and for fiscal year 2025 across all funds,
you're now at almost 141 million.
So that's, that's a big increase.
I'm wondering if you could detail for us what the savings
to the city has been for your department.
Sure. Thank you for that question, alderman.
So, when PSA was originally created in 2020,
it brought along 411 positions from police, fire and OMC.
And, and on top of that,
152 police officers from the police department
that were working in administrative functions
to support those three departments.
So when we combined them,
we were able to actually reduce that.
If you look at the personnel
after this first year, so in 2021, we actually dropped
to 352 positions where we were able to save that
by looking at the redundant positions that each
of these departments brought along to it
to do these functions, the payroll, the finance, budgeting,
the general support, and all of the it
that was happening along with human resources.
So right off the bat, we were able to save three
and a half million dollars right there, just
by eliminating a lot of these positions
that were redundant once we put them together.
And they were all working in silos now,
they were working in collaboration.
So that was the first thing that we were able to really do,
is streamline the, the personnel
side of the three departments.
When we brought them together.
On top of that, what we were able
to do is also bring along a lot of their technology.
So in police, fire and OMC in 2020, when we combined these,
they were all paper-based for everything,
the human resources processes, all the finance processes,
all the budgeting processes.
So what we've done is we modernize a lot of those systems
to eliminate the errors.
Like when we, when someone is simple
as just ordering a simple pencil, right?
It was a piece of paper that was handed
to the finance section.
Now what we've done is we've actually built out systems
where everything's trackable.
We actually know where everything's at.
So it wasn't just a cost savings,
but it's a lot of efficiencies that we've driven
through on the technology side in particular, you know,
we were able to implement the mobile cars
and the PDTs inside the car.
We're moving to more of a mobile technology
where when we're replacing the cad,
it was actually only gonna be just on the police department.
But when we decided to bring PSA together, now we're,
we're rolling that out to the fire department as well,
because when we brought all those technologies together,
we were able to see a better picture of the whole
and not just the individual departments at one time.
So a lot of, is, a lot
of the stuff we've done is created efficiencies
and modernizing the old processes
that were in place when we, when we took over the mission.
And, and does that, uh, equate to a dollar figure? I mean,
O over the time, you know, we can talk about
that savings just from the personnel
originally that we saved.
And, you know, I think that was roughly $20 million when we
went through and we started calculating that.
Do you have any kind of written documentation on, on
what this department does
and how much it saves the city of Chicago? We,
We can, we can give you a listed document
through the chair if you would like.
That's, that's not a problem.
I don't have that in front of me. I have more
of just the efficiencies,
but it didn't have the dollar value with it.
But we can definitely get you
through that, that through the chair.
All right. And, and the payroll
system, how does that work?
So there, I mean, 'cause I hear that, uh,
sometimes your payroll system is messed up.
So there's multiple payroll systems that we have
with the three departments.
So OEMC
and the police department, I mean, OEMC, fire Department
and PSA are all on the city's CADA system.
That's the system that everybody else uses Citywide
and the police departments on its own payroll system.
Um, in terms of the,
the three departments using the cada,
those are all very similar.
The only difference with the fire department is they,
they actually have a staffing schedule
that will feed into the payer.
The city's payroll system on the police side, there are,
that's a built out system that had to be created
because all the different nuances within the police
contract, it wouldn't fit into the old payroll
system the city currently has. So
Would you say your client departments are all satisfied
with the work that your department performs?
If we ask them about their relationship with you,
um, would they all be satisfied?
Would you have satisfied clients? I
Would, I would hope so. All them, yes,
we meet with them, we meet
with them every week to go over any
of the issues that are outstanding.
So I would hope that yes, you would be able to,
they would be able to say that they're satisfied.
Can you, um, so you're gonna get to us a list of savings
to both, uh, CPD, the fire department
and OEMC that your department has achieved
That we created.
Yes, we can get that through the chair.
All right. Um, and can you explain, uh,
PSA's role in the hiring and recruitment process?
Sure. So for, for the most part, we try, we,
we try and stick to the, the standard
of the departments do the recruitment.
But what we're trying to really establish this year is
to get more involved with supporting the recruitment
for police and fire department.
Um, it, it's a big job.
We know how important recruitment is.
That drives everything in terms of diversity for these lists
that we receive, so we can process.
So we've really started engaging a lot more
with the recruitment teams from police and fire to try
and support them so they can get out there
and do as many contacts with people as possible.
Now, in terms of the hiring process, you know,
we follow the, the city's hiring process
that each department goes through.
Would you want, do you want me to have Joy Brown
kind of walk you through those steps? It
Just, uh, briefly. Briefly.
Okay. Joy, can you please walk through the process?
Sure. Oh,
Am I okay. Yeah.
Um, so it really depends on
what department you were talking about,
but PSA handles all civilian hiring, um, for the,
our client departments as well as our sworn hiring.
Um, and so related to that, um,
each department obviously has applications shuffled
through DHR testing.
Um, and so then when it comes to us, for instance,
on the police and fire side, those candidates are referred
to us and we handle their background processing.
Um, and related to civilian titles, um,
just like the general process,
we handled those, uh, with DHR.
All right. Um, and do you,
and when did you do that recruitment?
So, uh, PSA itself doesn't actually handle recruitment
specifically, but we work very closely with
CPDs recruitment team as well as CFDs recruitment team
And the fire department
And, and the fire department as well.
Um, what we are planning
for 2025 is hosting our own public safety, uh, recruiting,
uh, and resource fairs.
So that's something to look forward to,
but, uh, as it stands right now, we just, uh,
generally support those departments.
All right. Um, director limb bloom, you,
and when you took this position, you
and I spoke about the, uh, uh,
issue related how you all, uh, document
when, whether or not a police officer, for example, um,
should be coming back to work, um,
and how long it was taking,
and that some people feel that, uh,
some officers game the system, um,
and we have a lot of people that should be back to work
that are not back to work.
Have you looked into that?
Have you done anything with
that since we had that discussion?
Yeah, no, that, that's a really important question.
All I mean, that we, we, we have been trying
to get a handle on this
for not just this past couple months since you and I talked,
but, you know, for a couple years.
The, the medical for both police
and fire is one of the toughest things to get a handle on.
Since we rely so much on the employee's doctors.
So our medical unit, when someone is laid up
or goes on a medical, if someone like hurts their foot,
we're relying on their doctor to clear them
before they come back to us.
Before then we can say, yes, they are cleared or not.
So what we are doing is we are making sure
that we have all the triggers in place to ensure that
as soon as that officer
or that fireman is clear by their doctor,
that we get them in as soon as we can
so we can get 'em back out and working.
But you have doctors on your, on your staff
that review the recommendations
of the individual doctors, correct?
Correct. And how long have those, um, doctors been, do,
do you rotate these doctors that we hire
to review the records of the, the, uh,
public safety people?
No, we, uh, currently we only have one doctor
on staff. So. And
How long has that doctor been on staff?
Uh, two, two years, right? I think it's two years, yeah.
Okay. Uh, and do you rotate these doctors, this doctor?
No, we have not rotated.
We've, this is our, this will be our,
our third doctor actually
that we've had in just a couple
years. We haven't been able to
Do you RFP that out
or is it just a higher when there's a vacancy?
It higher when there's a vacancy.
All right. I'll take a round two.
So just so that I'm clear, an individual
goes out on the medical
and we don't have any interaction with that individual until
his or her doctor clears that person.
We're not managing treatment, we're not following up.
We're just waiting on the doctor of the individual
that's out to say, Hey, I'm ready to come back to work.
And then we take them through a second process after that.
No, they're, they're still, there's still communication
with those individuals as they're out.
It's not just as simply as just waiting.
If someone has cancer
and we know they're gonna be out for nine months,
it's not just that they are out there
for nine months with no communication.
We do contact them. There are regular
check-ins throughout that whole process.
Um, 'cause that's, that's not, that's not how it sounded.
It sounded as if we just were kind of in a holding pattern
or a waiting mode until they, they're cleared.
I mean, what are we doing to help get
them back to work faster?
What do we help doing to manage the process so that, again,
these are probably some of our, uh,
most highest paid employees.
What are we doing to help get them back in the game?
All right. So we, we do have, like I said,
we do have the regular contacts with, you know, both police
and fire personnel that are out on a leave right now.
You know, they are constantly checking in with them,
but we do have to rely on their doctor's clearance
before we can actually bring them fully back to work.
But in terms of some of the things that we have worked
with the police department,
and the fire department has something as well
where they have a medical integrity unit,
and those are the folks that will go out there
and check to make sure that if someone's supposed
to be stationary, not stationary,
that they are staying at
their house like they're supposed to.
So there are units that go
and review that to ensure that they are doing
what they are. You know,
I'm not necessarily talking about an issue of fraud.
I'm just talking about an issue
of moving, moving things along.
I mean, sometimes if we don't, you know, say anything
or we are not actively trying
to help people get back on back to work, you know,
people may have a tendency to linger and,
and not, you know, rush to get back,
or I'm not, I'm not, you know, I'm just saying that we,
it seems like we need to be doing more
and managing that process to help bring individuals back
to work versus just kind of just,
and seem like we're just waiting.
And our, and our team does work with making sure
that they're contacting the providers to ensure
that they are, you know,
setting up their appointments, doing the physical therapy.
So they are set, helping set up those appointments
for the individuals to ensure that they are moving forward
with their progress.
Hold, hold on, hold on. You still had the floor. Go ahead.
Just to follow up to that,
because my understanding is that a lot
of people miss their appointments.
They just, they make appointments and then they don't come,
but they, and that there's no follow up from that there.
So every, every anybody
who misses an appointment there is, there is follow up.
And if someone misses an appointment, we do notify police
and fire that that employee did in fact
miss their appointment.
All Right. What happens with that? I mean, is there,
We're not, we're we, we cannot discipline a
police and fire personnel.
So then that's where it goes into those investigative
groups, the medical integrity or the investigation group
for the fire department.
Okay. And has, to your knowledge, has anything happened
beyond that?
After you all make a report,
what feedback do you get from the department as it relates
to that particular employee?
I don't think we, do you have anything clear?
I don't, I don't know if there's a, a loop that comes back
to us through the medical section in terms
of if someone is disciplined or not.
I mean, or just even like followed up with.
I mean, is is your point related
to a point of parliamentary procedure?
Uh, no. Did I asked the question?
Is that, what's your point?
I was gonna touch upon
some of the things that were just brought
Up. Well,
you gotta wait for your turn to do that.
Um, so again, is there
any other follow up
or anything that's happening to individuals with that?
That would be up to the police and fire department.
If they're not showing up to their appointments
and if they're not doing what they're supposed to, police
and fire departments have the units that will go through
and discipline their employees.
Okay. Officer Riley followed Byman Oche.
Thank you, chairman. Um, good morning, uh, director.
Um, thank you for, uh, getting back to me, uh,
with responses to the memo I sent you ahead of this hearing.
I appreciate the, uh, timely response.
Um, and as a result of, of your response, I do have
a few questions that I think fall in line with those asked
by older person Dow earlier.
Um, a lot of us have been talking about, uh,
vacancies being carried over year, over year.
Um, and when you add up all those vacancies,
when you average it out year over year,
the city carries many millions
of dollars in vacancies across all these departments.
And oftentimes that's justifiable.
There are important positions
that these departments rely upon.
Oftentimes though, um, we see a trend in some departments
where there is always a substantial number of vacancies
that are carried over, um, in your budget,
you plan on carrying over 85 vacancies.
And thank you for providing me
with a breakdown of those positions.
It's a mix of management and union positions.
Um, and that you plan on eliminating four vacancies this
year, um, in your budget submission.
Uh, how many vacancies did you carry over from 2023
to 2024?
I believe it was 88. Is it 88?
No, no. 88 was just a, that was
where we were at a couple weeks ago.
Now we're 85. I'll have to get that number.
What I had Jan, what we had January 1st.
I'll have to get that number through the chair for you.
So this time last year, uh, you came before this body
and you told us we plan to fund X number of vacancies
for the FY 2024 budget.
Mm-Hmm. You don't have that number handy.
I I do not have the budget hearing
book from last year. No.
Would it be crazy to say that that number is not
that different than the one I'm looking at here?
I would think it's very similar. Yes.
Very similar. Very similar. Yes. Right.
That's what I know.
And, um, I wanted to take a look at also, uh,
in number six in your response to my memo, uh,
where I asked you to, to discuss, uh, savings
that were realized due to zero based budgeting.
Um, thank you for admitting that.
Um, the zero based budgeting principle was not applied
by the budget office this year to any of the departments.
So I'm not picking on you.
Um, so you've admitted that you didn't look at it, uh,
or approach it with a zero based budgeting approach,
but that you do, um, look at cost savings
through a similar lens.
And, and I appreciate that.
Um, but, um, you know, looking at some of the accounts that,
uh, you have in this year's budget submission, I'm not
so sure, uh, I'm seeing evidence of, of that approach.
And I'll direct you, um, to a couple of line items.
They're found under, uh, the general item, oh,
300 commodities and materials.
Um, if you were to look at line oh three 20, uh,
oh
3 30 0 3 4 2 0 360,
um, consistently, it seems you're asking
for the same amount of money year over year.
Yet, when you look at your actual expenditures for 2023,
I'll give you an example, gasoline.
Um, last year you asked for 60,000 bucks for that line item.
This year you're asking for the same.
But in 2023, you only spent 25,000 of that prop on it.
Uh, food you spent less than half of the appro,
um, on food.
Um, when I look at drugs
and medicine chemical materials, you ask
for $25,000 each year consistently at
spent 2,500.
When I look at repair parts and material, you know, 2024
and 20 25, 340 $6,500 to a T, not a,
not a nickel changed
yet you spent 14,525 bucks in 2023.
And these are tiny little line items.
In the grand scheme of a multi-billion dollar
budget don't mean much.
But I wonder when I say this
to my colleagues on this council, if we were
to look at all these different items throughout the budget
and throughout all the departments, what kind
of trends we would see in these things that aren't 300
or $60,000 items, but are millions of dollars in line items.
And so that is an example of where, um,
we're not zero based budgeting.
We're asking for what we got last year.
'cause it's what we always do. And that's
how budgets get outta control.
And so, again, uh, you know, I apologize to, to the folks
before us right now, the public safety
administration is not the problem.
Um, I'm using the, the practices here as an example
of a broader issue that we have
with this year's budget submission.
Um, you know, I also note that,
and again, Alderwoman Dowell brought this up,
that when I'm looking in your, your budget narrative, uh,
and your budget overview section of our book on page one 16
for my colleagues, if you're following the,
the 2025 initiatives, um, almost all, in fact all
but one talk about procurement related
services and initiatives.
Um, and if you were to go through the line items,
we talk about finalizing 9 1 1 computer aid dispatch system,
implementing a new radio council, um, coordinating, uh,
lockup control systems in district off in,
in district stations.
Um, working with two fm procuring new contracts
for cameras and, and, and license plate readers, et cetera.
Uh, a new records management system.
All of these things seem to fall within the bucket
of a IS two fm, whatever we call these agencies today.
Um, and along the same rationale that frankly led
to the creation of your very department,
one asked the question,
what further efficiencies would be realized if all
of this were to be housed.
All these issues, at least procurement related,
technology related, were to be housed under
the larger agency that handles those issues
for every other department.
Um, you know, this particular move
to public safety administration initially saved about
three and a half million dollars.
And every dollar matters.
Um, but we typically see
departments creep into other departments turf.
And when the bulk of your initiatives
for the next fiscal year fall within jurisdiction
of other departments, that's worrisome to me.
Um, I'm not suggesting that you don't have key and
and critical functions in the city government, um,
but we're looking at a billion dollar budget cliff.
And, uh, while some people think new blends of revenue
and new taxes raise is the way to do it, um,
you can't do those things until we exhaust all of the
efficiency and, and, and spending cut efforts that we can.
Um, so I guess here, if, if we were
to boil all this down, how much money do you spend annually
on hiring civilian timekeepers?
How, how much money do we actually spend on it? Yeah.
So out of your budget, what are you spending on hiring
civilian timekeepers?
Like how much do we,
how much do the timekeepers cost or how much
Managerially, I don't care how much the salary is
for the timekeeper, his or herself,
but what does your department spend on hiring them?
So what's that, HR, marketing, interviewing, vetting?
We, we would have to break that down
through the chair for y'all in a minute.
I don't have that for each title.
I don't know how much exactly we've spend.
Okay. All right. I appreciate that.
The reason I'm asking these questions, chairman, is
because, um, you know,
when you look at the total recommendation here, um, 255
of the 382 budgeted positions are outta the corporate fund.
That's a big chunk of money in the corporate fund,
which we're trying to do our best to squeeze.
And that, that number lands north is 60 million bucks, um,
for the 2025 fiscal year.
Um, and that's a lot of, a lot of positions.
Um, and again, looking at that, um,
and then judging from the,
the department initiatives moving forward,
and the fact that all of the line, all of the,
the bullet points in this section except for
hiring civilian timekeepers falls
within a procurement function.
I wanna know what that number is,
because my guess is that number
isn't anywhere near 60 million bucks.
And I gotta figure that that key function in this department
isn't a huge number of the 255 budgeted positions out
of the corporate fund for 2025.
And so that would be helpful
for me in rationalizing this budget.
Um, and, and you know, again, we'll, we'll,
we'll take this up also
with the other procurement department in town that,
that handles literally everything else with the city
of Chicago, um, when they come before us.
Um, I have a minute and 20 seconds left.
I have two questions. You mentioned in your narrative, um,
that you're making some strides in employee retention.
You know, um, Tribune
and others have have written some, some recent news stories,
which are frustrating to many of us about, um,
the police officers that we are hemorrhaging to the suburbs.
Um, and these are folks we spend a lot of money
and time recruiting, developing training.
Um, and that's not cheap.
And when we hear that, that, you know,
frankly suburban departments are poaching, um, our talent,
um, it's, it's, it's incredibly frustrating.
I know they're doing that with bonuses and,
and other types of incentives.
Um, where do you line up in, in, in, in
handling those types of issues?
You know, what part of that do you manage
and what's the plan, um, to retain our cops
that we're spending all this time and money, uh, training?
Sure. So, so, so our biggest role in the whole retention
of the police officers and also the firemen now in the
nine one one call takers is, is wellness, right?
Like, that's where we're really trying
to focus is making sure that
these public safety servants are supported every way we can,
you know, the police department, we've hired a bunch
of clinicians, um, you know, to help make sure
that all the officers have access.
You know, there's three different locations for them
to be able to go in and speak to someone
because it's different, right?
Public safety is completely different than a lot
of other city employees.
And we, we recognize that, you know,
our grants team worked really hard
to secure $10 million grant to add additional clinicians
for both the fire department
and OMC as well, you know, especially OMC, that we all know
that they hear things that no one ever recognizes, right?
So that's what we've been really focusing on as much
as we can, is employee wellness, trying
to create anything we can to ensure that, you know,
mentally each of these employees can go home, you know,
and not take it out on their families, make sure
that they are able to come back the
next day with a clear head.
So that's the area
that our department is focused on the most,
is supporting these departments with any type
of wellness initiatives.
Okay. Thank you. Well,
I appreciate you answering my questions
and, uh, thank you chairman.
Uh, thank you Alderman Riley, um,
and Alderman osha.
I'm gonna go back to, um, alderman Gardner wanted
to clarify something.
Go ahead.
Uh, thank you, chairman. Um, I was just touching upon,
I I just wanted to offer a point of information.
Um, Alder Menal
and Chairman Irvin brought up a couple points
regarding the medical procedures on CPD and CFD,
and as somebody who was a 14 year member of CFD,
who was forced to use the medical procedures for somebody
who was injured on duty, I just wanted
to offer some clarification.
Um, when an individual on CPD
or CFD is injured, um, there are checkups, they do have
to go down a medical, um,
and depending upon the severity of the injury,
they do have to do physical therapy.
And as they are doing physical therapy, trying to strengthen
whatever injury they do have, they still have to go back
to medical and check in periodically.
Um, again, that would be dependent upon how severe
that injury would be if it's so severe
that they can't come in person, they're not asked to.
But if it is something that they, they can come down,
they are asked to, um, the doctors down at medical,
then do their own questioning, um, related to the injury
or related to their physical therapy.
Look, I think all employees in all sectors have people
who abuse the system.
Um, I think we see that, whether it be C-F-D-C-C-P-D
or whether here in the city council.
Um, I, I I, I do think that the far majority of CPD
and CFD, though we're in the,
we're in the opposite spectrum of it.
I know when I got injured, I was very anxious
to get back to work where a far majority
of individuals are in the same category
because they're not able to do their day-to-Day activities,
or if they have a side job,
or if they're doing family activities,
or even to clean your gutters,
because we know the watchdogs in the IG are watching
these individuals as well.
So the far majority, I will tell you that,
that from my experience of members on CPD
and CFD is, is that the far majority
of them are not trying to abuse the system as much
as they are trying to get back to the system,
but there are check checks
and balances in place. Thank you.
Thank you Alderman. OSHA follow bald Ms. pdo.
Thank you, chairman. Good morning, director.
Morning Alden. Um,
how many license plate reader
and pod cameras do we have?
Citywide, uh, citywide.
I'll have Leon break that down for you.
Good morning, everyone. Uh, oh, I'm sorry.
Uh, deputy director leak, uh, first off,
uh, let me pull that number.
I'm sorry. I just had it.
So right now I have a total
of 6,141 cameras within city.
That's to include our internals, uh, for the externals.
I have, I'm sorry,
alderman, can you give, please gimme two seconds
so I can get that
straightened out for you and I'll bring that back.
Um, the question was currently how many
pod cameras and how many license plate readers do we have?
Citywide? Yes, sir.
Just, it's over 4,500. No, it's over 4,500.
And we have, uh, over, uh, 400 LPR, sir.
Okay. And in 2025,
how many pods
and LPRs are we looking to add Citywide?
Uh, so right now, sir, we have, uh, requests for, uh,
over 300 cameras that we currently have.
As of this date, uh,
we currently do roughly about 400, uh, cameras a year.
So that's the intent of
what we plan on doing next year as well.
Uh, unless we can, depending on, uh, inclement weather,
if we can do more, we will definitely do more,
but that's what we usually strive for as our benchmark.
And we no longer have issues with supply chain
and, you know, a lot of things we had
during and post pandemic.
Yep. So, uh, post covid,
we did have a few supply chain issues.
Uh, we are actually working to finish up all
of the Alderman requests.
Um, actually, uh, this week will be the last two requests
that we have that we're, uh, utilizing menu funds
that were dedicated, uh, a couple years prior.
After that, uh, we are on to the new process
that we implemented, uh, in the previous year,
and we're knocking those out from there, sir,
but it, it did take us a long time with the previous ones.
Okay. Thank you, director Lee. You're welcome, sir.
Um, the reason I wanted to go down that path is
we, we continue to see less
and less people willing to sign up
to become Chicago police officers.
So we need to do more to rely on technology.
Um, and as we talk about technology, whether that be,
um, cameras
or even, uh, record management, how are we doing
on grants, uh, obtaining grants, uh,
for next year to help us with either one of those?
Right. Uh, that's a great question, right?
With this budget, you know, every dollar matters
and, you know, grants are the easiest way for us
to truly build out new initiatives that, you know,
that we can sustain in the future.
In terms of our grant, um, technology investment,
I'll have Tomas break down some
of the new initiatives under the grants for technology.
Good morning. Push the button just on the side. Yep.
Good morning. toma.
Um, director of grants, uh, for next year,
I believe we are implementing a portion
of the state's $10 million grant
award that we received.
We are continuing implementation on that one.
We are also implementing $1.7 million worth of
state appropriation money across the different wards
that have been awarded for, um, LPRs and pods.
Uh, those two are the largest buckets right now for LPRs
and pods across the city for, uh, funded by state grants.
Thank you. Director,
director are, are, is your office, um,
are you guys in regular communication
with the Chicago Police Department?
With the superintendent's office? A absolutely Alderman.
We meet with them on a weekly basis, minimally,
and if not daily, we are,
someone from our team is constantly in communication
with the superintendent's office
and all levels of their department.
Yes. Okay.
And in, in, in reference to that, in this budget,
how much is there earmarked
for gunshot detection technology
and how does that compare to prior years?
So, in 2024, at the end of the shots spotter contract
or gunshot detection contract,
we spent $9.6 million in 2024.
In 2025, we have money set aside
for law enforcement technology.
That's gonna be the result of the RFI
that closes on November 22nd.
So next year we have about $8.7 million set aside
for the tech, hopefully any of this new technology
that comes in that we're gonna be able
to utilize healthy officers out on the street.
Thank you. I don't need to belabor the point of
how important that is.
Um, is there funding in this year's,
in next year's budget for a new records management system?
And I know this gets kind of complicated,
but, um,
if a Chicago police officer makes a traffic stop
and they search the vehicle, they find a gun,
they initiate an arrest, how many reports,
how many different systems does that officer have
to leave the street and then process?
Can, can someone walk me through that?
A absolutely, and that, and that's a great question.
'cause that's one of, be our, one
of our main focuses for next year.
One of our highest priorities is to truly try
and reduce that time it takes for an officer
to go through that whole process.
So I'll have Dan Casey walk you through that process
for the new RMS system
and all the benefits that we're gonna see.
Morning, Dan Casey, office
of Public Safety Administration.
It, thank you Alderman for that question.
Uh, since we began, we've started to take steps,
and I'll walk through those as we go to improve that ahead
of the RMS, even with the systems that we have.
But as you, you're well aware, there are multiple systems
that the police department has legacy systems
that were built up over time
that no longer stay under single umbrella.
So an officer in a situation like you mentioned,
or multiple officers might arrive at that scene, uh,
for the weapon, they would have
to go into what's called the E-Track system.
Uh, if there were any drugs or anything like that recovered,
that would also go in the eTrack system.
Currently, those are multiple forms that need
to be filled out for the arrest report.
Again, a separate system, uh, for different other reports,
ISRs, TRR, so a stop report
or if there were use of force, again, different systems,
mainly three major systems right now in the police
department for reporting.
And then, um, in, within those systems are multiple forms
and multiple reports that get done.
So you're looking for a situation like you mentioned there.
Without getting the specifics of it,
you potentially could take an officer, a good officer, uh,
who's well at writing reports, three hours of report writing
to get that all done in our current systems.
I'm sorry, director, could you repeat that?
That's three hours in the current systems,
Three hours.
A Chicago police officer is off the street not driving his
or her beat not protecting the citizens.
I'm sorry, go ahead. First
Situation like that. Now, that's not the vast
majority of the reports.
They write, you know, hundreds of thousands of reports,
300,000 plus reports,
and I'm sure police department could speak more to that.
But our, our piece of it is to help them with
that technology to streamline and improve it.
So what we've done is implement ways.
So if they run a, uh, a vehicle in leads, let's say they,
they check on a license plate, that information
that comes back can now be put into their case report.
So that's saw, that saves them time
writing out all that stuff.
The VIN number, uh, information about the vehicle,
the owner, things like
that can now be moved into the police report,
uh, with their mobile devices.
We were, you know, uh,
big proponent pushing out the mobile devices.
We got that accomplished. Uh,
police officer can now use the mobile device
to scan the back of a driver's license
and bring that data into the, into the report.
So it brings it into the CAD system.
They can run that and then put it into their case report.
Also, if they're, uh, working with someone
who is in already the data warehouse,
and they can confirm that
through the pro appropriate information, they can bring in
that existing information
that's already in CPDs data warehouse
into their case report.
Again, saving them time, right?
They can change the data if necessary.
Someone's hair color change or something else is different.
But that data doesn't have to be typed out manually,
again, into that case report.
So we started that now.
But the long-term goal is
to build out a true record management system
that's under one umbrella.
Uh, basically two large systems for everything
that's done in the police department.
One for some of the personnel stuff like the use of force
and those types of systems.
And then one for the law enforcement reporting side.
So the arrest reports, um, things of that nature
that would all be then housed together.
We've seen demonstrations of this
and we believe we can bring in
that scenario that you've talked about.
We can bring it down to about an hour, hour and a half.
Thank you, director. Um, in, in closing, uh,
director, really appreciate, uh, the work that you guys do.
Really appreciate not only your staff here in the box,
but, uh, those that I've worked with, along
with my colleague Alderman Mosley on bringing more
technology to the 22nd district.
Um, look forward to hopefully getting some more, uh,
technology, uh, in 2025.
Thank you, chairman. Thank you all.
Thank you, alderman. Uh, to follow up on, uh, something
that you stated, uh, led me to think about, uh, how can, um,
and I don't know if this is even appropriate,
but how can AI be utilized in helping to, um,
facilitate some of the technological needs
that either the police or fire department have,
Like me to speak to that, or,
or the executive director. Yeah,
Him.
So Dan Casey Administration.
Yes, sir. Uh, so AI, of course, is, uh, it has great, uh,
opportunities, but also challenges.
Uh, and this is a situation where we work very closely
with DTI, uh, department of, uh, technology Innovation.
Uh, Nick Luc has created a, uh, a roadmap there
for AI for use in the city.
Um, so yes, it can be used.
Uh, we use AI throughout all of our, all
of us are probably using it now in one way or another.
When you write a text message and it offers you, uh,
you know, words to put in there, that's a form of ai.
So AI is coming, it, it will be a part of things.
And as it helps in report writing
and things like that, we've gotta make sure
that the guardrails are there to, to ensure
that it's used appropriately.
Um, but certainly AI will be a part of, of all
of our technology, uh, uses.
Okay. Thank you much. Uh, vice Chair Lee.
Oh, followed by Alderman Lopez.
I thought he was sitting there.
Go ahead. We'll see when he comes back.
Okay. Uh, thank you chair and, uh, welcome director.
Nice to see you. Good morning.
Um, I'm gonna pick up a little where my colleague, uh,
alderman O'Shay left off has, has PSA done any,
well, I, I like to felt.
All right. Um, has PSA done any sort of analysis of
how much time police officers are spending
in general writing reports? Do we track any of that?
Uh, just kind of e every kind of
report is a little bit different.
You know, the one that we've been really focusing on is one
that Dan was just speaking about in terms of some of them
that are about three hours
and what truly this record management system
could reduce it down to.
Um, I, I'm pretty sure the police department does have a
decent handle in terms of each of the different types
of categories and how long those reports take.
We could follow up with them on the call.
Yeah, that'd be great. If you've got any
information on that.
I think that, you know,
we're all very interested in technological efficiencies,
anything that helps keep our sworn officers out on the
street and not necessarily sitting behind a keyboard.
Obviously reporting is very important.
Um, but, uh, we need to do whatever we can
to streamline those processes
and yeah, cut down the amount of time, folks.
So even, even a takeaway, the one
that Dan was talking about, all
of them we're gonna improve, right?
With this technology that's gonna move the names
and the vehicle information, all the,
from one report to the next report.
So I, I do see every one
of the different reports going down
in terms of how long they take.
So, but we'll work with the police department on that.
Can you, um, talk about how
PSA's measuring efficiency
and effectiveness of this resource sharing?
'cause now you've got, um, all, all of the, uh, CPDC, FD
and OEMC sort of under one umbrella.
Um, and do you have any specific metrics
to sort of gauge success?
Yeah, so one of, one of the things that you know,
we'll point out, you know, with Sante sitting here next
to me is, you know, she's actually been able to implement,
like we were talking about earlier, this whole paper system
that everybody utilized in the past.
So now when we just look at just paying a bill,
now we know exactly when that bill was received,
when it was, you know, sent to our section to be paid,
and then how long it takes for the comptroller's
office to actually pay that bill.
Um, so, you know, we definitely take a look at
how long it takes for things to be paid Now, um, you know,
we're, we're starting to get into that metric, right?
'cause it's been three years since really we've
been up and going 2020.
The, the ordinance said, I think April of 2020, we didn't,
the previous director wasn't nearly
here until end of August.
You know, so this is our third year,
and now every time we add something new to it, it's,
it's been hard to look at those specific
performance measures.
But that is something we're looking to implement more.
We started to look at those
and the third quarter this year of it.
But, so 2025 is gonna be when we're really focusing on the
different measures to see what's successful and what's not.
What do you, um, what do you think the,
what do you anticipate, I mean, just even with the,
the small amount that you've already done,
you've been around for three years now.
You're gonna take a more, I think, uh, close look at,
at the, the efficiency piece of it.
Um, but do you have, um, some sense of like where some
of your biggest challenge areas are, where the,
where the biggest opportunities for efficiencies would be?
Y Yeah, and I, and so I think one of the ones
that we did is, so we've created that help center, right?
The other last year, going into last year,
which was really helpful
because now all of the 23,000 public safety employees,
they're able to go into one location to
look at any different HR issues if someone moved to dress
or if there's any other issues that they had for HR
or payroll requests.
So what we've actually done now is we've implemented
through the city's ServiceNow, um, platform.
Mm-Hmm. We've actually implemented a payroll discrepancy
that people can go in and file,
but they could also file it from their desks.
So now we're trying to implement these systems
that people can actually use all the public
safety employees can actually use.
So I think that's the biggest one right there,
because everybody thinks kind
of human resources is just hiring.
That's, that's actually kind of a small percentage of what
HR units do, right?
They, there's so much day-to-Day work, leave of absences,
or even just come returning to work.
So there's a lot of functions like that
that I think those are gonna be some of the biggest areas,
is truly seeing how fast we can improve on our times
response times to someone has a payroll check discrepancy,
or if there's some type of
human resource there that they have.
So I think that's gonna be the first focus.
And I think the other one is just even implementing.
I know on the technology side, you know,
dance team's done a really good job of trying
to get a handle on just
where all the equipment is out on the field.
So they've implemented a couple different systems now
that can track exactly where all the body-worn cameras are.
They can track where all of the computers are.
So we've migrated that also into this
new platform, ServiceNow.
So we're gonna have one system instead
of all these siloed systems.
So I think that's gonna be where we're gonna see a lot
of our efficiencies being gained, is
by moving everything into one system.
