Good morning.
The Committee on Budget and Government Operations will come to order.
We'll start with a roll call. Vice Chair Lee.
Alderman Espada. Alderman Dowell.
Alderman Robinson. Alderman Yancy.
Alderman Mitchell. Alderman Harris. Alderman Beale.
Alderman Ramirez. Alderman Quinn. Here. Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Moore. Alderman O'Shea.
Alderman Mosley. Alderman Rodriguez.
Alderman Scott.
Alderman Sitcha Lopez. Alderman Burnett.
Alderman Taliaferro. Alderman Cardona.
Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez. Alderman Conway.
Alderman Quezada. Alderman Villegas.
Alderman Mitts. Alderman Sposato. Alderman Nugent.
Alderman Vasquez. Alderman Napolitano. Alderman Riley.
Alderman Knutson. Alderman Martin. Alderman Hatton.
Alderman Silverstein,
and Chairman Irvin makes 17. We do have a
quorum.
Now is the time set aside for public comment.
We have three speakers today, beginning with Ms.
Jessica Jackson.
Followed by George
BlakemoreYou
may proceed.
So, Jason Irvin.
So since you
violated my rights and had me not be able to come
here for 60 days, which was extremely
detrimental to not only me, but to the
public.
Because what you did was, you wanted to make sure that the
message didn't get out. You wanted to make
sure that I didn't alarm the people to
not vote for your wife.
You wanted to make sure that I didn't talk about the budget and
that you all got raises. You wanted to make sure
that we didn't talk about the fact that illegal immigration money was still in the
budget, that it wasn't about this bogus argument that you all put to the
public about a corporate head tax.
And so you got your goons to go along with it, and
that would be the members of city council,
because all of you are trying to protect each other.
But the main thing that I discovered during that 60 days, and then you're going to
get your letter. You probably got it already from the mayor's office,
where the inspe-- what's that? Kwame Raoul is investigating my open
meetings act violation. And then from there, of course, the
lawsuit will come, because that's how I get down, right?
It's way more than just being at this mic for me.
Every time you make a wrong turn, every time city council make
a wrong turn, every time Cook County make a wrong turn, I'm going to meet you in
court.
So you can flaunt around all you want and make people think that you ain't
worried about it. Yes, you are. Everybody's worried about court.
Unless you pay off judges.
Now, if you're paying off judges, then you're not worried about court.
But we own them judges' bumpers too now.
So the other day, I did a radio station, and I'm not going to say what the radio
station is, because I don't want to get them in trouble.
But the theme that I pushed was
that we have to elevate our minds politically, that we can't
stay at this very low bottom of politics
right now. That in order for us, Chicago, to get out of this
clearly rut that we're in, it's going to require that we elevate
our minds politically. And that's on, like y'all say, on both
sides of the aisle.
And one of the things that we have to get through our head is that, yes, we can get
you all out your seats. Yes, we can get you locked up.
And now all this protection that Governor Pritzker is giving to you all
because he's stealing property. Yes, he is, because Governor
Pritzker elects, he appoints, excuse me, he appoints the
public administrators. And I have the documentation, and everybody in
here know it, don't you, Ron Moseley?
That Governor Pritzker
appoints the public administrators, and public administrator Louis G.
Apostle is stealing our property.
He's stealing our property. We coming for Pritzker.
Thank you for your comments. Next we'll have Mr.
George Blakemore,
followed by Lynetta Thomas.
Also want to recognize Alderman Beal
for the purposes of quorum.
Don't beat up on Mr. Irvin. The system,
Caleb Farrell,
O'Shea, all of y'all.
Young man,
you are a part of a corrupt group,
and you are corrupt, and everybody here is corrupt.
Caleb Farrell, no, he's a part of it.
If somebody robbed me,
break in my house, and you see them robbing me, and
you silent,
you're part of the problem. Every one of you know,
and she keep on focusing on Irvin.
Irvin broke in the house, but they saw him
abuse you. The way this process work in a
democracy, if Mr. Blakemore is loud and out of order,
you call the police, and you sign a complaint,
and then you go to court. But that process never did
take place with Ms. Jessica that way.
They just typed up a letter and say, "You can't come back
until 60 days." All of that is
illegal. And then she go, "I'm going to
call Raoul."
Wait a minute, all of y'all.
Alderman Beal, you too. Sit down.
