good afternoon everyone the committee on contracts oversight and equity will now come to order
we'll first have a roll call to determine a quorum chairwoman mitts present vice chair
LaSpada, Auderman Dow, Auderman Mitchell, Auderman Harris, Auderman Ramirez, Julia Ramirez,
Auderman Coleman, Auderman Taylor, Auderman Burnett, Auderman Irving, Auderman Tyler Farrell,
okay
Auderman Villegas
Auderman Nugent
Auderman Gardner
we have nine members present
we have a quorum
pursuant to
rule 59
we have participation
requested
by Auderman Julia Ramirez
and
Auderman Silverstein
can I get a motion for these members
to participate remotely to be counted towards the quorum so moved so moved by ottoman espada
all in favor signify by saying aye aye and depending on the chairs the eyes have it
i'll let the record also reflect that we have presence
I'll let the record also reflect that we have present nine members,
Audermann Cardona, Audermann Chico, Audermann Lopez, Audermann Scott,
Audermann Napolitano, Audermann O'Shea, Audermann Moore,
Audermann Lee, Audermann Quinn, and Audermann Bill.
Wow.
Y'all just didn't, man.
Don't learn it.
No, please.
I called Audubon Bill.
Yes, I did.
Now we have public speaking.
We have two members who signed up for public comments.
First is George Blakemore, followed by Ms. Jessica Jackson.
It's a sad day here in the city of Chicago.
It's a sad day when you have a meeting that's so important,
dealing with contracts and equity
and the chairman in the midst.
I asked where was Ms. Robertson,
the young lady that's over procuring,
should be pressed.
And if she's not, why not?
Because you all are not experts in this.
So I'm wondering how this is going to go.
How are you going to conduct this business without her presence?
Because it was noted several months ago that blacks was only getting 1% or nothing percent of these contracts.
And equity means black people working also.
So it's something wrong with the system.
We, the empty seats, the people.
Your job is supposed to be educators.
is supposed to be educators. You're supposed to educate your constituent, inform your constituent,
especially you black ones. In the midst, that was your job, to have this place packed.
It's not only the 201A, but the council, because our people are not getting these jobs,
to procurement. And these contractors, they're not
black. And so I'm wanting to know
have the needle moved any since the time that she
got that position? If not, why not?
There's something wrong here. Who would
elect a vote for? I really
don't have any incentive to go out and vote. I might
be like a Jehovah Witness and not even vote. Who would
do that? Who, what
what's wrong with black leadership? Why would you vote for somebody else
to come here, to compete with you for jobs, goods,
contracts, and service that you're not receiving?
What motivated you to do this?
Why did you do this? Who does this to do that?
one of these breweries, maybe it would cost a money, honey.
Maybe it would cost a money, honey.
You looking in your pocket, Mr. Blakemore, to bring out one of these green dollar bills.
Have we gotten that low that we hold ourselves and our people out?
Have black people got that low down that you are motivated?
Where's my money?
Some dollar green.
For this.
For this.
You follow that?
That's enough.
Bring it to these nickels in.
thank you mr blakemore miss jackson jackson so this morning i got up and i went across the street
to the board of elections meeting and i wanted to hear what they were saying over there
and one lady from springfield because they have springfield also in those meetings remotely so a
lady from Springfield, when the public, when the Board of Elections finished talking, when
their general counsel finished talking, the lady in Springfield made the comment. She
said, yeah, I appreciate you all's work. She said, because the public has no idea how hard
you all work for election time, at election time. So when I spoke, I had to correct that
lady and let her know that, yes, the public is well aware of how hard the Board of Elections
work at election time, because the Board of Elections works very hard at cheating elections.
They're working very hard at it. They're working very hard as trying to make us believe that
Mayor Brandon Johnson and this Alexei Gugliani, whatever his name is, is the only two people
that's on the ballot. This is insane. Now, I want to say this real fast before my time runs out.
It was brought to my attention this weekend that Chicago Flips Red put out a post about the 17
aldermen that need to be voted out, and they were basing it on that ordinance that Quinn did about
the three-fifths vote in order for money to get passed. I first want to say this. Chicago Flips
When Chicago flips red, it's made of three independent minds.