And, and with the,
the current implementation, I think that's great.
I mean, to be able to just go online
for a discrepancy rather than wait on hold, um, for someone
to pick up the phone is, is way simpler.
Have we seen efficiencies sort
of manifest itself in like the, a lesser need
for more bodies to, to work that function?
Like, have, have we seen improvements in that way?
Uh, 'cause you know, we're all, we're also,
we're here in a budget meeting where we're looking for,
you know, efficiencies and,
and cost reductions, um, through technology.
Right? And I, and I wouldn't say
that we've necessarily seen, uh, a lesser need
for the bodies for that,
because I don't think we were never,
we're actually ever properly staffed for that.
You know, there's only a handful of people that are down in
that help center for, again,
23,000 potential employees coming in and out of there.
Um, but we have seen, you know, efficiencies gained in terms
of understanding truly
what are the different requests coming in.
So that way when we look at our staffing year to year,
you know, if it's one type, we know that we're gonna have
to try and hire that person, you know,
additional person for that role.
So as people will tread out, we analyze each one
of our different positions and we say, okay, this is,
this is a role that maybe was more
of a need back in the day,
but now we're seeing that like a leave of absence.
You know, leave of absence is one
that if you look across the board, police, fire
and OMC, how many people are in leave of absences,
we've added leave of absence positions into the budget.
So that way we can handle the number that are coming in.
So again, I don't necessarily think it's a
reduction of staff think
It's as it is a reallocation.
Yeah. I think it's analyzing each position
as they come vacant. And
Just outta curiosity, how many,
how many employees work in that function today?
In, in the help center or the help center?
Yeah. Uh, John,
do you know how many people are down in there?
So, director, the, on the payroll side,
we usually have three people
Down there. And
then on the HR side,
We have five.
And, and they'll rotate a little bit.
So it's, it's roughly eight, eight positions down there.
So eight positions to service 23,000 employees.
And do you think that is currently appropriately staffed?
I am, I am sure
that if I don't say no, then, you know, they might.
Okay. They might come after me. Yeah.
Um, okay. I'm, I'm gonna move on.
Um, you know, we, we've heard repeatedly from a lot
of other departments just about the general challenges
of hiring new employees.
Um, can you, I mean, from start to finish, so how many
open vacancies by department were you, uh,
actively recruiting for last year?
And you, this can be through the chair if you don't have it.
Um, and then how does that compare to the number
of vacancies you started with at the beginning of the year?
I'm just trying to get at how many people did we hire
compared to who we thought we,
the vacancies that we were gonna fill.
Um, 'cause I know, you know, we've done a lot
of exercises this round of budget, uh,
by eliminating vacancies. Um, so
Yeah, so I'll speak to PSA numbers
and then I'll get to, you know, we'll have
to get the police and fire Okay.
Actual number of vacancies for you through the chair.
But we've hired 48 positions this year,
48 people this year for our department.
In terms of the challenges, it, it,
it is a very thorough process that we go through,
through the Department of Human Resources.
But in terms of posting the position,
getting the qualified people, you know, on that list
and sent over to us, you know, we've, we've been trying
to hire these timekeepers for the, for our,
it's called CPD Timekeeper.
We've had to put that out there twice.
We've had, we have over 25 vacancies,
and we've only been able to hire
four, I think, year to date.
Um, and that position's been posted twice.
So there, there is definitely a difficulty in terms
of trying to hire positions.
Um, but I, I think that's just not a city issue.
That's, that's been an issue, private sector, public sector
for a number of years right now.
So your, your positions that when you're hiring
for PSA has to go through the H through DHR,
All, all the departments, right?
So when we actually post the position, the department
and Human resources are, is the department
that actually posts that position.
We work with the Department of Human Resources in terms,
as soon as that position is come down, then we work
with them to get the list, set up the interviews,
interview the candidates, select the candidate, get 'em
to fill out the paperwork, and then we submit all
that packet to the Department of Human, human Resources
for the final processing to hire someone.
Then once an, once an offer's been extended
and they get through all of the, the sort of hoops
that we've kind of, um, let's call 'em Tollgates, not hoops.
This is not a circus. Um, have we, have we had people
because of the length of time that it takes to,
to actually fully onboard somebody.
Have we lost people in the process?
Does that happen in your department?
That has definitely happened to our department.
Yeah. I'd, I'd love to know
how many times that's happened.
I, that's something I'm gonna be really curious
to talk about DHR about.
We'll, we'll get that through the chair.
That number. Yes. Great.
Um,
uh, chair, I might just ask for around two later,
after I hear what other people have to say here.
I'm good for now.
Okay. Thank you. Um, Ottman Lopez,
followed by
Ottman Lata.
Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, chairman. Good member.
Good morning. Members of the committee.
Good morning director and to and to you and your team.
Good morning. Excuse me.
Getting all choked up, uh, in 2019 then,
mayor Lori Lightfoot inter released a, a media alert stating
that she had a comprehensive plan to strengthen
and realign administrative functions of Chicago Police, fire
and OEMC that will,
and I quote, reduce costs, increase efficiency,
and improve public safety.
That would be your department.
And I know you are relatively new in this role,
so I'm not gonna beat you up too badly about where we're at,
but we were expecting to see, according to
Light foot's press release,
$200 million annually saved by the creation
of your department, um, across
the police fire and OEMC.
In 2023, the Better Government Association,
uh, did a policy snapshot of
the Public Safety Administration
and stated that no equivalent savings
have been found in any of the departments, uh, to match
what is being spent in your department.
So, to answer my colleague from the third ward's question
about efficiencies, BGAA third party independent
has said none.
Your department was one of two, if I, my memory correct,
serves me correctly, that the former mayor did
to consolidate in the hopes of trying to
create efficiencies in our government assets,
information, and information services,
I believe was the other one.
That department has since been broken up
and put back in its place to two FM
and do it in a more manageable
and efficient, uh, process that ultimately I think will lead
to better service for the taxpayers.
What would you say with regards to both function
and spending, that would give us any reason to think
that we should not do the same to your department?
Because when I look at
what the municipal code says you're responsible for
and what you said you're responsible for the procurement
of all public safety departments managing their accounts
and payrolls, managing support like
fleet and facilities and asset management.
When I look at technology, those are things where our police
and our fire are literally
falling apart right now.
So how is it for a multimillion dollar operation
now four years in the making?
We haven't been able to not only achieve any efficiencies,
but to be honest, to do
what the law requires your department to do.
So, uh, thank you for the question, alderman.
Now, in terms of the BGAI, I completely disagree with that,
that that article,
they were just arbitrary looking at numbers,
and they actually didn't look into it
or even talk to our department in GR in terms of
what efficiencies have been realized.
So I know that was a few years ago,
so I can't remember like the whole article,
but I remember going over that.
And so one of the things that, you know,
we did is all these departments all have these
functions within PSA, right?
So there's police department has all of our functions,
fire department has all of our functions, right?
OMC has all of our functions that we are made of.
So now, if there was, if you, as you said, you know,
split it back up, kind of how a IS was, all
of those departments would receive the personnel from our
department, but we started with 411 positions,
plus 152 police officers, right?
So we were Mm-Hmm. This department would've been made up
of 500 people that now that department,
all those departments would have
to receive the equivalent, right?
Because they're not gonna see the same realization from
people being able to get taken outta their siloed positions
and become more efficient by working on all
for the departments in terms of
what roles they're functioning.
So in terms of the personnel just alone,
it would be really expensive for the city to start trying
to add our department back into the other departments.
'cause the roles still have to get done.
Everything that our department does,
the roles are still gonna get done. So I,
So then, if I may, director, so then when it comes to,
for example, the maintenance of
facilities and fleet, you are the one responsible for that?
We are the, we are the liaison for the apartments
with two FM on those.
Yes.
So when cars aren't, when we don't have cars
for our police officers,
when we literally have tires falling off fire engine rigs,
you're responsible for them.
Our, our general support division. Correct.
They work to make sure that all the,
all those different districts
and all the different units within the police department,
police specifically.
Correct. We are making sure that we are sending them
for their daily maintenance for all those vehicles.
We're working with the commanders, working
with the superintendent's office to make sure that yes, all
of those vehicles are getting maintained the way
they're supposed to get maintained.
And then we're also working with two FM in terms
of all the ordering for those vehicles.
'cause not only when a vehicle comes is ordered, right,
then we have to outfit those vehicles
for all three departments, police, fire, and OMC.
We have to make sure all the technologies added into those
and all the maintenance is being done on the technology.
So when we have to,
my other colleagues point at the questions of the cameras,
the 4,500 POD cameras
and such, when those are down, that is your department
that's supposed to repair them, correct?
Correct. We And to maintain them. Yeah.
We, we have the vendor that maintains them. Correct.
So that is probably one
of the 100 contracts that you're responsible for.
Correct. Can you provide through the chair
what those a hundred contracts are
and what exactly they're responsible for?
Absolutely. 'cause it's hard to understand how,
saying what you're saying today.
When I have incidents in my ward,
and I'm sure other people have incidents in theirs
where pod cameras never work, where the technology is down,
where our police are saying we've been trying
for months to get things repaired.
That's not an efficiency in my book.
That's a dereliction of duty.
That's a failure to protect
and do what is required in our communities.
And it falls squarely on you from what I'm hearing,
because that is your department's failure to maintain
what the law requires you to maintain.
Now you can say, dividing this back up is gonna cost us to,
to have to staff up again.
But when we have conversations, for example, about
whether it's gunshot detection technology
or any other new technologies,
and we are not putting our best foot forward,
and we are still talking in silos.
You can't tell me today
that we're not still talking in silos between those,
those three departments and yourself.
Because if you were in a u rowing the boat
in unison, we wouldn't have a majority of the issues
that we have both in terms of some of the most basic
assets within all of these departments.
Right. So chairman, if I may,
with regards to the contracts, I've already asked for that
to be provided through the chair, uh, a breakdown of
what this $334 million grant funding is going to.
Um, if you could provide that through the chair
and which wards are directly impacted by it, uh,
if you could also provide through the chair the number
of license plate readers, pod cameras, and other equip
and other equipment, uh, through the chair,
what's operational and what's not by police district.
And then also the requests
by the departments, uh, for their
both vehicles and their facilities for maintenance
and how long they're waiting for repairs on those requests.
'cause more and more we're finding we're things are just
falling through the cracks, waiting for repair.
And I think it's important for us to see whether
or not holding off on repairs
is actually helping us right now. Thank you, chairman.
Thank you. Altman Lopez, alderman Losa, followed by
Altman Ccho Lopez,
I thank you so much.
Um, thank you so much for being with us
for the testimony today.
I wanted to start off by asking about the timekeeper
positions, because I note number one
that it appears we have about 29 vacancies at the,
the lowest salary level.
I, I wanted to ask
how persistent are the vacancies within the timekeeper
position, and how many of our timekeepers are still
sworn officers who came over from the creation
of this department?
Sure. So, like I was mentioning earlier,
this position has been very difficult to hire at this point.
So going into the 2024 budget there,
there was a grievance filed by the union to try
and eliminate the remaining police officers
that were working on the timekeeping system, um,
within the police department.
So that's why we added, I think it was 25 timekeeper
positions into the 2024 budget.
And that's where you see this, you know,
the large number since we haven't been able to hire,
um, the positions.
And when we looked at this last year,
there was like 79 police officers that were continuing to,
part of their duty was working within
the timekeeping system.
And today, I think it's less than, is it,
I think it's less than 40 that are still working within it.
And it not full-time,
just part-time working within the payroll system.
So that's 70 40 down from 79.
Yeah. Correct.
I'm noticing for those vacancies, the salaries for the,
the bottom tier is going from 57,000
to 55,000.
And I like at once I understand the need
for efficiency in our city resources.
I'm concerned that the other, on the other hand,
that lowering the salary doesn't make it easier
to hire for those positions.
What, what is, what is our plan for closing those vacancies,
for filling them, I should say?
Right. So, right.
'cause every, every position, like I was talking about
earlier, we do try and analyze
and make sure it is the right position.
You know, we have put that out there twice now,
and we have not been able to get sufficient number
of people applying for it.
I, I can't truly tell you that we have made a determination
or we've thought about, okay.
'cause this is a unionized position,
so we haven't thought about a different
strategy to hire it yet.
Um, the big thing we're gonna try
and do though is starting next quarter
or the first quarter of next year, um, join
and tenaya from our HR team,
they're putting together a public safety
cohort for recruitment.
We're really gonna try, one
of the big things in 2025 is getting our department
more out into the community.
So we're gonna try and do more recruitment fairs, job fairs,
to try and advertise what civilian positions are out there.
You know, I think a lot of times people think police
and fire positions and they don't see the rest
of the civilian positions.
So we're really gonna try
and push more
of a message out into the neighborhoods how to recruit
that. So that's
Gonna be our strategy. And I
hear what you're saying, and I'm just
sharing the feedback that it feels counterintuitive
that if we've been unsuccessful in hiring a position
that will, that what will make it more competitive
is lowering the salary, which is,
So we're, we're not lowering anyone's salary
or that, that's just a starting position salary.
So the ones that are above that are people
that those positions are filled
and they've had coal, uh, I mean, I'm sorry,
they've had step increases to put them.
So that's based on the number of years
of service those employees have been in those roles.
So that's the, that's the entry level position
for all people that go into the timekeeper position. Okay.
That's fine. We can move on from this point.
Can you, you talked earlier about the fact that OPSA
doesn't specifically do HR
but support the HR work within the other departments.
Can you, can you speak to us about the specific roles
and activities related to o HR support that OPSA does?
Sure. You know, and I'll, I'll just pa I'm gonna pass
that over to Joy Brown since she's
the director of human resources.
Okay. And I'll let her kinda walk through
because I don't wanna miss any.
So, joy, can you walk the Allman through all the different
Sure. And I
can everybody hear me?
Um, so I think what to clarify, uh,
OPSA specifically doesn't hire recruitment
for our agency departments.
However, um, the HR functions that we do cover,
cover everything from obviously hiring, um,
but retirements, resignations, terminations,
leaves of absences.
We do the background, uh, processing
for our police officer candidates.
Um, we do tuition reimbursement, we handle promotions,
uh, reassignments.
We also do smaller individualized testing
for, uh, police officers.
So when they're not handled by DHR, um, our internal units,
such as evidence tech or, um, marine,
or, you know, those type of specialized units, we hire the,
we handle the testing, uh, liaison role in addition to, uh,
proctoring some of those exams ourselves.
I appreciate that. Thank you.
I also wanted to ask about, I think I was noting
roughly 3.3 million purposes
as specified 9,200 for the consent decree,
which is a reduction from the past couple budget years.
Can you speak more to ops a's role in the implementation
of the consent decree
and why this reduction in expenditures is appropriate?
Sure. So our, our role is hand in hand with the,
with the police department in terms of any of the technology
in, uh, updates for the consent decree
or all the human resources one.
So in terms of the consent decree, we have 18 paragraphs
that we're responsible for, that we work on with.
Um, so in terms of the reduction, what we've seen is,
as some of these consent decree paragraphs become, um,
completed, those costs are rolling off the, off the budget.
So like the case management system has been updated,
the talent management system has been updated.
So now that those have been, uh,
completed, now it's just maintenance.
So that's where the reduction's coming from, any
of the projects that have been completed.
And now we're just on the maintenance portion of that.
Thank you. Uh, may I ask through the chair
for those 18 paragraphs to be
provided in the status of them?
I, do you want me to read those to you now?
No, I have three
and a half minutes left, so I'll, I'll, I'll,
I'll save you that particular time.
Um, the only other question that I had was
specifically related to body-worn cameras.
Can you speak to the need for new contracts
for body-worn cameras?
We have a quote sourced
and deployed 1800 additional body-worn cameras for CPD,
which resulted in long-term savings
over previous lease options.
Can you talk about those savings and how, how that happened?
Sure. I'm gonna pass that to Dan Casey.
He oversees that program and he's the one who came up
with the idea to actually move to that purchasing.
Thank you, Dan. Thank you Alderman.
Dan Casey, office box Safety Administration.
It, uh, so in that case, you know,
several years ago we went forward with a model instead of,
uh, leasing, which would cost per month per officer
approximately, uh, $60 per camera.
Uh, we purchased cameras that we then used for officers
who do not go on patrol normally, right?
Officers who work in, uh, you know,
administrative functions or things like that.
There's approximately 3000 something officers.
And, uh, we use these
for when they deploy the things like Lollapalooza
or large scale events.
So rather than paying a monthly fee when they're not gonna
use the camera monthly, um, we purchased cameras
and used those for, uh, for those deployable events.
Uh, when the officers go out, we did the similar thing
for DNC, and that saved the city, you know,
those recurring costs, month over month, year over year,
approximately, I think we're up to $6 million.
We'll get the exact figure for you.
Thank you very much. Uh,
and finally, just through the chair,
could you provide the number of sworn,
I know we talked about this, where timekeepers are
concerned, but across the whole of OPSA, the number
of sworn officers whose responsibilities either in part
or in whole are within OPSA functions?
Sure. We have 41 police officers
that are still working within a function within PSA.
So the timekeeper positions you named
plus one specifically. So,
So no, the timekeepers are still under the direction
of the police department, the, the ones
that are out in the districts working
on the timekeeping machine.
I was referencing how many
that are actually working at PSA, the 41.
So when I, when I look under like your department
and it's under 40 15 payroll,
these timekeeper roles oh 4 3 8,
these are, these are either all sworn officers.
They're not sworn offs.
That's, that's the question that I was asking about earlier.
So not the previous response feels muddled. I'm
Sorry. No, no. Sorry. When,
when I thought you were asking
how many are, how many police officers still detailed
to the two PSA?
Yes. So that is 41, there's 41 police officers
that are detailed to PSA.
Yes. In terms of the timekeeping,
those officers are still working in the di uh,
under the direction of the commanders
and the sergeants within the police department,
they're just doing payroll timekeeping
as a small portion of their role.
So they're under the direction
still of the police department.
The 41 are under the direction of PSA.
So those additional positions, the goal is for those
to be transitioned over to fully under OPSA,
The timekeeping role, yes.
Is to be, is the, get that entire function transition
to PSA once we hire these additional timekeepers.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, chair.
Thank you. Um, I'm, I'm a little confused.
Are the only individuals assigned a
PSA strictly timekeeping?
No. Okay. What other roles are sworn members
doing at PSA outside of timekeeping? So
What they're working on, we have some in technology.
So they're the ones that will go
and pull the cameras anytime they're,
we need a feed directly from a camera.
We have some that are in general support.
So while the deployments from the police department rolls
out weekend deployments or chain of custody things for
with mail and evidence.
So we have some that are working in
the medical section as well.
You know, we have like a, a sergeant down there
that oversees and make sure that the police officers are,
you know, following through
with what they're supposed to be doing.
So we have 'em in several listing sections, including hr,
where they're helping out
with the invest background investigations.
So, and I think this kind of goes back
to one of the earlier points.
Um, what is the game plan
of transitioning those particular roles?
Or are they to be transitioned, um, from a sworn member
to a civilian doing that particular job?
Yeah, the, the, the goal is fill in the positions,
the vacant positions that we have in those areas so
that way we can transition those officers
back to the police department.
And, and how, how long have we been trying to do that?
Uh, we have been trying to fill these positions
for a couple years, different roles.
So do, do you understand the,
uh, for lack of a better term, the frustration on ization?
Uh, if you know, these individuals, these roles, which are,
I guess this department now is what, five years old?
These roles haven't been transitioned,
and it doesn't sound like there's a robust effort
to get those roles transitioned.
Um, so
what needs to happen to
get those 41 positions
of the sworn officers back over to the department so
that they can, you know, do more police work?
So when we, when we sit down
with the budget office next year to create our hiring plan,
we have to prioritize those positions in our hiring plan so
that way we can hire early first quarter, second quarter, so
that we can return those officers as soon as possible.
When you say next year, you mean 25,
not 26, right? Yeah, correct.
2025. Alright. Okay. Alright.
So are these positions the way
that you're looking at them, for example, are we accounting
for the fact that that position may be vacant
or, or should we be, you know, it is.
If if we, if if nothing happens, nothing will happen, right?
So we're not like putting parameters in
or, you know, putting half positions in
or creating some guardrail.
It, it just seems like it just doesn't happen.
And to have these same positions year
after year, still in using sworn officers,
that I think is part of the challenge that a lot
of members are, are speaking of, especially at a time when
our commanders are saying they need more resources to find
that you got a police officer, you know, driving mail
around it doesn't sound great.
So I, I think we, we've gotta push
and make that, uh, make that happen, um, so
that these officers can get back, uh,
back into their districts and,
and service us in, in that, in that capacity.
So, uh, I think I had Cito Lopez. He's not here.
Alderman Cardona.
Thank you, chair. Um, I got a question on the book.
Um, we have purpose
and specified, uh, for 2024, you,
you have a 2.4 and then 2025 at 18.3.
What's the increase? Uh, what, what page is that Alderman?
Uh, that's in page 79 in the fiscal budget
book. You
Don't have it, you don't, you don't have it book?
No, no,
I'm, I'm sorry, Al, I'm getting
the book. I don't have that one. Okay.
Page, Page 79.
Did you explain what the purpose as specified
Under the under 9,200, that account?
That's for our consent decree funding. Okay.
And then also what these vacancies, um, is there,
if you have to go back to, could you, uh,
take from these vacancies to, uh,
fit the criteria of the budget?
I'm sorry, all my, I didn't hear that.
So you have 88 vacancies, correct?
Uh, it, it is down to 85, but yes. Okay. Yeah.
So if we need to basically ask for efficiencies,
are there still ways we could still cut this 85
vacancies, like 10% off of it for our budget?
Uh, uh, purposes are it,
are you asking if I could cut 10% off of, I mean,
you know, when we went together,
when we worked at the budget office,
put together our budget, you know, we did go
through all the vacancies and we justified each one of 'em.
Um, you know, to say that, you know,
we could just simply cut 'em.
We'd have to do some soul search in terms of
what positions we would be able to cut and what we couldn't.
And each one of these roles, you know, we really tried hard
to go and look, okay, this one, we,
everybody understands we're wrapped budgetarily, right?
So we did take this to heart
and you do see a significant decrease in our budget.
Um, is there, is there room, uh, you know, potentially,
you know, but we would have to do a lot of work in terms of,
okay, here's our manager to supervise
or our employee to visor ratio,
how many employees this is going to affect,
because we do have to look at police and fire, OEMC and PA.
There is 23,000 employees that we're supporting, you know,
so we do have to ensure that we're not eliminating positions
that are un end gonna affect, you know, those employees.
Understood. Um, so there is a potential
that you could still cut if you need to go back?
Potentially. Uh, ideally no.
But you know, okay.
Don't, don't do 'em like that.
Um, this Is first time, it's first time
Chairman. Uh, I'm
done with my question. Thank you.
Thank you. I see you've been hanging
around Alderman Riley, so I want to, uh, cut,
cut, cut, cut.
All right. Um, Altman, SDO, are you ready, sir?
Okay, thank you. Chairman.
Not quite ready, but that's
okay. I don't think I have a lot of
Questions. I can go to Mr. Lopez
if
You'd like. I'll follow
him then. Okay. Go ahead. Um, C Lopez,
Thank you. Um,
thank you chairman
and thank you commissioner for, uh, for being here with us.
I wanted to, um, I wanted to follow up on some
of the questioning around, um,
just contractual services.
You know, it seems like, you know,
the budget trims about $20 million in contractual services.
Um, and I look at the items, you know, thinking in terms
of those, um, those specifics.
I wanna be looking at the expenses
of the department around.
Um, and this is on page 285
of the budget recommendations.
Uh, you have about $14 million for
information technology development you have
for professional services of informational technology
maintenance, almost another $14 million.
Um, and my question is, what is the procurement methods,
you know, and processes that use
for every technology primarily used, you know,
by the agencies that you oversee too, you know, CPD, uh,
you got, um, OEMC, the Chicago Fire Department.
What are, you know, how's that, what does
that process look like since 2020 per se?
Right. I think that, uh, procurement methods are important.
I mean, those are like almost $28 million borderline alone.
Um, so yeah, please go ahead.
Sure. Uh, and I'll, I'll pass this
to Kevin Pater in a minute,
but, so that's a great question, alderman.
I'm really glad you asked that.
In terms of since 2020, what we've been looking at,
every contract need that comes in from any
of the four departments, including ours, we look
to see if we can bundle those to try
and get leverage savings, right?
The, the bigger the contract, the more savings
that you could potentially, you know, utilize with that.
So what we've been trying to look at is, you know,
we work really close with the Department
of Procurement Services first to see if
what opportunities are out there for M-V-E-W-B,
and then if we can unbundle that contract, potentially,
you know, really increase that number.
So over the last couple years,
what we've been in is really focusing on that, right?
Making sure that we are not just doing everything in a
silo the way it was before.
So that way we can leverage each other.
And in terms of some of the contracts,
and since I think the last budget hearing,
there's been 13 contracts award, 13 or 14 contracts awarded.
And in the next year, we're gonna see an additional 20
contracts that our department has putting out there
for the public safety departments.
Do you want, do you want me to have Kevin walk you
through some of those please?
Kevin, can you walk
through the different opport contracting opportunities
and how that come about?
Sure. Hi, Kevin Pater, public Safety Contracts.
Um, first of all, we, it's been a big it year for us.
We have several, uh, RFPs that will be out there
or will be coming out there for law enforcement technology,
um, replacing our cameras, camera infrastructure,
things along those lines.
Um, cp uh, public, the Office
of Public Safety Administration as a whole.
We do everything from dog food to camera operations to,
um, law enforcement technology.
So we are way across the board.
We do have several, um, several contracts that will be,
um, out over the next, uh, the,
this, this budget year.
Um, everything from fitness equipment, um,
we are working on, uh, contracts for, um,
as I said before, for all our law enforcement technology.
Um, a lot of fire department contracts, CBRN, uh,
self-contained breathing apparatus, um, bus services,
uh, things along those lines.
And a lot of these have my, a lot
of minority participation we're, um, looking at all
of our contracts, um, reviewing everything and,
and trying to get, um, ization on all
of our current specifications that are out there right now.
And, and I'd also like
to jump into the other big advantage
that we've seen is we've been able to work
with the other city departments, again,
as a collective for public safety.
So one of the big things that I know a lot of, a lot
of the aldermen are really worried about is language access.
You know, so that's one of the contracts we've been focused
on as well, is splitting
that up into two different contracts to better one,
get MB MBEW participation,
but also to make sure that it's fit in the whole city is
just as opposed to where it was before.
It was very 9 1 1 center, 3 1 1 center specific.
So now we're putting one out that's going
to incorporate the whole city.
Thank you. Um, I appreciate that.
I think that there is, um, um, you know, you oversee,
um, Riley in your, in your, um, uh, statement, uh,
46% of the city's corporate budget.
Um, I think that it is important to see in that, in
that same efficiencies, I will have like some, some
of the following three questions just
because we talk about technology
and cameras through the chair doesn't have
to be responded in this.
And I'll have another one on audits,
but I got three questions
because I'm, I don't wanna be mindful of the time, uh,
that can be done through the chair.
If, um, um, any Chicago agency uses Hunch Lopp
or Resource Router,
and if so, please provide, uh, information on the use
and current contract agreement in place, um,
is hunch Hot LOP or Resource Router.
This other question I have is that this, if this,
if the city currently have an active contract
or agreement for use of brief cam, uh,
and if yes, to please describe how this is used
by city departments, uh,
and what does the contract look like, if not,
when did the city stop using it and why?
The last question is,
please name all the third party contractors
that the public safety admission paid
for any digital related work in two, in 2023
and two in 2024,
and a brief description of the work perform.
Those are the three questions that I have. Oh,
And, and, uh, we'll get that through the chair so
that way we're not missing a
point or two in there. Okay. Yes,
Exactly. So I don't wanna,
I don't wanna be unfair,
but please through the chair, uh, the other ones
that I do have, I think it like, more generally, um,
I think like, um, you know, there's also almost
in the budget about almost $10 million
on lease agreements and equipment.
And so far I think that's on,
on rental and equipment services.
Sorry, that's on, um, page 278.
Um, just to mean, you know,
that we're talking about like $40 million of items
just on those three big buckets.
So my question is in general, for, and,
and this goes for the departments that you oversee.
Do you have like an audit program, like a,
like a regular audit, uh, software?
I mean, we spend, we spend a lot of money in, in, in,
in licensing and softwares.
And so far do we have an audit, right?
I mean, in this council we talked about a lot
about overtime, right?
How is overtime used?
I mean, the difference between overtime
for safety versus in my, you know,
when we don't even get reimbursed
by festivals, for instance, right?
Over time, that is done for special events
that are not critical.
I do think that we know it is,
or vacancies, chronic vacancies.
And so far, so do you have an audit program
or a regular audit process that can inform this council?
Like elderly women that will mention in writing
where can be efficiencies.
You talk about the civilization of,
you know, departments, right?
Through saving costs. What are those main recommendations?
And again, I'm gonna be very firm here
around the need for audits, right?
'cause an audit can inform with technical expertise
where we can have, uh, better choices, you know, in terms
of overtime, big buckets of funding.
And I think that when we put like we, you know, um,
almost $167 million in your department to do just that
and do thing, audit programming audits
that can inform the counseling writing are critical.
Yeah. So we, we don't have like a, an audit team
that's going through and analyzing all the different
programs between police, fire, OMC and ourselves.
We do do internal audits in terms of kind
of like the expenditures that we do.
Also inventory audits.
Uh, but we don't have a programmatic audit system
that we've been utilizing yet.
Do you think that that would be a good idea, perhaps?
Absolutely. And one of the, that's one of the things
that we're trying to actually add into the budget was, uh,
position for it like a chief performance
analyst to go and do that.
You know, I know we have worked with the police department
and they have an audit division
that does exactly what you're speaking to.
Um, but I, in these times, I do think
that it's actually really important for us to try
and figure that out, how we can start analyzing these
programs and really saying, this is the cost benefit, right?
Even if it's not the way we want it to look.
But it is very important to know what it is, to your point.
Absolutely. I think, like, you know, even with a
software technology being used when Inspector General,
when we have reports with state's attorney, academics,
you know, I understand emotional decisions,
but I think also having an audit
that comes from the departments instead
of having contradictions between
departments, I think is important.
And, and finally, I think, um, in these, um, in these times,
again, I think that if, if any of those audits,
internal audits as you mentioned, can be shared
with committee members with recommendations, I do think
that can inform this body with maybe
efficiencies can be found.
Okay. Mm-Hmm. Thank you, chairman.
Thank all Su Lopez. Otto Rosado.
Thank you Chairman. Uh, good afternoon, director.
Good afternoon, good morning. I'm sorry it's still morning.
First I wanna start off, not with a question,
certainly not a budget question,
but a thank you to your predecessor first,
uh, And to yourself.
'cause I, I know I call you guys quite often,
although I did call Anastasia much more than I call you.
But that whole fiasco with the fire list and,
and the police list and everything,
so appreciate you guys always updating me
and letting me know where, where these kids are.
'cause probably nine outta 10
of the people I call you about, I don't even know 'em,
they're not from my ward, maybe from one of my colleagues
or strangers calling my office.
So thanks for that. First of all.
Uh, then a point of information I just wanted to give
that was going on a little bit ear earlier, chairman,
that was about the, uh, the retention
in the police department.
So we're not only are they losing them to the suburbs, um,
we're also losing a lot of, a lot of, uh, police officers
to the, to the fire department.
So, uh, every class, I believe there's about 10
or 15, uh, police officers in there.
So, and this is a nationwide problem, so who,
who in their right mind would wanna
be a police officer anymore?
I, I'm sure there's not many people in here would want
their, uh, would want their kid to be a police officer.
So, um, two questions really kind
of, kind of budget questions.
Kind of not one the promotion list.
Do you, do you guys, that's pretty much just hr, do you
and HR work together on that?
'cause I certainly, I know the fire department
and police department, they take forever to come out
with these lists, and I believe that costs us money.
So if, if, you know,
guys are getting overtime rather
than paying people straight time.
So do you, do you guys have anything to do, do you work
with HR on that or is it strictly hr?
We, we get that information from hr, those promotional
Lists. So when you get
it, then right away, do you start hiring
or do you still sit at it for a while?
No, we, we turn those around as fast as we can
As soon as you get it. Okay.
All right. And then lastly,
I just have one real question about the radios.
I know that's been an issue. Uh, you guys are kind
of in controller radios, basically.
So what, what are we doing?
What are we doing to make sure both for police
and fire, that we have consistent, uh,
reliable radio frequencies?
Um, is that, has that been resolved?
I know it's been an issue.
Um, I know the, uh, fire department had
that computer aided dispatch known as the cad.
Um, where are we at with those two things?
Absolutely, that's, that is a really good
question, alderman.
I'm gonna pass that to Dan Casey, who has made some
Upgrades both in the police and the fire department
For that. Alright, thank you.
Uh, good morning Alderman. Uh, Dan Casey of Office
of Public Safety Administration.
It, uh, for radio, as you're well aware, uh,
several years ago the federal government was gonna get rid
of what's called the T band, the television band.
Um, they'd moved most some of public safety into
that approximately 20 years ago
after nine 11 to put everybody on like the same band.
UHF uh, TB band was a difficult one to be in.
Um, you may be aware of this, uh, from your friends
and fire department every summer we would have interference
on that because the way the atmosphere changes
and large television stations are transmitting
on those similar frequencies.
Some are further away, but it could cause interference here.
So every summer we'd go through a, a interference problem
with the old fire digital system.
Uh, we transferred fire to the 800 megahertz system, um,
which has seen better proven coverage
wise and not interference.
But we've had some difficulties there
because of our existing council system
is a Harris radio system.
And we use a Motorola system for 800 megahertz.
So there's what's called an ISSI bridge.
It's like a link bridge between the two systems.
Periodically, that link will have some difficulty.
Um, they can still transmit
and coordinate on their portables.
