That this one track, mind of mine, it can't understand that you don't care, just to change
the mood of men, I'd welcome a nice old nightmare on that dream.
And bless you
Without that
Pray my hand
Have you
Upon me
And you won't come true
So
Darn
That dream
Don't that dream, and bless it too.
Without that dream, I never would have you.
It haunts me, and it won't come true.
Thank you very, very much.
We're going to begin our...
going to begin our session this morning with the treasurer's office. We are going to make a slight
deviation. We only have one public commenter right now. However, I think maybe because of the change
in time, public may not have gotten notice, even though we did properly notice everything. So what
we're going to do is we have a critical mass to begin at our number eight. We will do public
comment after we finish the treasurer uh to allow for additional people to come so we don't have
that issue so sergeant arms you can continue to collect those uh slips until uh after um that uh
that period and then we'll do public comment afterwards we're going to be here fairly long
today we've got a lot of departments that are going to be pretty meaty so we will uh we will
do that so um any issues with that any concerns or problems you guys good okay all right very well
um where are they um after opening statements um chair down you up or you want it's finance so
all right uh after opening statements uh alderman bill you open well since coming up what you got
this you okay all right cool
Good morning, Madam Treasurer. If you could deliver your opening statement and introduce
the members of your team. We will begin the questioning with Alderman Beal, Vice Chair Lee,
if you will come up and lead us in this session. We'll move in that order.
All right. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Irvin, Vice Chair Lee, and all the members of the committee and city council. As we close out 2026, I welcome the opportunity to report on the work of the Chicago Treasurer's Office.
I will begin with our first responsibility, which is to serve as the city's banker, investor,
and custodian of the city's cash and investments.
We take that duty very seriously.
But another important part of our work is to help Chicago residents build financial
knowledge and access resources that can make a difference in their lives.
Sound stewardship starts with protecting the city's cash and investments.
It means maintaining the liquidity the city needs to meet its obligations.
managing risk, and making investment decisions with care. The public should expect discipline
and accountability. Currently, our office manages nearly $13 billion in assets,
approximately $4 billion more than at the end of 2019 when I began. We must meet the city's
immediate cash needs while investing available funds responsibly. We expect to earn about $445
million from our investments in 2026, which would be the highest annual investment revenue of my
tenure as treasurer and of any other treasurer's tenure that we can find in history of Chicago.
Since 2019, our office has earned nearly $2 billion in interest earnings.
We've generated those earnings while keeping the protection of the city's principal a priority.
We also continue to seek participation in city investment activity by minority, women, disabled, and veteran-owned brokerage firms.
as of August 31st, 2000.
As of August 31st, 2026, our office recorded nearly $19 billion in total trading volume,
including more than $12 billion through minority and other designated brokerage firms.
Now, the other major part of our mission is helping Chicagoans build financial security.
Building Wealth Today for Tomorrow, or BWTT as we call it, brings our financial education
and community programming together under five themes, learn, own, grow, invest, and protect.
What began as an annual summit is now a year-round effort with programs available in person and on
demand. Through BWTT, we help residents build savings, understand credit and debit, understand
credit and debt, prepare for home ownership, and learn what to expect at the closing table.
Our programming also connects Chicagoans with information about HUD, certified homebuyer education, and related resources.
In 2026, our financial education and empowerment initiatives served more than 5,000 residents through in-person and virtual programming.
That work teaches students, prospective homeowners, and small business owners.
Approximately 2,000 residents have already utilized our online financial learning opportunities.
And currently, BWTT offers more than 100 educational programs allowing residents to
broaden their financial knowledge at their own pace. Now, our investment in young Chicagoans
include our empowerment scholarships. And this year, we awarded 10 scholarships of $5,000 each
to help young people pursue their education. For our older residents, financial security means
Protecting a Lifetime of Savings. Our office held 23 senior focus workshops to focus on Medicare and Medicare.
to focus on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, re-enrollment, home equity, and tax-related resources.
We work with partners, including Social Security, the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services,
and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
And programs have reached at all locations around Chicago,
including the Chinese American Service League, Copernicus Regional Senior Center, and Auburn-Gresham Satellite Senior Center.
These settings give our residents a chance to ask questions and find out where to turn for help reaching seniors,
especially today when scams are even more prevalent.
Now, another part of BWTT is supporting our small businesses.
This year, our Chicago Star Awards recognized 61 awardees representing all 50 awards.
Over three years, the awards have celebrated more than 150 businesses, from restaurants
to dance studios throughout Chicago.
And our commitment does not end with recognition.
We connect small business owners with workshops and experts on marketing, strategy, grants,
and other opportunities.
That commitment became especially meaningful when two Chicago Star businesses, Brown Sugar Bakery and Candiality, were targeted during a recent wave of break-ins.
Two women-owned businesses, two different sides of the city, one south and one north, but both deserving of a community that stands with them.
Our team had visited both businesses before the break-in as part of our Chicago Star Awards tour.
After hearing of the devastating news, we made it a point to return, not just to offer encouragement,
but to make purchases and bring awareness to the devastating impact that these incidents have on our lives.
impact that these incidents have on our local small businesses. As we look toward 2027, we have
an opportunity to build on what we've accomplished and find new ways to strengthen the financial
well-being of Chicagoans. That means continuing to manage the city's cash and investments while
expanding opportunities for residents to build wealth, achieve financial security, and invest
in their futures. Along with me today, I have Craig Slack. I was thinking as we talk about since
2019, I think Craig has been with me at every budget hearing since 2019. As you know, he brings
nearly 30 years of Wall Street experience to the Chicago Treasurer's Office. And as well as in the
box with me I have Katrina Walker our chief of staff next to her Dan
French drum our director of IGA I had a list here we go
Zach Martin I'm sorry Dan deputy city treasurer Zach Martin director of IGA
Amanda Brown director of human resources Cherise Bradford director of
financial empowerment daniel husbeck new to the team iga belinda cadiz um iga and lucas rupar
from our accounting department thank you thank you vice chair lee thank you treasurer um we're
gonna start today's questions with owner ben deal oh i'm sorry thank you i haven't had enough of my
coffee yet i apologize i'm all out of order oh good we're gonna have um kofa adrian do the uh
summary and overview all right good morning chairman irvin vice chair lee and members of the city council
Good morning Chairman Irvin, Vice Chair Lee, and members of the City Council. My name is Adrienne Rushall, they them. I'm a data analyst with the Council's Office of Financial Analysis, and I'm here to provide a brief overview for the budget for the Office of the City Treasurer, proposed 2027.
the proposed budget is 8.64 million dollars which reflects a 2.13 million dollar increase or 32.8
percent over the prior year most of this accounts for personnel at 4.53 million dollars which is up
about six percent from the prior year the other costs are non-personnel at 4.1 million dollars
which are up 84 percent over the prior year the office of the city treasurer is about half
corporate funded they have 40 proposed full-time equivalents for 2027 which is the same as last
year and as as of october 21st of this year there was a vacancy rate of around 10 percent
when looking at the breakdown of appropriation category the first two items personnel services
and contractual services have the largest allocated funds at 4.53 and 4.09 million respectively
Out of these two categories, contractual services had the largest change from 2026, increasing by $1.87 million, or 84%.
The following table shows all funding sources present in 2026 have proposed increases for 2027.
In addition to that, the vehicle tax fund is now proposed to fund just shy of a quarter of a million dollars for the Office of the City Treasurer in 2027.
the corporate fund and the o'hare fund had the largest dollar amount increases from the prior
year increasing by 0.89 and 0.76 million respectively this chart shows the appropriations
by fund from 2018 to 2027 as you can see the funds increase over time with the largest being
the proposed 2027 budget at 8.64 million
2027 budget at 8.64 million dollars lastly we have the full-time equivalents over time also showing
a similar trend of increase although from 2025 they decreased three positions and that remains
the same between 2026 and 2027. that concludes kofa's overview for the office of the city treasurer
thank you adrian and thank you alderman dell for getting me back on track
Jack? We're going to go ahead and start with Alderman Beal, followed by Chairwoman Dowell.
Good morning. Good morning. All right, let's jump right in. I just got a couple of questions I have
for you and your department. The Catalyst Fund, when did you all discover that you all had excess
money in the Catalyst Fund that wasn't being utilized? So as of very recently, all of the,
Well, let me back up. When COVID hit, the Catalyst Fund, myself as chairman of the board, along with my, well, the previous mayor, Lori Leifert, we developed the Small Business Resiliency Fund.
And in that, we used the funds of the Catalyst Fund to help over 700, I think about 762 small businesses across Chicago be able to stay open and retain their workforce.
and those loans were just repaid and we are now at that point where the catalyst fund is able to
be utilized to do other investments okay um that didn't answer my question oh i thought it did when
did you guys realize that you had all that excess money sitting in that fund so that i thought i
just answered that because well i don't know what else you look tell me what else you want well i'm
trying to figure out first of all well let me ask you this in the last three years how much
Three years, how much of the Catalyst Fund have you all spent?
So over the last three years would have been the Small Business Resiliency Fund.
So let me give you those numbers.
And those loans were just repaid to the point now that we have the original $50 million and more
because the Catalyst Fund is making money.
So the original $50 million and more that we are now able to disperse to do other things.
Let me see.
Was there anything else I needed to tell you on that?
Well, what else was your question on that?
My question is how much money have we spent in the last three years?
Oh, so for the small business resiliency loan?
Whatever was in the Catalyst Fund.
$21 million went towards small businesses of Chicago of the $50 million.
Okay, since the last three years.
That is correct.
Okay.
So with that fund, how much out of that fund is being used for balancing this budget?
so as of as of right now the fund is being proposed to do other things now you as a city
council have several options to make in that as you know I originally thought in order to
avoid cuts to especially public safety I know that you all as a city council body
have an opportunity to save jobs and save services and do so many other things
And so my way as chairman of the Catalyst Fund was to say that we know the intent of the Catalyst Fund, which predates me, predates two other mayors.
I inherited the Catalyst Fund, but we've done great work with the Catalyst Fund to keep businesses open throughout Chicago.
But in this moment in time, we know that the city of...
in this moment in time, we know that the city of Chicago does have a budget deficit. And as
chairman of the board, I felt that it was an opportunity that the Catalyst Fund can help to
fill that budget gap so that we will avoid cuts, especially those to public safety and layoffs.
Now, as you know, there is a proposal to utilize the Catalyst Fund dollars to not only help to
fill the budget gap, but to also continue to help our small businesses. So I do believe as chairman
of the Catalyst Fund, that is a win-win. Okay. So again, how much money is coming out of the
Catalyst Fund to balance, proposally balance this year's budget? So as of right now, no dollars have
moved from the Catalyst Fund and that will all depend on the budget that you all pay. What's the
proposed amount that you as a... I don't know that answer. What you all had in the budget that there
was so much money coming out of the catalyst fund to balance our budget so that would have come from
the mayor's office to put it in the budget for you all to pass i don't know that answer so you
don't know what the proposed i don't dial them out the administration is trying to take out of
the catalyst fund that you have control over i do not know the exact number no treachery did you
make a recommendation on an amount my recommendation was for all the 50 million to be returned but then
at this point in time it's this is the proposal as you know there was a press conference and all
of that this is all new so point of information chair doll yeah thank you you said you're the
chairman of the board right so how many people are on that board and did the decision to move
this money was that a board decision and is that reflected in some kind of document that's a vote
good question
not as of yet
and so that's pop thank you
because I didn't exactly know where you were going
with this and it's just I'm trying
this and it's just i'm trying to understand that no i don't that that's fine but i'm not trying to
i'm trying to answer the question but i'm just trying to understand where you're going with it
but let me elaborate on that point and thank you for that chair dow i am the chairman of the board
it's comprised of five to six people how many people on the board seven um and that is um just
to name a few people, the Comptroller Belsky, the Commissioner of Department of Planning.