Sit down, all of you. Alderman Beal, all of you.
Tell him, have some respect. Sit down.
Say, Raymond Lopez, all of y'all. When you see them,
excuse me for using that language, but you see them abuse me and do
something wrong, you're a part of the problem.
You're a part of the problem, Raymond Lopez.
You bought some pictures from me, and I need money.
But you are part of this problem. You are
part of these gangsters.
Ms. Lee, I like you. Monique, I like you, too.
But you all are a part of... Man, look at me.
Tell these people, tell that woman, she shouldn't have been out that time of night.
All of y'all,
all of y'all,
every one of you,
the process, if Mr. Blakemore was out of order...
The police say you can't go back upstairs. You're a part of it, you police.
All of y'all are a part of this.
All of you.
Brother saved and crucified. And you would sell him
out. You would sell us. All of us.
That man is laying there, he's down because
of police brutality that happened.
He didn't deserve it
Thank you for your comments. We also like to recognize
Alderman
Michelle Harris, Alderman
Tommy Knutson,
Alderman Greg Mitchell,
Alderman Nick Sposato.
Somebody else. Oh, Alderman Lamar Robinson.
For the purposes of quorum,
Ms. Thomas, you may proceed.
Good morning, chair members of the Committee on Budget and Government Operations.
My name is Lynetta Thomas.
Today, I'm wearing this Brandon Johnson shirt as a protest,
not as support. I once stood with this administration.
I no longer do. I stand with Chicago residents demanding
accountability because
what we are experiencing does not match what we were promised.
This committee oversees how billions of dollars are spent and how this
city is managed. So I'm asking you directly, what are we funding,
and what results are we getting? Chicago budget exceeds $16
billion, yet residents are still facing unsafe public
spaces, inconsistent response, and gaps in
coordination. That is not just a public safety issue, that's a
management failure. The death of Sheridan Gorman should have been a
moment of leadership and accountability.
Instead, there has been silence. No meaningful acknowledgement,
no clear commitment to change. And to Alderman Maria Hadden,
yeah, you know I was coming for you, baby girl.
With respect, when statements are made that
tragedies happen because someone was in the wrong place at the
wrong time, that does not reflect accountability.
That reflects deflection. Our residents deserve better than that.
Let's be clear. This city funds its priorities with
taxpayer dollars, including sanctuary
policies. And when those priorities fail to protect lives, we
cannot separate the budget from the consequences.
The two are directly connected. This committee has the authority to
demand better. Audit where the money is going, measure outcomes,
not intentions. Ensure coordination across departments
responsible for public safety and public spaces, because
behind every budget line is a real person, and
when systems fail, people pay the price.
Do your job, demand accountability, and make sure
this city is managed in a way that actually protects
its people. And Alderman Mitchell, right? That's his name?
Alderman Greg Mitchell.
Go check on that building. And you know what I'm talking about.
Thank you for your comments.
Also entertain a motion to allow for virtual participation,
by Alders Barce, Lopez, Rosana Rodriguez Sanchez,
Anthony Cazata, and Alderman Andre Vasquez.
Is there a motion? So moved, all in favor? Excuse me.
How many?
At
23. All right.
Moved, all in favor signify by saying aye.
In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have it.
And we-- Alderman Vasquez?
Present, Chairman.
Alderman Cazata?
Present, Chairman.
Alderman Baron Cesar Lopez?
Alderman Cesar Lopez?
Okay.
Committee will now approve the monthly Rule 45 report
for March 2026, which was transmitted electronically to all members.
Can we get a motion to accept it?
So moved for Alderman Yancy. All in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed? In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have it, and
this matter will be accepted.
We now move to consider item number one of our agenda, which is a communication
recommending the adoption of an annual appropriation ordinance year
2026 amendment within Fund
925 as a direct introduction. Chloe Belcik from the
Department of Budget is here to
provide an explanation. You may proceed.
Good morning.
Today's amendment is for Appropriation Ordinance year 2026
for amendment within Fund 925 for the Chicago Department of Public Health and the
Department of Planning and Development.
The total appropriation request is for
$10,052,000.
The first amendment is for the Department of Public Health, which
has been awarded additional federal pass-through grant funds in the amount of,
total amount of $52,000 by the Illinois Department of
Public Health for the Maternal and Child Health Services Grant program.