So if anything happens, the folks on the floor have their
portable radios well and available.
But we have to do some updates to ensure
that our council system is working.
So we've built out now in the 460 megahertz system, um,
we've built out in that space now
that's dedicated to public safety.
It doesn't have the same challenges
with interference like the TB band had,
which was 4 7512 megahertz.
And so we foresee, we're testing that right now with fire
to find them a home in that 460 megahertz
that will give them both the performance, the reliability,
and everything they've been asking for there.
So police wise, we've done a lot to secure police radio, um,
encrypted some of the, uh, the zones,
Chris ball zone channels, um,
that's publicly available within 30 minutes on, uh,
broadcast by.com.
And, but it, what it's done has gotten rid of all
of those folks who are, you know, saying all sorts
of horrible things at times on the radio.
Um, and cleared that up
and secured that police radio while still providing
that transparency 30 minutes later.
Uh, for the cad, we're currently in
the, in the build out phase of that.
So they're building the new CAD with our new vendor
that we selected and we're working closely with them.
Alright, thank you. So, so that's both for police
and fire we're on track to,
'cause I know you hear sometimes on TV how these,
these people know how to hack into our system or whatever.
So we're, we're getting better at it
or we're still working on it,
or we're, we're, we're right there
or we're knocking on the door. Where are we at? We're
We're definitely better at it.
Okay. We're getting Better. I'm
Sorry. We're, we're not perfect,
but we're a lot better.
Well, that's good. Yeah. Okay.
That, that was all I really had then.
I didn't have much, I just once again,
just wanna thank I'm sure Anastasia's listening.
So Anastasia, thank you so much.
And all those kids that, uh, you, you made their life by,
uh, knowing where you're at on this police and fire list.
And Frank, thank you also. So thank you very much, chairman.
Thank Al Rosado, uh,
alderman Martin, followed by Al Manhattan.
No questions to the moment. Thank you. Thank you.
Alto Manhattan,
Thank you Chair Followed by Alderman Conway.
Um, uh, I know you spoke to, um, earlier the cameras,
the license plate readers in that piece.
Um, I, I don't think this came up,
but the, um, uh, did you speak to the mobile pods?
Uh, I, no, we have not introduced
how many mobile cameras we have now.
Uh, I'll have Leon, what is the number
that we have currently now?
Sorry, deputy director leak.
Uh, we are just under a hundred cameras with the,
uh, mobile cameras only.
And then we have, uh, roughly six trailers, I believe,
if that's what you're asking for.
Right. And I'll, you can help me
make sure I'm getting the right terms.
So these are the, the kind of, um,
they typically are hooked up to a little trailer, right?
Like they're the ones that you see in like a Walgreens
or a seven 11 parking lot.
Like what do you guys call those? Yeah,
So those are our trailers.
Okay. Uh, we have several that we own
and we have two that we rent.
What, how many is several?
Uh, we have six, I believe.
Yeah, six is the number of, uh,
trailers that we currently have.
How many do you have on order,
Uh, on order?
Uh, we have not, uh, the last one that we purchased was, uh,
at the end of last year.
Uh, we have not, uh, purchased anymore, uh,
currently, uh, in this budget. Okay.
So Really quick though.
I do want, we did buy more mobile cameras
right before the DNC,
But, but now I'm, we're talking about the trailers
that what I'm talking about.
He helped me distinguish you guys call them trailers.
So I'll say, you know, we've had several, uh,
gun related homicides
and the 24th district, which is where the 49th ward lives,
along with some of my colleagues here.
And, um, one of the things that's been helpful, uh, to
commanders in our district is, uh, being able
to draw upon this resource of the trailer.
Um, but they told us that, you know, they have to reach out
and see if it's available.
Um, we are maybe able to have it there for a few days
before it's taken around.
So, um, I know I've, myself
and several other colleagues we have, we have asked this
and kind of passed this up to the administration.
I'm kind of surprised to hear
that there is nothing on order.
'cause I think that, you know, they told us
that there was some ordering holdup
and maybe they were thinking about mobile cameras.
But so for the trailers, these are really easy handy tools.
So I just wanna let you know,
you guys should order more of these.
We should have one per district.
Um, we should have more than enough to go around, especially
as we're looking at, um, I know some of our, some
of the wards, right, that are, you know,
not having shot spotter as we're waiting for this RFI
and waiting for other technology.
So just to say it's been a great tool
that I've known our commanders to use in, in a short term.
But it seems like, you know, if a Walgreens
and a seven 11, they're only a hundred
thousand dollars, right?
Like we, we've required as to how much these are, um,
and how we bring these resources to our communities.
Um, I've had constituents tell me they,
they really feel a lot better about them
and the high visibility, the light and the,
and the kind of security that they bring to the street,
especially in the aftermath of, uh, of a high violent issue,
uh, incident or even
before when we're looking to have more of a deterrent.
So just wanna put out there, um, you know,
if you guys threw the chair,
could get us some information on
what the department's cost is on that,
who the current vendor is,
and how quickly, um, you're able to,
um, get more of these.
I would be very interested to know, um, so
that we can continue some conversations there.
Okay. Yeah. We'll, we'll get that breakdown
for you Alderman, the
Chair. Okay. Um, and
then the only thing I else I've got,
and this is just to follow up, um, not to, um,
not to rub it in here,
but I, I will say I, I share some
of my colleagues' frustration as we, many
of us want to see cost savings.
We're looking at ization.
I know you said you could get us something in writing.
I just wanna reiterate that request through the chair
of we need a plan.
So we, we've come multiple years in a row
and I don't think that we're seeing, um,
we're not seeing the, the work,
and so clearly you guys are doing work, right?
I don't doubt that. Um,
but it would be really helpful then
to maybe see something in writing of
what is the civilian nation, uh, civilian nation plan,
how are you saving the city of Chicago, um,
on administrative dollars as we look
to cut administrative costs.
And that was the whole purpose of kind of creating
and coordinating your department.
Um, so it would be helpful to see maybe through the chair,
you know, are you operating on a three year
plan, a five year plan?
What does that project management plan look like?
What are your metrics? What are your measurements?
What are your lead indicators, right?
Like how are you measuring your work
and what are the goals that you have set forth without
having that information, it's very difficult for us,
other than seeing these budget documents, um,
to understand whether you are actually making progress.
And of course, that the task that you've got
before you, it's not small, right?
And it's gonna take time.
Um, I would like to be patient
and I'm gonna be more patient with information, um,
because we don't wanna be back here next year, um,
with your department on the chopping block
because we feel like we're not getting, we're not,
we're not seeing anything.
And, you know, next year's budget isn't gonna be any
easier than this year's budget.
Um, but yeah, if you could just through the chair,
help us understand kind of what,
what the department is doing
and the path that you're on so
that we can also be supportive where you need us. Thank
You for that, alderman. Thank
you. Thank you. Uh, alderman.
Hatton, uh, Alman. Nu did you have any questions?
Alman Conway
Uh, uh, yes.
Mr. Chairman. Just, just, just wanted in, I,
I knew this has been asked in different ways,
but I just wanted to clarify that contractual services
0 1 4 9 line, that's $8,975,000.
May we use that for an acoustic gunshot
recognition technology program?
Line 0 1 4 9.
Uh, for you, you're saying
for next year, can we use that for
Yeah. Could we, could we use that for an acoustic
gunshot
recognition technology, whatever. It's,
So that money is dedicated for the responses to the RFI
that are coming in on November 22nd.
So we're gonna, that eight point that mil, those,
that $8 million is gonna be set aside for those projects
that we're gonna implement next year.
And is that, is that money, when you said the RFI, is
that the RFI for acoustic gunshot
recognition technology? It
For law enforcement technology,
For law enforcement technology.
It in that, but that's the money that is essentially
what the shot spotter contract expiring.
That's that leftover pot of money.
Is that, that, that maybe shifted
Y Yeah. So what was
funded in 2024 for the gunshot detection?
That same, that same line is gonna fund the result
of the RFI technology that we're gonna implement next year.
And that's, and that's that, uh, 0 1 4 9 8,000,975.
Correct. Right. Great. That, that's all I have.
Thank you, sir. Uh, thank you Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Altman Taylor. Thank you, chairman.
Um, my question is around who's still using pages?
I'm sorry, It say pagers and it is a very small amount,
but y'all still using pagers.
So there, there is one individual, uh,
within the fire department that still is using a pager.
Correct.
What would be the purpose of him using a
pager Phone to work?
He, this individual prefers to still use a pager instead
of all the alert that's going to his phone.
Okay. I, I, in his role, he gets a lot of alerts,
so I do understand kind of trying to keep things separate.
How do you all work with the district councils?
So, Yes. Page on here.
I'll be like mine. I gotta make it up out,
Right. Question. Yeah.
Uh, we haven't worked much
with the district councils yet.
That's, that is something that, you know,
as they roll out a little bit more,
we get a little more familiar with them.
The only kind of interaction that we've really had
so far is over, um, at the new training academy.
They, they will host their meetings once in a while at the
community room, but I haven't had a ton
of interaction with them yet.
Um, how will, how is this office working around
social media threats and fights and things?
'cause a lot of times when things happen,
they start on social media
and I'm not sure how we are missing it.
And so how is this office using,
'cause you say you all all have somebody
who works in that department.
How are we using that for safety in our communities?
So we, we don't look at that in terms of, you know,
what's going on with the social media.
That's, that's the law enforcement.
So that's more in the SDSC room to the A TC rooms.
Um, what what we try
and focus on is making sure that
the police department has the tools
to research those, right.
'cause there are a lot of different tools out there
that can kind of filter through the different, uh,
social media posts to try
and put that story together so directly.
Our department isn't researching that, but we try
and work as much with the police department as possible.
Somebody asked for this earlier by police districts.
I wanted By ward.
By ward about the cameras and the pods,
because I'm in four different police districts.
And so I, I just want to see like how that averages up.
'cause I'm always being asked to spend
that 30,000 of my menu money.
And I have a huge ward. And so I'm fighting.
Are we still doing the program with the, the ring cameras?
Uh, yes. Correct. And we are still working with the
Part of that Alder one.
Uh, what we do, Dan Casey Public Safety, it, uh,
what we do is we help the police department.
We've created an application where, uh,
individuals can go in and log their camera
and then we create a map for the police department
that they can use to look at where those cameras are.
You know, if there was a shooting or something.
But we do not give away the cameras.
We're not giving, I don't think the city
is giving away the cameras anymore. No. The
Rebate. I was just about to
say the University
of Chicago did it in my ward.
And at some point, I wanna say during Covid we had a plan.
Can I get through the chair? How do you do that?
Because that's another, so my,
when my constituents get them, they need
to know the easy way to try to figure out how
to get their cameras connected.
And so can you give us that when it comes
to hiring, I need you to work with us.
'cause the saying is,
if you don't use it, you gonna lose it.
Mm-Hmm. And so, work with our offices.
'cause people always come in talking about employment,
and maybe you all should just throw a employment fair so
that we can, because it is, um, irresponsible for us
to hold onto positions that we're not using.
And I don't think a lot of people know
that those are civilian roles.
They always think that you gotta be
a officer in order to fill those roles.
And so please work with us around
That. No, absolutely. Aman
and,
and I, I've, I've mentioned earlier, but Joy
and Tenay are putting together a plan
to first hold like a big job fair in that first quarter.
But the other thing is we really do wanna sit down next
year, make ourselves more of a presence in the community.
You know, we did, we did do one, uh, the whole puddle
with Alderman Hall talking about what it is
to be a city employee, you know, what kind
of the expectations are.
So we really do wanna invest more time in going out in the
communities and working with you guys
and all your different job fairs
and really 'cause to your point's.
Exactly. Right. Everybody knows police and fire positions.
There's so many civilian positions
that we have in these departments that we need to focus on.
Where are we at on the consent decree
For, for our Department?
Yes.
So we, we are a part of 18 different paragraphs.
And, sorry, of the 18 paragraphs,
we have three in full compliance.
We have five in secondary compliance,
nine in preliminary compliance.
Do the chair, can you give us those?
Yeah, we'll, we'll give you the breakdown.
So yeah, list it out a little bit better so that way,
you know, what, which paragraph is
My last question is,
how often are you all in the communities?
So up until up until recently, not a lot.
And, you know, that's, that's something that, you know, I,
I definitely wanna work on more.
I it's, IM, it's important to get our faces out there,
again, to kind of separate civilian from
sworn in uniform positions.
So that is gonna be a big focus for next year. Alderman, you
All should be talking to us
because we have to be able to justify
and why I get it makes sense.
There needs to be some breakup.
We gotta make sense of a budget this big and,
and, and accountability.
We're asking everybody to cut.
And in some patients to Alderman Riley, where y'all spent
a small amount of 2023
and now there's this big amount,
we ought be accountable for that.
And so I want to, to see some
of that account accountability.
The last question I had was,
there was a tr there was an engine down in Inglewood.
What role did this department play in that?
So when a, when an engine's actually down within the, one
of the fire departments,
but the districts two FM is the primary contact when the
actual maintenance of that, um, you know, we're,
we're more on the front end when that engine comes in.
We do a lot of the technology.
We'll make sure the radios are in the CAD systems in there.
We will maintain the technology side of it.
Um, but we do try
and work as much with the fire department and two fm.
If there is a gap, if, you know, there's
that communication missing, we do stay on top of it
to ensure that those engines are getting put out there.
We're, we meet monthly with two FM
and the whole group police fire to make sure
that we're all on the same page with the vehicles.
Um, but then daily we're in communication
with especially two FM in terms, okay,
are you gonna be able to get this out?
Because once they get it out,
then their IT team has to get the same things out too.
So it's a, it's a constant communication.
But in terms of that individual one, since
that was just a downed one, it's more
that's a fire department straight to the found.
So are you all going to every house?
Are y'all communicating with every house
about engines being down?
'cause a engine being down is detrimental to communities.
Yeah, no, we don't, we don't go individual houses.
I mean the, whatever help the fire department wants,
you know, we're there to support them.
But we mo meet more with the
logistics group from the fire department in terms
of just the vehicles.
That's all I got. Thank you, chairman. Thank you.
Thank you. Um, before, uh,
before we move on, um, I've passed around, uh, kind of a
proposed, uh, schedule change.
Want everyone to take a look at it.
Uh, I'm gonna, we're gonna go
to Altman, manna Hopping Worth.
After that, we'll come back to that just for, uh,
some brief, uh, discussion.
That will take us through everyone
who was here when we started.
So, and then we'll go to, we'll continue,
but I, I just want to let everyone know what this is
and, uh, what the intentions are.
But I want you all to take a look at it.
First, we'll go to Alderman Manna Howorth,
and then we'll come back to that discussion. Go ahead.
Thank you, chair. Hi Director. Hi
Alderman. How are you?
Good. How are you? Thank you for being here.
Thank you to your team. Um,
thank you for coming to the office.
I appreciated the visit.
Um, I was stunned to hear about
how we're using technology
and just, it's crazy that it's taken so long
to do things like use our phones in ways
that are more efficient
and like, can you speak on that a little bit more about how
you're using phones to help us, um, maybe cut down on,
for instance, uh, reports
Ab Absolutely, and I'm gonna pass it over
to Dan since he's in charge of that program.
But it has been a, it's been a really great program
that we've been able to roll out using every ev getting
every Officer a cell phone, Dan.
So thank you. Uh, Dan Casey, office
of Public Safety Administration.
It thanks all of 'em.
As you mentioned, uh, yes, phones have been rolled out
to the police departments.
Um, we're getting almost close
to every officer with a phone.
Uh, we did a lot for DNC for TAC teams,
but in every vehicle there is a phone deployed
that the officer can use when they're on their shift.
And this allows them to take
that they can take it outta the vehicle with them,
use the data systems that are on the device.
And so now as we move forward to software upgrades,
we have the hardware already out there deployed.
And so as we start talking about building out these record
management systems and some of the other systems
and tools for officers,
they can bring up the cameras on their phone.
Um, they can do all sorts of things with that phone.
And I think we barely just scratched the surface
on what's available there.
So we're looking forward
to a lot more data in the hands of officers.
And as, uh, the executive director mentioned,
we've also pushed these into fire vehicles as well.
I think we're gonna see a lot more adaptations
and improvements there with, uh, their ability to use data
and the fire department both in the ambulances
and what they call their buggies, uh, for those, you know,
users to have a phone there as well.
Thank you. I I appreciate that.
I, um, I'm a physical therapist
that worked at the Cook County Hospital, you know,
and it was, uh, it was quite a while ago.
Uh, it, the old Cook County Hospital,
and we used paper, you know, and,
and also we, we spent probably as much time seeing patients
as we did on record keeping.
So I think anytime that we can make that part
of our jobs more efficient and also accurate
and also hold us accountable, I think
that's a, a benefit to everybody.
Um, I'm very interested in, um, technology, uh, in terms
of our public safety
and, um, I'm curious to know how does it work with Motorola?
Motorola as our vendor for our pod cameras? For
The camera contract? Yes.
And they, um, they maintain our cameras,
Correct. They, they
maintain and they install the cameras. Do
They proactively go out and maintain the cameras
or is that something that we need to call in, is
because what, what I'm frustrated about, frankly, is that
I don't understand the connection between what we do
and our officers do with our technology
and how it helps either deter
or help solve crime in,
in some instances in the 48th ward when we've had, um, many,
uh, in the last year and a half where I just don't know, um,
if it was helpful because I heard that the camera was down.
Um, so can you speak on that a little bit?
How does that work with maintenance?
Sure. And sure. And Dan, correct me if I'm wrong on this,
but, so all the cameras are on a lifecycle maintenance,
so all of them do go through, correct. Dan,
We, we do that as necessary.
So yes, we build out lifecycle sows
and Leon can probably speak to some
of those, uh, more directly.
But yeah. And then the system we're working,
we implemented a new ServiceNow program with the officers so
that their, uh, complaints
or their, their work orders can come flow
through easier into the system.
As you mentioned, we used to have multiple systems
for these work orders.
Now Leon can speak to that.
We've implemented all in ServiceNow,
which should see a lot quicker,
faster response time to those questions.
Yeah, it's just, it's frustrating
because often we don't find out until
after something happened that the camera was down
or just generally the pod cameras.
I don't, I don't, I don't get it.
I need more of, um, information on how it's helpful
because the POD cameras are very limited
in terms of their scope.
If they're not pointing in the direction that the,
something happened, if it happened like two feet over here
or behind it, it doesn't track.
And also it doesn't, uh, it doesn't take into, uh,
account sound technology.
So, um, as you're, you know,
getting more information about different forms
of technology, can you speak on if there's going to be, um,
something better that comes out?
Because I hate to keep maintaining a system that doesn't,
I don't see the value in it.
Can you speak on that
Sure. Possibility of
getting something better?
No, and I, and I think that's, that's the exciting part
of the new RFI that's coming out there.
Um, you know, that's all the responses are
due November 22nd.
You know, we know what we kind of know
and, you know, that's okay so far.
But, you know, we are excited to see
what the opportunities are out there
that these different vendors,
these creative vendors over the last several years have come
up with, you know,
and then see how those work within the police
department's, you know, operations.
So, you know, I do understand your question
and you know, kind of when you and I were talking about this
the other day with, you know, it's, it seems
so simple, but yeah, it is.
If it's only pointing at something, you know,
it is very frustrating that it's not pointing.
You can't see right behind you as well.
And what are the potential solutions.
And I did go back and I did talk
to the team a little bit about it.
You know, I think that's why we are, we're kind of waiting
for the next month to see what, what the responses are
with the RFI for, you know, law enforcement technology
to see how we can add those onto the camera network
to make that more effective.
Yeah, I appreciate that
because when was, when were those pod cameras introduced?
Oh, uh, the, I mean, POD cameras have been in place
22 oh 2006 ish,
but if not earlier, I mean, we update them,
but yeah, they, the cameras
that type the pan tilt zoom cameras have
been in place for that long.
Yeah, I, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that.
Um, I'm curious, we've been talking about cost savings
and, um, I'm just curious to know,
what if this department did not exist anymore today,
like what would happen to the work
that you do? Where would it go?
So the work would be returned back to the apartments along
with all the personnel and the non-personnel expenses.
But if you, if you tried parsing us out
and putting us back, you'd have
to actually add additional positions
and you'd have to actually add additional money.
Since we're no longer combining all those siloed things,
or we removed all the silos when we first
put together our department.
If you're gonna separate us
and put us back within, you'd have
to add additional finance staff.
You'd have add additional payroll staff,
additional IT staff, additional general support staff,
so all and HR staff.
So all those, you'd add additional personnel.
And then on top of that, the non personnel
where we've been able to leverage the combination
of all the departments, you would actually have
to add additional money for these non-personnel contracts
as well, because you're no longer able to achieve that.
That that's the savings from streamlining the process
and being able to leverage buying power
by having four departments together.
Thank you for that. Even, even just the HR component
of it is, um, interesting to me
and how, uh, your department is consolidating
to, to save time.
Um, I just have one more clarifying question.
If you could just, can you describe to me exactly
what a timekeeper does?
Sure, I'll, it's gonna, it's gonna vary for each
of the different departments.
'cause police, fire, O-E-M-C-N-P-S-A kind of,
they're all a little bit different.
But in terms of those timekeepers, I'm gonna have John Aus,
uh, deputy Director of payroll walk you
through exactly what that is.
'cause we've had to take the police department up
until year, year and a half ago.
It was still a, it was just a card, a, a piece of paper card
that the timekeeper was actually writing information on
and doing calculation on a piece
of paper to put on that card.
And so we have modernized the whole timekeeping process,
but it doesn't eliminate the timekeeper position.
So, John, can you jump in on there
and explain, even though it's modernized,
what is still responsibility of a timekeeper?
Definitely. Thanks, director. Thank you. Alderman.
John ati, PSA payroll.
Um, so as the director was saying
that it has been largely automated,
but we still do need human interaction.
The contracts we deal with are very complex.
Um, they deal with, um, various issues
that have been awarded
and collective bargaining over the years.
So reassigning an officer from one district
to another affects their pay, um,
when certain time could be used
and awarded changes, uh, based on the contract.
So even though we've, um, automated as much as we can,
there still needs to be a, a human element to
vet everything they're looking at
before it gets paid out. Yeah,
Yeah. And to jump on that
a little bit, they're,
they're doing a lot of auditing to ensure that the time
that is being put in,
'cause when an officer goes in, they actually put the,
they go down and they say, you know, this is medical time,
or this is for overtime, or this is, I wanna use comp time.
There's a lot of restrictions that are still under FLSA
that they have to make sure that, you know,
the officer isn't putting in for the incorrect time.
So a lot of it, a lot of their work is still just the audit
process that has to be done,
make sure that they get paid correctly.
Got it. Thank you for that. I appreciate the explanation.
That's all for me. Thank you, chair. Thanks, Dr. Thank,
Thank you all. Manna, Howorth.
Um, as I stated,
um, wanted to, uh,
before we got too far,
and we got a critical mass of folks here,
kind go over some scheduling, uh, as we deal with,
um, moving forward.
Um, so I know this looks kind of weird,
but I've had requests as it relates to the 13th for, uh,
alderman, uh, former Alderman, uh, William Beavers' funeral,
uh, that we not meet on the 13th,
and also the same for Monday the 18th for officer, uh,
Andre Martinez's funeral.
So those two dates, I, uh, we will, uh, take out.
Um, today we have P-S-A-O-E-M-C.
Uh, we were,
we technically do still have fire on the agenda.
However, given the fact that we are going to
not necessarily know, uh, you know, based on the numbers
and everything, how we're looking, that we may have
to make some, um, expenditure reductions.
Uh, I don't know if the amount of time
that we're spending in each department,
especially very high dollar, uh, departments, is sufficient
for us to come to those kind of conclusions.
So if you look to the lower right hand corner, um,
there are departments that, um, equate to
a number in the corporate fund that's over $15 million
where we could devote some time to those,
because ultimately that's
where the dollars are if we're gonna have
to make some expenditure adjustments in that respect.
And then we have those that are under $15 million,
which are relatively smaller departments
where we may not find much efficiency for the time
that we're going to spend.
It's clear to me that we're gonna be off of our schedule,
uh, where we intended, uh,
of doing something at our next meeting, which was scheduled
for December 2nd.
Uh, I think that date
and time is going to be pushed out to give us enough time
as a committee, uh, to do the work that we need to do.
Uh, secondly, uh, for Thursday's Infrastructure Day, uh,
water management and aviation, those are enterprise funds,
not necessarily, um, not saying they're not important,
but they're not, uh, critical to the task
that we have if we have
to make serious expenditure reduction.
So, uh, those, uh, days can continue to, uh, move forward.
Um, the only other item that, uh, also came up,
I know we're scheduled for a special meeting on tomorrow,
uh, but if that meeting, if we could move that to Friday
'cause of the funeral, uh, for Alderman Beavers, uh, so
that we don't have any, uh, issues about folks having
to leave, I don't think that's gonna be a quick affair.
And I, I do not, uh, want members that want to be, uh,
at his services to not have to be there
because, uh, we are here.
Um, and that's, that's pretty much it.
And I don't know if anyone has
any questions related to that.
Reilly
Chairman, given that the meeting has been called
for Wednesday, um, how would you propose changing
that time and date?
Um, I, I have no objection.
I'll, I'll sign off myself personally on a meeting on Friday
morning, uh, for that.
I'm not, not, no, no. This
Is a special city council meeting,
not a budget hearing though. No,
No, I, I understand. It
is a, it is a special city council meeting, uh,
the authors of the makers, uh, if, you know, we
so desire can make that adjustment, uh, in the meeting.
I'm just asking so that members that would like
to attend Alderman Beaver's funeral could, uh, could do
so without that level of pressure of what's going on.
So I don't, I don't think the outcome
of anything may necessarily change.
Uh, I just think just outta respect for, uh, for him
and his service to the city of Chicago that, uh,
that we members that, that choose to,
and I know several do, uh, be allowed to, uh,
attend his services without having that, you know, extra,
I won't call it a burden, but
nonetheless, uh, for us to do
what we should do properly to respect him.
And again, uh, if, if, if anybody wishes, uh,
I have no objection personally, to signing on to a call
for a special meeting on this Friday.
Yeah. And I look,
and with no due respect to, uh, the recently deceased, uh,
and former Alderman beavers, um, the vast majority
of folks in the city council had no
relationship with him whatsoever.
And there are, there are lots of folks having to, um,
cancel other obligations
or forego other, uh,
other scheduling requirements.
Um, because we have
before us, uh, a budget that's a billion dollars in the red.
Um, and so there certainly isn't a convenient
time to do these things.
And, uh, if I recall, the special meeting's been called
for Wednesday at 9:00 AM um,
and the former alderman's, uh, services are scheduled for,
I think 11 or 1130,
No, 10:00 AM 10:00 AM.
Um, so, you know, again, for, I guess, you know,
folks will have to make some choices,
but, um, delaying the proceedings tomorrow,
I don't think is, is prudent.
And, and frankly, um, the, the 29 signers of
that letter would need
to all be in agreement with that as well.
So I'm just raising that, uh, chairman as not something
that can just be done on a handshake agreement. Oh, no,
I, I, I understand that.
Um, but I do think that, um, um, I would not,
uh, again, just as we will not meet, uh, for on Monday
for Officer Martinez's funeral, uh, I think we, we ought
to give people their respect.
Um, and that's just me was a member of this body.
I, I, that's just my personal opinion again.
Um, but again, I, as I said, I'm willing to sign on,
sign myself personally on for Friday.
I don't think much changes. We were all scheduled
to be here on Friday anyway, so I didn't think
that was too huge of a thing as it relates to somebody that,
you know, you may not have.
I know you served with him a lot of members in this body,
and people have expressed that concern to me.
That's why they, that's why I brought it,
brought it up for discussion.
Appreciate that. Chairman. Aut Vasquez.
Thank you Chairman. Um, uh,
I appreciate kind of the context.
I know we got this information really quickly,
so I think we're all still processing.
Um, I, I, as somebody who signed on,
not an original drafter, I, I do think it's time
for the folks who drafted
to actually potentially have a conversation about it.
I don't think anyone here could commit one way or the other.
My interest. And I think the interest of the public is
to make sure the members of the city council are here
to vote on that, uh, in a special meeting
to vote on that ordinance.
And so if there are conflicts that people have
that may prohibit them from being here,
that is a real concern to discuss.
Just wanted to put that out there.
Again, I'm not one of the original drafters.
I think that's a conversation for the folks
who put that forth.
Um, but our interest is making sure we make the will
of the public that's been telling us
that they want us to vote on
this thing. Thank you very much.
No problem. Any other questions? Altman Lopez.
Thank you, chairman. And forgive me, I stepped out,
but caught conversation.
I believe tomorrow's mor tomorrow
morning's meeting should stand.
Alderman Beaver's funeral is in
until 11 o'clock in the morning.
It's more than enough time for this body to convene at nine
to get through public comment at 9 30, 9 45.
And since we all know why we're coming here
to limit discussion on the topic, we don't have
to have a long drawn out conversation.
We could walk in, vote and go write about our day
and still have an hour to get to the south side for
Alderman Beaver's funeral.
There's no reason to delay this, to belabor this.
We all know what tomorrow's gonna be.
We all know what we need to do.
So rather than prolong it, I think it's in all
of our best interests to be able to just meet 9:00 AM
take the vote and go back about your day. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Any other
comments on Ms.
Bodo?
Chairman, just wondering, is a roll call being done
to see who's gonna be going to this funeral?
Because us as a council, in my opinion,
and don't everybody get all bent about this,
and I'm sure you will, we have pathetic,
pathetic turnouts at police and fire funerals.
So I'm all of a sudden now
that everybody's gonna be going to this funeral.
So is there gonna be two or three aldermen going?
Is is, is there gonna be 25 going?
So I would hope there was a roll call to say, we don't need
to do this, or yes, we do need to do it
'cause 25 of us are going.
So that's just my opinion. I've been to many funerals.
I've been up, well, I'm not gonna say
'cause I know somebody's gonna get their underwear all
bunched up and upset about this,
so I'm just gonna leave it at that.
We have pathetic turnouts
that are funerals from this council, so thank you.
Um, I don't know who exactly is planning to go.
Um, however, it was brought to my attention,
and I do believe that if people want to go,
they should not have to make a decision on being
here or being there.
I mean, again, we are in a fairly, uh, unique position.
And again, it, and as it relates to the scheduling, uh,
I don't see a possibility of us finishing
where we originally thought we were going to finish.
So not having session on the day so that people can,
that choose to go to that could,
I don't necessarily see that as a, as a challenge.
And I, and I think, uh, the same, uh, for, uh,
former chairman Beavers, if people want to go to that, uh,
those items should not be a hindrance to them going
or rushing through debate to get there
when we only have an hour to do that,
because it does start at 10 o'clock.
So again, um, I, I don't, I don't, I, I
I Don't know who, I don't know a hundred percent
of who's going, however, I know that I'm going, so I can,
you know, but I can't, uh, say who's going to any or not.
So, but that's, again, it's, it's totally up to you.
It is up to you all. I can tell you
that this committee will not be meeting on Wednesday
nor Monday for those two particular, uh,
in those two particular cases, whatever, again, offer to,
to move to Friday,
what could be done on Wednesday
could also be done on Friday.
But again, if that's what you wanna
do, that's totally on you.
But understand that some members may not be here in order,
in order for that particular case.
That's all. And was trying to avoid that level of,
of, uh, of an issue
100% for a Monday.
The police officer that died in the line of duty,
I have nothing against beavers.
He was a good man. I called him a couple times as a fireman,
answered the phone and talked to me.
He's been gone for how many years.
How many people here are attending thing?
There should be, there should certainly be
between the wake and the funeral off.
50. Derman should attend that.
I know that's not gonna happen. But
how many people are going to Beavers funeral?
Or can you go to the wake tonight? I can't answer that.
I know, I, I could do it for a you, if you Okay,
you I'll, I'll tell you what.
Task me with that task. I'll do it on my own.
I'll take a a survey and see how many are going,
and then we can decide at the end of this meeting today.
Okay. Altman Harris,
I can't believe we have in this discussion.
I can't believe how disrespectful this council has become
that a group of us wanna go
to our co former colleagues funeral,
and we're being saying, make a, make a choice so
that we can look bad in our communities
because we had a funeral.
This was my former neighbor,
this man served this in this body
and has helped countless people.
And really, we gonna talk crazy to each other
and be disrespectful to each other.
Ev all we're asking is not to change the subject matter, not
to change anything.
It's just to move it over to another date so
that people don't feel like they have to choose,
because it is no way the comment is gonna be restricted
to 10 or 15 minutes on this issue.
It is no way that on a budget issue that somebody is going
to say they can't speak to this issue.
It's a real highlighted issue within our communities.
We all wanna have the idea, the, the, um, the, uh,
we all wanna speak to the issue of taxes so
that our communities understand what our positions are.
But to be able to have to choose between whether I wanna go
and respect my former dead colleague, my seat mate, father,
I think it's just very insensitive to a whole lot
of issues happening around here.
And if we can do it on Monday, we can do it on Wednesday.
Any other questions? Again,
as it relates to the committee?
Uh, we will not be meeting on Monday. No.
Will we be meeting on Wednesday As it relates
to the meeting, that's something that you all can decide.
As I said before, I would be willing to sign on
for a meeting on Friday at 10 o'clock for
that particular reason.
Um, so again, that matter will get resolved hopefully within
the, um, hopefully within the next little bit.
Um, we'll solve that particular issue.
But as it relates to this committee, uh,
those are those two dates.
We will not be meeting furthermore, the Saturday date,
because we, it makes no sense for us to come in on Saturday
and disrupt people's Saturdays, um, in order to, uh,
in order to move and when we're gonna have some more
time, uh, in the schedule.
So again, at the same time, we also, we talking about,
you know, the changes that we need to make on the tax side.
We really have to have discussions on the expense side.
And so again, I think it's a little difficult.
We've been going to eight, nine o'clock some nights, uh,
with this, and we've still have
to talk about this isn't going away.