So there are several board members as well as outside board members.
And so as of right now, this has been the proposal to split the Catalyst Fund for some
funds to fill the budget gap and some funds to go towards continuing to support small
businesses.
So there has been discussion, discussion only, because it has not been voted on by the board.
It has not been approved yet by city council.
So there is discussion of about $30 million to, I believe,
there's a proposal of about $30 million to fill the budget gap for the city
and about $20 million to stay within the catalyst fund.
Great. That was the answer that I was looking for.
That's fine, Alderman. I'm here to answer your questions.
I just didn't know where you were going.
You went around about, I just asked a point blank question.
I didn't try to go all around and about.
I asked the point in question, how much money was being used?
So I finally got my answer.
So thank you.
And Alderman, sometimes we don't understand the question, but it's okay.
I got it.
All right.
So knowing that you guys have to vote on that money to be used for that, I guess it's a
two-step process.
You all have to vote to release the money to come back.
You don't think it would be best utilized to try to help more of our businesses out of that fund?
more of our businesses out of that fund versus using it to balance our budget for another one-time
fix? I think this is a great win-win for both. I certainly, every day I'm out supporting small
businesses. Yesterday, I was on the north side. I don't even know what ward that was. I was on the
far north side at Kasha's Bridal Salon, 25-year anniversary, and she spoke about how COVID nearly
closed her business. Candiality, I spoke about on the north side. We've been on the south side,
southeast side, Brown Sugar Bakery, you name it. This is what we do every week. We're supporting
small businesses. So that is something very near and dear to me. But also, we know that our residents
do not want public safety to be cut. And so to me, in this proposal, it's a win-win to be able
to satisfy both? Okay, well, nobody is talking about cutting public safety. So I understand that
as a talking point for this administration, as a scare tactic, anytime we talk about making cuts
and things like that. But nobody's ever talked about cutting public safety. So I just believe
that the Catalyst Fund is supposed to be used for a certain purpose. And I think we need to continue
along that line. I think we're going to be missing a golden opportunity by even attempting to use
that fund to balance this budget again for a one-time fix. And so I totally disagree with
that, and I think we need to rethink it. So I'm definitely not in favor of that. Lastly, and
you had something else? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Lastly, it came to our attention a couple of
weeks ago that there was another lawsuit that was settled out of your department. Are there any
other lawsuits that are coming down the pipe that we need to be aware about not that i'm aware of
there are no other lawsuits out of out of your department not that i'm aware of okay
that's all i have madam chairman thank you thank you alderman bill
Next, we're going to go to Chair Dahl, followed by Alderman Riley and Alderman O'Shea.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, Treasury.
Good morning.
I just want to follow up to add closure to the conversation on the Catalyst Fund.
Would not your board have to vote first before it would come to the City Council, before
we take a vote on the budget, right?
seems to me you all would opine how you think the city should pay for you know how much to give to
the city how much to remain in the catalyst fund that should go first would you agree with that
um i would say that i would assume that's the the process the steps but i don't know whether
you all would still be able to vote on a budget in spite of that but i would assume that's the
proper steps but okay um and how many discussions did the board of the catalyst fund have on this
matter so internally i would say um besides our outside um person that's appointed to the board
there's been discussions made for like the commissioner for the department of planning
the comptroller those of us that are city officials have had those discussions a few
All right, and who are the outside people?
Juana Vila.
Just one person?
As of now, correct.
So you have a vacancy?
We do.
Okay, all right.
Now this announcement on the build fund, I think that's what it's called.
Yes.
Do you have any input on the crafting of that?
You know, I would say that, yes, number one, but I will also say that it's in its
its infancy stage. And so I will welcome if any aldermen have any thoughts or inputs on it. I
think that this is certainly we're at the stage of talking about it. I would not say that it's
closed and everything is sketched in stone. All right. I want to move on to the investments that
you make what are some of the typical vehicles that you invest in you say your name thank you
craig slack chief investment officer um we we um have a we run the the portfolio differently than
any other city in the country so uh we run it as i could a industry stand uh acronym core fix plus
strategy so we do a wide variety of fixed income securities uh all within the the framework of the
strategic investment policy of the city that's set by code uh we we do things like investment
grade corporate bonds uh agency mortgage-backed securities a residential mortgage-backed
securities asset-backed securities commercial paper uh money market funds uh taxable municipal
bonds okay and can you give some examples of like the industries that might be reflected in
i don't know the corporate bond or yeah sure um you know uh household names uh you know exxon
mobile, consumer cyclicals, industrial corporations, financial enterprises, chemical companies,
things like that.
Do you have a list of those?
Absolutely.
Can you, through the chair, can I get a list of that?
We can submit a list of the entire portfolio.
Thank you.
And then lastly, I know last week the CFO informed you that the.
informed you that the money was available from the parking meters to be sent to the four pension
funds yes um i think the city council's goal was to have that done before the end of the year
when will that be done or has it been done that was done on friday on friday yes all right thank
you so much that's it for me madam chair thank you chair doll uh next we're gonna go to alderman
Riley, followed by Alderman O'Shea. Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, Treasurer. Good morning.
Just a few questions. I wanted to just follow up on some questions about your board.
How often does your board meet? When necessary. Okay. How many times have you met so far this
year zero zero correct okay uh when was the last time the board voted on any substantive matter
that would have been the small business resiliency fund the loans that went out to 762 small
businesses to save them when was that 2000 oh right at the point of covid 2019 so the board
hasn't met in close to seven years that is correct and who are the members of the board
myself you know what i don't let me let me try to make sure because i know it's myself
juana villa as i just know it's been a while since y'all have met so you may have forgotten
no i know that it's it's okay you can give me that information through the chair
um i want to talk about your budget submission specifically line 0140
so as you know that's for professional and technical services
You have that handy.
Can you explain what positions are being paid for with $230,000 out of the vehicle tax fund?
Is that personnel or is it contracts?
If it's a contract for personnel services, I'd like to know who that is.
And hold on.
The team is taking a look.
Dan Frister, I'm Deputy Chief of Staff.
So that is for the contracts.
Craig, if you could speak more specifically about some of the things that the financial
teams throughout the city use that were moved from the finance general.
Referring to banking fees?
While they're discussing this, Chair, can we turn my time off?
That's fine.
Pause their time if you want to answer the question.
I'm going to do the team a favor in the box because I'm going to ask you to look for these
things too.
So maybe while we're answering this first question, you can work on the answers to the
next.
I'm also going to ask you about the $600,000 from the corporate fund, $200,000 from the
Midway Airport Fund, and the $700,000 from the O'Hare Fund, and I want to know which
of those are being spent on contracts versus actual human beings, and what those human
beings do.
So why don't we start with the vehicle tax, because that's the smallest number at $230,000.
So if we do not have the answers, we're not going to make them up.
If we need to provide them through the chair, we will.
I mean, okay, but these are pretty basic expenses that you all should have at your fingertips.
I mean, this is to operate the office.
I understand, but if they don't, we will present it to the chair.
Okay, that's fine.
So let's give him a shot.
Does anybody have that?
Katrina, do you need us to present it through the chair?
Alderman Riley, can you repeat the question?
My God.
I'm trying to understand from line 0140,
professional and technical services
spread across now three enterprise funds,
vehicle tax, Midway and O'Hare Airport funds,
as well as $600,000 from the corporate fund.
Is there headcount being paid for with money out of those funds?
If so, what are they paying for?
And that shouldn't be a stumper.
But while you work on that, I guess I'll cut to the chase.
Where are we paying for your security detail, Madam Treasurer?
Which fund is paying for that?
So we can present that through the chair.
No, no, I'd like that publicly, please.
Alderman, I can't present something to you.
You have 40 employees in your entire office.
You can't tell me how you're paying for your security detail.
You know exactly how you're paying for your security detail.
If I did, I would answer it.
Please don't.
Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you lead this office, and it is not a gigantic office.
I assume you know each of your employees by their first name, and I assume you know how they're being paid.
This is a public hearing to understand your budget.
A big chunk of your budget is personnel costs,
and i'm seeing significant increases in your request for those exact costs 32 increase
and so that is absolutely relevant information for the public and the members of this body
who have to vote on a budget so i think offering us this information through the chair
information through the chair defeats the purpose of this hearing these are very basic questions
so could you please answer so alderman i will answer the questions that i know those that i do
not will need to come through the chair now as you see your office is sitting in that box madam
treasurer not a single one of these people can tell us how your security detail is being paid
and from what fund i think daniel might have a response alderman dan frister i'm deputy chief
of staff so to your questions yes there are personnel from the staff out of those various
funds that you named other than the corporate fund um off top i do not know which one is the
security detail but it's one of those enterprise funds i don't believe that's true i mean i'm not
sure which fund, because of the titles in the budget book, are all very similar. I assume it's
by design. No. Because when I asked this question last year and we determined it was coming out of
the water fund, folks were pretty upset about that. Alderman Riley, the reason that I want to
verify and put it through the chair is because I do not know whether that is even coming out of the
Chicago Treasurer's Office budget. And so the reason that the team is being forced and trying
to find answers is because you are demanding that they provide answers right now. They may not know
of this budget every single line item offhand and exactly what it is applied to, but what we can
answer, Alderman, we will. That question, we will need to come back to. I do not believe that it is
disturbing. You can't answer basic questions about the 40 people, 40, who work in your office.
I can.
Well, you should be able to when you're asking for a 33% increase in your budget.
So let's clarify that.
Thank you for bringing that up.
Oh, this is, you know, this answer.
No, I definitely do because I asked why there was an increase in the budget of 30%.
And I don't know if it's exactly 30%, but if you know.
But if you notice in our budget, finance general, show me that.
Your non-personnel spending nearly doubles from $2.2 million to $4.1 million.
Correct. And so the...
Changes to O'Hare fund rise 54%.
The vehicle tax fund pays the office for the first time.
These are all big changes.
I figured these folks would be compared to discussions.
That I can answer, Alderman Rowley, because that's the question that I asked.
So the budget office has now added $500,000 in banking fees and $200,000 of Clearwater
to my budget that was not previously in the Chicago Treasurer's Office budget.
Can you repeat that?
Yes, I definitely can.
$500,000 in banking fees has now been added to my budget that has not been there before,
and $200,000 in Clearwater fees that helped to make the investments of the office
has now been added to the Chicago Treasurer's Office budget.
And when asked of the budget office why this has been provided now to our office,
they are changing things so that it now goes to the appropriate office or department.
And then in response to the question on security detail, my team just texted me.
Great.
And that is paid for through the Chicago Police Department.
And where will we find that line item in the Chicago Police Department?
Alderman Rowley, we don't know that answer.
Well, that's not an acceptable answer.
I understand to you.
Can we do this, Treasurer and IGA?
I know you're listening.
Can we get an answer to this question so that we don't keep going back and forth on this
while we're in this hearing?
I would like to have an answer to that question before we're done.
The answer should have been ready before we even arrived here today, Madam Chairman.
I don't disagree with you.
I've been here for a while.
I've seen some nonsense and some shenanigans, and this fits the bill.