The Department of Planning and Development has been awarded state grant funds in
the amount of $10 million by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity for the construction and/or renovation to buildings,
additions, and/or structures grant program. Thank you.
Any questions?
Alderman Lopez?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good
morning, members of the committee.
I move to recess until 11:30
For what purpose?
All right, so we have a motion to recess.
We have a motion to lay that on the table.
Hold on, hold on. So we'll move into an immediate roll call on the
tabling of the motion to recess.
Well, she moved to table that, and that's not debatable.
So
on the motion to table,
Alderman Sposato.
Precedent has been set in the past about this, so it'd just
be nice to know why. I would support if there's a valid reason.
Again-
This is something that's been done recently and, you know-
Again, you made a motion to recess.
I got to make a decision based off of no information. Thank you.
Okay.
So there's a motion.
So do you wish to withdraw your motion for an explanation, Alderman Hatton?
Do you wish to withdraw your motion for an explanation to allow...
No? Okay. Okay. Okay,
so
she withdrew a motion. Is there a-
Okay
... rationale to your explanation?
Again, thank you chairman, members of the committee.
Appreciate our colleague from the 49th Ward withdrawing the motion so
that I could explain this.
We've had three iterations of this agenda
issued on the 31st of March, and then again on the 31st of March, which
included a resolution submitted by many members of this committee
with regards to the full implementation and
execution of the fiscal year 2026 budget.
Yesterday, a different variation of today's agenda
was published that excluded that said resolution.
We would like
to recess until 11:30, when the
amended agenda with the resolution was properly noticed,
so that we can have a discussion on said resolution.
That is the intention of this resolution, so that we do not
have to take any other parliamentary moves against other items on the
agenda.
Does that suffice?
Alderman Hatton.
Just a couple follow-up questions, Chair.
Maybe could we hear a little bit more about the items that
our colleagues want to have heard?
Sure.
I need a little bit more information about that.
And then
was that a
threat of taking action against items already
on the agenda if you don't get what you want? Because that's how I heard that.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding it.
I can't answer that question, but what I can tell you is that the
initial resolution was intended to be on
the February agenda. There was a mistake
that I take responsibility for because the item that was placed on the
agenda was the item regarding the transfers
and the reductions of expenses, when in fact, because that matter had not been
settled globally because as the way that
ordinance was written, it applied to everyone, but that had not been a conversation
for everyone. So there was a mistake in that one not coming on the agenda
in the February meeting. I did put it on the agenda for the March meeting after
discussion with the budget director, that she was prepared to move forward with the
discussion on that. However, she's had some family matters that have
come up this week that have prevented her from being even in the building on today.
That is why I took it off of the agenda.
I told that to
the maker of the resolution this morning,
for as it related to her not being present to have that conversation on
today. As I told her, we would have that meeting.
I'm not sure if it's going to be probably toward either the end of this
month or beginning of next month as we go through the quarterly conversation
over the budget in its totality, which is also a part of the implementation.
So no way, shape, or form looking to dodge or not have the
matter heard, but I think it's important that the person that has to do the
implementation be here for that conversation, and when I was informed that
she was unable to be here, that's when I made the adjustment. So.
Alderman Nugen.
Thank you, Chair, and you did relay that this morning.
I don't believe we need the budget director to pass this resolution.
If we feel it's imperative to have somebody from the budget office, I'm sure
that there is somebody from the team that could be here.
Nonetheless, I would be grateful if we could
move on the motion to recess to 11:30 to come back and deal with this matter.
Thank you.
Alderman O'Shea.
Chairman, there's more than 60 people
in the budget office.
There's nine with titles, leadership titles, all making
more than $170 grand a year.
We can't get one of those folks to take an elevator down and come
before us?
Folks,
we're in the second quarter of a budget we passed.
Whether you liked it or not, whether you supported it or not, we got a
real financial crisis here in our city.
Can we get someone downstairs to sit before us?
Okay. The motion to recess is on the
floor.
You want a roll call on that motion? All right.
Vice Chair Lee.
Alderman Lospada.
Alderman Dow.
Alderman Robinson.Alderman Yancey.
The motion is to recess till 11:30.
No? Okay.
Alderman Mitchell.
Alderman Harris.
Alderman Beal.
Alderman Ramirez.
Alderman Quinn.
Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Moore.