So we need time to get through this process.
I don't wanna rush anybody through this process.
I don't think the committee needs to rush anyone
through this particular work.
So that's why we're creating more time in this particular,
uh, space so that we can get through those issues
and potential conversations around, uh, expense cuts.
Because again, these are, these are gonna have consequences
and we need to fully walk and understand what those are, uh,
before making those decisions.
And I don't want that conversation to be rushed.
And people have a tendency
to think that we're trying to rush things.
And that's not the case when we give more than enough time
for people to digest information
and make an honest, uh, decision that respects the, uh,
wishes of their various constituents.
Altman Vasquez,
Thank you, chairman. I, I
appreciate the point. I know a number
of us having a lot of these meet back
to back did express some level
of frustration with some of it.
Um, I think similarly,
if we're talking about making sure we're doing a thorough
process in past terms,
we've heard from the Civic Federation Better Government
Association Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
So as we're thinking about management ordinance things,
if there is time to figure out,
as you're looking at the schedule, having one
where they can report out like they have in
the past to tell their take.
So we're not just hearing the
administration's take on the budget.
Uh, I would, I would have no objection to that.
And I'll work with you to
schedule something along those lines.
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Mond Lopez?
Thank you, chairman. I just wanted to reiterate something.
We need 26 people in this room Wednesday,
which means if 15, 20 people wanna go,
You need 34 people in this room.
I, I did not. No, I need 26.
I need 26 to have a quorum
for you need 34 to suspend the rules.
And our rules also allow individuals
to participate remotely,
which means even if there were individuals who wanted
to be up here for the meeting,
but were going to the funeral could still participate
remotely without having to be here
and without disrupting their plans.
So I,
Oh, Tima are finished. Excuse
Me. Excuse me.
I No, I'm not. Are you,
you're not finished, right? I'm not
Finished. Okay. You, you still have
a flu.
And, and, and I'm not gonna disrespect my colleague the way
she's disrespecting me
and interrupting with such foolishness on her behalf.
This is a conversation about rules.
It's a conversation about a special meeting,
and it's a conversation about what we are trying to do
to accommodate everyone's concerns.
I'm not minimizing a funeral,
but I do know that a funeral that starts at 11 does allow us
to take care of what we need to do
and does not rush people back and forth tomorrow.
That is what we can do. That is a proper thing to do.
And as far as going, being rushed goes,
we are in this predicament by no fault
of anyone in this room,
but the mayor who pushed this back two months
to bring us to where we're at today.
We are doing the responsible thing, understanding
that things have happened,
but we need to do what's right for the city
and the taxpayers under the construct of the rules
that we have with this body.
Uh, alderman. There, there's no disagreement,
uh, in that respect.
There's no disagreement whatsoever.
Uh, however, I I, I do think, um,
what you may be, uh, asking for
to some people may be offensive.
And so, again, I don't
anticipate a change, uh, in, in, in the outcome.
However, um, we are still in a process, uh,
that will probably take us through some time in December
and making a change of, of two days, uh, on a part
that we're not even long term, still got another
revenue issues and expense issues to deal with.
I, I don't think is going to create a, a anything negative
or, or change anything.
So again, um, that is, that is your position.
Those who are the makers again, uh, I along with,
with other members, will put the file in for, for Friday.
If you all do it tomorrow, then you do it.
If you, if we do it on Friday, we do it on Friday.
But just understand that, um, I just think
that is extremely, uh, disrespectful.
I I think it's extremely callous.
And again, I would not do that to another member
of this body nor their family.
Again, we're trying to respect
all parties in these particular, uh, means.
And so I, I just think
that sometimes we just gotta take
a step back to deal with that.
Alderman do.
Yes. Thank you. Um,
and what I'm about to say, I am saying for this body,
but also for my constituents,
I do not like being put in a put in a position where I have
to make a choice like this.
Uh, alderman Beavers, first of all, let me say
scheduling a meeting on funeral day.
What, what was already disrespectful in my opinion.
Number two, this man was
the chairman of the budget committee.
He served his ward.
He helped as Alderman Harris said a whole lot of people.
I can remember when I was in the Department of Planning
and Development, how active he was trying
to bring resources to his ward.
So I'm going to that funeral,
and I want my constituents to know
that this in no way reflects how I feel about the
$300 million property tax increase proposal.
'cause I've already said to them that I have concerns about
that amount of money, but I am not gonna be put in a
position where I have to choose between doing the work
of my constituents and the city
and celebrating the accomplishments of someone
that I knew and who served in this body
and who was the former chair of the budget committee
as the former chairman of the budget committee itself.
So, um, alderman Bedo, if you take
and count, I won't be here.
Thank you. Uh, any other,
any other comments on relation to this issue?
Okay. Uh, you guys do whatever you feel that you need to do.
Um, I, along with other members, will put in for a call
of a special meeting on Friday at 10:00 AM
if you move forward on that and it happens, it happens.
If not, we'll be here Friday.
So, um, again, that'll be the, uh, we'll dispense with that.
Um, any other questions on this
before we go back to questions as it relates to PSA?
Yeah, with that being clear, alderman Rodriguez,
you have, you have your 10 minutes.
Thank you. I'm wondering if this body needs 10 minutes.
Excuse me. I'm wondering if this body needs 10 minutes.
Um, you know what, I, I agree with you.
We'll take a 10 minute research. Yeah.
Thank you. I,
Um, committee, committee members, we are, uh, with, we're,
we're actually gonna take a break right now for lunch.
Uh, lunch is, uh, we'll, we'll return at, uh, at 1 45.
We'll return at 1 45.
Can we clear the room for sanitation purposes, please?
Can we clear the room for sanitation purposes?
Purposes? Clear the room for sanitation purposes, please.
We need to clear the chamber
for sanitation purposes, please.
All right. We're back on.
Uh, next up we're gonna have Alderman Mike Rodriguez.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Um, make it official that I am now on an hour
and one with my time.
So send a record next, um,
on the timekeeper issue, um, I just want to be clear
that a government position that starts out at 55,000 a year
strikes me as a position that many Chicagoans, uh,
would love to occupy.
You know, being in government myself
and running a department in the county side, uh,
I knew the amount of applicants we would get.
Um, it, what are the minimum qualifications on this position
and what are your, some of your theories potentially as
to why folks aren't signing up?
So, I'll, can you guys hear me? Yes. Alright.
I'll let, uh, joy speak to the minimum qualifications.
Um, in terms of some of the theories, I,
I don't really know if the
title's getting pushed out there enough.
You know, I don't know if enough people within the city know
to go and actually look at the careers website
to actually find that, which is why we've talked a lot about
next year we're really gonna focus on getting on the
communities and doing as many jobs fairs as possible.
'cause you're correct, a $55,000 a year starting salary
is a very good starting salary for an employee,
and especially one that's gonna get into the city,
get into union position.
Joy, can you expound on what the requirements are
for the timekeeper position? Please
Hold on one second.
What? Just, just get that to us and,
and look, I'm, I'm happy to partner with you guys as well.
I could think of a whole host of
folks who would love to have that. Do you have it?
Uh, I don't have the minimum calls right now,
but it is a test, the title for the city.
So we do see a lot of attrition,
not just at the application stages,
but also folks that don't pass, uh, the test.
So we are looking at ways to both have rolling postings
for the test or for the position,
but also, um,
perhaps making testing available
more frequently as well. Well,
Let's talk more about that on the, um, POD cameras.
I am interested in performance metrics on those podcast
in installations.
I talked to my staff and, uh, to be quite frank, at time
of approval to the time they get activated, uh, the, the,
the timing around that makes absolutely no sense.
My understanding is you guys manage the entity,
the private entity, that
that does the installation. Is that correct?
That is correct, yes. Okay.
So I would love performance metrics year over year as
to when things are approved, ordered,
installed, and activated.
I think there are delays in each one of those timeframes,
and I think it's a best practice in government, uh,
to track these items,
to create performance metrics
potentially that are publicly available.
Do you have that system as of yet?
Uh, yes. Uh, Leanne Lee can speak to the,
the current SLAs within that contract
and where they are with, with
how they're performing currently.
Okay. Good afternoon, Alder. Deputy Director Lee?
Uh, yes, sir.
So we do have metrics, uh,
for when we install the, uh, cameras.
Again, once they go through the process
of the actual request being, uh, made either by CPD
or from the, uh, your, uh,
from your al uh, your ward's office.
From there, we take all those requests
and then, uh, we, uh, take it to a board
that actually goes from there.
And we pre, uh, we, uh,
delegate which ones to install for the year.
So the time doesn't really start on when the request is
made, but it's more on once it's selected
and we know it's gonna be, uh, placed into the statement
of work for that next year, sir.
Well, that's the problem. The fact is, is that if,
if we make the request
and, um, you know, we're waiting a year
or two for that acceptance, I mean that, that,
so my point is I'd like to see
what the performance metrics are on that
and if they've improved over the years
at each one of those steps.
Yes, sir. Is that something
we can get through the chair? Yes,
Sir. Oh, yes. We, we
can get that information through
The chair. Okay. Excellent.
Um, I,
I'm oh 1 4 9 line item page 2 85.
Go back to that on, uh, gunshot detection.
Um, I'm, I'm, I think it's clear
to me what that's going towards.
I think it should be clear to everyone.
Um, I'm just curious, does that 8.9 figure,
and given the timeframe of the request for information,
my feeling is that you still need
to go out for procurements.
Will we spend down this 9 million next year?
That is the goal? Correct.
So with the RFI being, everything has to be submitted
by November 22nd.
We're gonna review that with Chicago Police Department, PSA,
and the Department of Technology Innovation as well.
We're gonna try and get those turned around as soon
as possible so we can put those contracts out
through procurement services.
This is a high priority for the whole city
to make sure we get these turned around.
Do you have a timeframe on that?
Hopefully we're gonna try
and get these all advertised within the first quarter,
Advertised first quarter awarded
Hopefully second quarter, and then
Implemented start
The implementation for these, depending on
how sophisticated they sophisticated they are
within that third and fourth quarter.
So again, we spend gun on gunshot de
detection on average year. What are we spending
Like eight, 8.9 million a year. So
We're talking about on average.
So do you expect to expend 8.9 million this coming
year on this line item
That is the expectation for next year.
So that way we are not limiting ourself
with the technology choices coming from the RFI.
So do you expect to spend more the subsequent year given
that it'll be a full calendar year of implementation?
Uh, I can't for sure say yes or no to that
because that, that is a really good question to that
'cause right, that, that ultimately, if we have a half year
of spending the $8.9 million,
but that's also gonna have an analysis phase
where we are gonna be looking at the different technology
with, um, those, those projects to make sure
that they're actually working for the police department.
Um, so ideally, you know, we would still stay within
that same budget, you know, at the $8.9 million.
So today, I can't tell you until we really see
what technology comes in
Very well, I think a lot
of us will be looking hard at that.
Uh, the last line of questions I had was
around the consent decree.
I know my colleague, at least one colleague talked a little
bit about the consent decree.
Um, you spoke to 18 different, uh,
uh, paragraphs.
Paragraphs, yes. That pertain to your office.
I think I took notes three full five
and secondary implementation and nine preliminary.
I think that leaves one, uh, is in what status.
So we couldn't start one
until one got into preliminary compliance dependent.
So yeah, it was all dependent on that last one. Got
It. Um,
speak in my time remaining.
Speak to what exactly is your role
within the consent decree?
What generally are those 18 paragraphs speaking to, um,
specifically, are there, are there any budget impacts?
And are, are you confident that you're able to
achieve advancing these 18 paragraphs given
this budget allocation?
Sure. So there's definitely a budget impact for all these.
'cause you know, it's bringing in new, new technology
into the police department and also hiring additional staff
for the police department or just meeting different
requirements for personnel within.
So, um, I'm actually gonna pass that over to Dan Casey
to talk about technology and then Joy Brown.
Really quick about the hr.
They're, bro, they're both broken up
between the two different
paragraphs. Dan, can you start, please?
Absolutely. So for technology, uh, we are, some
of the things we talked about earlier about the record
management system that fits into
what we're tasked to do with technology.
One was first to take an audit to see
where we are with technology.
That was one of the first paragraphs, four 15, uh, then
to come up with a plan, that's
what we're working on right now of plan for technology,
how we're gonna move forward.
And we've already of course, had those preliminary
discussions with the independent monitoring team.
We meet with them regularly
and we brief them on our plans and what we're doing.
Um, we've also briefed them on the, uh, the audit
and everything that, that came out of that as well.
Um, so we basically found where the issues, challenges,
gaps are, and now creating the plan to address those.
That was the dependent paragraph.
Um, we also do, uh, data assessment.
So on the actual date itself, we're very closely
with CPD on all of these.
And then, uh, a plan for that as well.
And then we created information, uh,
systems development group, which we serve on with CPD, uh,
CPD created through an special order.
And that's where we'd make the decisions
for technology going forward.
So those are sum up real quickly.
The six paragraphs, uh, 4, 15, 16 and 17, 6 0 6, 6 0 7,
and 6 0 8 that we work on in technology. That's
About a third of your consent decree
mandate is around technology. The other two thirds,
It's, it's with human resources
and Joy will speak to that.
Sure. So it's with hr.
Um, the big buckets for HR include policies
and practices, recruitment and hiring, uh, lieutenant
and sergeant promotions, as well as Captain
and commander com promotions.
And so a lot of hrs work is collaborative with DOL,
the Department of Law and the Department of Human Resources.
So it's developing a recruitment
and hiring committee, interdisciplinary, uh, committee
that meets about different levels
of promotions and policies.
Um, we also, um, relatedly
have created additional trainings, uh, working
with their training unit in terms of rolling out, um,
like OIG related trainings and other things for awareness.
And then additionally we've updated their
promotional policies as well.
Okay. Am I missing anything?
Those are, those are our paragraphs.
Thank you. I'll, I'll leave the balance of my time.
Uh, Mr. Chair, thank you so much
and thank you for visiting me, acting director.
Appreciate that. Great, man. Thank you.
Thank you. Altman. Uh, Rodriguez, uh, Altman Politano.
Thank you, chairman. I just got
a couple of really quick questions.
Um, thank you director for being here today. Thank you.
Um, as far as the, uh,
I know this ca this came up a couple times
and I, I'm sorry, I got directed in a couple
different directions of the answer.
As far as the pod cameras that have been installed to date,
what is that number that we have?
And I apologize, I know it's been asked a couple times,
I just didn't get a dis uh, dis
Yeah. Leanne, can
you speak, can you give the exact number
of pod cameras installed?
Yes, sir. Uh, once again, deputy Director leak.
Uh, right now we have, uh,
4,443 external pod cameras.
We have 478, uh, license plate readers.
And then we have, uh, 1,152, uh,
internal cameras within all the districts.
And the other public public safety building, sir.
Gotcha. Thank you so much for that.
Um, as far as locations like for these pod cameras now,
who, who is the one that is choosing what locations,
um, are gonna be agreed upon to be installed?
Pod cameras and the LPRs?
Does that come through your, your department?
Uh, so it's a, in collaboration
with the police department, that process has changed a
little bit with it being removed from
the automatic menu funds.
Um, Dan, can you just give a quick over overview of
how the actual process is, you know, from the time
that a camera is submitted
to then how it's actually selected?
Absolutely. Dan Casey, uh, public Safety Administration,
it, so police has the final say on this.
Uh, we work with them in terms
of like the technical part of it.
Is that poll light pole a good one or not?
We'll have backhaul to where we need it to go.
Does it have fiber? So we put together a map.
Several years ago we spoke about this
as we were putting this together, uh, which shows where, uh,
cameras are and where the violence heat maps are,
and then how far,
where is the heat map where there's no camera?
And those are some of the things we work with.
We provide that map to CPD
as they go through their selection process. Uh, can,
Can I stop you just on that moment?
I, I apologize for cutting you off.
I just on that exact statement you made, if you're comparing
where a, the police want it
and to a, a violence heat map, does that mean
that if you don't fall under that violence heat map,
that if you're requesting cameras,
you're not, you're not getting them?
No, not at all. Uh, police have that thing
and they have the final decision on it.
This is just a tool that we provide for them.
So we created a map that when they're going
through a deliberative process, they can look at this map
and see, but mostly, you know, they're using,
and I won't speak for them, but they
definitely use their commanders.
And, uh, I think on this last time,
the commanders each got three.
Yes. Um, again, uh, deputy director leak.
So, uh, on the last, uh, SOW that we did, sir,
we actually had it to where the commanders had additional,
uh, cameras that they're
requesting in each one of the districts.
So they, uh, put up their primary, secondary, and tertiary.
We took those in their advisement
and the ones that we could, uh, immediately take care of,
we put 'em into the current SOW.
The other ones are planned for the next fiscal year
to get those, uh, executed.
Okay. Is it possible to get through you for the last, um,
from 2020 to present date, um, the locations
of those pod cameras and those LPRs?
Yes, we can get that through the chair, alderman. Perfect.
Thank you very much. Uh, the only reason why I'm,
I'm asking and, and, um, to chairman's credit as well, I, I,
I've brought this up numerous times since
2020 to present date.
I've had in up to, I think up to 15 pod cameras
and LPRs that have been requested
that none of them have been installed.
Um, and we're just looking at like,
what even our commanders have agreed they need to go in
our tactical operations have agreed
that these are great locations.
Um, it's just, I'm, I'm not, there's, there's a better time,
but I, I just, I don't understand why we can't get a camera
up, uh, in the 16th district on the northwest side.
I mean, I'm even so much so to saying, if I can go back
to menu money going towards it, if I'm not getting officers,
I need some way to show that we're,
at least we're bringing technology to, um, to, to
that def you know, defending our, our, our districts.
So, so if I can get that, those areas
and a better way to maybe go,
maybe I'm going about it the wrong way,
uh, requesting these cameras.
Any, any help, I would love.
Let me, let me ask this question.
Uh, you're requesting money,
you're requesting cameras with menu money?
No, no. Chairman I in the Oh,
Okay. I I thought you
were saying you were requesting cameras
with menu money and they haven't been installed.
No. No. Okay. That, okay. Alright.
I would say I would love to go back to that
so I can get 'em,
because I'm not, when we were able to do that,
I got three installed,
but it's been almost five,
four years now since I've had a camera installed.
I'm just looking for some help with it.
Um, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyone that could direct us
or we could find out where these are going
would be great, um, in the future.
Um, absolutely.
Another really quick question is, as far, so do,
does your department handle the, the boneyard between police
and fire and as far as rigs and equipment?
I mean, are you the ones that, um,
oversees what's in these yards as far as, um,
what rigs are on the fire side
and what down rigs are on the, the police side?
That's two fm. Two
Fm. Okay. And
do they answer to you, uh, as far as
we need more money for more, uh, more rigs, more operation,
more more police cars or anything like that? Does it?
I wouldn't say they answer to us,
but we definitely constantly communicate with them.
They, they battle that out
with the, or I shouldn't say battle.
They, they work with the budget office
to get those things funded for new apparatus. Okay.
And, and what my, my concern with that is if you go
to some of these boneyards now, there's
an astronomical amount
of equipment there that'll probably never be used again.
And if we're looking for budget revenue
or, I mean, there's, there's gotta be a form
of liquidation in there that we can do.
And some of this stuff can't even be used on new rigs.
So it's not like you're keeping it so
that you can supply new rigs with three of them have
with equipment, which is a good way to go about it.
Um, but if, if
that could be something in the near future that we can look at.
'cause I know even the police boneyard
is bigger than the fires.
Uh, there's a lot of equipment in there
that can be liquidated
to small departments across the country
or even other, other countries
where we can find revenue schemes in here.
I've brought this up numerous times.
It's kind of been blown off, but it's maybe blown off
because we can't do it or it doesn't make sense to do it.
But if it is something we can do,
maybe we should be looking in this a little bit more
intense, especially when it comes to our fire rigs.
Those could be anywhere between 450 to $700,000 rigs
that other departments might wanna take on the
responsibility to fixing it
and bringing it back to life. Um, I'd,
I'd be happy to work with two FM and the commissioner
and her team on this project.
Absolutely. Appreciate it. Um,
that's all I have for right
now, chairman. I appreciate the time.
Thank you. Alderman, uh, sort
of just doing a quick check here.
Have Alderman Vazquez, but he's not here.
Alderman Beck, who also is not here.
I have Alderman Gardner and I have Alders Lee
and dial up for a second round.
Is there anyone else you want Round two? Okay.
Anybody else? Did I miss anyone? Did I miss anyone? Alder?
No. Okay. That's why I'm, that's
why I'm asking Altman, Mitch.
Okay. For round one. Okay.
So, uh, alderman Gardner, followed by Alderman. Mitch,
Thank you chairman.
Um, and thank you director limbo for being here.
And your staff. Um, just had a question,
uh, regarding just some ideas that we may
possibly entertain to generate, um,
more revenue for the city.
Do you know how many ambulances
we currently have in the city?
I I don't know if this is all of 'em.
I ca I'm just looking at the number of
that we've ordered over since 20 20, 20 14.
182 ambulances since 2014.
But I, I don't know if that's the
actual number that are out there right
now. I have to look at that.
Yeah, I I I don't
Think that, yeah, I mean, it's not clearly, but
Yeah, it's, yeah. We're, we're,
we're, we're not near that number.
Um, I know that, uh,
local two firefighters Union has been asking, uh,
for more ambulances.
I, I, I guess before I get to that, do you know
how much money our, our ambulances generate
for the city every year? Do we have
That? No, that is
the, the fire department actually works
with the comptroller's office for that.
For the billing patient. Billing from it.
Okay. All right.
'cause I just, I, I, I know what I was getting at was
that I, I know Local two has been asking for, uh,
like 20 more ambulances, uh, to,
to better serve the residents of the city.
Right. And, and that's been a problem I know in my ward
and my community and many other, uh, communities, uh,
throughout the city, um, especially when it comes to care
for elderly people who are suffering, uh,
from asthma, um, or traumatic experiences.
And, um, I I, I wanted to ask, um,
so some more questions that you don't have that information,
obviously, a about, um, as far as the rigs,
alderman Napolitano asked about earlier, um, and,
and you talked about rigs and equipment,
and that's, uh, for two FM is, is kind of in charge of,
of all that, correct?
Two FM is Correct. Okay.
Um, that, um, I had,
I also had one other comment, uh, about the, um, LPR camera.
Um, that would be under your jurisdiction, right?
That LPR cameras? Correct.
I have one at Irving in Milwaukee,
and it, it is, uh, been in,
it was installed about two and a half years ago.
And when it was first installed, there wasn't, uh,
there wasn't a building there.
And now there is, it's a 10 story building,
and it's, it actually, uh, hinders the signal to that, to
that, um, device.
And it's inoperable,
it's been inoperable for about two years.
And I've, I've brought this to attention
of many different people and still for,
for whatever reason they're saying, due to the height
of this building that wasn't there when it was first
installed, it, it, it, it's not able
to get a significant portion of the signal
that it's supposed to or was meant to be.
Okay. Is there any way that we can,
or somebody that, that can get in touch
with me from your staff to try to, uh,
address this issue? Yeah,
Absolutely. Uh, Dan Casey
and Leanne Lee will reach out,
please right away.
Please. I'd appreciate that.
Thank you for all your work that you do.
Thank you to everybody on your staff.
Thank you. Thank you. Altman. Al Vasquez. Thank you.
I'm sorry. Altman MIT followed by Autumn Vasquez.
Thank you. And good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Um, I wanted
to ask a question regarding, um,
phase two, maybe three at the Public Safety Academy
with the firemen's that, are you still working on expansion
for them, or can you share a little?
Yeah, so the, the next phase
of the Training Academy has started, they broke ground
for the EMS edition.
Right. And we're, we're looking to have that actual EMS
edition completed by first quarter of 2026.
First quarter of 2026. Okay.
Uh, do you all, so, uh, with our equipment,
any city equipment, they used
to donate it, are they still doing that,
Uh, Um, old equipment,
outdated equipment you used to do? Oh,
Do we do, we would work with two FM on that,
if there's any outdated equipment vehicles,
Have they been doing it?
I haven't seen anything lately go through.
Yeah, I don't, I don't think they been doing
That. I haven't seen it in a couple years.
No, we, I, you're right.
I haven't seen an ordinance for a disposal.
I don't, I don't think this term at all.
Um, I think was kind of that, that was his thing.
So what are they do, what are they doing with the obsolete
equipment, do you know?
We'll, we'll ask two FM when they come.
Okay. Alright.
Um, well,
because we have three departments that OP
that's operating out of the Public Safety Academy.
How is that working out, should I say?
Uh, Since you got
It, it's been working out great.
You know, I, it, it, you know,
like when you and I were talking
About this time of scheduling events.
Yeah. We've got all the, we've got a new
scheduling system in there.
We have police fire on there, you know,
scheduling all their different rooms, you know,
every day we have, you know, roughly a thousand different
firemen, policemen in
and outta that building on a daily basis.
Now it's getting utilized.
We're starting to expand, getting the trainings out into the
outdoor scenario village.
Um, the fire department's using their
outside apparatus as well.
So it, it's been an exciting project to work on,
and it's really working out.
Everybody's excited about it. Um, you know,
There was one, we can't speak up one,
there's one space in there
that I want you to give me a schedule.
And that's the, um, public space,
The community Room. Community
room. Right. Do you have schedules for that?
Or, so you haven't started that yet. People
Can, people can reserve that room
for the community room Absolutely, yes.
Such as, uh, gate meetings
and things of that nature. Correct. Correct.
Yeah, there, there is a space limitation to the room.
Um, but yeah, anybody can go in there and reserve it.
What's the max? I think
Capacity. I think
It's like 44,
but let, it's either 54 or 44, but it's right in there.
I'll get that. I can get that to you.
Okay. All right. Very good.
And, and how is, um, the training going, um, for,
uh, the police officers?
Are you, are they training
or did they stop it for a moment? Oh,
No, they, they've been training right through, you know,
they have the two different locations that they utilize,
but they've, they've really embraced the
new facility that three
Shifts.
It's been going up to three shifts
at certain times. That's, yeah.
No, I come by late at night and I see all the police cars.
Yes. There, there's been up to three shifts
going from the police side.
Is that just for the police officer
or is that for the fireman's
Firemen? Fire fire
departments utilize the training facility more
of just that one shift.
Um, whereas the police department is using three shifts.
How many requests you've gotten from the, uh, outside
of Chicago to utilize that facility?
We, we haven't really rolled that out yet.
You know, we've talked about really trying
to get a handle on what police and fire are gonna do,
But haven't you been getting some requests outside for
Absolutely, yeah. We've, we've had
a few outside requests,
but we've been kind of deny denying them at this point.
You know, there has been a few case
by case if they're partnering up specifically
with the fire department or they're specifically partnering
up with the police department.
Mm-Hmm. You know, we will, we'll let them come in
and utilize the space, but we just haven't let, uh,
an entity come in from that
Time. There's a fee
for that. Right.
What Was that? There's a fee for them
to use the space, isn't it?
That then that's what we haven't implemented
yet. We haven't put that fee out
There. We eat it like yesterday
almost. Yeah.
We're trying to fill a budget over here. Just start
Out, we're that, we're gonna do that analysis for Okay.
2025 to see what that fee should be.
Okay. All right. Well that, that's it for me.
I want to thank you all and for the work that you're doing,
uh, and that you're continuing to do over in the area.
Um, one is, lemme ask this question now.
I may need to ask that to the fire department. Sorry.
I hope that's it, Mr. Chairman for me. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. No problem. Altman Vazquez followed.
Baldman Walker Speck.
Thank you very much, chairman.
Thank you so much for being here. Um, okay.
Um, many of my colleagues, uh, have mentioned,
you know, the Office of Public Safety Administration, uh,
seems like there might be some redundancy there.
So, uh, two questions to the office to see if any
of the items I believe would reduce overall public safety
costs instead of increase it are being worked on by,
uh, OPSA.
Um, have you all looked at the O-I-G-C-C-P-S-A
and other oversight board studies and investigations,
and worked on any of their recommendations
regarding CPD data collection failures?
So that, um, so that it kind of helps in either
making the department more efficient
or also in things that might involve settlements
or misconducts down the line.
So absolutely Alderman.
Um, I'm gonna have Dan Casey speak to that.
Uh, at that point
I might hand it over to, uh, Dan Casey Public Safety it,
and I might have hand it over to Adam Pondexter in a minute
here for the, uh, some of the things we've
done recently with the ig.
Uh, but yes, we definitely work hand in hand with, uh, uh,
CPD, their Office of Constitutional Policing Reform,
and the IMT,
the independent monitoring team on the consent decree
parts for data collection.
That's a big part of those six, uh,
paragraphs we spoke about earlier.
And then we work with other entities like the ig
and I'll let Adam, uh, speak to what we're doing with that.
Uh, director Pondexter.
So for when it comes down to those applications,
for the longest time, CPD has had
multiple applications, right?
So the data was stretched across at least 90 different
single applications.
So right now we're in the process of actually consolidating
that down to two systems so
that we can fix all that, all that data, right?
This is also gonna help with the RMS.
So the RMS is gonna be one piece,
and then we have a personnel record system that's going
to handle the other piece so that we can clean up all
of the data collection so that now we can actually go
through two systems to make this streamlined so it's easier
for the officers to do reports as well as, uh, all
of the personnel pieces that comes down, training, use
of force, um, and all those other
mechanisms that they're gonna be using. Okay.
Yeah. That, that would be helpful. And then obviously some
with the budget conversations over time, um, not only
for the facility of officers being able to use it,
but for us to have the date on the back end
to make sure we're making better decisions.
So, um, anything you'd send through the chair
that could provide some
specificity that would be appreciated.
Um, the second question I have is have, um,
has OPSA done a study to determine
how many operations are duplicated
or redundant across C-F-D-C-P-D-O-E-M-C-D-T-I,
procurement, DHR and,
and OPSA, like to something that Alderman Riley kind
of mentioned before, if there's all these processes
that are across all different departments,
how can they be consolidating
and streamlined in a way that leads to cost savings?
Right? So in, in terms of the, kind of like the,
the analysis and the consolidation
that's happened over the first couple years of PSA, right?
Pulling all of these different roles and functions into PSA
and then breaking down those
barriers, breaking down those silos.
So in, in terms of a formal analysis
that necessarily hasn't been done, um,
now within the police department, fire department
and OMC, what we have left are the operational side, right?
Like, and, and I can't really speak to that.
I'm, there's no, I don't see any duplicative, you know,
measures that are being done
or programs that are being done currently on the operational
side, but we have pulled those administrative functions out
of those departments so that way we could get rid
of the duplicate nature of those. Okay.
Yeah. Similar, like as, as much as kind of any background
through the chair, that could be helpful.
I think something that our colleagues feel different levels
of is when this was first introduced as a department,
we were told it was a cost saving measure.
And it's doesn't feel that way to a number of us.
And so I think that's why,
although people first inclination might be like,
let's find every efficiency possible,
better communication from PSA as to what it's doing,
what it's streamlining, what trajectory that's looking like,
I think would be helpful to us.
Um, next question I've got is, you know,
we definitely had a, uh, number
of conversations in this council about shot spotter
and, uh, this task force, this RFI so wanted to know
what your level of involvement, how things started,
what it's looking like currently.
'cause I think, um, you know, some
of our colleagues were very concerned about the fact
that there's not, that there's nothing at all.
Um, really want to know like,
what's the next step? What are things looking like?
Yeah. So the RFI closes on November 22nd, so right.
We're gonna, as soon as we get
that information in, we're gonna do that.
The committee's gonna look at all the proposals
and really determine really fast which ones we're gonna move
forward with, you know,
and if we're gonna get some demos put in place,
we're gonna try and get RFPs put out once we realize,
you know, what's actually
effective and what's not effective.
You know, we could get anywhere from five to 20 different
potential ideas that, you know, are SID with the RFI.
So we are gonna have to go through all that data
and decide, okay, which ones are gonna be the best.
Um, but we do have funding set aside for next year, right?
So as soon as we determine which are gonna be the best
functions, what are gonna be the best technology
to throw out into the field, we do have the means
to actually then implement those. Yeah. I, I
Think, I think our colleagues, you know, are,
are less concerned about the funding source.
I think we know that's all kind of, it's mandated
to be there, but it's more about the speed of solution that
I think what a number of our members felt, regardless of
how you might feel about ShotSpotter
or not, that the way things happen were so quick
and abrupt without knowing
what the next step was gonna look like.
That similarly any communication to our colleagues as
to here's how long we think this will take
for this RFI phase, here's
how we think the demos are gonna look.
Here's when we think we'll land on something.
Because, you know, a number of our, our of our, uh, members
of the council don't really have the confidence
that it'll take any less than a year to land on something.
And so the more you're able to communicate that,
I think the better people can go back to constituents
who are very justifiably concerned
about, it's like, we don't have anything.
Um, no, and absolutely.
And I think that's one of the few things that, you know,
we really wanna start pushing out is more messaging
just on things like that.
So it's not a surprise when something does show up.
We wanna make sure that you guys are absolutely involved
and if something's being rolled out.
Yeah. And then some of it's forecasting, right?
For us to just be able to look ahead. Um, okay.
Uh, next, um, do we have any,
and this is given
where we are this week compared to last week.
Um, do we have any technology
that automatically transmit data to the federal government?
Um, how are we making sure that in, uh,
the future presidency coming in when Illinois is a welcoming
and sanctuary city that they, or, or for bodily autonomy
or other things that we're protecting
that level of information?
So are there technologies
or anything we're doing that
go straight to the federal government?
And what choices do we have there?
I think No, but I'm gonna have the expert over there.
Dan, uh, speak to this one real quick.
And so, to our extent to what, how we participated,
'cause a lot of analytics stayed with police,
but neighbor's crime reporting
and UCR codes, so general crime reporting data,
and then some, uh, weapons data.
We're working with the, uh, um, A TF
to get them weapons information, you know,
because of the Second Amendment, there's certain concerns
there, but how we track and, and get weapons.