This was a significant piece.
a significant piece of subject matter in the hearing last year and to come here not prepared
to answer that question and to deflect and to offer to answer through the chair at a later date
is intentional that's it i'm done asking questions chairman thank you thank you alderman riley
alderman o'shea oh before you go we have a rule 59 request from alderman uh manah hoppenworth can
to get a motion to allow her to participate. Thank you. All those in favor? Any opposed?
All right. Lenny, you're in. Alderman O'Shea. Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, Treasurer.
Good morning. When did the Catalyst Fund start? Do we know which administration and what year
that was? Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Treasurer Kurt Summers. So do we know what year that was?
We believe it was 2018.
So we've had it for eight years.
And what can we point to over the past few years?
What has it been used for?
The Small Business Resiliency Fund,
the 762 small businesses around Chicago during COVID and post-COVID.
And how much money is in the Catalyst Fund today?
Approximately $58 million.
$58 million unencumbered that can be used for different purposes.
Would that be fair to say?
Yeah.
Excuse me, ultimate Craig Slack.
The money is sitting at Northern Trust in a custodial account.
It is, however, guided by an ordinance that was established by this body.
by an ordinance that was established by this body that allows it to—the original intent
was to have the city be a smaller part of the Catalyst Fund, to get co-invest from private
entities around the city of Chicago who are mutually aligned.
That never happened under the previous administration.
So under the current administration, there was a joint determination.
If you recall, Mayor Lightfoot brought—the original money that was sent out by former
for Treasurer Kurt Summers, brought that back in the early years of her original administration.
And then on March 26, 2020, Treasurer Conyers-Erbman and former CFO Rich Missoni sent approximately
$50 million to the Catalyst Fund through a joint determination.
$12,774,000 was out of the corporate fund, $37.225,000 was sent out of the service concession
reserve fund.
But that money is sitting there guided by the ordinance, so it's not like it can just
go anywhere.
It's got 20, there's a number of rules that the original ordinance set up to guide the
investment of that fund.
The thought is to get it out strategically in a catalytic fashion,
there needed to be a redrafting of the ordinance, which hasn't happened.
I think it's fair to say that the Catalyst Fund has not performed
or done the work it was designed to do,
and we have a very significant budget gap.
The majority of the city council informed the mayor
that they did not support a head tax they did not support
phantom dollars coming from springfield they did not support any tax on
They did not support any tax on job growth.
We're now well past a month since that budget proposal,
and I believe it's fair to say that the number of people in this body
that don't support that has grown.
I think we're north of 30, and we haven't seen a whole lot of progress.
Wouldn't taking that money from the Catalyst Fund
that hasn't been used in the way that it was designed to use
and putting it towards this budget gap be a good idea?
based on the fact that a significant amount of money the mayor wants in the budget isn't going
to be there. It's not going to be supported. Wouldn't it be fair to say that that $58 million
could be used to close this gap, to protect taxpayers? So, Alderman, as you know, originally,
and let me back up to a point that Craig was speaking about, the Catalyst Fund. The original
new intent, which predates me, Chicago, the city of Chicago was supposed to be a minor, a minority
investor in this fund. The majority of the funds was supposed to be private dollars. The previous
administrations were never able to capture private dollars. This fund has never been able to perform
as it was intended. And so during COVID, we made the best of what we had with the parameters that
we have of the catalyst fund to be able to support 762 small business owners and
I'm so proud that we were able to do that to keep businesses open now today
those dollars have been repaid and I do see the budget deficit that the city of
Chicago has which is why originally I proposed to return all the dollars so
that we can fill the budget gap when the mayor's office when the mayor and this
office presented this win-win proposal I think to be able to still fill the
fill the budget gap as well as continue to help our small business owners you
have some council members that think that all of it should stay in the
catalyst fund to help small businesses you have some aldermen that believe all
of the money should come back to fill the budget gap and so in this scenario
everybody wins point of information Chardell
other mic thank you on the comment uh you just made about filling the budget some alderman feel
this way so would it require a change in the authorizing ordinance in order to move the
catalyst fund dollars into the general corporate fund from your perspective
it's my understanding that because the money was never appropriated back in 2020 that the money
would have to come back to its originating funds so the only contemplation would be interest earned
but approximately the 12.775 would come back to corporate the 37.225 would come back to Skyway
uh and then from there uh it would have to be maneuvered around uh through the city but all
right just wanted to put that on the record thank you but that can that that can be done
through a simple vote of the board and it's the last time the board met 2019 when we did the small
business resiliency fund so we have 50 million dollar 58 million dollars sitting there that is
controlled by a board that hasn't met in seven years i just want that to sink in folks 58 million
dollars controlled by a board that hasn't met in seven years
board that hasn't met in seven years whoever's in on writing an ordinance to get that 58 million
dollars to help close this budget gap i'm all in for that meeting that's all chairman and so may
i also know while the board has not met in seven years and that the board has been operating and
moving within that seven years and the 762 small businesses have been able to stay open i just i
know what you're doing for the record alderman and i just want to make certain that the record
this is why where it has been out right here's don't trust government that's why this city
doesn't trust this mayor with the checkbook because we have a board that hasn't met in seven
years and the board has still operated alderman but i understand not particularly well thank you
alderman o'shea uh we're going to go to alderman conway next great all right um uh to follow up on
that i i just looking at the statue with regard to the catalyst fund it says that uh you know
but i want to give you an opportunity to explain some of this it says that uh
um funds that receive capital shall make a quarterly report to the board detailing
investment performance is g1 of 2-3-2-622 g2 says the treasurer shall report on on the performance
um annually are those things being done or yes okay so these were these reports are available
they are okay now do is in the um has the board adopted a set of bylaws since it was created
We have an investment policy in place, yes.
policy in place yes so you know bylaws will often specify most notably how often the board's supposed
to meet i don't know if they've they've adopted a set of bylaws or or not so again as you know
this board originated before me sure so we would need to the board does have its own attorney does
have an investment consultant so i would assume i mean i just don't have that handy but okay
I mean, the statute seems to imply at least some kind of annual meeting.
It doesn't say those words.
The bylaws probably do specify some kind of number.
But we have provided our annual reports.
Now, did you say something earlier when Alderman O'Shea was asking
that you actually wanted to return all those dollars to the enterprise funds?
That we wanted to.
Yeah, that was, you said you put forth to return the, that you wanted to return the money from the Catalyst Fund?
So when I meant, yeah.
So a moment ago when I mentioned that once the 762 loans were just repaid, and I want to clarify that and restate that,
because over these past seven years, we have kept 762 small businesses open in Chicago.
I would think those 762 businesses believe that the Catalyst Fund has been working.
Now, going further than that, once those loans have recently been repaid, when I saw the budget
deficit for the city, and now those funds are available, and considering when the Catalyst
Fund was created before my tenure, it was created with the mindset that there would
be private dollars that never came to fruition from any administration so then i did are any
of the loans outstanding today it doesn't sound like it no they're all they've all been and that
is why at this point i was proposing now the catalyst fund has had
is proposing now the Catalyst Fund has had over these past seven years, all of the loans have
been repaid, and it is now in a position that it can be redirected to do other things. Okay. Well,
frankly, you should be then commended for identifying this $57 million that seems to
just be sitting in some kind of account someplace and can be used for a different
purpose. So something that Alderman Riley was getting at, and I want to give you
a more fulsome chance to answer you know in as we look at um your budget it increased you know by
33 big number no doubt you know that um and you did offer some explanations to why that is but
it seems like as you look at your budget each one of the places where there's an increase it falls
under 0140 which is provided for professional and technical services and other third-party
benefit agreements. In the corporate fund, it is $650,000. In the vehicle tax fund, it's
$230,000. In the Midway Airport fund, it's $200,000. In O'Hare, it's $500,000.
so that is something like 1.7 million dollars of your two-ish million dollar increase so what
i mean maybe you can speak to us in some broad forms about what that's going to because it seems
like that that sort of vaguely titled line item is essentially nearly your entire budget increase
and i tell you that that is that was so disturbing to me alderman um and so we i know that we have
the answers to it but and i'll let my team answer but it is it is because the budget office did some
redirecting of how they appropriate funds um but go ahead team dan first term deputy chief of staff
staff alderman uh thank you for the question so if we were to start in the corporate fund and
there's that large increase in the 0140 um that is specifically for banking fees um this uh some
of this stuff came out of finance general historically and these are items that department
of finance and others use that um obm decided to house within our budget okay and then if you go
to uh you guys probably got to get new bankers by the way but that's a whole other that's perhaps a
different conversation from when we're talking about your deposits at a different place all
right and then so under the vehicle tax that's this new line for the 0140 yeah that is for uh
clearwater which is another one of these financial systems that craig could speak more to i believe
the same for the midway um if you have any more specific questions that's only about halfway to
the 1.4 you were talking about yeah yeah well it's why she said 1.7 i'm sorry 1.7 so that
accounts for 700,000 well i i will i will uh so i've sort of let you off the hook here obviously
there are those they're all put under that vague title if we could get through the chair
just a list of where all that all that 0140 who are the third party benefit agreements
with i will tell you alderman we have not asked for an increase in our budget maybe i should have
even started with that and so whatever this difference is the first 700 000 i knew about
i'm confident the other amount is from other services that the budget office put on and i
will find that answer please yeah because obviously we see on the screen here in the book you know
It's going from $6.5 million to $8.6 million.
But we have not asked for an increase in our budget.
So obviously there seems to be some discrepancy there,
so we'll want to give you an opportunity.
But I do believe, and that's why it's non-personnel, I'm confident that it's affiliated with the Bloomberg Clearwater as well as the banking fees, but we will get those exact numbers.
Great. And so a question I asked you last year, and maybe I'll just sort of say it as a statement and if anybody wants to respond to it, you know, you said $445 million on $13 billion.
you know rough math that's like three a little less than three and a half percent
um uh you also mentioned you run a core fixed you know core fixed uh investment plan which you know
that that's last year returned about seven and a half percent i suspect the discrepancy is
not your fault i suspect or craig you seem like a smart guy i don't know you know kurt summers
was a smart guy too like so i don't like i don't like not putting it i suspect the answer has
something to do with how you're hamstrung by ordinances or gasby or some other some other
entity and so what you know what i'd like to find out is there anything this body can do
so that for example if you have to keep a bunch of money in cash you could be put it in a money
markets it's paying four percent these days when you're only turning three four that looks pretty
good so i mean any idea what like what that is that's holding holding you all back or i said i
wouldn't ask a question that's my that you can feel free to answer some other time offline
whatever it is i always love our conversations alderman yeah i'm assuming you're talking about
producing a total rate of return correct i am yeah okay so we don't necessarily calculate
our investment strategy on total rate of return,
which doesn't seem to make much sense.
Anybody who manages money typically likes to manage that money
to a total rate of return and measure it against an index.
and measure it against an index because we don't do a lot of selling so so and and we don't mark
our securities to market on a daily basis so if you look at our holdings you'll look at market
value plus accrued versus book and you'll see an unrealized gain or loss because of the where
interest rates have gone we've got an unrealized loss if we were marking those securities to to
market, we would always have a market-based holdings report.
That would allow us to buy and sell, to take advantage of cheapness and richness in the
markets.
I don't believe that within the fiduciary duties that I have per code, which is to ensure
the liquidity needs of the city, preserve capital, and to maximize risk-adjusted returns,
that that strategy fits.