We don't all have to agree on the same thing because we're three grown individuals.
What we do agree on is that Chicago needs to flip red, that Chicago and black people
in general need to get away from the Democratic Party.
That's what we agree on.
But what I didn't agree with is that Alderman Taylor Farrell name was on this list.
I didn't agree with it at all because I know for a fact Alderman Talaferro, just like Alderman Byron Cicho Lopez, has done things to help me and to help the black community at large anytime you are an alderman and you put your name, you put your name on your letterhead to deal with the county officials that are stealing my property.
I appreciate that, Alderman Talafero.
I appreciate that.
That's coming from me.
That's coming from me.
And I'm going to run that on my Twitter page.
You didn't have to do that.
You could sit here just like the rest of these black aldermen did.
But you came and testified in that eviction court for me?
I rocks with you.
And I'm going to put it on my Twitter.
Thank you.
Thank you.
that there be no further speakers.
This will conclude our public comment period.
We have one item on the agenda for today.
That item is item number 02026-0028837.
The Chief Procurement Office directed to take all necessary action
pertaining to procurement process.
I received, let the record reflect, I received.
to let the record reflect. I received a letter from the Chief Procurement Officer dated October
the 20th, 2026. It reads as follows, Dear Alderwoman Mitz, thank you for the invitation to appear
before your committee. Because the procurement that is subject of the committee inquiry remains
active. I am unable to provide substantial testimony regarding that process. Earlier this
year, I provided testimony regarding this RFP before the Committee on Public Safety.
Unfortunately, that testimony resulted in inquiries that threatens my ability to
complete a fair procurement process. I can, however, share that the City is
preparing to launch a pilot program to evaluate a range of violence
interruptions in public safety technologies, including gunshot detective
systems with a particular focus on efficientness,
reliability, and privacy protection.
These pilots will operate in the following police districts, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 11.
We anticipate that the pilot would be operational within the next two weeks.
pilot programs are a critical component of responsible responsibility technology
procurement particularly when evaluating emergency public safety technologies
I would appreciate it my colleagues if y'all could give me a break and let me
my colleagues, if y'all could give me a break and let me finish reading this letter into records.
They allowed the city to access performance under real-world condition, independently
evaluating vendor's claim, identifying operational limitation, and ensuring that appropriate
privacy and civil liberties safeguards are in place before making long-term investment.
Our goal is to ensure that procurement decisions are informed by evidence, grounded in community needs, and guided by our commitment to transparency and physical responsibility.
Sincerely, Charlotte D. Roberts, Chief Procurement Office.
Before I call on the first speaker, I would like to read a statement for you, an opening statement of my own.
Before we began today's meeting, I want to acknowledge that the gunshot detective replacement procurement is still open.
And I understand that there are limits on what the Department of Procurement can discuss.
As a result, I will ask that orders, please refrain from asking about any specific bidders, proposals, or evaluation.
Please focus your questions on the process itself and on how procurement of this type are generally structured and ran.
Those are questions the public has every right to have answers, and I'll ask our witness to answer them as fully as they can.
The chair calls on Alderman Nugent.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam Chair, I want the record to reflect that the Department of Procurement Services
record to reflect that the Department of Procurement Services was invited to this hearing
and is not here. That matters because the questions we came to ask are not complicated.
Nine companies submitted bids for the city's gunshot detection contract by April 2025. That
was 18 months ago, and there is still no contract. The city's own contract data shows that for RFPs
over $1 million, the median time is 14 months from bid opening to award. This procurement is
already well past that mark. Meanwhile, the administration has given this council three
different stories about how long it should take. OPSA told us these contracts take 18 months to
negotiate. Procurement told us two years is typical. And in September 2025, OPSA said a
final recommendation was expected that fall. We have never received one. The delay is not about
a lack of options because nine vendors answered. An extending and existing contract will a
procurement process proceeds, it is not a new concept here in Chicago. CPD's body camera
contract is running on a sole source extension because a replacement OPSA requested in August
2024 still has not been awarded. So the question is where this contract is sitting and who is
holding it up. It is shameful that this administration will not show up to answer
questions in front of a committee of representatives also elected by the people.