So there's some data there that, that goes automatically
to the federal government, not related to,
uh, you know, sure.
Status documented or not, but just crime data.
And is that, is that all of it?
There's nothing else
that goes straight to federal government. You'd
Have to check it gets through the chair,
but those are ones
You could send. Yeah, I'm aware you
could do the
research that send through the chair.
I mean, obviously without things are looking,
we wanna make sure that our marginalized populations
that are very much afraid, um, can at least have that level
of, of confidence in our government.
Absolutely. So that'd be helpful.
And then, um, I got two more.
One is related to, um, officer mental health.
So last term, uh, Ottoman, osha, myself
and others brought up the concern when we found out
that intelligent, who is, uh, well the city uses
for like the health insurance sets a standard
where if an officer, um, has had 10
or more sessions, they then have to get into some sort
of requirement to prove that they need more, uh,
because of the insurance there.
And I just didn't know if anything had been changed there.
'cause if there's a job in government where you don't need
to double check, if they might need more health,
mental health support, that'd be one.
Um, I would've to do some research on that one.
I, I, I, yeah, I know there is a captive,
but I can't remember exactly if that's still in place
and if there was an adjustment
for the public safety personnel.
So let me please get that through the chair. Yeah,
That'd be great. I, I
send actually two more.
We've been trying to figure out related to
C-C-P-S-A-O-I-G COPA
who set their floors based on like the police budget.
Um, what's not included in the police budget is
a cost of fringe, right?
The benefits and the, where we're trying
to find out is what that number looks like.
Because if that's a larger number, then the 1% of
that number, and therefore the floor
for these other departments would all be higher.
Um, is there any work that, uh, office
of Public Safety Administration could do to help determine
what the cost of just the benefit portion of CPD is?
So yeah, we, we, so we work
with the comptroller's office on
determining the indirect cost.
Um, but more so to your question, we would have to,
we'd have to work combined with the budget office and
and comp filler's office to actually get that,
that total picture that you just asked
About. Okay. Yeah. Through the chair.
I would heavily,
heavily request and dang near mandate it
because again, in order to know
what these other budgets need to look like, we have
to get a full picture of what the CPD budget
is to determine that.
Um, so thank you. And then last question I have is
related to language access.
So Office of Public Safety Administration is who kind
of governs over language access?
Um, I don't think that's where it should be.
If I'm being straightforward.
I think we've don't do a really good job
about language access here in the city.
Uh, our, our offices don't get it.
So, um, we plan to introduce an ordinance
to create a working group on this
and want to make sure that we can collaborate
and figure out how we can improve it.
So if through the chair you could provide, uh, one,
a summary of all contracts your office currently holds
for language translation services, as well as any open RFIs,
RFPs and offered, but yet unsigned contracts, right?
And two, uh, each user department's estimate of
what costs they will bill to each of these contracts
in this, uh, in the 2025 budget
and where that line item exists in the budget book.
Right? So we wanna know, as we're looking to see how
to improve it, it, what all contracts are in place,
who are all the stakeholders,
and then what are the departments line items,
how much they're looking to spend.
Just so we have a fuller picture
as we put together a working group to improve this.
'cause it's been at least three
or four years of us wanting to get this done. Right.
O Okay. And just, just to clarify, we, we will get the,
the contract, the current
and the one that's just about to give it out the bid,
we should be able to get the amount
that everybody wanted under each of those contracts.
I'll have to do some digging though, in terms of
where the line item is in each
of their budget, if, if that's fair.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then, and I guess, um,
and any other sub related contracts.
'cause I know even when we talked about DTI, for example,
for Salesforce, there were like five
contracts that Salesforce has.
So I think sometimes, even though we talked
to language line, there might be multiple contracts.
So any and all documents would be super helpful.
Okay. We'll get that.
Thank you very much. Thank you, chairman.
Thank you. Alman Vasquez. Alderman Berg. You
might, Scott, you might,
oh no,
I can hear you
not do that.
How about that one? Either that or on mute.
How's that? There you go.
Okay. Crank it up. Uh, well I just, just
to reiterate real quick, uh, thank you for all the work
that you've done on, uh, you know,
the camera systems for us.
I know there's, uh, there's been a lot of issues
that have come up over the last few years
during the pandemic and after.
So, um, we'll continue to work with you
and collaborate in, in a real way there.
Um, so just one question for you.
Uh, you know, looking back at the Motorola contract
for these cameras, I think it goes back well over 20 years,
but I can't remember the first date that we signed that.
Um, could you just give a little, uh,
quick background on the contract
and then if you're looking at rebidding
or opening up an RFI on that part of the technology too and
or, um, and address any hurdles that might be
involved in upgrading the camera system.
Um, that's the only question that I have.
Thank you for that question, alderman.
So Actually I have about 20 others, but
I just kidding. Yeah,
so, so you are correct.
The, the contract does date back until, honestly,
I was at OEMC.
So even like the 2011 timeframe,
the contract was originally led out by
a public building commission.
And we sat on that committee
and then when the city decided to not use that contract
or to use PVC for the contracting of cameras anymore,
the city actually took that contract over.
So it's been in place, like you said, for, you know,
for 15, 16 years now.
Um, but we are in the process, so we have submitted
to procurement, we are gonna advertise a new camera contract
that will hopefully go out, where's this?
Hopefully within the first quarter of next year,
this camera contract will be out.
Okay. And does that, uh, the other part of
that was are there hurdles to upgrading using that contract?
And I know I've asked you in the past,
and I think Dan has answered it pretty well, how you try
to collaborate with the other sister agencies so that,
you know, when we're looking at the full picture
of an incident, we're getting something from the CTA
or maybe CHA and also our police pod cameras.
Yeah. And, and I am gonna pass that over to Dan
and just kinda walk you through those different hurdles.
So right now we work closely with CPD on,
this is Dan Casey off about safety administration.
It, uh, I guess to address your concern, alderman,
we've done certain things.
We worked together as one of the alders brought up earlier
about, uh, you know, personal cameras that you can add.
I think it was Alderman Taylor,
um, people adding that as well.
And we do have a website for you.
I think Adam gave it to you real quick.
Um, we've tried to build out maps
and assist them with their ability to see the full picture
of what's in the area of an incident.
So is there a personal camera?
Is there a, uh, you know, private entities camera,
or is there CHA or c ts sister agencies?
Um, in the past we've used different systems,
but as technology moves forward,
these systems become easier to integrate.
If you think of like Apple and IBM computers back in the
day, um, there's certain systems we can't, uh, just
through DHS guidance, uh, integrate with
because of their security levels.
But generally, we've moved fairly quickly forward with this.
Uh, we built out a place where CPD has, um,
in the first district, they have, uh, room that's dedicated
to monitoring those CTA cameras.
So that's where their CTA unit is located
as well at public transportation.
So I would say we get very good collaboration
with those other agencies
and some of the technical hurdles we're able to, uh, to move
through many of them at this point.
Okay. All right.
Well, I appreciate the answer
and, uh, hopefully we can continue to invest, um,
as you come up with the, uh, the new RFI,
but also just in those other technologies,
I think it's very important.
I know it doesn't make the actual arrest,
but it does help out, um, across the board.
So again, thank you
for all your efforts in this, in this area.
Thank you. Thank you, chairman.
Thank you. Okay.
You've gone already, um, with anyone for round One
more round one people.
Okay. Going to round two.
Um, we'll start with Altman Dow, followed
by Altman Ccho Lopez, vice Chair Lee, if she comes back.
Uh, thank you Mr.
Uh, chairman, uh, to my colleague, alderman Gardner.
Just for clarification, I was not, uh,
casting aspersions on all first responders, um,
but I appreciate your clarification.
However, I think your injury occurred
before the PSA was, uh, created
and they now have a telepath system or a telehealth system.
Um, I was concerned about, uh,
first responders missing their appointments,
but also I realized that someone to get back to work, um,
although they might have their appointments prolonged, um,
I would like to know through the chair,
um, director Lin Bloom.
I believe there's one doctor that has the caseload for,
um, first responders from the police department
and the fire department,
and it probably includes OEMC as well.
So, can I get through the chair?
Uh, how many caseloads does this doctor have?
How many police officers from the fire
and firemen from the fire department
and any staff from OEMC?
Yeah, we can get that caseload to you through the
Chair. Okay. Do you know
the number off hand?
The, the act, the active caseload? No.
I can tell you who's off right now,
but I can't tell you how many
caseloads there are for the doctor.
Okay. Well, well, well wait a minute.
That's numbers be sign. Wouldn't that be the right?
So, but I mean, I can, so currently there's 910
police officers that are out,
and then there's 237 firemen.
And how many OEMC staff?
We, we do actually not work with OMC on this. Okay.
So that one doctor is responsible for
over a thousand cases.
Uh, the, the doctor doesn't look at each one
of those cases, but in essence, yes, that doctor is
Responsible. In essence. She
doesn't see all a thousand in one day
or in a week even,
but she basically has a caseload of over a thousand.
That's, um, probably not
industry standard, but I'll leave that there.
Um, can you tell me what is the overtime amounts, uh, due
to the layups, uh, in the department
separated by department?
What does the overtime equate to for all of these people
who are not on the job?
We'll have to, we'll have to
get that one through the chair.
We don't have that broken out by, uh,
when the police department, fire department line up
their overtime expenditures.
It doesn't say due to layups.
So we'll have to work with them
to get that over information. Okay.
I'd like to see if we have a number like that.
And, uh, in the 2024 budget, you had a position for a data
analy analyst that was to be shared
by both the police department and the fire department.
Was that person ever hired?
Uh, hold on, joy, can you answer that?
Director Brown hr. Um, so
that is an ASME title and it was,
I, I can't hear you speak.
I'm sorry. Can you hear me? Can you hear me
Now? I can hear you. Sorry.
Um, that is an ASME title,
and we did post for those two vacancies
where we were unsuccessful in, in finding, uh,
qualified candidates for the role.
I did not understand a word you said.
Did anybody else understand?
You said, so we posted for that position two vacancies,
and we were unsuccessful in f in filling those positions.
Okay, thank you. Is that, uh, positions you hope
to fill in 2025? Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
All right. Thank you very much.
That's it for me, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Uh, chair press, this might be a dumb question,
but what's a layup?
Yeah, sorry. The layup. When
you're, when you're hurt, when you're out,
When you're out, you're laid up.
Oh, laid up. Okay. All right.
I thought, I'm thinking, I'm thinking like you thinking,
I'm like, oh, what's a layup?
I, right. Yeah, I'm thinking like that. So help me out.
Okay. Alright. Thank you.
Um, I've got Ottman Ccha Lopez for round two.
Thank you, uh, chairman.
And, um, uh, I think that some of the questions that I have
for round two have been covered around, uh, processes
to expedite and have a more consistent process
around cameras also, um, metrics and audits.
So I, I will second those.
The question I had is just what I got, one more
that was left out in the previous round is
around the use of technology.
I think that we heard a lot, uh, around that,
but how it, it must always align
with constitutional policing.
My question around, um, uh, the use of ai,
um, especially when it comes
to the Chicago Police Department, um,
when he writes reports, uh,
does CPD currently have AI reporting writing technology
through Axon or any other company?
Uh, I don't believe so, but let me, let me pass that over.
Yeah, we do not have it related to them. No.
Okay. Yeah, there's anybody else who just wanna make sure,
because there has been some, um, some concerns
around the use of such reports and the,
and how would they call hold in court.
So I just wanna check in, um, on the use of, uh, of that.
But if, if that's not the case,
then you answer my question. Thank you.
Thank you. That's all. That's it. Okay.
Thank you. Vice chair.
Thank you Chair. Um, I only have one follow up question.
Um, and it was a note that I missed asking earlier.
With respect to the POD cameras,
we said there's some on trailers
and then there are some that are mobile.
Can someone tell me what the difference is?
Deputy Director leak?
Uh, so you have, uh, cameras
that we place on poles, the ones you see every day.
Uh, there's two different variations.
There's a one that is a license plate reader that we use
whenever there's an Amber alert and you're looking for, uh,
different, uh, vehicles.
And then you have ones that are regular PO PTZ cameras
that can be, uh, panned and zoomed.
So that way the CPD can actually look at, uh,
what's going on in that area.
Uh, outside of the ones that are on site on the poles,
you then also have our trailers, which are ones that you see
and they're in a, uh, a vehicle that has to be towed.
And then we erect the antenna,
and then you can actually see the, uh, cameras there.
We usually use those for like major events like lollipops
and things of that nature where we can't immediately get,
uh, a power source and everything to a location.
So we put that there temporarily so that way we,
it can let CPD have eyes in that area. Oh,
Just to, to add to that real quickly, Mm-Hmm.
We have what's called an RDK.
It's similar to the pole type fixed camera,
but it's not a permanent installation.
And we bought those and city employees put those up
instead of working through the vendor.
So normally if, like back in the day with menu funding,
if you ordered a camera for a location Mm-Hmm.
Yeah, it would be fully scouted out.
It would be specked out. It would,
how it's back hauled go in.
And we would pay the vendor then
to install that camera as well.
With the RD ks, we don't pay the vendor to install them.
The vendor gives them to us.
We use ISCN, the internal Secure Communications Network
team, they'll put them on the poles as long
as there's power available, they can put them there.
They're meant to be up just for a short period of time,
they use a cellular backhaul.
Um, but those are something that could be quickly deployed
by city employees when the need arises.
So we work with CPD on where to place those.
So it's not a permanent installation,
but it is, like I mentioned on a pole.
Mm-Hmm. So you basically got like three categories there.
One's that on a pole for permanent installation, one
that's their temporary
installation, and then one that's on a trailer.
So can someone talk about how those are prioritized?
Like, I know we used to be able to order cameras
through menu, that's no longer an option.
So today, if I want, I want a camera in a new space, I know
that I can move cameras around,
like existing cameras, I can already move around.
But if I need additional cameras, um, what's the process
and how do you prioritize those?
And then the other follow up.
And if it's through the chair, that's fine.
Um, I'd love to know how many of these, um,
temporary cameras we have, um, currently that are
affixed already and how many are just sitting
around waiting to be installed.
Absolutely. So I can speak
to the first, and I'll hand it over to Leon.
Okay. About the numbers and where they're, uh, so in terms
of prioritization, CPD drives that priority.
Okay. And so, as Leon spoke earlier, we do like an annual
to get better funding to get, you know, where we can
get our vendor to hire more crews to get a better response.
We've started doing this as like an annual basis.
Where do we wanna build out for the next year?
Looking at crime statistics and things like that.
Working with the Alderman request, putting
that all together, bringing it in front of CPD
and doing a, uh, a formal evaluation.
Right. And then we build it out as requests, of course,
certainly come up in the city.
As things change, things happen.
Uh, we reach out to CPD, our counterparts there
and say, Hey, how do you wanna handle this?
Do you wanna move a camera from here to there?
Uh, where do you want these already Ks to go?
And so then again, that's driven by CPD.
We do, you know, if it's moved
by city employees, we're doing that.
If it's moved by the vendor,
you know, we hire them to do that.
And then I'll have Leon speak to
how many cameras we have right now.
Yes. Alder. Uh, so reiterating from the question you
asked, uh, we, uh, with all of our mobile LPRs
and our mobile cameras, we have just over a
hundred that we've purchased.
None of them are just on standby.
All of them are actually in use
and currently on polls right now being used by CPD.
Okay. So at this point, if someone wanted, uh, wanted
to install a camera someplace, it'd get in some sort
of queue for when, when one
of those temporary ones comes down,
how long do they usually stay up?
The, when the temporary ones are the RD ks are installed?
'cause you said they're not meant to be permanent.
Um, so is there a fixed time that they're,
or there, it just depends on what CPD is asking for.
Depends on Ccpd is asking for. Okay.
And we've expanded that number significantly.
Um, 'cause we've got many for, uh, DNC, so we're able then
to, you know, keep those retained, those assets after D nnc.
And so we've, that number's expanded greatly.
So we're doing more now.
And, uh, we may need to do a little bit more, uh,
collaboration with CPD on, on the timelines, because
before there were so few of them, um, we didn't move them
as, as much as, or we
moved them more quickly or more demands.
It all goes back to CPD if there's a request, um,
we show them they know the list, we share that with them
and say, okay, which one do you wanna move?
Where? So yeah. If they say, Hey,
violence has come down here, it's gotten
better, we're gonna move it there.
That's their decision and we execute on that.
Well, I'll, I'll echo my colleague.
Alderwoman had an earlier, you know, I've, I've been one
of the, the alderman also asking for, um, the,
the pod cameras on trailers.
Um, 'cause we know in the immediate aftermath of some sort
of like violence in the community, um, putting a camera
with the blue lights and everything, it does, um,
we find de deter people from coming back.
And, and it does increase the sort of, um, feeling of safety
that residents have.
Um, so, and, and I'll go on the record to say this is the,
this is the one place in technology that I feel like we,
we absolutely need to be spending more money on,
because the fact that there are no available cameras.
Yeah. Um, if we needed them today, we'd have to sort
of sacrifice one for another.
Um, is a really challenging place for us to be,
especially when we don't have te a technology like
ShotSpotter currently.
So thank you. Thank you Chair. Just
One thing on the, uh, clarifying the trailers,
our trailers aren't like the ones you see in the Home Depot
parking lots, those have a clear line of sight for solar.
Mm-Hmm. So you've notice those ones always have a large
solar panel on them.
Ours, because they're generally in neighborhoods
where you have trees and other types of things
that don't get as much solar, uh, power.
They're gas operat
Generators. Generators.
Yeah. So that makes them a little bit,
you have more parts that can fail.
So some of our trailers are in for maintenance,
we've had to pull them before.
Um, and I know that's not been ideal,
but we've had to take 'em back in for maintenance.
So those trailers are a little bit different than the ones
that are out there in the field, uh,
that you'd see at a parking lot because they don't have the
clear line of sight for solar.
And so there are a lot more moving parts of 'em,
and generally we put a lot more
on 'em in terms of like license plate.
I think you'd find a lot of support
for increasing our spending.
Absolutely. We understand on those investment. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh, vice Chair Fuentes.
Thank you, chairman. I, I just have one question.
Does PSA provide any oversights to
how civil asset forfeitures, uh,
funds are spent by the city of Chicago?
Yeah. Uh, I'm gonna pass that over to Ante Smith,
the Deputy Director of Finance.
Hi. We Actually, we oversee the finance portion of it
and we also work with CPD
and Department on Justice of those funds.
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions
for PSA?
Okay. I, I do have, I've got two questions.
Number one, uh, UAC, um, grant, uh,
what do we spending that money on?
Sure. Uh, I'm gonna pass that over Tomas,
and he will walk you through the UAC budget.
Good afternoon. TOMA Mavin, um, director of Grants,
uh, for UAC.
In the last year, we spent, uh, most of the funding
to support, um, public safety cameras
and radios, as well as upgrades to the infrastructure of
CPDs computer systems.
And you have looks like, uh,
about 20 million to spend this year.
What's the game plan for that
Alderman? The projects
under UAE are predetermined,
uh, I believe those continue to support
radio infra, uh, infrastructure upgrades as well as,
um, sustainment of the CPDs computer infrastructure as well.
Could you, uh, provide, uh, provide us, um, some narrative
or information as it relates to, uh, the USC grant
and what the anticipated program is for, uh, 2025?
Uh, with those, with those funds,
We can definitely do that for you.
Absolutely. The, uh, the JAG grant, um, is that, is
that the old, uh, grant they hired police officer with
or what, what are the purposes of the Jag JAG grant?
Uh, the JAG
or the Burn Justice Assistance grants is formula funding
for the Chicago Police Department.
There is a portion of that that comes to PSA to support
a JAG specific, uh, grants person.
But, uh, the bulk of the money goes to CPD to support,
um, law enforcement activity for all the bureaus.
There is also a portion of the grant that, uh, we manage
for DOJ designated, um, jurisdictions in Cook County.
Oh, okay. This is,
is it, is this the pass through portion?
There is a pass through portion, correct?
No, I'm just asking is this the pass
through portion that's in your budget?
No, that I believe is for the, uh, PSA,
um, grants
Manager.
Okay. Well, if, if you can, uh, just, uh, well,
so the balance of it is in CPDs budget
and they'll have the whole thing.
This is just your portion for managing
the managing the manager.
That is correct. Okay.
I guess that's one, one, uh, one way to put it, um, in, uh,
in light of, uh, this question was kind of bro earlier,
but I, I think there's something that needs to be, uh,
thought on, um, on your, uh, corporate budget,
which is about $61 million.
Um, if we, uh, we're going through a lot
of different, um, challenges.
Um, if, if you were asked to, you know,
have we gotta take a 5% haircut,
where, where do you do that at?
We, we'd have to, we'd have to sit back down and,
and go everything, you know, we, we have already seen,
was it 3%, 3.7% decrease in the
corporate budget right now?
Or actually yeah, corporate, yeah, 3.7.
We'd have to go back and do an analysis to really look
to see, you know, if there is any,
anything else that we could shave out.
Didn't, didn't you all do a 5% scenario?
Uh, we, we did work
with the budget office on a 5%, you know,
Possibility. And what
did that, what did that, what did that, um, do?
So that exercise, we were asked to kind of go back
and look at all of our positions
and kind of rank them in terms of
what our priority would be for next year.
And, uh, in doing that, what would you have
to give up in order to make that 5% number reality?
Um, what was that? I'm trying to, sorry.
Just if I was going to do that, I would have to reduce,
I think it was every one of my vacancies.
Okay. Alright. Wasn't a trick question.
Um, uh, any others? Alderman Gardner?
I have a, a quick question.
I don't know if anybody answered this.
How many, uh, CPD sworn members do we currently have?
Detail to the police? I mean, the PSA,
we have 41 police officers detail, the PSA. Okay.
But, uh, but total,
just on the department, do you have that number?
Uh, joy, do you have that number?
You mean members of CPD? Yes. Okay.
Uh, altogether it's, uh, 12,261.
12,261. Mm-Hmm. Okay.
And then CFD, do you have, how, how many, how many, uh,
members on CFD sworn members?
Second,
While you have some time while, sorry.
Sorry, he's got your camera. It's working. So we'll show you
It's work. Okay, thank you.
4,826.
4,826? Correct.
And then would you be able, do you have a breakdown
of like paramedics com compared to just straight paramedics?
Straight firemen, four firefighters, I should say
Second.
Uh, 380.
380 paramedics? Correct.
Okay. Thank you, chair.
Okay. Anything else for PSA? Alright.
Uh, you are excused,
however, uh, don't be surprised if we recall you.
Okay, thank you.
We'll take a five minute break, uh,
for sanitation and switch out.
Oh, it's your face mask.
Sanitize. It's kind of dirty up here. No, the, the
Good afternoon everybody.
Uh, we are back now with, uh, OEMC, the Office
of Emergency Management and Communication.
Uh, we have with us, um, director, executive, uh,
director Jose Todo and his staff.
Uh, before we have him do introductions, we're gonna have,
uh, our partners at cofa.
Daniel, if you wouldn't mind doing your report.
Yeah. Daniel Strom, council Office
of Financial Analysis. Can
We have the room quiet down please. Thank you.
So next up we have Department 0 5 8, the Office
of Emergency Management and Communication.
The proposed budget for FY 25 is 97.4 million.
This reflects a 6% decrease from the revised budget
for FY 24, uh, and FY 25.
The budget for contractual services has been significantly
reduced by 63% compared
to FY 24 is revised budget.
Additionally, the total number
of full-time equivalent positions has decreased
by 13 compared to FY 24 is revised budget
of 971 FTEs.
Uh, OEMC is funded 10.9% by corporate funding.
This is decreasing though from 11.8 million in FY 24
to 10.6 million in FY 25.
Thank you. Go ahead.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
Chairman Irvin, vice Chairman Lee.
I'm members of the City Council. I'm Jose Rado,
the Executive Director of the
Office of Emergency Management.
And it's my honor to be here with you today
to answer any questions you may have regarding OMC 2025.
We'll, mark Omcs 30th anniversary
and is remarkable how the department has grown
and evolved over the last three decades.
I'm grateful for the dedicated professionals at OMC
who work 24 7 to ensure the safety
and wellbeing of all Chicago residents and visitors.
This past year, OMC led coordination efforts
and response to severe weather, including the tornadoes
and severe storms in July,
which resulted in a presidential disaster declaration,
making much needed federal assistance available
to Chicago residents and businesses.
OMC has also coordinated the citywide effort
for large scale special events like nascar, Lollapalooza,
the Chicago Marathon,
and most notably the Democratic National Convention.
For over a year, OMC worked alongside the Secret Service,
the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Fire Department,
and other city agencies
and key partners to coordinate the citywide public Safety
and security plan around the DNC.
During the D-N-C-O-M-C served as the hub
for the city's public safety
and communication efforts
through the Emergency Operations Center
and the Joint Information Center.
I wanna acknowledge and thank all the dedicated
professionals who made the DNCA success,
including our OMC employees and especially our 9 1 1
and three one one call takers and dispatchers.
It, it was their dedication behind the scenes
that ensured the safety of our city throughout that week
as another important initiative in 2024,
I wanna highlight the House of Worship training series
that OMC completed last, last month with CPD and CDPH.
Through this training, we were able
to provide emergency preparedness information
to nearly 50 different houses of worship and 125 people.
After the training, OMC
provided a wall-mounted bleeding control kit
to each participating in house of worship.
Looking ahead to 2025 OMC will continue
to provide best in class 9 1 1 emergency service
and remain a, a leader in the industry.
This includes work towards updating the nine one one network
and phone system to the next generation 9 1 1 compliance.
This will give us the ability to receive text
and videos amongst other enhanced capabilities.
OMC will also further develop and expand call taking
and dispatching for mental health related calls centralized
under OMC in partnership with the Mayor's office and CDPH.
Finally, I'm excited to share that October 1st,
OMC hired two new clinicians to our 9 1 1 floor.
These positions are on site at OMC and first of their kind.
These clinicians are developing much needed programming
for our employees around mental
health and stress management.
In closing, this year has been challenging.
I would like to thank the workforce o at OEMC
for their dedication and commitment
to our city and its residents.
They continue to rise to the occasion
and work tirelessly around the, the clock
to keep the city safe.
Again, thank you Chairman and the members of City Council.
I look forward to answering any of your questions.
Can you also please identify, introduce,
and identify the folks that are
with you here and in the box?
Absolutely. To my right, Anna Schrader, deputy Director,
chief of Staff, also Deon Tate,
who's sitting to the right of her.
And then, and she's my, uh, director of 3 1 1.
My new director of Three. One one.
Uh, in my box, I have Maryanne McKeever,
assistant Director of 9 1 1.
Operations. Mary Mary Ma, director of Media Affairs,
RA Washington, supervisor of Training, Ryan Elligan,
deputy Director of Legal and Labor Relations.
Also my general counsel, David Ramos, deputy Director
of Operations Center, Glenn Lyman, deputy Director
of Emergency Management.
Bob Leki, deputy Director of Traffic Management Authority.
Matt Dowdy, manager of Emergency Management Services.
Dan Casey, managing Deputy Director of Public Safety, it,
the Office of Public Safety Administration.
And finally, Natalie Gutierrez, managing Deputy Director
of Administration for OPSA.
Thank you. Um, to open, we're gonna have, uh,
vice Chair Robinson.
Go ahead and open
Commissioner. Thank
you so very much. Um, one of the,
the first questions I have is, and,
and this body, um, certainly with the cuts that you have had
to make, how is that going to affect your department?
So, uh, the cuts that we had to make,
uh, won't affect us.
Uh, it won't, won't affect us, affect our operation.
We did our due diligence to go line by line,
uh, to make those cuts.
And it wasn't extremely, uh, too, too hard on,
uh, our corporate 100.
'cause we really do operate off for 3 53 funding.
Do you believe that you have the resources you need
to be effective from a, a staffing standpoint?
And then also I'm assuming that, uh, a lot of
that goes into technology as well.
Um, I know specifically in my ward that we have had, um,
cameras that unfortunately are, um, not operable.
Um, and so I'm, I'm curious to know,
as we go into these budget conversations, um,
you are a key part of keeping our city safe.
Um, and I know that a lot of times that we do have, uh,
equipment that's not working.
Um, part of that, from my understanding, working with your
world class team commissioner, is that a lot
of the technology could be outdated and
or a lot of the technology that's needed to fix the problems
is, uh, is on back order.
Can you confirm that?
Yes. Uh, I wanna take that in in pieces.
So your, your first question was,
do I believe my cuts are affecting my operation?
No, they, they, they're not affecting my operation.
The second question, I apologize, is,
what was your second question in, in, in that line?
The second question is, uh, with, as we go
through these budget conversations, um,
technology is really a key component
of your organization, your operation.
And I'm finding that, um,
sometimes our equipment is outdated or not working.
Um, do you have the resources you need to update equipment,
uh, to keep our city safe?
So, uh, in regards to keeping our C City safe, we do have
a robust, uh, camera system.
Uh, and, and I agree with you that, um, we are a,
a crucial role on keeping, uh, the citizens
and the visitors of the city, uh, safe.
Um, to give you a better, a better scope on
where the camera systems are, I could hand it over to, uh,
managing, uh, director Dan Casey,
microphone, managing director Dan Casey.
Uh, to give you a, a better scope
of the question that you just answered.
Thank you.
Dan Casey, public Safety Administration.
Uh, you're correct there.
Alman, we did have a time where we're digging out
of a deep hole with, uh, covid shortages on microchips
and things like that to get cameras.
Uh, since then in last year,
we've cut the down cameras, uh, in half.
So we're down to about, uh, 4.38% today
of the cameras that are down.
So we're within the SLAs, but that's not good enough.
We're gonna keep pushing and get
that down number even better.
Um, but we did have a period there where getting out
of the covid, uh, shortages and,
and equipment that was coming in was
a, was a challenge for us.
But that equipment is now well flowing in,
and we are pushing crews out there to fix and repair
and upgrade those cameras as well.
As you mentioned, some of 'em are older technologies.
Uh, we're switching a lot of that technology over
to a newer, more modern, uh, camera
and, uh, recording system.
Can you share through the chair
where we are with that? By Ward?
Absolutely. You welcome. Thank you.
Uh, and, and before you,
before you sit down, um, is it also
possible that we know where our hot
areas are in the city, where we have city owned buildings?
And what's troubling is when we look at
particular areas where they're troubled,
where we have city owned buildings,
the cameras are not operable.
And so can we please look into that
and make sure that, again, areas in the city of Chicago
that we know that are hot areas, that we have
city cameras, we should make sure
that those cameras are operable?
A hundred percent. And if you have any specifics on those
buildings, uh, I'd be happy to take that from you.
And if it's, uh, city owned buildings
that are not public safety, we'll work closely
with, uh, two fm.
They have those buildings as well.
But if it's a camera that's out on a, a light pole
or something like that, then that's generally,
those are usually pod cameras, police observation devices.
We handle those, and we would be absolutely willing to work
with you on that and find those locations.
Thank you so very much.
My last question is, can you please provide a complete list
of events that OEMC needs reimbursement and the
Amount?
Absolutely. We can do that through the chair.
Commissioner, thank you so very much.
Thank you. Uh, vice Chair Robinson.
We're gonna, uh, start with, uh, alderman O'Shea.
Thank you, chair. Good afternoon, director.
Good afternoon. Um, I'd like to start out, uh,
talking about the Democratic National Convention, uh,
an enormously successful event, uh, tremendous amount
of responsibility and coordination from OEMC.
First and foremost, congratulations on that.
I was wondering if you could take us through all
that went into that, making it a success, sir.
Um, an extremely,
an extremely amount, large amount of work, uh,
but not only, uh, through OMC, uh, C-P-D-C-F-D,
but our city agencies played a, a, an, an astronomical role,
uh, on the success.
I mean, realistically, we needed the entire city, uh,
to perform the way we performed.
Uh, as far as the planning, collaboration, we were working
with the Secret Service a year prior to this event.
And I've said it, and I continue to say it, uh,
when it comes to large scale events,
we're the best in the United States.
Uh, and that's just the fact.
Um, we went from 22 committees, uh,
that were recommended by Secret Service.
Uh, we then built out, uh, 10 separate, uh, committees
that were just focusing directly on, uh, on the city.
Uh, so, uh, you know, step by step, uh, we, we'd be here,
uh, probably all day.
Um, but just to give you a, a grand scope, I mean,
it takes the entire city to get
to get something like that, right.
And, uh, we were fortunate to do that.
Appreciate your modesty.
But, uh, we were on the world stage
and, uh, there were a lot of people
questioning whether it could be pulled off.
And, uh, obviously many departments, uh,
but yourself, uh, right at the top with everybody,
appreciate your work and work of your, your staff.
Um, next I wanted to talk about employee wellness.
I think we all realize the stress, uh,
that call takers experience.
Um, more often than not, they're dealing with someone
at their worst possible time,
and, um, a very difficult job.
And it takes its toll.
But I know that there've been a lot of efforts
and investment in improving employee wellness.
Could you take us through a little bit about
what we've seen over the past year or so?
So, um, you're a hundred percent, uh, right on the amount
of, uh, impact that these calls,
calls have on our call takers and our dispatchers.
Um, me coming from, uh, the policing,
uh, field, uh, my career with CPD, it's not anything that I,
as a policeman, just something I didn't really think about
till I, till I ended up at OMC.
Uh, when you walk into,
when you realistically walked into OMC
and, uh, someone tells you your entire career,
uh, and I'm speaking on a personal level, they knew
what my call sign was.
They knew what my promotions were.
Uh, they knew what, what, uh, my commands were.
Uh, the amount of, uh, dedication
and attachment that the call takers
and the dispatchers have with, uh, the field, uh, was,
was amazing to me.
Uh, so I'm, I'm very happy that we're, you know, we're,
we're taking this, the proper steps,
uh, in regards to wellness.
So, uh, as of November 1st, you know,
we have this new decompression room, uh, uh,
which is, is is wonderful.