I do believe, however, that part of the fiduciary duty
is knowing and having a good relationship
with our CFO and our comptroller,
our other financial leaders across the city,
to know when money is going out
and when money is coming in
so that we can manage our securities
and our maturity schedules to that schedule.
One of the things that I can confidently say, Alderman,
is I think the treasurer mentioned
that we're projecting now,
but I expect to earn about $445 million
for the city this year alone.
Yeah, and by the way, I didn't make up these numbers.
You said, oh, we don't look at assets
and we don't look at return.
Literally two sentences of the treasurer's opening statement
are our office manages nearly $13 billion in assets,
dot, dot, dot, we expect to earn $445 million
from our investments.
So it's, I mean, that's where I'm getting the numbers from.
It's not kind of...
And they're accurate,
And I would say confidently that because of the way we manage that money, that probably
$100 million of that $445 million is because of prudent risk that we employ.
um we as i said we manage our city's assets um differently than any other city in the country
uh and i'm very proud of that so to deliver 445 million dollars for a city that's that has
structural deficit i think is pretty important so it i mean when you say we manage our assets
different than any other city in the country and we have 13 billion of assets and we're returning
445 million sounds like we ought to be managing our money the way other cities do as opposed to
how we're actually doing it. So what's the, you know, what is the, what's the issue here? Like
why, why? And I, like I said, I suspect it's not your fault. I suspected some restriction placed
upon you by some other body, maybe this one. That's why. The only thing we're reporting is,
is income is, is that number. So we're not reporting a total rate of return. We certainly
could. But you said, you seem to indicate that your total rate of return will be less than the
445 million in your in your previous statement you said you we've taken we've taken unrealized
losses due to interest rate moves is what you something you said a little bit earlier
well i i and i don't the seven plus percent rate of return what are you quoting i'm sorry yeah so
i'm pulling that from the uh morgan stanley aggregate bond yield which was which is generally
what's used as a comparable for core fixed plus structures sure and what what time frame 20 20 25
okay yeah and i and i could calculate ours based on on 20 okay yeah if you could if you could
provide a total uh total portfolio return uh and also but really i'm interested in what what we can
do to help this obviously we have a have a uh uh significant budget situation and you're all
managing 13 billion of assets we want to make sure that we are setting you up for success
as well as we as well as we can um i know i'm far beyond my time and those are conversations i
welcome to have with you certainly i look forward to it thank you
welcome to have with you. Certainly. I look forward to it. Thank you. Madam Vice Chair,
or Treasurer, if you want to add anything. And thank you, Alderman, for that. As you know,
in many conversations you have with Craig, he has certainly, this team, our investments team,
under my tenure, has certainly taken this portfolio to another level. But we're always
open to, of course, doing more. This portfolio is investing far more than what it was doing
previous to my tenure, and so we are proud to be able to earn more than we can even find in
Chicago's history in investment earnings this year. However, we are always looking to be able
to do more aldermen, so thank you for that. Thank you all. I look forward to continuing
the discussion offline. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman Conway. Next, we'll go to Chair Irvin.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, thank you for the work that you were doing as it relates to
home ownership and bringing some of our most challenged residents into some level of financial
security, some level of financial awareness. Can you talk about the programs you've got laid out
for 2027 to help residents deal with their financial challenges, as well as the focus
that your office has on home ownership? So we, during my opening comments, we made
the statement of moving from our annual BWTT to BWTT every day, because what we do know is that
there are so many residents that would love to be able to invest in themselves and their families
to be able to purchase their own homes. Last week, we were up at Wilbur Wright College.
Previous to that, we were up north at Truman College. The other month, we were at Malcolm X
College. We were at the other, well, this past weekend at Dawson Technical Institute on the
south side. We are traveling all around this city. We were on.
We were on the southeast side.
So far southeast, we were almost close to Indiana.
We have been all around the city of Chicago in every community, helping residents to be
able to purchase their own homes and to help them to be able to support their small businesses.
And in 2027, and I think we did over 100 programs throughout the city of Chicago, I have an
incredible team in the Chicago treasurer's office incredible team and so we are so pleased that even
as we look to 2027 well let me say even before 2026 ends please alderman let me put out this plug
I ask when our office sends information to you about what we're doing to help your residents
can you please share this information with your residents we want them to come out it should be
standing room only for our home buyer education events so coming up in a few weeks on november
19th i hope that every alderman in city council would please share this program that we're doing
our summit our financial summit in partnership with state farm insurance it is going to be one
heck of a summit that we are having to help our residents on November 19th. Please spread the word
if you don't see that information our IGA team will send it to you. If you're not getting our
information please let us know because our IGA team should be sending out information to your
offices often. The other question is around and I think was a little more clarity around
I think what Alderman Conway talked about is the investment policy and is it, do you all, and you may not have the answer to this today.
Do you all, and you may not have the answer to this today, are there adjustments that
maybe need to be made in the investment policy that would allow the office to a little more
flexibility to take advantage of market moves while preserving the liquidity and everything
that you need?
So I think that's kind of the question is, what can we do to give you guys more flexibility
in order to generate, I mean, if you guys are able to generate that level of return,
And again, these are dollars that help us. I mean, that's $400 million that we would not normally have. I've known the policy change under Treasurer Summers and as I spoke with him during his tenure, I know that the city has come a long way. We don't store the cash the way that we used to. We've made some adjustments.
And are there any additional adjustments that could be made to help bolster our returns, which, again, creates less dollars that we have to seek from the taxpayers?
Yeah, Alderman Urban, thank you for the question.
And I think there are some things that we could we could change.
You certainly would remember some of the changes we made at the onset of Treasurer Conyers Urban's administration.
We really, when the treasurer brought me in,
the idea was to take private sector experience
and bring it to the public sector
to change the way the city of Chicago was thought of
as a manager of money, as a steward of taxpayer dollars.
And we really took a look at changing
every process and procedure in the office.
We rewrote the strategic investment policy
with this body's help.
We brought in a new custodian.
We brought in, you've heard the term Clearwater,
That's our portfolio management system that allows us to sort of account for and capture the complexity of that type of a portfolio.
But there are certain, and we also change some of the sale language that allows me the more flexibility to sell securities when I see opportunities.
Typically, that was done in coordination with the comptrollers.
that was done in coordination with the comptroller's office. But there are certainly other asset
classes that we could be adding that could produce more income. As I talk about, I can
confidently say about maybe $100 million of that $445 million is the direct result of some of the
complexity and the prudent amount of risk that we are taking. One of the things that I wanted to
to kind of address more what alderman conway said as well one of the even though we talk about
managing to a core fix plus strategy uh that's for more the corpus some of those longer term skyway
parking meters that money that we know we're going to have for a long period of time that allows me
the flexibility to know that it's not leaving the city anytime soon but the the and i i've got the
percentage, I think it's about 41% of our assets. Now, we just jumped from $10.3 billion to that
$13 billion because of a recent O'Hare 26 deal that settled that now becomes part of our corpus.
That money is sitting in cash. But we've got about 42% of that $13 billion is in what we call
bond proceeds, the monies that we take in as a city as a result of issuing debt. That money is
not managed well it's managed to the indentures and so a lot of those indentures tell us what we
can invest in it does circle back to the investment policy of the city however we look at the the
projected cash flow draws that we're going to need to make to to fund those projects uh i don't know
what this 26 deal financed for o'hare but that money is very short right we also uh when we have
When I can get a call saying we're going to be surplusing a billion one in TIFs, where do I get that money, right?
If that's invested long, I can't just produce a billion dollars.
So we have made the decision because of some of the uncertainty of things like Cook County real estate tax with the proposed budget shortfall.
I've brought the cash reserve position from about $250 to more closer to $600 million.
And I've also allowed us to get to about a billion and a half dollars organically within about three weeks.
So that's a fairly heavy amount of cash.
So the more I have confidence in, you know, things like a budget, things like, you know, Cook County real estate flowing properly, that allows me to have the confidence to move that money out into the markets, into those strategies you're talking about.
So those are the kind of things that I need to be more confident to put that money to work longer and more efficiently.
So ultimately, you need direction from us as it relates to timing or from the administration and us related to timing so that you all know how long you have your ability to invest for the durations of your time.
Yeah, it becomes very difficult to invest efficiently when you don't have an idea of when money's leaving.
And so we've begun, and we have a monthly meeting with the finance leadership of the city.
The comptroller, the budget director, the CFO, and myself meet monthly to go over our,
because we all talk about the same things, but we use different language.
So meeting together allows us to more efficiently plan, see where we are on track versus budget.
I can show where our cash reserves are showing,
and having that sort of interaction
with the other leaders around the city
is a step in that direction, Alderman.
Point of information, Alderman Conway.
Yeah, I just want to make sure I understand your answer there.
So you said the 41% is held in things
that you can hold long-term.
And then is it then the 59% is in things like bond proceeds
things like bond proceeds and where is like the 600 million in cash which is just the opposite
just the opposite about 41 percent uh is and i can get you these exact numbers um through the
chair but about 41 percent is in what we call bond proceeds uh and then the um the 60 percent
is in our operation and enterprise funds uh okay and then the 600 million holding cash which is
that's part of our our corporate fund or our our operating funds gotcha okay but pardon me
And Chairman Irvin just wanted to clarify.
No problem.
The final point is around pensions and how we are doing as it relates to pensions.
I know you sit on the four pension boards.
And how are we doing toward MBE participation on our pensions and as well as the broker-dealer types of relationships that the city has as well?
I can answer the question, certainly about our minority participation, because this is something that I'm very proud of.
Within the treasurer's office.
Yeah, within the treasurer's office.
We did about, through August 31st of this year, we did close to $19 billion in trading volume.
About 64% of that was done with what we call MBE ownership firms.
And I can give you that breakdown.
about 5% Hispanic, 12% Black, 32% Veteran, and 16% women-owned firms.
And then as far as the pension funds, what was the question?
No, the same really around pensions and how, with the pension contributions,
the advanced payments what impact or how is that uh moving forward for uh for the city oh so for
2026 um the
For 2026, the city has provided close to $260 million in supplemental payments.
Oh, supplemental payments?
Yes.
In 2026, we paid $259.6 million.
That was done in two installments.
Half of it was done in January, and the other half was done in July.
And then you just added $75 million.
Yes. Yes, sir. Seventy five million plus interest on top of the two two sixty.
Correct. That was. Yes, that that was separate and distinct from the budgeted supplemental payment and the budgeted statutorily required contribution.
And so if I can just put a plug in, since we're talking about pension funds, I remember when I first took office in 2019 up to 2020,
my heart will be broken sitting in pension fund meetings and seeing us liquidate funds
to be able to make benefit payments. I am just so happy with the state and obviously we would
love to be at 90% funded with our pension funds. When I look at how it was when I first came into
office to how it is today. Our pension funds are in much better health. Thank you to this body for
what you have provided. We are in much better health. As you know, you are only required to do
the actuarial required contribution. And even with that, I do believe we would not have to liquidate
funds, but you all have paid even beyond that. And so I know that our pension funds, we're very happy
with that and we thank you that we have not been able we we have not had to liquidate funds since
the beginning of me coming into office thank you that's all i have madam chair thank you chairman
next we're going to go to alderman la spada
Thank you very much, Chair, Treasurer.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
It's the same question, but a different angle.
So again, I'm looking at page 168, again, 0140.
And I want to be clear.
I understand where the revenue is coming from.