Alderman O'Shea.
Alderman Mosley.
Alderman Rodriguez.
Alderman Scott.
Alderman Tichá Lopez.
Alderman Burnett.
Alderman Burnett is not here. Alderman Taliaferro.
Alderman Cardona.
Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez.
Alderman Conway.
Who was that?
Alderman Conway.
Alderman Quezada.
Nope.
Alderman Villegas.
Alderman Mitch. Alderman Sposato.
Alderman Nugent.
Alderman Vasquez.
No.
Alderman Napolitano. Alderman Riley. Alderman Knutson.
Alderman Martin. Alderman Hatton.
Alderman Silverstein.
Chairman Irvin votes
no.
By a vote of 15 to five, the motion to recess passes.
We will resume at 11:30.
Interesting.
This is what we're still-
Antoine.
Antoine couldn't log on.
I think they're staying.
He chose to put their lights.
I wasn't expecting to
get caught in this political-
At all. They didn't vote.
They could've voted on this.
Oh, yeah. Easily. But I think they just, no, they just have to hold it hostage.
But, we talked about both of them,
but Riley
People come back
from six
feet
last year
claiming
that
he
appears and the people don't
care. He doesn't care. You
walk around sometimes days get loud.
I'm going to take it on the road. He don't care.
It doesn't take turns anymore.
When you dead and gone, the same death’s going to be going on.
Yeah.
I was born alive. I'm going to live...They don't
care.
How you doing? They don't care.
I'm going to go live and put it on my Facebook.
And I know people-- The people don't care.
Why the hell you going to Facebook and showing them? They don't care.
That's how
they can get away with it.
He's working.
But he does not know now.
You going live on Facebook. They going
to
throw him in the damn
jail.
That's right. That's why. People always--
No, people wouldn't. They
wouldn't. Yeah. You've
been- The
journey
economy, I mean- Amen. I'm going
to
show
the people what's going on down there.
They're blessing everybody, and I'm going live to see how.
If they going to come on here, you go live all the time.
These people don't care.
The people don't care. What you mean you're going live?
I'm going to show somebody is dying here.
I'm going to tell them why my neighbor was paid.
They don't care.
I'm going to show their death. There's somebody here, I think, on the
phone today. Lookie here.
Somebody. They don't
care. I'm going to show.
For the last maybe, I
will show it all about and how they do
death. I know what I'm seeing, people.
That's how I got our ears over our ears.
Our records in our ears, can't even shut up. It's live.
People on telephone. Uh-huh. They don't care.
I'm going to expose them. They don't
care. You done gone live on
Facebook, and you go viral, and they don't care.
I'm going to expose how you did, not all
of us, but I'm going to put them on live here on Facebook. They don't care.
All
right.
Meeting is called back to order.
Can we get a motion to accept the
item number one, which is a communication recommending the adoption of the annual
appropriation ordinance year 2026 amendment within Fund
925?
So moved. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
Any opposed?In the opinion of the chair, as the ayes have it, this matter will be
reported out
at our next city council meeting on April 15th, 2026.
Committee, now we'll take a look at items two and three, which are fund transfers
within the Committee of Finance for year 2026, and a transfer
of funds for the 40th Ward wages allowance and automatic expense account for year
2026.
Is there a motion?
Chairman Dowell?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to speak to the item for the
finance committee so that my colleagues know what this transfer
of funds is being used for.
We have a small claims division within the finance
committee. That committee has always operated on
paper. You file your claim, you file it on paper.
You send us a letter, you file it on paper.
My goal when I
became the chairman was to update the system
so that it is a system where you can file your claim
or small claims online. That has
been done. We've identified a company, and this
use of funds is to actually start that process
with the new company.
Thank you.
Any questions for the chairperson?
Chairman Irving, I am here, Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez.
Okay, alderman.
We will record you as being present for the
purposes of quorum.
Any other questions for the-
Do we need a vote to allow me to
participate?
You are-
Oh, okay. Thank you
... already
admitted.
Thank you.
Okay. All right.
All right. All in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed?
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and this matter will be reported out
at our next city council meeting on April 16th. Alderman Moore?
Quorum. That was a given. We call attending.
Alderman Moore, we have you
in, as well as Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez.
You are a virtual participant. You've already been admitted under Rule 59.
Is there anyone else who was not here earlier that is here now?