It's put to the side. It's on the third, uh, on the,
on the third floor right next
to the nine one one call center.
I mentioned on my opening, uh, statement
that we have two new clinicians that we hired as
of October 1st, and we continue to work with them as well.
Uh, but, you know, we are focused on
mental, mental health training.
One-on-one appointments, uh, roll call.
Trainings have always been, uh, the case.
Uh, we still, uh, lean on, uh, C-P-D-C-F-D
and those partners NAMI to, uh,
to come in when we do have something tragic.
So it's, it's, it's something that, that's been needed
for some time, and it's something that we're,
we're trying to head it.
Uh, you know, go add it head on.
Uh, thank you, director.
Uh, and just in closing, uh, to you, your team, uh,
they're in the box, but especially, most especially, uh,
the people that are taking the calls and dispatch
and help, uh, a big thanks to them from
my community. Thanks, chair.
Thank you. Chair. Che.
Uh, we're gonna go to, uh, alderman Mitts. Alderman Mitts.
Sorry. You want me to come back to you? You okay?
Yeah. Okay. You,
Thank you very much.
Uh, good afternoon, executive director. Good
Afternoon.
Look, can you, um, give me a breakdown
or a chart through the chair of your calls
prioritized by O-E-O-M-C?
Yes. We, we can get the, you're asking for the, the call?
Yes, yes. When the, um, constituents call
there, there is a prioritization that you use, correct?
Yes, ma'am. Uh, for the call takers, absolutely.
And I wanted to know how that's broke down.
Okay. We, we can get that to you.
'cause we don't get, we don't have,
we don't get that information.
And, um, with regard to the flood,
do OEMC get federal dollars
or, uh, any disaster release
and that come to you?
No. Directly to OMC? No.
Or any grant funding that come to your
NNN? Not from any
disaster. No. Uh, as, as
Once, once they declare, I see.
You are the first line of defense for disaster, right?
Yes. And, um, glia is not here,
but he's been very helpful in working it out.
Do you also, I heard you say you put together
a disaster recovery for, uh, hope Church.
Is that correct?
No. We did a, uh, I didn't mention Hope Church.
We just did a, uh, worship training, uh, for,
Uh, a Training Chicago, uh, safe Chicago.
So with, with climate changes coming rapidly
all the time, is there any, um,
opportunities that you have where
automatic, uh, can we be trained
as well on these disaster release?
We, we could definitely schedule something, uh, uh,
after sometime this week where we could get some, uh,
training to, to your ward,
Or, I think the more we train, the more we able to have,
once it happens, we can have some direction.
Okay. Um, and I know that,
I think it's Westside Administers in my ward been working
on, uh, disaster release.
'cause we feel that someday we're gonna need
to have those kits and everything that goes with it.
You have, uh, you have pap a pamphlets on that
or some type of material.
Yeah, we, we could get, uh, we can get you off
that all, everything that
We had, you can drop, you can drop off something for me.
Yeah, no worries. I'd appreciate it.
But, um, your department's been very helpful.
I would like to know at some point, can we
get a schedule, uh, just for a tour of,
of the center, the, your, your,
uh, yes. Your department.
Yeah, absolutely. We, we'd be
The office and, and, uh, technology.
Any new technology that you've had installed?
Yeah, we, we could do a tour of the, uh,
of the actual center.
Right. We can schedule that.
I, I, yeah, because things are changing now.
We have done 'em in the past, but it's been a while.
Uh, good while. And, uh,
I think some updates probably been done since then.
We'd like to know where we at.
We'd be happy to have you. All right. Very good.
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
And you all keep up the great work.
Um, who's the 3 1 1 raise your hand so I know. All right.
I need to know, I know you to know the 3 1 1 person,
um, coming in.
So I'm sure that, uh, you had a good trainer,
Uh, With, we're working
with Audrey Mathis that was there.
Um, I, I usually, you could hear,
you could hear when something is not right at 3 1 1
'cause your constituents are, share that information
with us, or if somebody was rude or whatever happened,
or, um, not answering.
So I would like to get your information so
that I would be able to keep in contact with you, uh,
since you are new here,
or make sure that we are earning our money.
So thank you so much. I appreciate you
and, uh, for all the team in the
box, keep up the great work.
Everybody's doing it. We can't do anything without.
OMC is from one, the number one person we call,
lemme ask this, how, how many constituents?
I wanna know how many constituents called 9 1 1.
Um, Just for,
for this, that past year, what's your call?
Uh, just for this year to January
to August was 2,388,000.
Uh, up to August.
We do average around anywhere from, from 18,000
to 20,000 calls a day.
How many? 18,000 to 20,000 calls a day.
Oh, wow. How many intakes do you have?
Um, Operators, OEMC operators,
Uh, in, in entirety.
Over 900, uh, employees.
The whole total is 900 Over? Yeah, over 900.
Okay. Total three shift running, right?
Yes. 24 hours. Is that suffice enough for you?
Uh, 24 hours.
I'm just asking 'cause I know at one point,
Yes, During my years, they have been overworked.
And we had to look at that.
So I just asked you, uh, now that
No, that's, that's like we,
we have our shortages and, and they're working hard
Into retirement, people's leaving.
Are you where you need to be? Uh, no.
We, we are, uh, unfortunately, you know, we have the same,
uh, issue with any, anybody else,
All other departments as far As hiring.
So we, we are trying to hire as, as much as possible.
Um, but, um, they do an incredible job.
Uh, the dispatchers are very dedicated to their craft, so,
uh, so I'm fortunate in that sense.
I'm grateful to hear you say that,
but I know a great job is good.
Um, long as you don't need extra bodies to be able to do it.
But when you do, then you gonna need some help.
So just keep in mind, always the planner
for a extreme emergency.
I wouldn't wanna see you there in the end.
Don't have the help. And you, the Office
of Emergency Management.
So thank you all so much again. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Thank you. Thank you, chairman.
So we're gonna go to, uh, alderman Riley, followed
by Alderman Lopez.
Uh, thank you chairman. Uh, good afternoon,
director. Um, good afternoon.
Thank You for responding to my annual budget memo.
I appreciate it. Um,
I don't have a tremendous number of questions for you,
but, uh, in looking at your
summary in the 2025 budget overview, on page 1 23
and 2025 initiatives you list as one
of your three initiatives, updating the 9 1 1 network
and, um, getting the phone system
to be next generation 9 1 1 compliant.
Uh, is your, um, primary partner in that effort, um,
public safety or two FM
or a IS or whatever we're calling these things these days?
Who, who, who are you mostly working with to get
that system, um, updated and upgraded?
So, uh, we're pretty much just working internally.
Um, we have, uh,
9 9 1 1 our next Gen 9 1 1. Uh,
So you're handling the procurement and the installation
and the upgrade yourself within your department?
No, no. That, that, uh, when I mean, internally,
we we're going through the process internally of like, what,
what 9 1 1 looks like.
We also work with OPSA, so that's,
that's who's doing, uh, you know,
So public safety Yes.
Is, is managing the technology
and installation piece of that Exactly. Exercise.
Exactly. Are there any other departments
that you're working with on that initiative?
Or is it simply public safety?
Uh, simply public safety.
So, two FM a IS does not
intersect with this at all with you?
No. Interesting.
Um, you also mentioned in your 2024 key results,
I found this one interesting partnering with Marvel Comics
to roll out a Chicago native superhero as part
of a new outreach campaign to better engage with youth
as it relates to preparedness, um,
Order. Order please.
I have no idea what they're talking about,
but, um, so who, who, who,
why have I not heard about this comic book character?
Seriously. Who, who, who's the comic book character?
It's, uh, Riri.
It's Riri Williams, uh,
and it's, uh, uh, she is Iron Heart.
And, uh, it's something that we've been working on to,
to reach out a, a younger demographic also to, you know,
to focus on, uh, what the, the future of OEMC.
Again, everybody understands what CPD does.
Everybody understands what CFD does.
Uh, you know, you, you go into, uh,
high school, I'm gonna be a police officer.
I'm be a firefighter. I've never heard anyone say,
I'm gonna be a dispatcher or 9 1 1 emergency.
So we're trying to reach that demographic utilizing,
uh, the Marvel Comics.
Got it. And, and so how did you come to get in contact
with Marvel Comics about this?
Uh, we had, uh, a pretty, uh, young team,
and I thought that was a great idea.
Uh, when they pitched it to me
and my team, I, I was all on board.
So, uh, we were able to find the funding.
Uh, and su surprisingly, they were, they were very, uh,
enthusiastic to team up with us.
So we were very excited about that.
Did you have to pay Marvel comics anything for this? Yes.
And what'd that cost?
Um, we, we got that. Gimme one second. I'm sorry.
It was grant funded. Uh,
but I don't have the actual number in front of me.
I can get that to you through the chair.
I'd appreciate it. So, I mean, I think
that's a really creative idea
and kudos to your staff, um, for bringing that to you.
Um, but I guess my concern is that not many folks are
familiar with this comic book
character that you've developed.
Um, how, how are y'all promoting that?
So we we're promoting it in different, uh, in, in,
in different, um, social media, uh, presence.
But I could also pass it on to, uh, my, uh, director
of Media Affairs, uh, Mary May, who is, uh, the spearhead
of, of this, uh, this great character.
Hi. Oh, real quick point of clarification. Vesquez,
Thank you for, uh, for point of clarification.
Iron Heart's actually a pretty known
character, Marvel Comics.
Uh, it's actually like the successor to Ironman.
There's gonna be a whole series movie coming out.
Not that I would know anything, but that would be,
Thank you for that. Okay.
Go ahead.
Can you hear me? Uh, Mary May.
I am director of Media Affairs at OEMC,
and, um, as the executive executive director said,
we're very excited about, um, our superhero, iron Heart,
and it's Riri Williams, who is also from Chicago.
So we've been pushing this out over the last several months
with See something, say something.
We have a, uh, cartoon where, uh,
iron Heart is giving water safety
and saving, uh, people from Lake Michigan.
Um, we have, uh, a weather, uh, comic that we, we've done,
we are going to be doing more in 2025,
so there's more to come on that.
And then more, uh,
we'll be pushing out a lot more or things on that.
So we've been doing it through social media.
Uh, we had it on some of the cips
and billboards, uh, along the expressways in downtown.
Uh, we have been, uh, putting ads in a couple of the, uh,
block club, some of their newsletters that go the different,
uh, neighborhoods we're, you know,
continuously pushing this out in press releases.
And so it's part of our messaging.
Thank you. And, and you said this was grant funded?
Yes. Um, I believe so, yes.
A hundred percent of the program, yes. Great.
Uh, if you could through the chair, the, the,
the grant funding source, uh, the total amount
and how much your budget in next year's budget towards
marketing and promotions.
Absolutely. Thank you. Um,
and then the number of, uh,
the, again, yours is a, a large department, um,
171 vacancies you want to carry over into fiscal year 25.
Um, do you have a dollar total for those 171 vacancies?
And I know that you sent me a breakdown of your vacancies
by union versus management,
and the bulk of these are union represented positions.
But if you could, through the chair,
get us a total dollar amount for the vacancies
that will be carried over, please. Um,
Absolutely.
Thank you. Um,
likewise, uh, again, I, I note that, uh, in,
in your response to my memo request, once again,
no zero based budgeting implemented here.
Um, although I give you credit for looking at commodities
and other items as, um, an area for savings
and looking at through that lens, uh, why, uh,
were you not direct?
Or I guess, why did you not
implement zero based budgeting principles, uh,
to your department's budget?
I'm, I'm sorry, can you ask me that again?
Why didn't you build a budget
for 2025 using zero based budgeting principles,
meaning building it from the ground up?
So it was something that, uh, that we, we looked at,
but I'm, but I'm fortunate to have, uh, managing director,
uh, Natalie Gutierrez here
to give you a better scope on that.
Good afternoon. Alderman. Natalie Gutierrez, uh, PSA.
So across all the departments,
as PSA had mentioned when we were here as well, um,
earlier this morning, for all four public safety departments
that we're responsible for, it was kind of a method
of zero based budgeting.
Um, it wasn't completely wiping it out,
'cause that's just not, um,
that's just not how we approached it.
But we did review each of the expenditures.
And I know in the previous hearing, you pointed out a few
that, uh, expenditure wise weren't adding up.
Um, so we can review those, but we did go back
and in conjunction with OEMC, looked at each one
of their expenditure lines
and tried to align it with reality for
what they would actually spend for the next fiscal year.
And what you'll see with, with, uh,
a department like OEMC is a lot
of their expenditures have shifted over the years, um, due
to the creation of OPSA.
So cameras, radios, things that used
to be housed in their budget now have moved over to OPSA.
And so we were implementing those same measures on our end.
So you see a lot of movement over the last few years in
their budget as a result of that.
So it's not necessarily that those programs
or priorities went away,
they may just be in a different page on your budget book.
Sure, I understand that.
Um, but really the answer on the zero based budgeting
question is that the, the departments either were instructed
not to or chose not to implement that method.
And again, I'm not blaming you director, uh, I'm trying
to make a general point about this budget,
and that's unfortunate, given
that we're looking at a billion dollar hole.
Um, one would think that there'd be extra pressure
to build this thing from the ground up, starting at zero.
Uh, again, that's not pointed at your particular department.
And I think the work that you and your
staff do is fantastic.
My last question is related to turnover.
Um, so all
of our public safety departments struggle with turnover.
Um, and obviously the floor
of OMC is a real pressure cooker.
Um, very, very real.
Um, and taxing pressures on mental
health and morale.
Um, it's a difficult job with long hours.
Um, my question is twofold.
Um, one, um, what kind of turnover are we experiencing
with operators, but then two,
and it dovetails with what's going on at CPD,
how much are we hemorrhaging operators to other departments,
um, suburban jurisdictions, um,
either the collar counties
or literally just across the border.
Um, I understand there's competition for
folks who've been trained to do that work as well.
Um, and again, my concern is there's a trend
that the city is losing, uh, talented employees
that we spend a lot of money and time training, uh, only
for them to go and pursue a lower stress or better paid,
or a combination of both type of position elsewhere.
So, um, we're not really seeing, uh, what you would see
with, with CPD.
Um, I don't, I, I, I haven't seen a lateral program for,
uh, call takers or dispatchers.
So we're not competing against that.
Uh, we're more competing with, uh, remote working.
Um, as you mentioned, the, you know,
those challenges 24 hours, seven days a week.
Uh, so, um, I don't see that, uh, as, as, uh,
we don't, we don't have anyone coming to OMC to try
to poach our employees, um,
because we have a way larger scope than any,
any other, uh, organization.
If they do, uh, they're smaller dispatch centers,
they may take on one or two,
but that's not really that impacting us.
What's impacting us is, uh, retirement is impacting us.
Uh, attrition is also retirement.
And also, uh, people, uh, resigning.
It's, it's a daunting job. I understand that.
Uh, what we are doing is, like I mentioned earlier,
you know, we are approaching a
stronger wellness, uh, approach.
Uh, we bring, we bring on, uh, you know, service dogs,
what whatever, uh, we can come up with to, to alleviate
that stress and that pressure.
Uh, we're, we're doing that. Okay. Um,
Well, and I appreciate that.
Um, and I know my time is up
and I don't have a second round Madam Chair.
Okay, go ahead. Um, I would just, do you actually track
where employees go once they resign?
Because, you know, a lot of folks don't,
and I know anecdotally that there are a number
of your operators who have landed, um, in,
in other jobs in the same line of work,
but not in the city of Chicago.
That's why I'm asking the question.
No, we, we don't, uh, officially track, uh, you know,
where, where someone's resigning and going.
Uh, but the people that we have lost, uh, I,
I try to have a conversation with them.
Most of 'em are just choosing to, uh,
look into a different, you know, got field. Okay.
Great. Well, thank you, director. Answer my questions.
And again, um, keep up the great work.
Uh, we all truly value the, the work that you guys do. Thank
You. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Alderman Reilly, we're gonna go
to Alderman Lopez, followed by, uh, chair Spto.
Thank you Chairman. And good afternoon members
of the, oh, I'm done already.
Okay, man,
one letter gets me in trouble all day long.
Um, good afternoon, timer, members of the committee.
Good afternoon, director to you and your team.
Um, I don't have necessarily
budget questions as I do programmatic.
Um, how are we doing in terms of both our smart 3 1 1
and smart 9 1 1 registrations?
So, um, our SMART 9 1 1 is currently over
55,000, uh, users.
We're up 5,000 from August of 2023.
And is that 55,000 unique users?
Yes. So in a city of two point Thank you, a city
of 2.7 million people, approximately
1.3 million adults, we are only able
to have 55,000 people registered in SMART 9 1 1.
Yes, sir. Why are,
and how long has this program been in effect?
Uh, I would say from, uh, roughly
Four years now From 2018.
Okay. Well, that's close. So what are we doing to try to
lift this up, um, both in terms of
3 1 1 and 9 1 1, but particularly 9 1 1.
Um, as we know, we're dealing with a push now, uh,
by this administration
and members of city Council
to address things in non-police manners.
Um, how are we figuring,
how are we engaging individual households
that have individuals with either mental health issues,
illness, or other, other specific needs that we need
to be aware of if they were to call 9 1 1?
So, I, I don't disagree, uh, that we should be, uh,
at a higher number, uh, if I could push it myself,
uh, 55,000. Uh,
It's one ward out of 50, Right?
Uh, but again, I don't, I don't disagree with you.
Um, I think we could do a better job at, at outreach.
Uh, it also is a, a system that has
to be updated, uh, every year.
So it can, that impacts us as well.
Uh, so every year you have to, uh, put new, new information.
We are, uh, I'm definitely considering, uh, if
that's something that we have to continue.
Um, so you know, that that's, that's a challenge as well.
Uh, I also, uh, have my supervisor of training
who give you more of a, a detailed scope
of, of what we're doing.
And, uh, I'm, I hand it over to, uh, Dr. RA Washington.
Hey, good afternoon everyone. My name is Dr.
Ra Washington, and I am the
supervisor of the training department.
And proud to say that one of the initiatives that we have
for SMART 9 1 1 is myself and my department alone.
We go out into the communities, um, some
of the ottomans I see here today
that we've actually came out
and spoke to different wards about what SMART 9 1 1 is
and how to actually, um, how, how to actually like, uh,
have the applications on your
phone and things of that nature.
We also have taken a step further, especially
with our senior community so far,
and we have also taken our laptops personally
to these different community engagements,
signing up seniors that need help with it too.
So it also helps with those numbers as well. Okay.
But just like, um, executive, uh, to Rado stated
that once those, um, accounts are active every six months,
you have to update them when they become inactive,
then the numbers will probably drop. So we wanna make sure
I, I'm sorry. Mm-Hmm, six months
or a year.
'cause you said every year, she said every six months. So
I'm, I'm gonna go with the doctor.
Yeah. Just for more accurate accounting.
This every six months. And we wanna make sure that
that's something that we are spreading out to the community.
So that though, nu that 55,000
could definitely be a higher number.
So thank you. You're Welcome,
Director. I think that
is overly cumbersome when you look at even
what we do for disability parking, it's every year.
But I also think that as we're talking about
a system which is supposed to help us be prepared for
what our officers
and firefighters are, are going to encounter,
especially in an emergency situation,
I believe you told my colleague Alder Mitts
that we had over 2 million 3 1 1 calls.
Are we not signing people up when they call 3 1 1?
Is there an option to sign people up
while we have them on the phone asking for that tree trim,
asking for that pothole, asking for their rodent abatement
to say, can I offer you
to sign you up in smart 9 1 1 as well?
We are not currently offering that,
but I, I will definitely,
I, I'm gonna say I think that should be our, our goal
for 2025, because we have so many missed opportunities.
And aside from what your dispatchers do
as first responders,
and they are the, the third leg in this stool of,
of public safety, and it should be commended.
But we know that our nine, our three one one call takers
are just as much, if not more, the front face, first point
of contact for our citizens.
And we are missing so many opportunities
to gather information, to sign them up
for what's going on out there.
Um, and I think that, you know, with respect to SMART 3 1 1
and all of that, that we've been able to do since
we still are not maximizing technology in the way
that we need to, and we're leaving so many people
and so many opportunities on the table
that I think the department needs to commit itself in 2025
to being the year of forward outreach
next year, you should be able to walk in
and say, we got a million people signed up.
If 2 million are calling you, there's no reason half
of them can't walk away signed up.
I firmly believe that.
And I think that that would show that we are
preparing ourselves for what many of my colleagues want,
which, and they talk about treatment,
not trauma and things of that nature.
We don't know what people are walking into.
And if we're not trying to get that information, we are act,
that means we are actively working against
what people are trying to create, including this mayor.
So I, I would just put pressure on you to do that.
Um, I wanna pivot now to SMART 3 1 1,
the gray 3 1 1 service.
Um, and I'm not being face facetious when I say that
because we've worked with OEMC to help, uh,
before, uh, throughout my career on how to make that
as better and as possible.
How many people are, do we have registered in that program?
How many profiles do we have for three? One one?
Uh, I'm sorry, I don't have that in front of me.
Uh, but hold on one, gimme one second, sir.
It's all right. We could, if you could get
that to us through the chair.
Okay. Um, and actually I would like to know for both 3 1 1
and 9 1 1 how many profiles we have by Ward
so we could see who's got the biggest amount
of participation and who needs the most amount of help.
Um, but I also want to ask with regards to 3 1 1, um, to my,
one of my colleagues points, something
that I actually suggested years ago
and everyone kind of shuttered, was how do we loop in
where Alderman can be also included as part of the
Workflow when it comes to what a service is requested?
Because unless we are going to actively look
for what's being called into 3 1 1,
there's no notification from the system to a ward office
or an ability for a caller
to also have their information shared to a local alderman
through the system that we have right now.
So what can we do to try to alleviate that?
Because I think oftentimes a complaint that I know I get
and that we've seen is that, you know, I've called the city,
I called 3 1 1 and nothing's happened.
And unless I or my team go
and actively look, there's no kind
of notification sent from 3 1 1 that there's an issue
or a, a repeated pattern of issues on a particular
is, uh, block.
I'm gonna give that question, uh, to the new director
of 3 1 1 Dion Tate,
Good afternoon. Dionne
a Tate Director 3 1 1 City Services.
So Alderman, I, I do hear your concern
and oftentimes we do have
to look up the service request in order to find the status.
So what I can do is take this information back to my team
so we can, you know, look through and brainstorm
and see if there's a way working with technology
to give you the updates that are necessary.
So I'm more than happy to work with you
and work with my team to see
what we can do in the future. Okay.
Appreciate that. And then lastly, for both, uh,
call takers and for the entire team, um, language access
remains a troubling spot that we have
for individuals who are calling.
Um, I received numerous complaints
and your department has been very helpful in trying
to address, uh, where the hiccups happen.
But when people call 9 1 1 or three one one
and are not being treated as we would hope to expect them
to be treated in the city of Chicago,
that's very problematic.
So I would just encourage you to ensure that everybody
who has either language qualified
or has opportunities to engage in services that help connect
with individuals who speak something other than English,
that we are doing that with the fullest amount
of compassion possible.
Um, and not getting frustrated
because someone on the other line in a nine one one call
especially doesn't speak English.
I a hundred percent agree with you on that.
Thank you, chairman. Thank you Alderman Lopez.
And I'll just echo the, the call for the language access.
You know, I've, I've asked about this pretty much every year
that I've, uh, participated in the budget
and I continue to get, um, calls from constituents
who are non-native English speakers, um, who may
actually have the, the wherewithal to and,
and effort to make the effort to call 9 1 1 and,
and say that they don't speak English only
to then be transferred
to 3 1 1 when they actually have like a 9 1 1 emergency.
So I'd love to just figure out, um, through the chair,
if you guys can provide to us, um, the number of, uh,
the number of 9 1 1
and 3 1 1 calls, um, that where, uh, translation is,
um, requested.
And I'd like to have that by ward if we can.
Um, I obviously have a, a large number of, um,
Chinese speakers, whether that's Cantonese or Mandarin.
Um, and one of our biggest challenges is getting people
to engage with the process at all.
Um, so it becomes really, um, it becomes really demoralizing
for someone to call 9 1 1 and ask for help
and then only to be redirected to 3 1 1
where they don't know, like it's, I I have an emergency,
I don't need like a tree trim.
I actually need a police officer here.
Um, so if we can get that through the chair
and continue to work with you, uh, on, uh, making sure
that we have the right resources available and that,
and the right training for folks too to make sure
that these calls are routed to the right place.
I appreciate that. Yeah, no problem. Absolutely.
We'll look that too. Alright, go, go ahead
Alderman Lopez. Sorry.
And if we could just add to that what language?
Oh, yes. And, and languages as well. Thank you.
Um, okay, we're gonna go
to Alderman sdo followed by Alderman Moore.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, director Todo, good afternoon.
It's a pleasure to see you.
I don't know if my colleagues noticed,
but you're proud resident or 38th Ward.
So appreciate having you over there.
Uh, I didn't have any questions coming here today.
I did come up with one talking to you,
so I just wanna bring that up.
But first I wanna say I very rarely call your office.
It's once a year. Every August I call Bob
and look for some help for my high school
that the Brazy parents that outta control
and, uh, help us with a little, uh, little traffic control.
So appreciate you for that. Bob.
I, I didn't wanna tell you back there
'cause I wanted to stay in front of everybody, so, um,
but talking to you back there, I know, uh,
being a first responder that, um,
we know there's chronic 9 1 1 callers
that tie up resources and everything.
And, um, I did talk to you about possibly working
with somebody to send somebody to talk to these people.
And I thought a good agency for you to work with might be
to coordinate with Department of Family and Support services
because as you know, you know, some
of these houses are just frequent callers,
whether they're mentally ill,
whether there's legitimate problems there,
uh, so on and so forth.
So maybe that's something, I know it's not a, not, you know,
it's not a budget cut, it's
probably actually added to the budget.
Um, but that certainly might be something worth looking at.
Um, you know, your your,
your call takers get beat up enough as it is.
And I, I know very many of 'em
and, um, you know, they work a lot, that's for sure.
They make a lot of money, but they work a lot.
So they do an awesome job.
People are always complaining about 'em,
that they ask too many questions.
We know they're supposed to ask a lot of questions.
So, but that was about it. No questions for you.
Just wanna make that comment about possibly
working with somebody.
I thought maybe Department of Family su support services may
be a good agency to work with for these chronic, uh, um,
callers that are a lot of stuff isn't legitimate.
So that's it. Thank thanks so much.
Thanks for, you guys did an awesome job along
with everybody else for the DNC.
Appreciate it made us city made our city look really great.
So thank you. Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank
You. Chair Zaro. I
don't see Alderman Moore, so we'll go
to Alderman Lata.
Thank you very much. Chair.
Uh, sir, thank you so much for being with us today.
Certainly the, the work of your team, it can't be oversight
how essential it is to our city government.
So I just wanted to say that from the outset.
I did have a few questions for you.
So like, one is related to,
and that this is in no particular order
in your corporate fund.
There, there seems to be a zeroing out of the budget item
for repair and maintenance of equipment from 21,000
down to blank.
And I'm wondering if you could explain that for us.
Oh, so Page 3 43?
Yeah, absolutely. Um, so, uh, in 20, uh, 24,
uh, we needed variable messaging.
Uh, we were, uh, utilizing those funds towards
preparing for the DNC.
We won't need that next year.
So that's why we were able to zero zero that out.
Uh, so that, that's pretty much, you know,
what, what that fund was for.
But where, so I guess I would ask like,
where do we draw from then when we do need to
repair equipment as it comes up over at OEMC. So
We own them and then we will, uh, u utilize one
of our city assets to help, uh, repair 'em when they can.
Okay. Um, I wanted to ask on page
3 46, line item 0 4 1 4 0
for professional and technical services
and other third party benefit agreements,
there's an substantial increase in that line item
of about 800,000.
Can you talk to us a little bit about that investment?
Yes. Oh yes. So, um, there's a, uh,
quality assurance software that we re that we, we need, um,
going into this year.
And then we're also, uh, utilizing, uh, we're aligning our,
our contracts as well.
Can you, can you elaborate on that?
What, what contracts are we talking about just
so I feel like I understand it better? Sure.
So we're looking at, uh, the QA software, um, that,
that, that's what we're requesting.
That's non personnel. And we're looking at, uh,
making upgrades to SMART 9 1 1, our OMC app, uh,
which I also wanna take a minute, uh, to make sure
that please, uh, download it.
It's, it's a phenomenal app, uh, security
and then also our language line.
So that's, that's tho those are, that's the actual breakdown
for what that fund line funding line is for.
Okay. Um, can you Provide
through the chair a breakdown line item by line item
that rolls up to that new number?
Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, sorry, go
Ahead. No, thank you Chair. I
appreciate the clarification.
Um, I did wanna ask under
30 45 non-emergency services operations,
non-emergency services, a significant headcount,
but we're, so we're, we're number one seeing a, a loss
of positions under the headcount for non-emergency services.
But it also seems like the starting
or asking salary for some
of these new positions is going down.
And I know you'd said earlier
that we can find these efficiencies without impacting your
operations, but I, I'm concerned that the salary levels
that we're going to impacts our ability to identify,
qualify TA to like talent
for these roles. Can you speak to that?
So what, what you're seeing in that line item is, um,
last year they predicted that the contract would, uh,
the contract, uh,
with the dispatching union would've been signed.
So since it wasn't signed, uh, for 2025,
the number you're seeing now is the actual, uh, what actual,
you know, the actual difference in
what we would've paid, uh, someone.
So the, the line, the line item you're seeing now is
what they actual come in as.
Does that make sense? So,
So, so the line items that we saw
for the previous year, right?
Was reflecting the contract
that we believed was going to be signed.
Yes. The numbers that we see here reflects
what the current salaries actually are,
100%.
So like, let's, let's lean into that
because that honestly doesn't give me confidence
that we're going to get that contract negotiated this year.
Otherwise we wouldn't be
listing down the salaries to where they are.
I know there's a lot of us who would, I mean,
we want your workers to be treated fairly, to be compensated
fairly, because one of the most things
that you can feel good about your job,
particularly when it's a stressful job,
is when you feel like you're being fairly
compensated for it.
It's, it's troubling to me to see the decreased,
however accurate salaries that are reflected here.
To the extent that you feel like you can within this
chamber, can you speak to where we are
with those negotiations?
So I'm not privy to those, uh, negotiations. Okay.
Uh, it's not anything that, that I'm in the forefront of,
or I'm in conversations of.
I was just reflecting on why you're seeing the difference.
Um, so I, I, I really see me personally,
OMC personally are not part of of it.
I do have my general counsel here
who has been in communication with, uh, a,
a portion of the CBA.
Uh, so I'll hand it over to him to give you a better scope.
Yes, I appreciate that. No problem. That'd be Ryan Neligan.
Good afternoon, alderman Ryan Neligan, uh, deputy Director
of Labor and Legal Affairs.
Um, the executive director is correct.
Um, the city still has ongoing negotiations with
that collective bargaining agreement that is, uh, unit two.
Uh, and the city is still actively engaged in
those, um, negotiations.
And this goes back a couple years, correct?
This goes back to their con their contract ended, uh,
June 30th, 2022,
2022.
Does the budget, when that is negotiated, will
what is negotiated be retroactive as well?
Yes. Will, sir, Does our budget reflect
for those potential re retroactive costs should the contract
be negotiated in the next calendar year?
Um, that I am not sure, uh,
if it's reflected somewhere in the budget book.
Um, but from the page that you're outlining, it is not.
Okay. Can we Get somebody from IGA to get that, just
to get that confirmation from, uh,
the budget director on this question?
Exactly where I was going, if that, I mean, sorry, I
Didn't mean to cut you off. No,
my, I love this tag team.
It's got a real John Stockton, Carl Malone energy to it.
Um, yeah, let's keep the layups going.
Um, yeah, if that, either on the floor
or through the chair, if we can get a sense, I'm going
to speak personally, I would love to see us figure out that
contract in the upcoming year.
I would also like confirmation through the chair
that the costs are reflected
somewhere within the 2025 budget.
Thank you very much. That's all for me.
Appreciate, thank you. The work
of your entire team. Thank you.
Thank You. Alderman LaSpada.
We're gonna go back to Alderman Moore
and then followed by Alderman Vasquez.
Thank you so much, chair, chair, lady.
I appreciate it so much. Um, first of all, I know everybody
is excited in the highlight of the, um, um, DNC,
which you all did a a a magnificent job that's given,
but, uh, um, director, I wanna give you
and your team so much credit for the neighborhood things
that you all do that I think, you know, um, some people,
I don't get the headlines.
I'm not gonna say that some people don't know,
but, um, your ability
and your team's ability to be responsive, um, is unmatched.
And I just wanna say thank you from whether we have, um,
fires in our ward to dealing with, um, situations of crime,
um, uh, your leadership and I go,
and that goes down to your team in terms of you
how you all have been responsive.
It's something that I just appreciate so much as an alderman
and, and I, and I take my hat off someone.
Um, the DNC happened.
Maybe it was a surprise to some other folks.
It was no surprise, no surprise to me.
In sports, you say how you practice is
how you play in the big games,
although every day it's real life.
It's not practice to you,
but you just did what you did on a larger scale,
what you do every day.
And for that, i, I, I commend you all for, so thank you
and your entire team.
I think two questions that I had.
One come from that ultimate Lamar Robinson already answered.
And as I was looking at the budget and you answered it,
and I just gotta trust that you're saying you, you, you,
you, you know, with the cuts
and everything else, you are okay.
And that you have what you need.
My question was, do you have enough of what you need?
And you answered that. It's been asked
and answered so you don't have to go back.
'cause that was my main question.
What else do you need from us?
Because OMC has a, a, a, a big
load to bear,
and I just wanna make sure you all have the resources
that you need if you're not comfortable, um, saying
that he on the mic, because people
like, well, take your cut.
Get me in a corner somewhere.
I don't know, somebody send your mom, tell, say,
did tell David I need something, you know, whatever it is.