I'm asking what are the professional and technical services being funded through that revenue?
and because this isn't you talking about that increase alderman i'm talking about yes page
68 yes and because that is new for us this year um as i mentioned before we have not asked as an
office for an increase in our budget on anything but we do know that the budget office made some
changes to the budget this year so they put some things on our line items that were not previously
there and so I do I know where about half of that is coming from but we have
to figure I'm not asking where it's coming I feel like you've been clear
where it's coming from okay truly it says that it's paying for professional
and technical services what are the professional and technical services that
their revenue is paying for that's what I'm saying half of that I know the answer
to because
the budget office put that
So we don't
know what it's paying
for. We don't have that
full answer yet. We will get it from
the budget office. Everyone knows how that sounds, right?
Yeah. Okay.
So this is, again, new
this year.
I have not asked for
a dollar to be added to my budget.
Nothing. So
let me also say this because I
had to ask my team this because they're talking
to the budget office often.
I said, so let me be clear.
This is not adding money that we're able to spend
within the treasurer's office.
This is money that is being done outside of us.
This is money being spent outside of us. This is money being spent outside of us. So what that means is that it's not like those funds are coming to me in my office to be able to spend. It's just being reallocated by the budget office separately.
But an expenditure, somebody wants to add some color from the box.
Alderman Laspata, I'm Dan Frister, I'm Deputy Chief of Staff.
So you're speaking to the 0140 under the...
On page 168, dollars paid for something.
What are these dollars paying for?
So that increase to the 1.2 over the, you know, 500 is, so that is for Bloomberg and some of the different banking fees specifically.
Are you talking about where the money is coming from or what it is paying for?
What it is paying for.
So it's paying the fees.
It's not, it's not fees being generated.
these are to pay for the Bloomberg banking fees you're saying are professional and technical
services. They are paying for technical services being provided by Bloomberg. Is that accurate?
Their services, their programs. Yes. Yes. I'll leave it to somebody else. Okay. I know that
it was mentioned to us that there have been seven years of annual reports from the Catalyst Fund
from the board. Is that accurate? Yes. I would like to receive copies of those annual reports
through the chair. Sure. Thank you. My final question, it was sent to my office from a member
of your staff because we were looking, we asked, there is about $300 million in interest income or
income, or investment income. The staff replies, the more than $300 million you're referencing to
is the actual interest earned on all investment cash, operations and enterprise funds,
earnings naturally rise and fall with interest rates. They go on to say, as for the 2027 budget,
it appears that the recommended budget shows about $134 million across city funds,
including $78 million for the corporate fund. My question would be, the other $166 million
in interest earnings, where is that $166 million represented in the budget?
Interest earnings are not represented in our budget, in the Chicago Treasurer's Office budget?
Let me rephrase the question. If the city earned, or your office earned, and it's commendable,
300 million roughly in interest on our accounts and 134 million of that is represented in the
recommended budget where's the other 168 million dollars in interest earnings yeah i um so when we
talk about interest earnings i'm talking about interest earnings across every fund uh which
would include enterprise funds as well as our corporate fund or our our main
operating funds which would include the corporate fund it's my understanding
that and that the budgeted number that certainly comes from the budget office
but it I think it's an estimate that that includes a smaller subsector of the
of the of the funds i certainly would direct you to the budget office for a better answer
but i know there is a lag we report immediately whereas the the department of finance
as the Department of Finance calculates the number
on that smaller amount for the number of funds
that are participating in the corporate fund
and allocate that in the following year.
But I'm not 100% sure on how that process works.
Alderman Riley, before you left,
I wanted to answer your question for the record.
You can pause my time if we're talking to Alderman Riley.
Thank you.
Because I wanted him to hear this in case he...
because I did get this I had to get this answer for you as far as the security
detail it is under CPD detached services for myself city clerk and others that
are deemed necessary by the police superintendent so it is under the CPD
detached services for myself city clerk and others go ahead Alderman Riley
thank you i'm sorry i'm walking out but i wanted to know i was just going out to return a phone
call i uh thank you for for sharing that with me uh chairman ervin also um provided that
information to me and um i'm going to be asking cpd to give us a detail um description of what
each of the various city officers are being given and what's that value um now that they're housing
this out of the CPD budget. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. All right. Thank you,
Alderman Spire. Let's go back. So going back again, like we were, we're aware of roughly
300 million in interest earnings and 134 million of that has been allocated across city funds,
including 78 million to the corporate fund. What was the choice made with that other roughly
hundred and sixty million dollars in interest earnings we believe we were just talking and
that's with the enterprise and other special revenue funds but again i think the budget
office would need to clarify that tell you what i'll because i have the email
Tell you what, I'll, because I have the email thread that I'm reading from from your staff, and I'm choosing to respect who the email came from, I will respond to the email, and I will copy you on the email. Thank you.
And so I also, as I want to clarify something, my role as the treasurer, I invest the funds, I make the money, I help taxpayers, I'm here to help you and partner with you.
Everything that the budget office does once those funds come in, I don't know that answer.
And I'm certain that someone from my team, because this is how great of a team we have,
they try to find those answers for you.
Certainly, we can do the same thing and try to find it from budget.
But we do not know at every location where budget put those funds once we earn that money, okay?
Well, then we can do that digging together.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Mulderman LaSpada.
um we're gonna go are there any other members who just walked in the room that have questions
before we move on to non-members hey non-members alderman wag is back thank you chairwoman uh good
morning treasurer good morning and team um just going back to a couple of issues with the uh the
last few years of the reports on the catalyst fund so in the inspector general's report from august
13th. Um, there was a lot of discussion about the, uh, prior reports that about four years
of reports that weren't done. Um, is the catalyst fund actually, um, on those 762 loans, there was
about $21 million, I think repaid in full. Um, when you distribute those dollars and, um, you
get that information ahead of time for where it's going to be distributed
through the board are there what is the approach to distributing those dollars
is there a meeting held or is there
or is there some type of, is it through the governing board
or is it through a separate entity, like a smaller entity
that distributes those dollars?
Yeah, so those, by the way, this is a, let me clarify,
those reports have been filed and we will produce those reports
to the chair because Alderman LaSpada asked for them as well.
But also, you know, the Catalyst Fund,
and I'm going to let Craig continue in this statement,
It is a fund of funds. And so we as a board can determine overall where those dollars will go.
And then from there, it is not, fund of funds are different in that these are not direct investments.
And so the way the current ordinance sits with the Catalyst Fund, it did not allow us to make those direct investments.
That's it. That's it. I think that actually answered it. Yeah.
So my just kind of. And again, done by the previous administration. I just want to be clear.
So my question is. Does FOIA and OMA apply to the Catalyst Fund as well as that investment board?
Both of them. You know, I I don't know that answer exactly.
I know that we usually have a majority when we have meetings, but I'm not exactly certain of
that answer, Alderman. Oh, well, it's kind of a leading question, but yes, the Community Catalyst
Fund is governed by FOIA and OMA. It's legally classified as a public body under Illinois
transparency laws. So my question is, how does the public know where those dollars had been spent
and where they will be in the future so we do have an annual report um and it's through
through meetings um it requires public meetings to do those expenditures or at least have taxpayers
or at least have taxpayers allowed to sit in the meeting and review it, or does it not?
Okay, but we haven't had any meetings for some time?
Correct, because the loans were outstanding, and now we're at a point that we're ready to redistribute those funds.
Okay, so in the future, if you're redistributing funds or starting to do that again,
how do you post for those meetings, and where do you meet?
We typically, well, we meet in different places.
It just depends.
It is usually in City Hall,
and we will see how those are posted going forward.
Okay.
And who are the three aldermen on the advisory board now?
Currently, there are no aldermen on the advisory board.
Is that something you would do in your first meeting
to make sure you actually have a board before?
well it is not required for us to have the advisory board members present in order to
move forward with business okay um and so that it all kind of depends do you have quorum with
the board composition that you have now yes we would you do we would okay okay um
um the let's see i was just reading through that uh inspector general report and it seems like
after some prodding they got most or all of the answers that they needed but i would just suggest
that as we move forward in the future with the tens of millions that are still left on the
catalyst fund that however they're used that there's an open transparent process around how
those dollars are distributed that three aldermen are appointed to the advisory board sooner than
later and that we're just following the guidelines that we put in place back in 2017 when this was
when this was first voted on this was a discussion that we had uh in this body to make sure that
FOIA that OMA were followed um to the T so we didn't have any situation like this where we
didn't have four years of reports not filed and sort of a lack of taxpayer knowledge about how
those dollars were being distributed and I know you don't have full control over how the mayor wants
to pry the money out and use it for filling budget gaps but um i think taxpayers just want to make
sure that every dollar that goes into this is is uh spent appropriately so i appreciate you coming
and answering those questions thank you thank you thank you alderman wagas back uh are there any
other committee members who have questions or non-members council um with that oh sorry alderman
Beal? You have more other members. This is round two. Round two. Go ahead. I just got two follow-up
questions real quick. First of all, let me ask you, whatever happened to the decision you made
to disinvest from the Treasury? Whatever happened to that idea? The U.S. Treasuries? So it was not
an idea. It was a stance and it was a policy that we implemented in the office. Okay. Do you want
to know the result of it? I would like to know, first of all, was that a sole decision that you
all made or you made in the department? And then, yeah, let me know what are the repercussions from
that decision. All right. And so what Alderman Bill is referring to is the divestment
from U.S. treasuries during the time when our federal government was occupying our city
and harassing our residents, and Craig can speak to the result of that divestment.
Well, first of all, I wouldn't choose to use the word divestment.
So when the treasurer first came to me,
because we talk about pretty much everything that happens with our office
and the investment portfolio specifically,
she asked me how many direct investments we have in U.S. treasury securities,
and we at that time had none.
I think I mentioned earlier that I choose to run this investment portfolio
a little bit more aggressively than most cities.
Most cities or municipal bodies will have a bloated cash position,
maybe a treasury ladder, and maybe a callable agency.
We, as I said, invest in everything from corporate bonds
to agency mortgage-backed securities,
asset-backed securities, and municipal bonds.
I don't choose to have a heavy dependence on U.S. Treasury securities.
There's no doubt that they are the most liquid, highest quality securities in the market.
Everything is gauged off of those securities.
They're also the most expensive and lowest yielding securities.
As I talked about earlier, of that $445 million, about $100 million I can confidently say comes from using some of those other securities.
The code says that I need to manage that portfolio to a double-A metric,
meaning the average of all of our holdings have to equal to a double-A standard.
I can do that through other securities besides U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. government agencies,
all things that are triple-A rated on their own to get that sort of rating quality that I need with extra yield.
One of the things that I think is interesting as I was thinking about this,
what has been the best-performing asset classes and what have been the worst?
If you look back over the last five years, U.S. Treasury security...
five years, U.S. Treasury securities have been the worst performing securities from our investable
universe the last five years. And it's almost every reporting period, they are in the lowest
category. One of the things that you see from, you know, the unprecedented, you know, stock market
rally that we've had is that, and a lot of what the Alderman was mentioning about 2025, the
aggregate index performing at 0.7.3 is the right answer on that. But it's because there's been a
tremendous amount of risk on. So risk assets have outperformed non-risk assets because of the
economy, because of interest rates, because of the Federal Reserve, and the feeling about the
stock market. So being in some of those riskier assets has paid off. Okay. So at the time the
decision was made you say we didn't have any correct investment so so so there was nothing
for us to disinvest in when we made the announcement so why did we even make the statement
that we're not going to was that we will not going forward make that investment but we didn't have
any at that time we had some before okay all right um lastly my last question um you said
the Catalyst Fund board hasn't met since when?