It begs the question of what we are left to conclude when it comes to tools that are designed
to keep our residents safe and save lives.
Should the conclusion be that the mayor is stonewalling the people of Chicago
in the same way his administration is stonewalling the city council here this afternoon?
If procurement won't answer simple questions about a standard procurement matter,
we'll ask the department that reviews every RFP and every contract before the city signs it,
the law department.
And with that, Madam Chair, I'd hope that a representative from law
could at least answer some questions for us today.
Thank you.
Is there someone here from law that would like to answer any questions?
any questions? Would you like to come forth? Someone to represent the city? If no one else
can come, come on down and state your name, Lizzie, for the record, please. That that you can answer,
please do if you can't. I would like to call on the sponsors of the ordinance,
It's Audemant Cardona, Audemant Chico, and Audemant Tabaris, not here.
Audemant Cardona.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
You know, it's really, I feel very disrespected in a way, because we don't have the procurement department here to answer the questions, and I feel my colleagues feel the same way.
and you know this is something that with this administration we keep running into and you know
it's uncalled for you know it's kind of said that we have you know we we bring this up because it's
been two years um that it has been promised through the procurement department of how to
pick or choose who the vendor is and this this meeting is not about who the vendor is is where
is where it stands in its process and we want to know where where it's at in the process but
do we we don't even need to know who the vendor is but we just love to get some answers and then
i have a question for this if the law department could answer this is that the city's own contract
bid data shows the rfps over a million the median time is 14 months from bid opening to
is 14 months from bid opening to the award do uh do we dispute this figure from the city
law department that's a question law department did you hear the question
uh i did thank you lindsay sunenthal department of law um i i uh i do not believe the law department
was specifically invited to this hearing today.
So I will take whatever questions you ask
and I will bring that back.
So the question I heard was whether we dispute
that the median time is for a bid over,
a procurement over a million dollars to be 14 months.
I can take that back and get you that answer
through the chair.
Okay.
Yeah. It seems like we're not going to get our answers today because the procurement department is not here.
The law department doesn't know what's going on, and it just makes us look very foolish.
Thank you. I'll give you my time.
Thank you, Cardona. Speak for yourself, because I don't take these matters as looking foolish.
I think that we're doing our job now. I don't know how you look at this,
but I feel that we have a right to ask these questions,
given the fact that we've been asking about these questions for the last two years, basically,
when we first went out to bid that we was going to get it.
When ShotSpotters was dismantled, we were supposed to be getting another contract,
supposed to be looking at it.
And we, three years down the line, and we had a meeting with Chief Procurement Office,
like nine months or less than a year, and nothing had moved on it.
So I don't think that I'm wasting time.
I think the public need to know.
And when I have my constituents just come up to me,
ask me, we need to get shot spotters back.
And I'm going to tell them I'm wasting my time.
No, I think they need to know that people's want shot spotters.
I think they need to know that people's want shot spot is back, or they want not necessarily.
If you don't give us that, give us something.
We cannot allow a life to be lost, and we're spending money everywhere else and not trying to save people's lives.
That is the most disgusting thing I've heard of, but next person who wants to speak.
But I ain't wasting my time.
I thought you had your hand up
he left
is there anyone else
you'd like to speak
I'm Scott
thank you Madam Chair
I would say that this is a
it's not a waste of time
but it's a disservice to people that
came out of working from their ward
to come down here
and not respectfully be
allowed to present
so I mean
there's budget and and so if those people don't want to come to work why why are we
I mean it's it's a it's a disservice from them because they didn't come to work today
to answer our questions and I don't think that our residents lives should be put on hold
yet another 18 months uh we've been fighting for this we've been and so crime is down allegedly
because there's no way to record it and so that's an issue and so if if the administration allows
this and that's what they've called for them not to come down to address the issues that's the
issue it's not a it's not an alderman problem today um it's an administration problem so thank
you thank you um anyone else ultimately thank you madam chair um
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't serve on this committee, but this is an issue that's been very important to me and to my community. So I was happy to come and ask questions today. And I'm incredibly disappointed to see that the chief procurement officer was not able to join us today or for whatever reasons.