Um, uh, because whatever it is, it's, it's,
it's well deserved, um, based on, um,
what you all are doing in those communities.
And so my other, um, question comes with contractual
services and I'm, I'm looking at, um, the,
um, budget that, um, Kofa, um, put out for us.
Um, and I don't know if these are the right numbers,
only gonna go by their numbers.
They're saying 23.94 and 2024,
and 8.8 and 2025.
So I haven't verified that with the budget.
I was trying, my number's not adding up.
So what we're looking for in contractual services,
'cause that's a, that's a, if I'm looking at their numbers,
what are you all's numbers?
'cause maybe I'm not looking or adding
something up in this budget, right?
On contractual services, what was 2024 compared to 2025?
'cause what they're showing was 23.9,
23.9 4,000,020 24, and 8.8 and 2025.
So that's a huge change to me.
Uh, I'm sorry, can you direct me where you're seeing that?
Um, this, I don't know if they have that book.
Uh, the, uh, um, Kovas book, city Council
of Office of Financial Analysis, um,
page 83 in their book.
Um,
he's gonna get you their book.
And I'm trying to find out
where this total adding up in the budget,
and I'm not, maybe I'm missing something.
Alderman Moore, can you just repeat which, um, I,
I'm on page 83 now, but what years were you looking at?
It's page 83. I am, it is at OMC, right? Yep. Yes.
And contr. Oh, 100 Contractual services,
Contract services.
Oh, that includes grants. Okay. Okay. The
Grants, He, he said it, that includes grants.
Okay. So, so Alderman Moore, what you're seeing there is,
uh, uh, a shift in grants, right?
Mm-Hmm. Uh, so, uh, you're looking at a true number.
So prior to that, we, we, we were ha able to
move grants forward through due to covid.
So, uh, in 2021, if we didn't used the grants, uh,
during covid, we were able to push that forward.
And then that, that's how we got to the,
the number of 19 million.
And then what you're seeing is a decrease,
but that's a true number moving forward.
Okay. So if the eight point, uh, what was
that 2024 number, what would, without those grants,
what would that 20, 24 number probably have been?
Do we know?
And, and also with, uh, just
to touch on the contractual service, uh, some
of those grants also went to PSA, uh,
that were taken from us, uh, when, when, uh,
a lot of those grants, a lot of our contracts now belong
to PSA, so
that's why you're seeing some of that shift as well. Wow.
Oh, okay. All right. All right.
Uh, we can talk about that more about that later.
I think that's all I have. I get the understanding of
that big amount.
I was just wondering, uh, it was such a difference.
Thank you, chairman. Thank
You. Thank
You. Alderman Moore, uh,
alderman Vasquez, followed
by Alderman s Lopez.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Um, so I got a first couple of questions related to a lot
of changes, um, uh, really the one system initiative.
So, uh, could you walk me through the process
that you've out outlined for your intake team on January 1st
when an un unhoused migrant calls 3 1 1 versus when an
unhoused non migrant calls 3 1 1.
Right Now that we know it's one system,
but there might be different questions of each.
How is that play out when somebody calls
3 1 1 in need of services?
So not, not only are we gonna, uh, talk to, uh, 3 0 1,
I'm actually gonna hand this over to my deputy Director
of emergency management, who's been, uh,
boots on the ground frontline on, on
how this looks. So, okay. And
Then I guess a second question of that, we also know
that the, we're actually going down in beds from 8,000
to 6,800, so we're gonna see a whole bunch of people
that are being evicted out and are similar.
Same question, same person, exactly.
Preparation for what that's gonna look like.
Exactly. You could answer both those questions. Thank you.
So Deputy Director, uh, Glen Lyman,
Uh, deputy Director Glen Lyman here.
Uh, the first question was
how the 3 1 1 calls would come in, uh,
starting January 1st, 2025, all uh,
individuals within the city would be treated
as unhoused Chicagoans.
So they would all be accessing the,
through the 3 1 1 system for shelter.
In the 3 1 1 questions, there is a question, um, right now
that are you a new arrival?
Okay. So once that, um, request is put in,
they request what's called an SR number, uh,
service request number,
and then that number is taken by 3 1 1,
and then it's passed on to Sale Army who would fulfill
that request when a bed becomes available.
And then they would contact that individual back by
that number that they're providing
when a bed becomes available.
They also do, uh,
what's called a Wellbeing Check Cell Army does,
where they'll call and check on that individual.
Okay. Thank you. Uh, as a follow up, um, how is
that information protected?
Meaning if you're asking all those questions
and somebody checks the box saying a new arrival, again,
considering the new administration that'll be coming in at
the federal level and protection on some of
that information, um, how protected is it,
Uh, how that information's protected?
I'd have to refer that to, uh, the deputy director
for 3 1 1, uh, Deon Tate.
Okay.
Good afternoon. Uh, Deon Tate's, director
of 3 1 1 City Services.
So the information is housed within our system.
Um, it only goes from our 3 1 1 system to Salvation Army,
so there's no outside entities that will receive
that information outside of Salvation Army.
Okay. So, um, so thank you kind of for that.
I think throughout the year we're gonna be following up on
some of that, and mostly one for, for data protection,
but also knowing that the beds are gonna be full, right?
So in essence, January 1st,
even though you have people calling 3 1 1,
there won't be beds
because you're going down 1000 who that were already full.
Um, so I think, I think having future conversations about
what that's gonna look like is gonna be important for us.
So, um, thank you through the chair.
Uh, kind of related to this, well,
can you provide the number of calls
for shelter requests each year?
Uh, oh, sorry, my apologies.
Uh, from 2019 to 2024, uh, if, for the 2024 data,
if you'd be able to provide status, origin, created date,
close date, and, uh, street address.
Um, we just wanna get more sense
of like trends when it relates to all these,
um, srss that come in.
Um, and we're not able to kind of see it in the data portal.
Is that okay to get through the chair? Oh, yeah, absolutely.
We just writing it down. Do you guys get all that?
Do you need him to repeat anything? That was a lot.
Uh, sure. Absolutely. So basically the,
the shelter requests, like the numbers from 2019 to 2024
and included in that, we know we can email
that in to make sure we got the details, please.
That'd be great. Yeah.
Um, earlier in the year, actually, about a month
or two ago, we had a hearing about
the extreme weather conditions.
We know that, uh, on Juneteenth, uh, there was areas
of improvement to put it nicely related to some of the heat.
And we're heading into
what some people are predicting might be a particularly
cold winter.
And, you know, we'd like to know what a,
what improvements are gonna be made, what we're looking at
to, to really address the need for our unhoused population.
A absolutely. So, um, for OMC, uh,
unless I activate the emergency operation plan,
and that comes off, uh, certain triggers and, uh,
after speaking with the National Weather Service, um, that,
that changes the scope of how we, how we do business, uh,
what I am gonna do right now is I'm gonna hand it over to,
uh, Matt Dowdy, who's my managing emergency manager, uh,
who's, uh, very, very, very aware, very,
very passionate about, uh, extreme weather.
So, uh, I'm gonna hand it over to him. Go ahead, Matt.
Good afternoon, alderman.
Matt Dowdy, manager of Emergency Management Services.
Uh, so first of all, mention that OEMC uh,
maintains the city of Chicago's Emergency Operations plan,
which we update every few years.
As part of that, we have several weather related annex.
We have an extreme cold annex, an extreme heat annex,
as well as a severe storms annex.
Um, so some of our, our chief responsibilities associated
with that annex when we hit some of those triggers.
Um, we are hosting conference calls at least twice a day
with multiple city agencies as one, as well as some
of our NGO partners and utilities, such as Combat
and People's Gas to make sure that we're all aligned on
our objectives
and making sure that information is being shared correctly.
Uh, we're monitoring 9 1 1 and 3 1 1 calls, uh,
and looking for trends and analysis.
There we're, of course,
broadcasting alerts on Notify Chicago on social media, uh,
the digital billboards, uh, developing press releases.
Um, and of course, if we determine that, uh,
perhaps in the example of this past January, uh, we worked
with the Department of Family
and Support Services as well as Chicago Public Library
and some other partners to actually activate, uh,
additional warming centers.
In that case, uh, we were, uh,
activating Harold Washington Library.
So we're gonna continue that, uh,
process throughout this winter as well.
Um, looking for trends and analysis wherever possible.
Okay. Thank you. If through the chair you can send, like,
kind of any of those updates that you were saying, like,
as things move, sometimes the thresholds of the things
that I'm kind of concerned about, I think we kind
of learned this time, right, that there might be federal
thresholds, but sometimes the way it feels
is might be either hotter
or colder in what those thresholds are
to see if there's maybe modifications a city would need
to do to be more proactive.
Um, we also, we also do our, our yearly workshops as well
to make sure all the agencies know their role, uh,
when we read those, uh, triggers. Awesome.
Thank you for that. Um, I got two, well, maybe three.
Alright. So, um, we've got a bunch of neighbors
who rely on faulty apps like Citizen to try
to let them know when there's emergencies, which leads
to a whole bunch of calls
and Facebook tags about something
that's been reported, but unconfirmed.
And so I know, uh, in the past we've kind
of asked about the equivalent of
what a city version could look like
that would have accurate information, um,
because, you know, notify Chicago Smart 9 1 1
aren't really cutting it.
And, uh, these folks are, are in some regard almost addicted
to the, uh, citizen app notifications
that we really need something there.
So is there any work being done to have something
that people can actually rely on?
Uh, so what, what I'll do with that is I'll hand it over
to, uh, uh, Dan Casey, uh, from, uh, BSA
Manager, deputy Public Safety Administration.
It, uh, we have, there is the OEMC app.
Uh, we could build that out more robust,
but you do, uh, you recognize there is a,
there's something there alderman,
and we'll be more than happy
to work with you on that Mm-Hmm.
And look at building something out there. Yeah.
Thank you. And that's a good segue.
'cause you know, last term,
I think we're in our fifth year now where we were working
with Audrey prior.
So really looking forward to working with you, uh, Dion,
as far as it relates to 3 1 1 improvements.
And so we had gotten improvements on
the actual information, right?
Tree trims used to give you the wrong
estimated time and completion.
We were able to get all those fixed as well
as information explaining some of it.
What we were working on next was a number of things.
One was, uh, work orders, right?
So somebody puts in a ticket for a pothole,
it comes back in a system, it realizes it's not a pothole.
It's actually, um, a sinkhole, which then goes from streets
and sand over to department water management.
But your neighbor has no idea.
It comes up as closed
and they think somebody just left them hanging.
So we wanted to have more
transparency as to the work orders.
So wanted to mark that down
and start like, basically kicking back the meetings we had
back then to kind of get that going.
And the second thing was a sandbox.
Um, that was where all of us buy different software
to track all our different constituent requests.
In fact, um, I think we saw, um, John Roberson
and, uh, Lipson trying to figure out how to deal with things
that weren't 3 1 1.
And I believe if we all use the same software across the
board, we'd actually be able to get that standardized
and, and do that better.
So, um, I think similarly wanting to figure out how
to partner with you all to get that in a way that works
and allows us to save money, cut a larger deal for like 50
of these, and then be able to get better service.
So would you, can I have the commitment?
Uh, I know, I don't mean to put you on the spot for us
to continue meetings to work on that stuff.
Yes. I look forward to working with you on that,
Alman. Awesome.
The other thing I'd like, which, uh, actually it's
through the chair, but a follow up, no, I'm just kidding.
Go ahead. Through the chair.
Follow up is, for some reason on Salesforce, we can see
what happens in our ward, but not across the city.
So if somebody's doing a better job responding
to certain things in a different ward than ours,
or there's a different trend as far as
what people reporting, we have zero idea on our end
and we can't even compare across different wards.
So trying to get the access to that would be, I think,
extremely helpful in making all of us just do a better job.
So I think being able to get that, which to me is, I don't,
it's not legislation, it's literally just a policy change
would allow us to all improve.
So I just wanted to tag that.
So through the chair, if you could send us,
you probably already have it, any breakdowns
that you're seeing citywide
or trends like tree trim was one that I think
for a while was an issue.
Uh, uh, there's other things that are coming up.
So any kind of breakdown on what it's looking like citywide
that you could send through us would be
greatly, um, appreciated. Thank you, chairman.
No problem. And just on the,
the 3 1 1 notifications when things do, do, get closed out,
if that's something that we can talk to Salesforce about.
'cause that just seems to me like a messaging issue, right?
So if something's closed out, if there's a reason code
for why it was closed out, because it was
transferred, we should be sending a message.
It's as simple as like, what's the two line response
or the note in that tracking number so
that the constituent has good information.
We get those same calls. You know, I've,
I've put this in 3 1 1 10 times and it keeps closing out
and nothing's happening with it.
Um, and, you know, nine times outta
10 it's been transferred.
Um, but they keep repeatedly putting it in
because they don't have the right information about
what's accurately happened.
They're getting even more frustrated at the end of the day.
So I'm with you on that. Um,
next we've got Alderman Sig Cho Lopez,
and then we're gonna go to non, uh, non committee members.
Alderwoman Taylor after Alderman Sig Cho Lopez.
Thank you, vice Chair. And, um, thank you Commissioner Fi
for being with us today.
Um, I think a lot of the questions I had have been already,
um, uh, answer.
Um, I do just have a few follow ups, one
of them maybe through the chair.
Uh, this is just specific to the word by word level.
Um, I know that we have, uh, uh,
several requests for cameras.
And I think that the, the timing,
and I think this is a recurring topic, you know,
I think a process that, uh, needs more consistency in, in,
in terms of like time of installation, time of request, just
so that our constituents don't have a, a sense
that we are not putting the request
or you're taking longer than, than it should be.
So just for the sake of consistency, maybe
through the chair, you know, for the 25th ward, uh,
you can share the status of the requests.
Um, the other, the other questions that I have, you know,
just in terms of, uh, budget, I know
that there's a significant, um, cut.
And I just for the sake of making sure
that our critical services are not cut,
but contractual services have been cut
for about $15 million or so.
Um, my understanding this is by, uh, co analysis,
this is the co analysis.
Um, this is about a $50 million
or so caught in in contractual services.
We just wanna make sure that that does not impact as,
as you've seen in the, um, uh,
some critical services of emergency.
And generally speaking, another is like a, what is it?
Um, about 13 positions that have been caught,
making sure it doesn't cut critical services.
Your department is, is, is, is around emergency,
55% is police on fire,
wanna make sure it doesn't cut on the, um,
act language access and, and other critical services.
So in general, if you can just share a little bit on terms
of the contractual services that have been caught
and, you know, um, making sure that
that doesn't have an impact on critical services.
So it, it won't have an impact on critical services.
Uh, what you're seeing there is, uh, a stab,
a stabilization of that cut.
So, um, due to covid, we were running our numbers higher,
pushing money back, pushing money, uh,
back to the following years.
And, uh, we no longer are using that protocol.
So, uh, the, the cuts that you're seeing is
where we should have been, uh, post covid
as far as cutting services.
You, you're not gonna see that not from OMC.
Thank you. I know that, you know,
and just, just for the record, and, uh, I'll be brief.
I think that, um, we already had a conversation offline
and I appreciate you being responsive.
Um, in terms of just 9 1 1, and now we have 9, 8, 8 calls.
I think that you, you shared with me some of the, some
of the numbers and, and I think that there is a, a good use
of technology how we can shift, um, some of those calls
for domestic violence for, uh, nonviolent offenses or calls.
And, um, just in terms of the numbers, I do welcome the new,
um, treatment or trauma system, you know, is an investment
that I think will be helpful
and maybe how you can talk about the 9 1 1 calls,
how we can do better in terms of customer service,
making sure that the, the calls are not burdensome for the,
for the people who are calling on an emergency.
I think that response times can be improved.
I think the nine eight day call can be helpful
and maybe you can share a little light
on how that's, that's working.
And then just your, your, your sense of the new system
for mental health calls.
We're gonna be reopening a new mental health clinic in
Pilsen, and I do think that we welcome that
as, as we see in the need.
So, um, I'm also a, a big fan of, uh,
getting the behavioral, uh, telecommunicators on board, uh,
uh, especially expanding the, uh, care unit,
hopefully going into 20 25, 20 26.
Uh, as we, as we spoke
before, uh, we did see an uptick from 23.
And in reference to, uh, 2 1 1 calls, uh, just
to touch on the numbers, we roughly, uh, we,
we forwarded 795 call, uh, 9 1 1 callers to 2 1 1.
Um, but 4,700 from 3 1 1 to 2 1 1, uh,
which is a, a big number.
Uh, but you know, well, well, well needed.
Uh, as far as the 9, 8, 8 numbers, uh, since 2023, uh,
we've seen, uh, that call go from 104 in 2023 to,
uh, roughly 560.
So, uh, we are, uh, making great strides, uh,
because, you know, since, since we were kids,
everybody just taught to call 9 1 1.
I think, uh, we can maybe push our messaging a little, uh,
stronger to, uh, when someone is in, um, mental crisis.
So, uh, I think for that to be successful,
we just gotta be careful on how we message that out.
Uh, I prefer people to call 9 1 1, then let us get people to
where they need to go, especially when they're in crisis.
Um, but eventually we'll get to the point where, you know,
picking up and calling 9, 9 8 8
for suicide hotline is something as normal as calling 9 1 1,
including 2 1 1.
I think it's just, we're in the infancy of it.
I think, uh, in the next, you know, three
or four years you'll see that become more the standard.
Thank commissioner. Uh, I thank you for your service.
I think looking at inspector general recommendations
for efficiencies, uh, I know
that they've been discussion about soft word in terms of,
um, uh, gun, um, and, um, fire detection.
And so far, uh, like the shot spotter,
I do think there's a role for technology,
but I also think it's important
that we follow the recommendations on Inspector General when
the softwares have been discontinuing other cities.
And, um, I do think that there is a role for technology,
but there cannot be, um, a way to replace 9 1 1 calls
and nine eight calls and so forth.
I think that we need to encourage, to your point, uh,
to have more users to, to rely on that.
And, uh, I welcome any efforts to improve response times.
Uh, I do think that, like you said, we're on the right track
and I welcome, um, suggestions on the use of technology,
but know those who have been discontinued in other cities,
I do think we'll be doing a,
a disservice if we go back in time.
Thank you again. Thank
You. Thank
you. Alderman Sigj Lopez.
Um, can we get just a,
and I don't know if I,
I may have missed it through the chair.
How many of the 9 1 1 calls
that we received in the last year, uh, were
for mental health crisis?
We can get that. Absolutely. Great. Thank you.
Absolutely. Um,
and if we have that broken down
by Ward, that would be great.
Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
Uh, uh, chair Taylor, followed by Alderman Lawson.
Thank you, chairwoman.
So you actually asked to one of my questions.
Can we get per ward the number of three one one call
or what other calls that we're getting from each ward?
So is it sh
shootings, is it health?
Is it, can we get that port board
to see And I wanna see us create a dashboard.
'cause a dashboard actually helps us look at it
and how we communicate
and how we would know, like some of the things that we need
to work on at a,
make sure you all have the support in the budget.
Um, I don't really got no complaints
because I've had to use 3 1 1 to save my own life.
So you can't complain about something you ain't
used, but you actually know.
And so what I have appreciated is the folks on the,
the call seem to be a lot calmer when they asking.
So thanks for the, the to for taking care of those folks.
Are we making sure they get a mental health day, A PTO?
Are we providing psychiatrists
and psychologists for the people who answering their phone?
Because I know I've called them screaming
and hollering, so I could imagine what type
of calls they're getting across the city from other folks.
How are we taking care of those 3 1 1 operators?
So the 3 1 1 or the 9 1 1 Operators? Both. Both.
So like I mentioned, like I mentioned, uh, you know,
I wasn't, um, I was being sincere when I, when I said
that I really didn't understand the impact,
uh, until I started working here.
And when you see it upfront and, and,
and personal, I mean, how can I not, uh,
try to make things better for them?
Right? I did it with the police department.
Uh, I'll do it here.
Uh, we added the two new clinicians that are, uh, on site.
Uh, they're building out their strategies with us
and also, uh, their input as well, uh, from the 9 1 1,
uh, leadership team.
Uh, we have the decompression room that we we started,
which is actually come see it.
It's actually phenomenal. Uh,
we're doing mental health training.
Uh, you know, again, one, one-on-one appointments.
Our roll call training has been consistent, uh, even
before, uh, it became, uh, so apparent, uh,
that roll call training has been,
been something that we focused on.
Are you all doing the same folks who do the,
the traffic control?
Is that outta your department
That the TMAs are, are, well,
How are you all taking care of those folks as well?
'cause I've seen people almost running them over,
which ain't funny, but
No, I know. I'm not laughing.
'cause that's the way you put it.
I know the question. I know, uh, uh, you know what?
Unfortunately, I, I haven't been focused on that.
'cause I could, I'm only, I'm only taking so much at a time.
Uh, 9 1 1, I see the impact there.
One, I see the impact there. So I'm gonna take that step
by step, but I'm glad you brought that up.
And that's something that I'll, I'll get
with my deputy director and see if there's some things
that we could do, uh, for them as well.
What kind of clothes y'all buying?
Because it went from 45,000 to not 77,000.
What, what's the clo What y'all buying on page?
I'm sorry. 3 46. It said commodities and materials.
It say clothing. It said 2023 Expenditures.
Expenditures are 40, 46, 4 4, 6 9.
Now y'all asking for 77,000
on page 3 46.
You got it. Even in materials, it's like you only used
12,000, but it say you asking for 83,000.
I For you see the numbers I'm talking about?
Right. So, so I, I have to say that we,
we supply the uniforms for 9 1 1 and OEM.
Okay. Uh, which is over 900.
Uh, so we keep a stockpile, especially for our TMAs
and our OEM and our 9 1 1 operators. Okay.
20,000 on dissent decree
and 23 it was 5,000, now it's 20,000.
This is, it's in the same book.
Just go down where it say consent decree. Yeah.
9,200, uh, line 9 2 9 5. Yep.
Oh. So the consent decree, uh, we have 20 paragraphs in,
in, uh, in the consent decree as well.
Uh, so our focus is our CIT training. Mm-Hmm.
Uh, but I could actually give you a,
be a better insight if I hand it over to,
uh, ra.
Yes, Dr. Dr. RA Washington.
Hello again. My name is Dr. Ra Washington.
Over the supervisor over training department. Yes.
Uh, director Serato is absolutely correct.
So we, um, we team up with NAMI
and CPD for mental health training for all of our new hires
as well as refresher trainings.
Um, so a, according to the consent decree,
about 20 paragraphs that we actually are responsible for
or have a party and role in.
We wanna make sure that our employees are well versed when
it comes down to taking those calls.
As you stated, it could be very gruesome,
but when we collaborate with CPD
and nami, we also have, um, NAMI come in.
They do, they, they do, um, roll call trainings
and they do initial and refresher trainings with us as well.
So some of that money will be allocated towards making sure
that the mental health of responders is taken care of.
Can you just real clear, go ahead for clarification.
Can you provide, um,
what trainings took place in the previous year
that was only 5,000?
And how many more people you anticipate being able to train
with the new budget at 20,000?
Sorry, chair. That's fine.
Through The chair is fine. Yeah.
Can you, can this office send every alderman the link
to those 3 1 1 9 1 1 apps?
So that, what I want you all to understand,
and I think all departments is y'all gotta
lean on us for those helps.
We got social media, we send out newsletters.
I don't, I guaranteed you, if you ask my coworkers
who got the app on their phone,
it's probably Alderman Lopez, probably a handful of us
that got the app on their phone.
I don't even got the app, so I don't got something
and y'all expecting my constituents to download it.
And so can you all send to the alder list those links so
that we can post them up and we can start, try
to push people to actually have it?
Because it's a disservice to have a, a system
where you ain't just calling 9 1 1.
You could, you could text,
there's an actually app I don't like for us to waste money.
And so I don't want it to be a waste
because we didn't communicate.
And so please send that to every office so
that we all can download it ourselves and challenge us.
There should be a challenge. How many,
I guaranteed you asking.
How many aldermen got that downloaded?
1, 2, 3. Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't see behind three.
So we don't believe in the system either. No, it just ain't.
And and I'm just gonna be honest, I, I get a million emails,
but I've never seen it where I could just,
and make it easy so people could just click that link
and they could download it automatically to that phone.
'cause that makes it easier for the seniors in our ward
to be able to use that technology.
Um, the last thing I had was,
you talked about through the chair.
Can you send us all the trainings
that you all put the operators 3 1 1 and 9 1 1 through Yes.
Through the chair. I would just be interested into knowing
what type of sensitivity training they take according
to folks in our community.
Um, and I'm gonna tell you what to what I told,
uh, PSA, if you don't lose it,
if you don't use it, you gonna lose it.
And so those vacancies that you have also come to us
and say, Hey, can you put this out?
Would you be willing to have a hiring fair
at the city colleges?
We'll do that type of stuff.
But you all gotta say to us, we need your help.
That's important. And so
I I tell people all the time when they sit up
here, it's 50 of us.
Don't, don't think you in it alone.
Call us and say, Hey, we're trying to get more.
And I agree with you, where's the training?
So how are you all working with CCPs
to make sure we can get young people when they're in high
school, elementary school to either be training
or to be getting ready to be in those 3 1 1,
the 9 1 1 operators?
Is there a program?
Yes. And and we do need your help because I'm,
You got me So that you're clear.
So, uh, what we do is we host part-time interns over the,
uh, actually this year, uh, was,
we had a really good turnout, uh, with,
with our CPS partners.
Uh, you know, we host four high school summer events.
Uh, we push out our community engagement.
I could hand this over to the doctor again,
but, uh, she's been pretty busy today.
Uh, but we do, we do have a robust, uh,
system that we push out.
And, and, and you're correct, maybe we're not using
our assets as, as, as best as possible,
but we'll, we'll do that moving forward.
We'll make sure that, uh, we push out any information,
any links that we could have as far as any, uh,
hiring engagements, um, our OMC app.
Uh, so I will, I will get on top of that.
Ms Ha. I got you. Thank you. All right.
Thank you Chair Taylor.
So just a two things for clarification on the, um, the,
through the chair request I asked for earlier about the, um,
9 1 1, uh, calls for mental health crises.
Do you guys reclassify those as mental health?
Like, or, or can you,
You know what, let me look into That. Okay.
You look into that, I'll look into
it. Great.
Um, and I did get an answer back from my ga um, the, uh,
the union contract, uh, funds are in finance general.
Uh, they did confirm that they're included.
I wasn't quoted a number,
but I was told that, um, all of the funding for, uh,
contracts that have not yet been negotiated
or finalized that need to be including fire
and um, this particular local are
included in Finance general.
Um, next we're gonna go to Alderman Lawson, followed by,
uh, alderman Fuentes.
Thank you Vice Chair. Uh, appreciate it. Hi director. Hi.
Um, I'm, uh, I'm gonna start off with, uh, TMAs, right?
'cause I have Wrigley Field and the Marathon
and the Pride Parade and we work very closely on our large
scale events and we appreciate the coordination always,
uh, with you and your team.
How are we doing on TMAs year over year?
Um, I, I know we've been low
and I'm, I'm, the other question would be,
what would be the ideal number and then where, where are we?
So our, our ideal number is, uh,
anywhere from four 50 to 500.
Okay. We are, uh, unfortunately not near that number.
We're roughly around, uh, 200, uh, give or take.
Um, you know, the time of the, of the season.
Sure. And, and, and I, I may be reading it wrong,
but it looks like in this budget book on page
3 45, that the TMAs are gonna make $2 less an hour.
I'm sure I'm reading it wrong. Yeah, no, no.
But it looks like the hourly rate was 24 0 8, uh, revised
for 2024, and the recommendation is 2204 or 2025.
I don't know if some of those costs are being shifted
to finance general, um, on benefits.
But there, so right, page 3 45,
uh, TMAs are 41 45
and it's line 91 0 4.
Is that hourly rate, Adam 20 stuck out to me.
Sure. Right, right.
So, so the correct rate is 20, the correct rate is 2204.
Okay. Uh, that was the, the rate, the rate,
uh, in 2024 as well.
Okay. So that rate is staying flat. Yes. Okay.
So maybe we have a typo here.
Maybe sounds like follow up on that. So
Let, let's just confirm that that's a typo
that we didn't pay people 20
that we're paying people $2 less.
Alright. So, um, I
Can answer that.
So yeah, they're, they're a 22.04.
They've been that way since, uh, the contract ended in 2022.
Uh, once the contract is signed, they will get a bump
and it will be over $24 an hour, but not until it's signed.
Okay. So that's just a, that's a scribner's err
In here. Great. That, that's
helpful. Um, let me ask then, so how,
you know, we've had a lot of busy weekends this summer.
We have a lot of busy weekends every summer.
W what is sort of the calculation for how the TMA is?
So let's say you've got everybody on one, you know,
busy Saturday in the neighborhood.
How, how, how do you figure who's going where on,
on a particular day? So
I'm gonna hand that to my deputy director, Bob Lu.
Juicy Suite doesn't just yell it out.
I I should have told him to take the mic right away. Sorry
About that. Uh, Bob
Leki, uh, TMA.
So Alderman, uh, yes, that's, that's a big challenge on how
to, um, employ our, um, resources to different events.
And, uh, it, it is a struggle, obviously.
Uh, the size of the event, uh, has a lot to do with it.
So basically I would say during April, probably
through October, we only handled the major events Now from,
uh, November through March, we could do some smaller things.
But, uh, during the, the busy season,
we only handle major events.
Um, I noticed Wrigley does have a couple
of Northwestern games in November here coming up.
So, uh, that's always a challenge when these venues,
uh, add more things to it.
But, uh, yes, we, we, I work very closely
with CPD special events
and then we figure it out
how we're gonna handle all the events
that are going on in the city.
And, uh, one good thing I know the city hall has, uh,
taken it upon, uh, themselves.
We already had one meeting about trying to, um,
better handle these conflicts so we don't have
so many events on the same day throughout the whole city.
'cause it just drains a lot of city resources.
Uh, agreed. And, and that came up
with the DK hearing as well.
Um, this Saturday is football at Wrigley, by the way,
11:00 AM Um, and there's another one in two weeks.
So I think part, part of it, right, I,
Wrigley is the most regular TMA need that I have in my ward.
And we have talked over the years that the Cubs would love
to take some of that and,
and take care of the themselves, especially those
that are immediately next to the ballpark that have a lot
of very specific needs or access to certain things.
I know that's been an issue, uh, globally for law.
I don't know if that's something that we've talked about,
but we really should as we look at budgets
because, um, we need these events, right?
We need the revenue from these events, the amusement tax
and the tourism, but we've gotta keep 'em all safe.
And part of that discussion, again
with D Case was putting more of that on the organizers,
whether that was with a buyback or with private.
And I think we have to look at that
for traffic control as well.
Um, so I don't know if there's been any discussions you
could mention that,
but I would, I would advocate for that if not.
And I would echo that as well
with the White Sox down on the south side as well.
Yeah.
Okay. Great. Thank you.
Um, same thing goes, we are, we have a dearth
of crossing guards.
Uh, CPS cannot hire them fast enough, cannot keep them.
Um, I don't know that you have tons of hours left
for the TMAs, but there's definitely some higher traffic
schools that could maybe benefit from that.
Has that, and have we ever looked at using
the TMAs around schools?
First day of school being a prop? We used to pretty good day
To have, uh, we used to have the crossing
guards in the past and then they Right.
Uh, they went under CPS,
but, uh, I don't, we haven't had any conversations as long
as I've been sitting here, uh, in regards
to using TMAs, uh, for schools.
I mean, we, we need to supplement that somehow.
Again, if we, we've we're at half as many TMAs as we need,
we're probably at half as many crossing guards too.
And the crossing guards would tell you they'd rather be back
at OEMC, but I'll let them tell you that.
Well, and crossing guards are
responsible for just crossing the kids.
They'll tell you every single time
that they're not there to manage traffic.
Right. Um, so I think that there is a little bit
of a disconnect there.
Right, right. Um, I, uh, alright, we'll move away from,
oh, actually, so I wanna ask about overtime.
Uh, in the COFA analysis here,
it looks like your overtime is trending
much higher than it's ever been budgeted.
And you're not alone there, um,
looks like you're, the budgeted overtime is, is somewhere
between the 66 million
and you're always over 10 with the exception of 2022.
That's correct. So, and,
and this is maybe a, a, a larger issue than,
than just your department obviously,
but we, you know, we're,
we're consistently under budgeting your overtime
and then going to what fund to make up for that.
Just whatever's left in finance general
or whatever is left in
Likely, uh, uh, I don't know
if this is the answer, but Right.
Um, like other departments, if there are vacancies
that generally will help to offset some
of the, the overtime as well.
I don't know the specifics here in OEMC,
but if someone wants to talk about that.
So, um, obviously our vacancies, uh,
drive our, our overtime.
Right. Especially on the 9 1 1 floor.
Um, the DNC uh, took an extreme amount of overtime,
uh, this year to make sure that we, uh, we got that right
and we were 24 hours, seven days a week.
Uh, so we, we have to make sure that, uh, either, uh, we ask
for, uh, volunteers not to, uh, sacrament the CBA,
but also a mandate as well.
So, uh, the overtime that you see constantly over is
because we we're just realistically
short on the, on the floor.
Fair. Fair. Um, I appreciate that.
Uh, so I wanna go back to the care pilot again.
Uh, we have it in the 19th district.
It's very, very successful.
I was the number two ward in care calls only to 46.
Um, we wanna make sure
that the calls are going to the right place.
Obviously there, there was some numbers
'cause I I think the estimate is that 15 to 20%
of 9 1 1 calls have a mental health component.
But I think the numbers were, we're hearing about, uh,
mental health emergency calls aren't really
hitting anywhere near that number.
The mayor said something like 1500 in his budget address.
We know it's higher than that. Um,
and I think it came up too, like, how are we flagging
that 9 1 1 as a mental health and,
and then how does that move through dispatch?
So, uh, as they come in, our operators, uh, uh,
pretty much do, uh, ask questions, uh, to decide what,
what kind of response they'll get.