2019.
So from 2019 to current, the board hasn't met.
So how are we making decisions about investing in businesses
if we don't have minutes to reflect that we've been meeting
and who's making the decisions?
So the last time the board met is when we initiated
the Small Business Resiliency Fund, and at that time, we distributed funds to 762 businesses
throughout the city of Chicago. Throughout that time, we...
throughout that time, we were waiting for those loans to be repaid. So there was no activity of
the board, no private dollars came in before my time during any administration. So those city
dollars in the Catalyst Fund were distributed to those small businesses. Now that the small
businesses have repaid those funds, now we are talking about how this Catalyst Fund will now
be distributing
these funds. Again, my
question is
how were decisions
made on who to invest in
if we didn't have meetings
to vote on
who we're investing in? We made
that decision in 2019
when we did the small business. It was a blanket
decision. We're going to invest all this money.
Because it's a fund of funds. It's not direct
investments. And so
I'm glad that you're asking this question.
It is a fund of funds, which is one of the problems with the Catalyst Fund.
Again, predates me.
It does not allow for us to direct.
So then we weren't able to invest over these past seven years.
There are no direct investments.
There were no private dollars.
Okay.
If I put in an application for the Catalyst Fund.
You can't.
So who, how do I, as a business, I have a business, how do I get money from the Catalyst Fund?
You can't.
So how are you investing in me?
It's through fund to fund.
So we invest in a fund.
So when the 762, let's take this for example.
When the 762 businesses receive money, it wasn't through the Catalyst Fund directly.
The Catalyst Fund had to distribute money to, is it Axiom?
So the money has to be distributed through a CDFI.
Okay, so did the board vote on which CDFI we were investing in?
At that time.
At that time.
so it was a blanket you know not so not ongoing yeah i wouldn't i wouldn't i wouldn't say a blanket
i would say that there was so one of the things
I would say that there was, so one of the things that for concentration limits automobile is that no more than 20% of the catalyst funds corpus can invest in any one project or investment.
So that's, you know, $50 million is $10 million per CDFI.
If you recall at the time of COVID, nobody wanted to lend money, right?
That was when PPP loans were getting done.
So we had to, we were basically begging people to take this money and distribute it through businesses.
We also had to put a loan loss reserve against those monies to preserve their corpus.
That money, I think it was 25% against that to be able to make, allow them to lend.
And as the treasurer pointed out, that then, they used the guidelines that the city established
through the treasurer's office, the mayor's office, of what it took to get a qualified,
to your point, how do I get money?
You know, there were several characteristics.
You know, one of the things was you had to be a business residing in the city of Chicago.
I don't recall at the top of my head what all those characteristics were, but they were
loans that were made at below market rates.
about, I think there were, I think again, three different CDFIs, $21 million, all did it a little
bit differently, but the idea was to be zero to 1% for the first year, and then stepping up to a
below market rate, I think of three, two and a half to three, three and a quarter percent. So those
things were all happening at different times. So that money was sent out five-year loans that the
Treasurer pointed out in 2019 were returned over the course of the end of 2025.
Okay.
All right.
Now that, that helps.
So thank you.
Thank you.
But to your point, that money, as per the ordinances it's written now, would have to
go out the same way through a CDFI to whatever purpose that the Catalyst Fund Board or the
advisory committee of the, of the council would want to, how they would want to send
want to send that out, whether it be housing, anything of that nature. So the funds that have
been repaid from the five-year loans, are they all back with the city now, or are they still
sitting with the CDFIs? No, they're with us. They're with us. Okay. Alderman Riley, you had
a follow-up. I do. I have a follow-up on Alderman Beal's question. So there are 762 businesses
received money. How many applied for this money? So 762 were awardees, but what was the
general pool of those who applied i don't i wouldn't know how many actually applied uh but
because they applied through the cdfi and and i think i understand that i guess but did we get
an accounting from each of the cdfis okay this is how many folks applied here's how many we approved
yeah and i i know we have a list of every loan by loan level detail uh the ownership of the
business. I think we actually had race as well, but where they were located and how much money
was given. Can you provide that through the chair, please? And also, I guess, so I understand the
CDFIs ultimately were where the rubber met the road, but I assume someone in your office was
overseeing this process to make sure that CDFIs weren't awarding monies to their pals or their
most favorite customers or what was the check there to make sure that that this wasn't being
inappropriately distributed yeah at that time i believe the uh the the former cfo was was
controlling some of that process because there was uh i believe goldman sachs was working with
the mayor's office on a separate matter uh cd uh the catalyst phone was just one portion of that
i think they talk about a little bit larger amount of money that went out uh through those
small business resiliency, loan fund loans.
But we did have a check and we received financials from the CDFIs every year.
We received financials from the CDFIs every year, Alderman, and we also received monthly
sort of reports on what was paying down.
But if you can recall, at a time like COVID, there was so much chaos that was going on.
But I think there was seven loans that were actually made outside of the city of Chicago.
But I was reporting that, you know, at that time, with as many loans as were made,
At that time, I think that's a pretty good performance.
And as the Treasurer said, all of those loans have been repaid with interest,
and they're now sitting within the Catalyst Fund at Northern Trust.
Okay. I appreciate you answering those questions.
I'll look for the rest of that information through the chat.
Thank you, Alderman Riley.
Chair Dahl.
Just one more question regarding the board.
there's supposed to be four members that are appointed by the mayor when was the last time
you all received an appointment for that board does it go back to emmanuel lightfoot
mayor lightfoot lightfoot okay so we've received nothing in this administration or
uh just before just the lightfoot administration thank you can we have just through the chair who
the current board members are along with all of the vacancies that exist whether it be advisory
or otherwise just through the chair so everybody has that um alderman burnett thank you vice
shirley and madam treasurer thank you for all you do in engaging with the community i know i've been
at a few events on the west side where you've been helping folks understand how the city could be
helpful uh with their money and grants and programs so i really do appreciate that i just
have a couple questions about the investments and investment funds typically when we have investment
Typically, when we have investment funds, there's a benchmark fund profile that we typically
anchor to.
For example, if you're doing like a bond fund, you would say the Morgan Stanley Fund, or
you're doing like a high-yield equity or high-yield debt fund, it's Goldman Leverage Fund.
What benchmark funds does the city of Chicago use to dictate the investment profile and
if we're hitting the mark?
Yeah, it's a great question.
because I've struggled with this, and as you can imagine,
as the Treasurer sits on all four of the city's pension funds,
that is a more traditional mix of 60-40 equities,
and every one of those benchmarks is unique, and they're tough to follow,
not necessarily a good gauge of what performance is.
As the Alderman mentioned, the Morgan Stanley Aggregate Index,
which is a benchmark for a Corfix Plus.
The problem with using that index for me, or for these funds, is that not all of the assets under our management would be appropriately gauged against that benchmark.
At one point, we were trying to produce an index that was custom.
And one of our vendors was helping us provide this that was sort of would take different indices within that were appropriately gauged against our sub portfolios, whether it be bond proceeds or cash or operations reserve and what we call our long term reserves.
And it's really that that reserves portfolio that could be appropriately gauged against the aggregate index.
However, we are not allowed to invest in every instrument that's gauged in the in the aggregate index.
We also invest in some that are not in there.
So I've chosen to use the 1 to 5 GovCorp, which every one of these is going to have a flaw in properly gauging against performance of our assets.
properly gauging against performance of our assets um but i feel like the one to five gov
corp captures as much as i can get um as i said we've got this disparate these disparate sub
portfolios uh you know one being our bond proceeds one being our operations which is short-term cash
and then we've got operations reserve and long-term reserves so they're very four very
disparate portfolios within our our overall corpus we call our our assets under management
understood yeah no portfolio is going to be the same yeah uh and there's always going to be
different criteria in which you invest in certain assets that other portfolios or index funds don't
um but it would be nice to know how the city is is doing in comparison to what you've indicated
is the benchmark fund which is the one to five year gov corp i think yes exactly um if you can
give us that through the chair just to understand where we are doing where we are uh that would be
helpful i think for the context of making a uh significant increase in in uh interest revenue
or revenue generated for our fund is great but as alderman conway noted how are we doing in
comparison to other cities if we have such a unique platform um and do we within the portfolios that
are managed to the treasurer's office is any of it do we invest in index funds or is it strictly
managed funds we don't invest in funds per se except for money market funds which are money
market sweeps we directly invest in in u.s securities as governed by the strategic
investment policy so direct investments in you know mortgage-backed securities residential
mortgage-backed securities asset-backed securities and the like okay so more fixed products all fixed
income all fixed income products no uh no equity correct okay no the policy does not allow us to
do that yep so it's all fixed index or fixed fixed assets yeah um
fixed assets yeah um with a fairly short duration so okay that's good to know all right thank you
that's a lot alderman conway well i guess a point of information that that flows from that craig you
said something about you're required to invest some portion of your assets in in double a rated
or higher instruments what was how does that interact no i i'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding
The policy and code says that the overall portfolio's quality has to be double A.
So you take the sum total of all of our assets and do the simple average and come up with a number or a grade.
Well, I mean, that seems like a pretty significant risk.
So are you talking like the big $13 billion number, the average has to essentially be double A?
Yeah.
So to your point earlier,
and Alderman Irvin's point,
what could you do?
You could allow me to bring that down.
We could introduce things like high-yield securities,
which the question then becomes,
should we or shouldn't we, right?
I've often said, you know,
I can invest down in the cap structure, for instance.
So I choose not to.
I could do, I've got a background in CLOs.
Should I buy those?
I can.
Who's going to come after me that knows what they are, right?
So there's a should you and a could you.
And so a lot of times where I can,
the other thing, Alderman Conway,
that I struggle with is I run this
with a pretty small team, right?
You know, I think somebody mentioned earlier
there's 40 people, Alderman Riley.
You know, five of those are tied
to the investment portfolio.
So I would say that in the private sector, that's probably a team of 30.
So many worked in banking, I agree.
I would say that, I mean, the U.S. government's only rated AA these days.
So the fact that you're required to keep that as your average or median seems,
I appreciate we have to have a level of conservatism when talking about city funds,
but that seems overly restrictive on you all.
That's fair.
And I think, and I can't remember which, sorry, it was your question.
And I've tried to go out and reach peers to do some peer analysis to see what other people are doing.
I see people at conferences all the time.
I can't find one.
And so no one is doing what we're doing.
So what you're suggesting, Alderman Conway, would be another innovative way to think about things, which I'm all for.
Is the AA rating, is that something, and I apologize if I'm taking anyone else's time.
Is the AA rating, is that something that's set by?
By code.
It is set by code.
Okay, that's exactly what, like, some kind of city ordinance.
Yeah, it's code that then filters in.
Policy can be more restrictive than code, but it can't be more liberal than code.
Makes sense.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Bisher.
I promise you I'm done, I think.
Still good.
Herr Villegas, you had a question.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.
Just to the request from Alderman Riley regarding the 762 businesses, could you also add how many are still open?
How many are what?
Still open.
Still open.
Yeah, thank you.
If we have.
Okay.
okay okay there being no further questions from the um body we're thank you treasurer to you and
your staff thank you we're gonna move right into public comment we went out of order this morning
do the time change so um i will once we see once we are done with public comment we'll move into
our next department which will be the department of human resources okay our first public speaker
is wally muhammad oh i'm sorry we're i'm out of order board of elections is next
Uh, Wally Muhammad, are you still here? Okay. I'm going to move on to the next person,
Reagan Burke. Ms. Burke, you'll have three minutes when you get started.