I believe that there were questions that she could have answered that fall outside of the boundaries of what her letter states.
But I just have a couple of questions, and if you can take it back, law department, to them, I just want to get this on the record.
I know the question was already asked about the turnaround time.
Why a pilot?
At what point did the office decide and who decided on a pilot versus just moving forward with the procurement?
because we have had gunshot detection in this city before.
So it's not like we don't know what it does.
So I'm very curious as to what the decision points were,
what the length of the pilot is,
when it's going to start and when it's going to end
because we have none of that information
provided to us today.
That's all I've got.
Thank you.
I know you can't answer the question.
So as long as you're noting it down,
I think it's a really basic thing to ask.
I think that the people of the city of Chicago residents
and all of the wards that previously we've got a lot of microphones that are just hanging on posts
right now that aren't doing the work that they're supposed to be doing for the people of the city
of chicago now my my police one of my police districts is part of the pilot area which i'm
i'm grateful for but like when is that going to happen is it going to be another
six months 18 months before we see a pilot even start and what's it going to be five years before
we actually get um an actual vendor on board for this and meanwhile what's happening to the money
that's been budgeted for we're going right into budget that's also a question thank you madam
chair thank you and i agree with you it's a shame that i got to get it in our in writing
writing and this never
been talked about in terms
of these
pilot program that's being given.
I think that was the first time that I learned
of when I read it on a piece of paper.
Ottoman Wagons
back, I think that you had
a comment.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My apologies for
getting here a little bit late, but I was just up in
the budget briefing, which was
quite explosive if you ask me,
But I think being in here for less than a couple of minutes, I realized that the procurement officer is chief procurement officer is not here.
Law, it sounds like maybe try to answer a couple of questions.
But ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious problem when an administration cannot disclose or refuses to disclose what they are doing with contracts like ones that are lifesaving, like a shot spot or not.
the shot spotter, but some kind of technology that already exists out there to prevent the
deaths of over 100 people, I think, over the time that we lost shot spotter. I find it offensive
that when communities are calling for this technology, some type of technology to put in
place, that this chief procurement officer refuses to show up at the behest of Mayor Brandon Johnson.
It is shameful. I find it just reprehensible that somebody can't be here in front of us to answer simple questions.
But I can imagine why that is not happening.
It's because, as we found out last year, we had over $400 million in off-the-books procurement, where we don't even get to see it as alderman.
So at what point are people in this city going to hold this administration accountable?
If the procurement officer can't come forward and explain what the details are of the technology that they want to acquire.
the technology that they want to acquire, how it's going to affect each alderman and their
constituents in this room. I don't know where we start, ladies and gentlemen. Are we just going to
get that from every department head, just refuses to come down here and speak to us? We were just
upstairs asking the mayor about where the money was coming from for parts of the budget. And the
word we got back was, well, that's confidential. We're the ones voting on these budgets. We're the
ones who have to put our name on a budget to spend 16 plus billion dollars so at what point
are we going to get people to show up here and actually answer some questions and if we're going
into the budget season and we've got people that are just like well that's confidential can't answer
that question but we just want you to spend it not going to happen so uh chairman i appreciate
you having this hearing thanks for allowing me to speak even though i'm not on the committee but
But, again, people in this city want public safety that is meaningful, not platitudes, not rhetoric, and people taking credit for something that they didn't do.
So thank you again for holding the committee.
Thank you.
Are there any other members who wish to speak?
Move to pass.
Okay.
If there are no further members who wish to speak, can I get a motion to move to pass?
So moved.
So moved by Audemon Cardona and second by Audemon Nugent.
All in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have it.
This matter will be reported out at City Council meeting.
The next City Council meeting.
There be no further business.
Can I get a motion to adjourn?
So moved by Audemon Nugent.
all in favor signify by saying aye
and pin your chairs the eyes have it
The meeting is now adjourned.
Thank you.