Uh, but to give you like a clear, clear, uh, view, uh,
I could give this over to, uh, my,
my assistant deputy director from 9 1 1, uh,
Marianne McKeever, who's, uh, also the lead on this as well.
Assistant, oh, Maryanne McKeever,
assistant director of nine one one operations. Uh, hold the
Microphone closer to you. Sorry's.
I hear you. Every call
that comes into the nine one one system is answered
by a police call taker.
That police call taker will, um, ask clarifying questions
and use a triage specifically to determine whether
or not there is a mental health component
to any call that comes in.
Um, any event type can be considered
to have a mental health component.
Okay, great. Um,
and again, standing up the CARES car everywhere is
important I know as well.
And that's something that we're rolling out, um,
from another department's budget.
Um, I think all my other questions have already been asked.
Um, I appreciate that we're taking care
of the mental health of our call takers.
Um, I think that's really, really important.
Um, and, uh,
the one thing I I maybe on the training side, so we,
we get some gripes that, um, people will call 9 1 1.
Let's say it's 11 o'clock after the Pride Parade, right?
Very busy. It's all hands on deck.
Um, they'll call 9 1 1 to report something.
It'll be taken and the comment will go out.
We'll call your alderman.
We gotta call your alderman about that.
And I, and while we love getting calls from our
constituents, it's, it's a,
it's a little disconcerting at 11 o'clock on a Sunday
to think that they can call their alderman.
Of course, if they have my number, I'll probably answer.
Or that we have the ability to do anything the police
or OMC or Fire does.
So just in, in the training piece, like as a follow-up,
call up, follow up with your Alderman is wonderful.
But the, the idea that calling your Alderman will solve
anything immediate is something I just wanna flag so that,
you know, we're not, we're not passing the buck.
And, and whether that's the intention or not,
or just to get the person off the call, um,
I just wanted to put that out there.
So we always wanna be a partner, happy to take the calls
and, and follow up and do the pro proactive planning, um,
which we do on every large event in,
in my neighborhood and all across the city.
So, um, that's it.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Alderman Lawson, uh, we're gonna go to Alderwoman Fuentes,
followed by Alderwoman Mana Haworth.
Thank you Vice Chair.
And thank you, uh, director Aldo for being here this evening
and the entire team for all of the fantastic work
that you all have been doing, not just with the DNC
for every major event, um,
and an activity in the city of Chicago.
Um, you know, it's, I don't take it lightly
that you all make the city safer, so thank you.
Uh, my, my first question is
around a technology called Evolve.
If folks are familiar, it's a AI based technology
that's intended to solve for firearm detection, um,
uh, and particularly UN brass firearm detection.
This particular technology is utilized by some
of our schools, uh, particularly some
of our options schools, noble being one of the largest.
Uh, does OEMC received the notifications from CPS
or, uh, the district itself when
that particular AI software detection goes off in our
schools that there is firearm detection?
So, um, currently I'm gonna have to actually,
I'm not aware of the Evolve system.
Uh, so I'm gonna say, um, I, if I'm not aware of it,
that it's not coming to me.
Uh, but I could ask, um, uh, Ms.
McKeever to see if, uh, there's something
that I could be possibly missing.
But
Mary Ann McKeever, Mary Ann McKeever,
assistant director 9 1 1 operations, um,
I am not aware specifically of the Evolve system either.
However, most calls, um, of that nature tend to go
through a call center that,
and then come directly to 9 1 1 from a human.
So we're not receiving like robocalls
or tele calls of that fashion.
The actual call center would be calling us
and giving the information that we need.
Awesome. Thank you.
I'm gonna pick up where, uh,
alderman Lawson left off on some care questions.
Uh, and director,
you don't have to answer this particularly.
You can assign it to anyone, uh, on your team or in the box.
What would it take to scale up, uh, the response,
uh, for care calls?
So, um, we already asked
for the 14 telecommunicators positions, uh,
going into 2020, uh, five.
Uh, I would have to, just so that I'm clear,
we would be responsible for the dispatching portion of, of,
of that, uh, care program.
Uh, I believe, uh, CDPH is in charge of rolling that out.
And we're, and we're just a,
a pretty much a support unit for that.
Uh, but we'd have to get these positions
to make sure that we could expand that.
And how that expands would definitely be chosen
by, uh, CDPH.
Awesome. Thank you. And then, can you tell me,
what would it take to get to a point
where anyone calling 9 1 1 can request, uh,
non-police response?
And so, for example, I called 9 1 1 today.
There is an emergency.
Is there a, a system
or a process in which I can request a non-police response
through the care model?
And that is the way it's dispatched.
So I'm gonna hand that to Ms. McKeever.
Again, like I mentioned before, she,
she's been, uh, point on this
Maryanne McKeever, assistant Director of 9 1 1 operations.
Um, so I have actually been working with CDPH, um,
the mayor's office, CPD as part of the People's Plan,
um, to identify, uh,
identify circumstances in which a non-police response would
be acceptable by the community.
Um, that's an ongoing initiative.
And, um, we have been working, I would, I wanna say since,
um, spring or early summer last year, um, some
of those circumstances have been identified,
but they do need to be sort of,
um, accepted by the community.
So there's a community engagement piece that's going
to be occurring shortly.
Um, the manner in which the calls are responded to
is also sort of to be determined,
but currently we're working on, um, interactions
between 2 1 1 9, 1 1 3, 1 1, 9, 8 8 in order to make sure
that all of our roles are solidified and identified.
Um, and then we're also working on community engagement
to make sure that the community understands
who they should be calling and when
And how long do we anticipate this community process sort
of taking place to understand what is acceptable
by community for a non-police response.
So that is actually out of o EMC's hands.
Um, and I guess our next piece of the puzzle would be
to, um, modify policy internally
for the actual response that's going to be given.
I know that there are plans for 2025 and 2026.
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you Director for all the work
that you do and everyone in the box, uh,
I appreciate you all being here this evening.
I'll give the rest of my time back. Vice chair.
Thank you for your kind words. Thank
You. Thank you. Alderwoman. Fontes,
uh, Alderwoman. Manina.
Howorth.
Thank you. Vice Chair. Hello Director.
Hello to your team in the box.
I am, uh, also very grateful for all your work
and, uh, thank you for hosting me in my office at OM C'S
building, which is, um, an incredible,
it's it's eyes and ears of Chicago.
It really is. And, uh, meeting those dispatchers
and listening to their stories on
how they got there was really inspiring.
You know, um, I I also wanna say that I, I wanted
to say thank you to Therese,
the PR coordinator in Beverly Carrington from the training
department, who really doesn't care about every single
person who's there working there.
Um, and David Ramos, of course, for, for leading us
through the tour in the camera room.
Um, and I, and I just wanted to comment, um, that I'm
so happy we got through the DNC
and we were, um, nothing, um,
that folks predicted actually happened.
We, we held it together.
We were, um, really a model for
more events like that.
But I, I wanted to say that your workers, um, talked about
that that week and the weeks leading up
after that, that it was really, um, you know,
everybody on deck, all hands on deck.
And the one thing
that they felt when it was over was that it was over.
But the, the feeling that there was
with was there was such teamwork there
because everybody was in it together.
And so I would, I just wanna commend you for that
and your team, um, for leading us through that time.
Um, I wanted to just comment that I,
I did ask about the, um, camera
and how they are connected across the city.
Um, I hope that we can come to a point where,
and maybe we already are working with, um, our schools,
city colleges, um, hud, CHA, um,
CTA, um, on a network that works with all of them, you know,
so that, uh, we could coordinate in times of crisis.
Um, and I also wanted to mention regarding the, um,
the calls for service.
I, I actually work with my commander in the 24th
district, uh, commander Vanna.
And I wanted to know like what are calls for service like,
and, and he shared with me, you know,
besides, um, traffic related
or car related 9 1 1 calls
for service number two is domestic violence.
So I just wanna put that out there that, uh, again,
your workers are really essential, uh, when it comes to that
sensitive, um, incident.
But it's frustrating to me to know that we have this, um,
content management, uh, platform sales Salesforce.
That is, that is the, that is what our 3 1 1,
um, is based on.
No.
Yes. Okay. Uh, can we get to a point where we
as older people can have a better understanding of
how we can use it better,
how we can generate our own, uh, reports.
And, um, and we'd also love to be able to, to track, um,
what 3 1 1 service calls are still open.
Um, and, and I,
and I think about in a way
that you're not a generating revenue department,
but the calls that we would like followed up on, um,
for instance, uh, we could call 3 1 1
or, um, report a car that's sitting in the middle
of a bike lane now.
And so is that something that you are working on in terms of
creating, um, data
and reports so that we can know, like this happened
and, uh, we followed through on it
and a, you know, fine was served
and it was actually, um, collected.
So in regards to, um, uh, the three one system
and, uh, Salesforce, um,
we could actually bring your team in
and we could offer you, uh, some type of training
to maybe understand that a little better.
Uh, in regards to the second part
where you're asking about the vehicle, I'll hand that over
to, uh, Deontay to kind of give you some insight on that.
And, and by the way, just so everyone knows,
deanne's only been doing this job for two weeks
and, uh, she's been spectacular, uh, up here.
I commander for that.
Thank you for that. Uh, Dion, a Tate director
of 3 1 1 City Services.
So in regards to, um, reporting, um, just like the,
the executive director stated, we can definitely get, uh,
I can get in contact with your office
and we can set up the training so that you
and your staff can have a better understanding of
how Salesforce works, um, the different reports
and dashboards that we have in order to assist you
with looking up service,
requesting their status and things of that nature.
So I can look, reach out to you, um,
once budget hearings are over, um,
and then we can see what a time works out best for you.
Thank you. I appreciate that. You're welcome.
Um, I had questions about, you know, we have a department
of environment now, and I, I do believe
that we should be prioritizing, um,
what we're doing in terms of climate, um,
or climate action plan.
And, and it's my understanding that it's, um,
OEM C'S responsibility to create strategies
to, and programs to reduce risk, mitigate the impact
of environmentally disastrous events
to Chicago residents when they occur
and to carry out disaster recovery
and reconstruction programs.
So can you, through the chair, send the current programs
and plans that OEMC are working on, um,
with other departments around this?
Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
And then, um, we had hearing, um, on flooding
and its effect on black and brown communities.
And now, um,
how has OEMC chartered a course to assist Chicagoans
who will be impacted by flooding in the future?
And I believe, um, alter MI might've mentioned this already,
So, uh, what I'll start with is, uh, I don't disagree
with you with the climate change.
Uh, I, I think we are seeing that at, at a, an at a extreme,
uh, rate, uh, with the tornadoes, the torrential downpour.
Um, for us, you know, we're part of the 2022,
you know, climate action plan.
We stay focused with the lake shore, uh, flood response.
Um, so I mean, it's not anything
that we're not, uh, focused on.
I also have, uh, my deputy, uh,
my managing emergency manager, uh, um, Matt Dowdy,
that can give you a little bit more insight on, on
what they're working on as far as, uh, uh, a,
a deep dive into to with the, your question.
Good afternoon, Matt Dowdy, manager
of Emergency Management Services.
Uh, one thing I'll mention is our participation in the Cook
County Hazard Mitigation plan.
So, among other reasons that we participate in this plan,
it keeps us eligible for specific mitigation grant funding.
Uh, we update it every five years in
conjunction with Cook County.
We are an adopting partner of the plan.
Um, and among me, among some of the elements of the plan,
we identify all the actions that we're either undertaking
or plan to undertake in regards
to natural hazard mitigation.
So it might be the installation of rain gardens
and bio infiltration systems.
Uh, we're we're mentioning, uh,
MW D'S deep tunnel expansion, uh, the increase
of green spaces across the city, um,
the water management's basement flooding partnership.
So all the things that can hopefully drive down risk, um,
you know, on an, on an annual basis.
So that, that's something
that we participate in on a regular basis.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Um, you know, we, we weren't hit as, as badly
as some areas, but yes.
You know, there were some folks in in Edgewater
that lost their whole, you know, memories, whole basements.
So I appreciate that response.
Um, through the chair, can you provide any
and all projects you are working on with the, um, department
of Environment and beyond that, I just, uh, again,
I wanted to say thank you for your work
and, um, that's it for me. Thank you, chair.
Thank you. Thank you. Uh, alderman, mana h Penworth.
I got the video. Alright.
Uh, vice chair.
Thank you. Um, there are a couple questions that I've got
that weren't covered, um, earlier.
So I'm gonna start with, um, can we get through the chair
with your 171 vacancies being carried over?
Can you give us a breakdown of, um, each job title
that amounts to, 'cause what I'm trying
to figure out is just with the vacancies that you have, um,
the follow up question is,
how many people have we hired in each one of those classes,
um, on our best year?
Um, 'cause will you be able to hire
or is this, you know, I know that it's sort of been a,
a common practice.
I know CPD is the same way, um,
that vacancies are used to offset overtime.
So the line of questioning really is
how do we budget better for overtime?
Um, so there's two through the chair request.
One is a breakdown by job title of the 171 vacancies.
Um, second part of that question is
how many people did we hire in each of those, uh,
categories in 2024?
Um, and then on the overtime, same question.
Can we get a breakdown of the overtime by job title Abso?
Absolutely. Thank you.
Um, as far as response times go,
and let me just say this first too.
Uh, I know folks have, uh, said
how important this department is.
I, I wanna just reiterate
that you are the first line of defense.
You are actually the most important piece of this
because you, your call takers are the ones
that are dispatching resources.
So, um, it can't be understated that we need
to provide the resources that you need.
Um, for, uh, for, for your folks that are, um,
taking on this huge responsibility.
Um, you know, we get a lot of questions about call times
and stuff like that when people come to our office, um, and,
and ask us about things that are going on.
Well, generally our first question is, did you call 9 1 1?
Um, and the response is,
well, we don't wanna bother the police.
I was like, actually, you're not bothering the police
because when you call 9 1 1, you're getting OEMC
and they're gonna decide based on, you know, the questions
that they have been trained to ask you, um, sort of,
you know, what the, what the priority of the calls are.
And I've, I've had your team out to the ward
to really explain at caps meetings, uh,
'cause those questions, I think, um,
it makes a lot more sense to folks
and once they understand how these calls have
to be prioritized and,
and when resources are dispatched, um,
and either way the, the calls are great
for just data collection too.
Um, can we talk a little bit about, um, just sort
of an overview of average dispatch times
across the different types of emergency calls.
Like how do you, how do you define
and measure sort of success in that?
So you guys collect a lot of data, right?
So you, you see trends and things like that.
And I, I'd, I'd love to understand a little bit better, um,
on how you interact with CPD more broadly,
not just on a day-to-day basis in a minute by minute,
but when you, when you see trends
or are there things that are changing
and, you know, being adjusted as we go along?
So, so I'll, I'll speak to, uh, something that we, uh,
worked on last year, uh, with CPD.
Uh, our focus with large gatherings, uh,
had become an issue for some time.
Um, luckily for me, uh, I came from, from CPD,
so I understood the challenge there.
Uh, what I did not really understand is
how we were dispatching, um, vehicles to that,
uh, to those calls, right?
Uh, so, you know, myself, the superintendent, uh, my team,
his team kind of brainstormed how we respond
and how that, those dispatching
measures, uh, were put in place.
So between the, those conversations, we did change, uh,
parameters based off of, uh, volume of people
and, uh, volume of calls.
Uh, in the past we would, uh, we would assign a patrol car
and then have, have them assess the situation, uh, based off
of, uh, off the call, uh,
after speaking with the superintendent, now, now,
those same parameters, now we'll send a supervisor.
Uh, so you are still seeing the large gathering calls,
but you have a different, uh, approach to, to that call.
So, uh, anything that's that, that he, he
or his team sees that we could, uh, assist on and,
and make, uh, changes on our side, uh, that's,
that's what we, we've been doing.
And a lot of it, uh, comes from, uh, the experience that,
that I, I bring from Chicago and,
and definitely, uh, the leadership
of, of their superintendent.
That's great. Thank you very much for that.
Um, going back to traffic control aids,
I know we've got 150,000 hours budgeted.
Um, can we get the total number of hours
that have been expended as of the end
of October for this year?
And maybe separate out the number for the DNC?
'cause I know that, you know, things are gonna be, um,
there's gonna be an uptick as a sort of one time thing with
that large of an event going on,
and I know we had a lot of folks working.
Absolutely. Great.
And then, um, no one's actually asked about this,
so I'm gonna ask about it Shot spotter.
How, how has the deactivation
of shots spotter impacted o EMC's dispatch?
So, um, particularly in prioritizing calls
and allocating resources,
and what kind of, are you seeing more calls coming in, um,
and how much more difficult is that at, at this point? So,
Uh, to be realistic, you know,
I pretty much am just focusing on what 2025 brings.
And since it's no longer a piece of my toolbox, uh, I,
I'm kind of just a person that would just, okay,
this is no longer a piece that I can utilize moving forward.
Uh, so I can give you a, a, a clear answer on that.
Uh, because I'm already looking at what 2025 looks like.
I totally get that. Um, director,
so let me rephrase the question then.
Calls for shots fired since ShotSpotter was decommissioned.
Um, can we get some data on that?
How many calls for shots fired, um, have we received?
Um, um, um, the reason I'm asking the question, like many
of us that are concerned with the,
the city not having shot spotter as a tool is just how much,
how much harder is it now for police officers to try
to track down where shots are actually being fired?
And this is gonna be a question that I ask
CPD when they come as well.
Um, so for your end of it, uh, my specific question is if,
if you wanna provide that through the chair.
Um, how many calls for, um,
for shots fired have we received by Ward?
Um, and I don't know the exact date
of when ShotSpotter was decommissioned,
but we'll figure out what that date is.
And from that period on,
I would definitely get that too, you through the check,
because I just don't wanna put, uh, uh, how difficult
that might be on, on the, on the officers. Okay,
Great. Um,
and then we've already talked about the,
the language access piece of this.
Um, I'd love to introduce you to some folks
that are doing really innovative things.
Um, in my community, they've developed a software, in fact,
where it's real time translation while
you're on the phone with somebody.
I know we use the language line, um,
and, you know, I'd love to figure out how we get to, um,
maybe see that in action for elders,
especially elders like myself,
who have a large non-native English speaking population.
Um, just to do a little quality control on it.
Because if, if you don't actually speak that language,
you don't actually know what
the right stuff's coming through.
Um, on, on the other end of the call,
Um, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm open to making this better,
so absolutely.
If it's something that, uh,
you think is gonna make us better and make the city
better, I'm, I'm all in.
Absolutely. Well, thank you for
all that, you and your teams.
I don't wanna give Bob Luki a big shout out.
Um, he, he unfortunately gets, when, when I call him,
I usually just call him with emergencies,
but he does come in blue sky times as well.
Um, you know, we've, we've got, we've got a lot
of stuff going on, uh, down and around, um, Sox Park, um,
and we are, we know that we're challenged with the,
the very small number of, uh,
traffic management folks that we have.
So anything that we can do to try to help, uh, address that.
I, you know, you said that ideal numbers four 50
to, to two, uh, sorry.
So four 50 to 500, and we have about half of that. Yes.
Um, so, you know, if that is something we need
to pay people more to do, um, maybe that's something we need
to look at as well, because those are really invaluable
resources and we, we do get so stretched, um, especially
during peak times in the summer.
So, but thank you for all that you all do.
Thank you, chair. That's all I've got.
Thank you. Thank you. Vice Chair Lee.
Uh, kind of piggybacking on something that you, uh,
talked about the, uh, TMA, uh, the traffic control age,
like, do, do the White Sox pay us
for having those folks out there, um, at the, at the games,
the Bulls and all these other people?
Do they pay for that service or do we just provide
That? No, no. They, they, they
pay for that service.
They actually, uh, uh, for every game.
Oh, okay. So they, oh, we get reimbursed for that.
And any concerts, all of all of those.
So when do, when do we provide
traffic control services just
as a municipal service versus a special event?
So, I, I know off the top of my head, it's, uh,
any city sponsored event, uh, that needs TMAs, will,
will provide that service without, uh, uh, expecting any,
uh, without reimbursement.
Right. Okay. Alright. That's cool. MCC Coleman,
Thank you, chairman Irvin, um, publicly
and privately, thank you for, uh, being
so congenial and diplomatic.
I know that Chairman Beavers would've appreciated
as he was a proponent for public safety in OAMC.
Uh, so glad to have you.
I just want to say that Beverly Carrington is probably one
of the most kindest spirits leaders in your office.
She represents OEMC, so, well, especially in the 16th ward.
Uh, there were about eight summer events.
O-M-O-E-M-C was well represented
because of her and the team,
And she loves doing it.
Yes, absolutely. A hundred percent loves doing that. Yes.
Yes. Question. I don't know if, uh, chairwoman Taylor
talked about or discussed, but if I am a victim
or I have witnessed, uh, a domestic violence event,
how is my call handled
and where is it subject to or sent to,
and how, how are domestic violence incidents handled?
I'm gonna hand that over to, uh, Maryanne McKeever,
but you're asking, not if
I'm a victim of domestic violence,
or if I've witnessed, witnessed
It, Uh, a domestic violence act happening
to someone else and I contact nine one one.
How is that call handled?
Ms. McKeever, Maryanne McKeever, assistant Director
of 9 1 1 operations.
Um, so when you call as a victim,
the call taker is gonna gather your information
and re um, create the event, which will be sent to dispatch.
The dispatcher will send a unit, um,
if you have witnessed a domestic, a unit, a unit,
A unit, is there any specific unit?
Two, A two man unit is required for domestic incidents.
So you would receive two police officers probably in one
car, but possibly in more than one car minimum.
Um, if you have witnessed a domestic violence event,
then the call taker is also gonna gather your information
or, and ask for descriptions, things like that of
what you witnessed and the people that you witnessed
that event will be sent for dispatch as well.
And a unit will respond with two officers,
or two officers will respond.
So our domestic violence calls, are they documented
or tracked by your office?
All events that are created are in our CAD system
and are retained as such by the parameters
of the way that we retain events,
Uh, through the chair.
Can you give me, um, all domestic violence
specific calls from E-O-E-M-C?
Uh, what we have found in our hearing in the, uh, public,
uh, police and public safety committee is these cases
are sometimes just not being prioritized, not
by your office, but when it comes down to the dispatch
of those officers either responding
or addressing, uh, domestic violence incidents.
And then I wanna touch on missing women and girls.
If my child is missing, is it the 24 hour or 48 hour,
or if I know someone missing, what is the timeline
of when this is considered a missing person's report?
Uh, what is the response and how is that also handled
or dispatched from your office?
If I call 9 1 1,
There is zero timeline if you report someone missing.
Okay. So I call 9 1 1. And then what happens?
So if you were to call 9 1 1
and say that your person was missing, um,
the event would be generated as a missing person.
Um, there is an elevated priority level for people
who are under the age of 10 who are missing.
Um, otherwise, either way, the event will be created
and the police will be dispatched
For a report. Okay. Through
the chair.
Another finding from that public safety meeting is
that if a, uh, young black girl at the age of 12
was missing, uh, she is categorized
as a woman and not a child.
Uh, we find that extremely problematic and concerning.
So through the chair, I'm doing some research here.
If you can provide missing women
and girls cases, um, it will be great.
Can you break it down
by ward? These calls,
They can be broken down by ward.
I'm not necessarily, I'm not sure
that we could break it down by, by age.
I'm okay with age, but by ward of missing women and girls,
and also domestic violence.
I love to see where the, uh, we know
that it's been in the uptakes, especially pre post covid,
but I'd like to know by ward on that other, uh,
through the chair request.
Absolutely. All right. Thank you so much, chair. Thank
You. Thank
you. Any other questions? Any other questions? Okay.
I just got a couple questions. Uh, 9 1 1 prioritization, uh,
I understand, and it, this may predate you, uh, chief, um,
there was supposed to be a review of 9 1 1 priorities, um,
as far as the call prioritization
and, uh, calls that we maybe should not answer.
Um, has the department undertaken anything along those lines
to look at calls, look at their prioritization,
look at things we may not need to respond to
or have undertaken any type of a study along those lines to,
you know, make some decisions?
'cause as I recall, we pretty much respond to everything.
Uh, however, that's not what
the national norm is.
And we talk about calls that are wraps
and all of that type of stuff.
Maybe we shouldn't be answering certain types of calls so
that officers are free to answer the calls
that we need them to answer.
Has, has, has, has your office undertaken any type of a
study or look at that type of a,
Uh, I directly have not.
Uh, I know it's something that's been in conversation.
Uh, I will hand it over to Ms.
McKeever who was also, uh, filling in and doing a great job.
Uh, thank you. Uh,
but she's, she'll break that down for you. Okay.
Assistant director, Maryanne McKeever.
Um, so in conjunction with C-P-D-C-D-P-H
and the mayor's office, there has been an initiative
to gather data about, um, events that might,
or circumstances that might be handled by, um,
entities other than the police.
And that is an ongoing, um, set of, of,
um, research and initiative.
Um, the idea being that there are
circumstances, um, that occur
to which police are currently responding, um, that
for which it might not be necessary for them
to respond ultimately.
And so, um, the actual event types
and the actual priority levels are, um,
still being determined.
And the actual responses
that would be the alternative are also still
being determined.
Um, the steps that are being taken now are
to provide a coordinated effort amongst
9 1 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 1 1, and 9, 8, 8, um,
and to determine, you know, the clear lines by which each
of us should be, um, upholding our responsibilities.
And, um, in addition, um, community outreach in order to
allow the community to
understand when they should be calling.
Who,
Um, thank you for that.
Has any, uh, uh, I apologize I wasn't here.
Has anyone asked for wraps by, uh, by district
and by ward, uh, during this conversation today?
No. No, no.
Ma could you guys provide that, uh, through, I guess
through the quarter, up through the quarter to the, uh,
through the chair, uh, to see what the, uh, wraps look like?
Or have they improved or are they going up,
or what's happening in, in that, in that round?
Um, also, when
do you dispatch supervisors to
certain calls?
And I, I say this
because every video that I see of
something that's generally gone left, um, I
don't see supervisors in those videos.
I rarely see supervisors in,
there could be 5, 10, 15 members of the department.
But I, I rarely if ever see a supervisor.
Is there a protocol by which,
if certain a certain call comes
or something happens that you all find a supervisor
to dispatch to that location?
Or is it that the supervisor on, on his
or her own has to figure out I need to, I need to go
to this particular call?
Uh, I, I believe, uh, there is, uh, based on the priority
of the call, uh, supervisors dispatch,
as I mentioned earlier, like large gatherings that changes
that we made, uh, I'll, I'll give it to Ms.
McKeever again so that she can talk to in the process.
But there are jobs where dispatchers are, I mean, uh,
supervisors are, are sent as well. Um,
Maryanne McKeever, assistant director supervisors are
dispatched routinely by policy where app applicable.
Um, otherwise if a, an officer in the field
who has responded to an event where a supervisor is not dis
by, dispatched by policy, asks
for a supervisor, one will be sent.
Okay. Alright. And are there, through, through the chair,
could you provide a listing of calls that supervisors,
there is a automatic dispatch of a supervisor, uh, to
V versus I guess a list of what,
I guess the type of call that that could be?
Um, 'cause I think it's very important that, uh, we get
supervision on some of these scenes.
I think with supervision, a lot of stuff can be mitigated,
but when you don't have supervision, that, that seems
to be the points where things tend to go awry.
So, um, I think that would be, uh, something
for us to, uh, take a look at.
Um, I know previously you all were in the process
of updating your cad.
Have you guys completed that?
Or where are you all in that process?
Uh, we're still, uh, currently in the process
of completing, uh, uh, our CAD at this time.
And, uh, uh, how, I guess,
how far along are you in that process?
Uh, what I'll do is I know that, uh,
I mean the current system that we, we utilize is,
is gonna be extremely, uh, hard to, uh, replace.
Uh, so we're doing our due diligence to make sure that, uh,
we get it right the first time.
I, I could hand it over to, uh, Dan Casey so he can answer,
uh, to where we're at in, in regards to the cad.
But, uh, I, I understand the challenges
'cause we wanna make sure we get it right.
We have to get it right. Dan,
Good morning, Dan Casey
office about safety administration.
It, uh, right now the current go live date is for March.
However, as the executive director said, we are gonna run
through multiple testing to ensure that that system, uh,
delivers what the city needs.
Oh, okay. That's good. March next year,
March, 2025.
That is the target deadline, uh, to go live.
However, we do have to go through several rounds of testing.
Oh, okay. That, that's, that's great. Glad to hear that.
Uh, my final two questions.
One is dealing on your, uh, on grants.
Um, your, uh,
first responder wellness program, is that specifically
for just OEMC employees
or is that for anyone in the public safety realm?
So the first Responder wellness program, um, was, uh,
a grant that was given to, uh, uh, C-P-D-C-F-D, uh, and OMC.
And then, uh, we all split that in, in, in portions to,
to make sure that we address our wellness.
But I, I, I'll definitely give you, uh, I'll give it,
I'll pass it on to Natalie so
that she can give it Natalie Guttier so
that she can give you a better, better
scope on, on that as well.
Okay.
Good afternoon. Um, alderman? Yes.
So just as the director mentioned that wellness grant was,
um, advocated by State representative Lindsey La Pointe,
and one of her main concerns was that, uh,
fire department in OEMC were kind of behind on some
of the funding allocations when it came to wellness.
And so they, uh, she heavily advocated for OEMC
and FIRE to have the larger of the allocation.
So it was a $10 million grant that came into the city
and 5.7 of that was allocated for fire
and 2.3 for OEMC out of 10.
Um, and that was, so to bring them up to speed.
And I think the director had mentioned a few
of the initiatives that they're working on under that grant,
including two, uh, clinicians that were able
to be hired under that program.
Right. And I, I, I noticed
that you did have two clinicians, uh, as the balance
of the funding being, uh, done contractually.
The balance is contractually, yes, it's
for different initiatives,
but it'll all be under, uh, contracts
that the city will have, um,
anything from a wellness space outdoors, indoors,
additional technology to support the
9 1 1 operator operators.
Um, but that will all be done under most likely a 0 1 40.
Okay. Fair.
And the last, I'm sorry, one
of the grant related question was around UIC.
Uh, what is the department doing with its funding under UIC
Alderman Natalie again? Um,
so UIC comes in, uh, for all
for public safety departments and they share the grant.
So, uh, OEMC, you'll see in their budget
and allotment for ui, uh, police, fire
and PSA also have a UI allotment.
The grant, as you know, is for, uh,
terrorism homeland security funding.
And so that has to be the priority,
no matter which department has it.
Historically, years ago it was all housed under OEMC
and then to kind of write the budget
and give everyone a better overview of
how the funding's used, now it's allocated
amongst all four departments.
And what do you all do specifically with your allocation?
So O EMC's allocation goes towards
several different programs.
Um, they do poll marking, so some of those poll markings
that you've seen along the lakefront
and others where if you're in between addresses
and wanna call 9 1 1, it's linked to the cad.
So you're able to look up, give them that unique identifier
and it gives the, uh, nine one one call taker a better
location accuracy for where you're at.
Um, coop planning.
So we all went through that ahead
of the DC especially each department had to, uh,
put into a system what their plan is.
If they have to relocate, move their physical location,
what kind of assets and support would be needed?
Um, the CERT team,
so their volunteer program throughout the city, uh,
we supply minimal supplies for the cert team through that.
Safe Chicago the director mentioned.
So the tourniquet kits, um, they've been, uh,
rolled out under the USE program
and continue to expand, um, every year in terms of
who gets the kits and who we're training on those
and the bollards.
So you've seen the portable bollards out
during special events that kind of helps to ensure
that vehicular terrorism
and other things can't get into the perimeter.
Those were started under UI as well.
Okay. Thank you much.
Um, and my final question in this one is, I am
so glad you all fixed the three one one app, uh, on my phone
because I couldn't, uh, input potholes, uh,
when I was out on the, uh, street.
'cause I had an an, I have an Android phone team, droid, um,
Uh, team Droid, and I couldn't input my 3 1 1 request
in alleys or wherever.
So I'm thankful that you all fixed the 3 1 1 app.
And, uh, are you, you are our new director for 3 1 1.
Very well thank you and welcome to the team. Thank you.
Um, again, it's uh, 3 1 1, I, I think, uh,
I think we kinda set the curve on, on 3 1 1, uh,
from a major metropolitan cities
and I think it's, uh, probably one of the best things
that we could have ever done to get services directly
to our, uh, constituents.
So appreciate you guys getting the
3 1 1 app back up and rolling.
Um, and, uh, getting, so we can get the services
to our, our constituents.
Uh, anyone have anything before we close out today?
Oh, sure, go ahead, director.
So I just wanna take, uh, uh, one second just
to thank my team, uh, for the amount of work
that they put in on a daily basis, uh,
for answering my calls at one
or two o'clock in the morning when I need quick answers.
I cannot thank you enough.
Uh, the city cannot thank you enough
and I, I really do, uh, appreciate you
and it doesn't go unnoticed. Thank you.
Alright, I'm gonna ask this question for Alderman Taylor.
Uh, you guys, do you guys use pagers?
I do not. I do not.
It was, it was in who, what department was that?
Was that, uh, O-O-P-S-A?
So it had a line item for pagers
and we were like, who uses a pager?
And so we, I see a similar says communication,
yours at least says communication devices,
but the money's always almost the same.
So it was kind of funny. So, but none nonetheless.
Uh, committee, we will stand at ease
until Friday at 10:00 AM Friday.
Yes, we have a special meeting on
Thursday, ladies and gentlemen.
And then, uh, we will be up on Friday.
Uh, tomorrow we we're scheduled to be out,
so we will be back on Friday at 10:00 AM
Thank you guys.
Might be
What?
Yeah, no problem. Listen,
I was nervous at first. I
was like, look, stop, stop saying it was okay. Oh yeah.
Just got like talking over. No, don't ask
Doctor. Great
job. Great job. Put your time in the box. Great job.