Oh, good. Thank you. Is it on? Yep. My name is Reagan Burke. I'm 80 years old
and I've lived in Chicago's 42nd ward for 55 years, two aldermen.
there are 500,000 Chicagoans over the age of 60 by 2030 those over 60 will equal one third
of Chicago residents that's three years from now when we retire at 60 65 or even 70
maybe 75 we have years ahead of us to pay taxes fund tourist attractions start small businesses
and buy a home we are on park district advisory councils volunteer at the symphony and the
goodman tutor your kids create and fund block clubs serve on local school councils teach classes
at senior centers. Ms. Burke, can you hold on a second? Gentlemen, can you take it out into the
annex? Alderman, can you guys take it into the annex? It's hard to hear.
Thank you. Sorry, go ahead. We ride the CTA
and volunteer in your campaigns.
And yet, the mayor's budget shows
a shocking lack of interest in keeping us old people in the city.
Why is that? Chicago has lost
900,000 residents since
1950 when some of us
some of us were born.
Though there are many reasons for this,
politicians say today, over and over,
that increasing Chicago's population
would solve all our money problems.
There are good reasons for seniors to live in Chicago.
Health care, public transportation, tax exemptions,
parks, festivals.
Does this budget include funding to keep
and attract retirees?
Wouldn't you rather we spend
both our time and money
here in Chicago
rather than move to Schaumburg?
There's no mention in this budget
of assisting Chicagoans
to grow old in their neighborhood homes.
I know you have senior days
or programs in your wards for us.
You seem to care.
But that's not enough.
I and others plead with you
to restore funding for the CHORE Extension Program,
as mentioned by Alder Lopez on Friday,
the Small Accessible Repairs for Seniors Program,
and increase Meals on Wheels to five meals a week rather than three.
We thank Karen Kolb for her unwavering commitment to seniors.
We thank Jeanette Taylor for her advocacy and ask,
why is there no funding for the mayor's office of aging and the senior bill of rights as directed
by the executive order in october thank you for your attention i particularly thank alders riley
and hopkins for looking out for us old people on the near north side and responding when we call
thank you thank you miss burke uh our next speaker is and i'm gonna apologize for butchering your
name um gleb staskins i'm so sorry young man it's all right will you please pronounce your name yeah
uh it's glebs the schooness
Stasgunis?
Yeah, almost.
That's fine, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
Well, thank you, Madam Chair, members of the committee.
I know it's a pretty empty room in here.
I'd like to keep my remarks brief, but also direct.
Firstly, I just observed the treasurer and 10 of her team members testify in front of you guys.
I find it absurd that the last time the board of the treasury convened was in 2019.
That was seven years ago.
and since then they didn't have a single board meeting.
That's just absurd.
Second of all, the budget deficit
or the budget shortfall is $882 million
for the upcoming 2027 budget.
Who's gonna pay that bill?
Probably my generation is gonna be stuck with that bill
because you guys by then will probably be out of office.
My generation will have to pay that bill.
Probably gonna increase interest rates and inflation,
make our life more unaffordable.
Also, I find it kind of ironic in this budget
for those others who do support it.
I'm not really sure which do and do not.
But for this upcoming proposed budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson, I find it ironic that
CPD funding went up over 6%, but also we have half a billion dollars in police misconduct
settlements.
So as much as I would like to see our city become safer, specifically on our public transportation,
I'm sure maybe the committee could answer this later, but if the city's increasing police
department spending but also giving half a billion dollars for police misconduct settlements what's
the guarantee that the police department will actually change we're not just allocating money
um here and there so i'd like the committee to actually if they have time to address these
issues because realistically in the future my generation will be stuck paying the bill
you guys will probably be out of office you have elections coming up in a few months
um i wish you all well but i would love to hear your guys's response to the budget
to the treasury department not convening in seven years which is just ridiculous no board should be
It should be at least a minimum of a year once a year and to address the nearly $1 billion budget shortfall. Thank you for your time.
$1 billion budget shortfall. Thank you for your time, Madam Chair.
I yield the rest of my time to you. Thank you, Mr. Sustanis.
Better? All right. Mr. Blakemore, you're up next.
Thank you. I'm 84, so I got
about three years on you, four years.
I was elated to see
the Altman present when it had time
for public speaking, but I was kind of
disappointed when they announced for the
public to speak, but several Altman walked
out. That shows no respect.
No respect for your job. No respect
at all. Several of them that spoke in the committee
chose to leave when it got
time for public speakers. This is why
it's very important for a man and Mr. Blakemore caliber to
attend these meetings. So
somewhere and somehow you all have
forgotten you are a public
server. And with that, you
serve the public. And while I'm talking now
the chairman, it's just too much activity going on. When the public comes, everybody should be
quiet. And I'm thinking about Georgetown, Texas. They say they got, it was close around Rock and
Austin, Texas. They got a great big senior complex. And so much money have came into
to Georgetown, Texas, because the seniors spend money.
And that's a resource that you can use trying to keep the seniors in the city.
And you all are very disrespectful to your position.
Conway, where are you now?
You all come and show up and show out.
I'm going to show up and show out, too.
Where are you now?
Why did you walk out now?
That's supposed to be the most important part is to hear from the public.
That's the most important part of your job, is to serve the public.
You are a public servant.
The public pays you.
The public pays you.
And it seems like you all resent.
But, Mr. Irvin, you was wise enough this time to let the public, with your wife, when she was here.
But you usually don't have that.
You usually have us to come up and be four in here, and we be speaking to the cloud.
But this time, with your wife, you change.
Thank you, Ms. Blakemore, for your comment.
Our next speaker is Susan Alito.
I am Susan Alito.
And I come to the council this morning as an older Chicagoan.
I'm 87 years old, and I have lived in the fourth ward for nearly 50 years.
50 years. I'm dismayed that the budget
has no significant mention of older Chicagoans
and the assistance that they need to
remain in the city, which I believe
in fact would be beneficial both for individuals
and the city. As you know,
as has been mentioned, by 2030
30, I believe a third of the Chicagoans will be older residents. Since my retirement, I have worked
to establish a not-for-profit community organization that does support aging in community.
It's one of eight such villages in the Chicago area, and I believe that community building and
engagement, in fact, has a large impact on our whole area and maybe even the elections.
And older people do vote. We are also very active in our communities. I would suggest we give back
perhaps more than we take. We are the organizers. We're election judges. We're mentors to youth.
We volunteer at food pantries, and this coming Thanksgiving, my village will organize its 14th annual community Thanksgiving dinner for people who do not have other family and friends with whom to celebrate the holiday.
And we will deliver Thanksgiving meals to homebound neighbors who cannot join us at the dinner.
I would like to mention that long before she became an advisor with the City Senior Services, Karen Cobb helped us.
is Karen Cobb helped us organize our village, which demonstrates how intergenerational this
all is and which benefits everybody, I believe. I think you were notified when home-delivered
meals were to isolated and vulnerable, poor, older adults were drastically cut back. And
I do know that our fourth ward alderman and the alderman that preceded him have done individually many things for the older population in your wards.
But why are you not speaking out for the for the city budget?
Thank you for your comments. Wally Mohammed. Wally Mohammed.
Okay, that concludes our public comment period. Just for the record, and I stated this before we did public comment, because we started at 9 a.m. today, and that may not have been clearly communicated to residents, even though it was noticed, we decided to start and then come to public comment at this point in time just to make sure that those who wanted to have an opportunity, because there was only one individual who was here for public comment when we opened our session up around 9 a.m.
clock. So tomorrow we will be at nine o'clock again, as we have seven departments up tomorrow
so that we could, you know, finish before midnight. So we will start tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and
for the public comment session, we will start with the 9 a.m. public comment section at that
particular point in time. Before us, again, we are made an adjustment in the schedule based on
some requests. We have the Board of Elections that is before us with Director Espera. If you
could introduce yourself and members of the team.
introduce yourself and members of the team and provide your opening statement and the members
in the box as well. First, we will have our financial overview from the Council Office of
Financial Analysis, after which you'll give your presentation, and then questions will be opened by
Chair Harris. Katie, you may proceed. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Irvin, Vice Chair Lee,
and members of the city council my name is katie o'toole and i'm with the council office of
financial analysis i'll provide a brief summary of the board of election commissioners budget request
for 2027 the proposed budget for the board of elections is 48.45 million a 20.59 million or
73.87 percent increase compared to 2026. the board is completely funded by the corporate fund
The 2027 is an election year for municipal races in Chicago, and 2028 will be a presidential
election year.
So preparation for the upcoming elections are driving the notable spike in requested
appropriations for the board.
Personnel accounts for $17.57 million of proposed spending, up 88%.
This reflects additional budgeted overtime, up 55%, and nearly $8 million in extra hires
to support election services.
non-personnel is up 67 percent as well to 30.88 million the board requests 122 full-time
equivalent positions for 2027 and this is the same as last year and as of october 21st the board had
a vacancy rate of 17.21 percent then this slide looks at appropriations by category and fund
against the 2026 budget ordinance so i just gave a highlight of personnel changes but contractual
services see the next largest additional spending with a nearly 68 increase of 12 million in 2027
increased funding for postage freight and express charges outside graphic services and leased
outside graphic services and leased equipment drive the expenses in this category and as noted
the corporate fund supports all of that so you see changes there looking at a historical overview of
the department's appropriations by funding source as you can see the board of elections appropriations
follow the four-year election cycle but outside of election years the city can anticipate lower
funding needs though these appropriations on non-election years have generally increased over
time. And then lastly, looking at historical FTEs, staffing has remained consistent. They don't
follow the election cycle. Like I said, election year staff increases are reflected in other
personnel line items. This concludes COFA's overview of the proposed 2027 budget for the
Board of Elections. Thank you, Katie. Director Sparrow. Good morning. My name is Sandra Sparrow
and i am the executive director for the chicago board of elections along with me we have the
board's chairwoman maricel hernandez we have commissioner june brown and we have commissioner
laura koteman along in the box we also have the manager of the pre-election voting and logistics
clinton hurd along with one of his supervisors brandon pickens whoever oversees the polling
places department we also have nick esposito who is our ada compliance officer we have behind them
we have carolina roman who is our procurement officer we have audra lewicky who is our community
services outreach manager and then we have paulina misliwick who is the supervisor of the uh judges
of election next to paulina we have jake pollock who is my executive uh administrative assistant
and then we have matt lynn who is the manager of the i.t department with that uh
We recognize the city's financial challenges and our responsibilities to use public sources wisely.
Equally important is the obligation to provide Chicago voters with fair, accessible, secure, and efficient elections.
First, I want to acknowledge the November 3rd general election, both its challenges and successes.
I want to recognize our dedicated staff, election judges, law enforcement partners, and poll workers.
They worked tirelessly under demanding and unpredictable circumstances to keep our elections
safe, and I am proud of their commitment to Chicago voters.
I am thankful to more than 700 voters in Chicago who participated in last week's election.
So many of you voted and registered to vote.
We understand the frustration some Chicago voters experience with long lines on some
precincts, and we apologize.
The coding error miscalculated the number of printed ballots needed for ballot styles in 24 split precincts, or 1.86%, of our 1,291 polling places.