Alderwoman Ramirez, Chairman.
All right. We did not have a Rule 59 for you.
Is there a motion to allow Alderman Ramirez to participate virtually? So moved.
All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed?
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Thank you, Nick.
Alderman Ramirez, we have you here
virtually. Very well. Okay. All right.
So, that leaves us one item left. So,
two things. Number one,
this item is up for discussion. Per
conversation with
corp counsel, Ray, if he wants to explain, he can.
We can have a discussion on this. However, we're unable to take final action
on this, which means that we couldn't vote on it.
We'd have to come back at a separate time to actually vote on it,
with it being properly noticed for
voting. But we are free to have a discussion.
The only thing is that we just can't take final action on the item.
Which one? Go ahead, Alderman Beale.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think you are definitely
incorrect on your assumption,
and your interpretation from the law department.
We're talking about a resolution here, and this is a
resolution that I think is very important to the people of
the city of Chicago, in which the
current budget that we are in,
2026, is not being thoroughly implemented, and
we need to be looking towards how we're going to implement the budget for
2026. So, I think it's very important and very critical at this
juncture that we, as a body, send a clear
message that we are trying to do the people's business here in
the city of Chicago. And so, the
resolution was duly noted and
noticed 48 hours in advance.
And I guess it was
removed,
for who knows what reasons other than we say that the
budget director couldn't be here.
However, we don't need the budget director here for this
resolution. And so, I think we need to hear
this resolution. I think it was duly noted 48 hours in advance,
and I think we can definitely hear this and pass this resolution as
such. Thank you.
Okay.
I would defer at this point to corporation counsel.
Again, I'm not opposed to hearing the resolution.
The issue is taking final action on the resolution.
We would just need to come back to do final action on the resolution, but I'll
defer to corporation counsel for that.
Good
morning.
Okay. Thank you.
Ray Phillips Santos,
City of Chicago Department of Law.
The process that this took in terms of the agendas.
Well, as you all know,
the Open Meetings Act says that
an agenda for each regular meeting shall be posted at the principal office
at least 48 hours in advance of holding the meeting, and on the website as
well.
So the agendas that were posted,
there was an initial one that was posted on March 31st,
which did not have the item.Then a second
one that was posted, which does have the item, is item four.
And then on April 1st, another amended agenda was posted that did
not have the item.
It
would be inconsistent with the Open Meetings
Act to have a vote on the matter as any
member of the public who, seeing the final
agenda that was posted, could look at that and go,
"Okay, they're not going to hear the matter after all," and not show up,
not tune into the webcast. So,
that is the foundation of the opinion.
Alderman Lopez.
Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon, members of the committee.
I move to pass on this
resolution.
That's fine. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
Any opposed?
Okay.
I'm a no. Sorry. I'm a no.
Okay.
You asked for a roll call. Very well.
Vice Chair Lee.
Alderman Lospada.
Alderman Dial.
Alderman Robinson. Alderman Yancy.
Alderman Mitchell. Alderman Harris.
Alderman Beal.
Alderman Ramirez.
Alderman Quinn.
Yes.
Alderman Lopez.
Yes.
Alderman Moore.
Yes.
Alderman O'Shea.
Yes.
Alderman Mosley.
Alderman Rodriguez.
Alderman Scott.
Yes.
Alderman Cito Lopez.
Alderman Burnett.
Alderman Taliaferro.
Yes.
Alderman Cardona.
Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez.
No.
Alderman Conway.
Alderman Quezada.
No.
Alderman Villegas.
Alderman Mitts. Alderman Sposato.
Alderman Nugent.
Alderman Vasquez.
Aye.
Alderman Napolitano.
Alderman Riley.
Alderman Knutson.
Alderman Martin.
Alderman Hatton.
Alderman Silverstein.
Chairman, this is Ramirez. I'm a no.
Okay. Alderman Ramirez is a no.
Alderman Mitchell. Okay.
Put some base in your voice. You don't miss anybody.
All right. You don't miss anybody?
All right. Very well.
Some base in your voice.
All right. Let me count this up.
I'm going through it right now. I'm counting. One, two.
By a vote of 18 to four, the resolution passes.
With there being no further business before the committee, I'll entertain a
motion to adjourn.
So moved. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed?
At the opinion of the chair is the ayes have
it, and we are adjourned.