Our IT team already implemented a safeguard system to check and validate ballot quantities before they are sent to our printer vendor.
year we also managed increases in voting in voter participation in Chicago the 2026 general election
saw high levels of midterm voter participation the number of registered voters is 1.6 million
in Chicago that includes approximately 40 000 same-day voter registration and provision of
voters on election day that is the second highest number of records suppressed only by the 24 2024
24 presidential election this growing civic engagement is encouraging but it
also raises expectations for election services
raises expectations for election services our proposed our proposed for the 2027 fiscal year
budget is 48 million 453 841. this funding will help us move in the in that direct direction
and support critical responsibilities we already are administering municipal elections of on
On February 23rd, 2027, for a Chicago mayor, alder person, city clerk, city treasurer,
and members of police district council, plus referenda, if needed.
We will manage a runoff in a supplementary election on April 6th.
Today the Chicago Board of Elections started hearings for more than 100 candidates being
objected to.
We will soon again be sending vote-by-mail ballots.
we will again set up and operate early voting centers in 50 wards in the downtown area and
the super site we serve the most voters of any single police which serve the voters of single
no let me let me start that over actually my mouth is right we will again set up and operate early
voting centers and 50 wards in the downtown early super site which serves the most of any single
polling places. We also set up 1,291 election day polling locations with accessibility and
language services. Our budget proposal includes funding for quality control and security of voting
equipment, customer focused voter registration system, and better management of ballot production
and distribution. We need funding to upgrade and operate our IT systems. This will help us meet
voter expectations for everything from voting machines to our website and future voter app
our budget proposal supports recruitment and training for nearly 8 000 election
election judges and poll workers those are not only jobs but paid jobs and learning experiences
for college and high school students in chicago we also requested funding for community services
of voter engagement and law enforcement partnership to keep polls safe and secure
in 2027 we prepare oh in 2027 we will prepare for the 2028 presidential primary general election
We also know that presidential elections draw the highest voter participation in Chicago, often over 70% of voters.
In conclusion, these responsibilities require experienced personnel, reliable systems, and careful planning, especially in election cycles.
Overlapping and voter participation grows.
We remain committed to fiscal discipline, operational improvements, and accountability.
Our voters expect us to continually improve.
Our goal is not to simply conduct the next election.
It is to make each election better than the last for Chicago voters.
I thank you, and I welcome your questions.
Thank you, Director Sparrow.
We're going to open with Chair Harris.
Good morning. Thank you, Chairman.
Good morning.
Could you tell me how long you've been in the role as chair?
So I've been with the Board of Elections for over 30 years.
uh the board asked me to be interim executive director in february of 2005 i was then uh
uh i was then i then applied for the position and i interviewed and was given the position
of executive director as of august of 2025. so i've been here for a full year and months
so one i need to see your org chart because while i know some of the people sitting in the box many
of them i do not know and i've been here for 20 years so um and i i would think that given the
fact that so many of the huge the other leaders have been there for such a long time it would have
other leaders have been there for such a long time. It would have been nice if you had reached
out to the body so that we could get to know you, get to know who you are, and probably present
or probably not put you in a position where I'm asking these questions on the public record.
So I need an org chart. You can get it to me through the chair and with people who we would
have to contact and who we would have to work with so that things that happen on election day,
which when me line right up with voter suppression to have precincts tons of precincts to not have
enough balance to send people away to another site to have people sitting for hours waiting
on ballots um it's egregious it's egregious and so these are things that we expect that you all
should be able to handle and be able to take care of um and that it not become an issue for us
considering i personally feel that we're being just cut out of any type of communication
we don't for the first time in my history we have no idea who are who not that we
take over polling places but it's always been a partnership between us and the board of elections
that I see dissipating and going away,
that it makes it harder for us to,
when we don't know who the judges are,
when we get incompetent judges
or judges that are inexperienced,
and then it creates a two-hour waiting list
because you get the judges in there
fighting about who's in charge.
Just to me, very,
this was a real difficult cycle
for me to sit back and watch.
So I'm hoping that you all will, one, reach out and on behalf of the executive committee for the Cook County Democratic Party, a number of the.
Party, a number of the committeemen had just a laundry list of complaints about how this
election cycle played out.
So I kind of want to start so that you can explain to me who's up under you, who's second,
who will be your second in charge.
Okay.
And thank you.
Thank you for your question.
I have been, I've tried, I've tried, no, I have reached out to all the older persons
persons. I did that when the assistant executive director was hired. She is no longer with the
Board of Elections. Mary Beth Caruso, if anyone met with her, there was two letters I sent out
to the older persons. Yes, I used the ward email that is available on your website. We did two
mailings to all the older persons to introduce the new assistant executive director i also sent
out in september of 2026 i don't have the date for the other letter but i do have that the letter
that i recently sent out uh maria had alderman hadden had reached out about security concerns
on election day so i went ahead and emailed using the ward's email address a letter addressing those
concerns uh last year was it last year i'm trying to remember i did reach out though individually
to introduce myself and the assistant executive director alderman clay is she here no no she's not
here okay i met with a couple older persons yeah i'm so sorry but i did i just want to point out
that i did use probably an email address that is for your ward i would like if you don't mind jake
Pollack, who is my executive assistant, he was just hired in June of this year. If we could get
a better email address for everyone, if you would like to continue, if you'd like to receive that.
If you'd like to receive that, more information from the board,
I would really appreciate if I could get better emails
than just the board email that we're utilizing,
or at least I am utilizing.
Go ahead.
Okay.
So here's my suggestion.
We all have an office, and we all have bodies that sit in that office.
I suggest that you start there.
That's always a great starting point to call my office and say,
hey, when a department head or a chair is asking to reach me,
you're going to get a return phone call
because the email process, you might get lost in the spam,
and I may never see that letter.
And so I'm asking you to call our offices.
It's 50 of us.
We all have an office.
My office works 9 to 5 every day.
And so please feel free to reach out that way.
Again, my final stuff is wrapped around the voting process
and everything that happens.
If you can explain what you plan to do differently
for our next election cycle.
For the 2027 election cycle?
About not having enough ballots and ballot boxes.
What is the emergency plan when you have hundreds of people
who are trying to vote and there's not enough materials
for them to vote?
Other than telling them to go to a super site and vote or go to this place and vote, again, what's the emergency plan?
So the emergency plan, I am working on an emergency plan for a shortage of ballots.
The IT department has now implemented a safeguard so we can make sure that before the ballot printing is sent to the vendor that it is approved.
I'm going to personally make sure that our team here, anyone who is involved with ballots,
is involved with ballots uh approves that if i if i have a first draft second draft i want
everyone to approve it prove it that's number one um what else did you ask me i'm so sorry i forgot
that's basically it that you don't have a plan yet and so i oh i do have a
yeah well you haven't been able to tell me the plan i'd like to address that if i may adam
Lasker general counsel for the board we we have a plan for shortage of ballots and we implemented
that plan on the third um we have you know our the the ballot printing can I stop you there then
tell me what happened in the number of the precincts yeah that if we had an emergency plan
and a judge is calling you early in the day and said we're about to run out of ballots in the next
hour um and we're concerned and that's at two o'clock then at six o'clock people are still
standing in line waiting to vote so walk me through what that looks like sure the the plan
by the way just to finish that is we have printers backed up both at our downtown office and at the
warehouse that can print ballots as needed the ballot printing originally happens through a
vendor for the every precinct in the city um we when we started first hearing reports of missing
ballots that's something we will frequently get calls on from judges um we get a handful of those
every election. And it's frequently like they just didn't find the right ballot style. Sometimes
they're handing out the wrong ballot style, so we have to get the right one out. So we have to
sort of troubleshoot and identify what the problem really is. This is a problem we had never
experienced before. And as soon as we found out and identified each individual precinct,
we started printing ballots and having them delivered to each of the precincts. But for
some of the precincts, we didn't find out until later in the day. They didn't run out until later
in the day some of them were in the morning and it took some time to identify the issue
reprint those ballots then get them driven to the proper precinct what we've already
already started talking about for the next election is potentially increasing the number
of the printers that we have in-house because they're not high speed high bulk high volume
printers that would have helped us on on tuesday um i do want to point out again this is the first
time that we had experienced this particular problem it was as you've heard a coding error
we had actually delivered the proper number of ballots to every precinct in the city
but when you have a split precinct and there are multiple ballot styles required because of the
coding error some of them got switched so if you needed let's say 10 of this ballot style and 100
of this ballot style but you got 100 over here and 10 over here so this would run out um that
happened in 24 precincts out of our 1291 precincts so we're our the the it department um has already
implemented in the in the coding something where the system is going to uh observe this and red
flag this if it happens in the future so we've already attacked it from a computer coding
standpoint we're talking about the possibility of additional printers so that if this does happen
again um we'll have the ability to output more ballots on a general scale where this has never
happened before the printers that we've had have been sufficient to do any kind of last minute
ballot shortage issues that are usually caused by judge error so that's that's where we're at
on that issue for now alderman scott through the chair can you get us the 24 precincts that that
occurred, Andy? Yes, we can.
Chair?
I'd like contact information
on who we should be reaching
out to when we're having
problems. Yeah, that
800 number don't work for me. I know
312-269-7900. I've been
around so long, but
I don't want an
800 number. I don't
want an 800 number. I want a
person that will pick up
a phone, get a problem
resolved for me. I do not
for me. I do not going to sit around and wait on the 800 number, not me personally, but maybe
somebody else will sit on the 800 number and wait. I still think we should have the org chart with
contact people. So we specifically know who to talk to where people aren't sitting on 800 number
waiting for somebody to get the right person who you might not get the right person who you might
be transferred around to two or three different people. But we need to know who we should be
speaking to that can address our issue. And if it's a legal issue, my name will be
on that list, so please contact me. Well, Adam, you've been around a long time. I know how to find
you if it's a legal issue, but generally it is not. It's issues around
polling places, polling locations, judges,
ballots, and all those kind of things. But I would still like to
know in the new org chart who these people are that we should be reaching out to.
It will make life easier for you all and certainly make
life easier for us. And it's all about us being able to have a great election cycle and move
through these issues that have historically, we've not had these kinds of problems. And so
this is something new. So when we have new problems, we also need to be able to know that
we can talk to the right person to resolve the right issue. And one last thing I want to point
out with Mrs. Sparrow's outreach to the older persons, and I know she has, but we all remember
lance goff you know dearly the 34 year executive director of the organization and i will just
point out that this is not an organization that has a lot of turnover at the very top seat
and i'm pretty admirable of um miss aspera's knowledge because she does come from over 30
years of experience internally on election administration she's very much a professional
election administrator and i hope we all just you know help her as you're doing right now you're
coaching her basically as to how to become a better you know outward bound before lance got
out of there you should have made him have a sit down well they did yeah with all 50 of us
so um it's it's if he's
Um, it's, it's, if he's leaving and he's going out and people can no longer reach an executive
director on their phone, then I think that he's the person that could have got all of
us in a space and said, Hey, why don't you come over for a half an hour, meet so-and-so
and so.
I just think that those are the kinds of things that you have to think about when you lose
institutional leadership.
And so, um, thank you, Chris Turner.
Thank you, Dwayne Valentine and June Brown.
it. It was so fabulous to see you today. I am just ecstatic to see you today. So good to see
you, girl. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. As it relates to ballots, what is the protocol
on the number of ballots that are delivered to a specific precinct?
I could address that as well. So we do intentionally overprint. We take into account
early voting and vote by mail numbers because those those particular people from a precinct
won't need a ballot and then we over print for um what's left you know for the rest of the
precinct voters and again we had the proper number of ballots in every precinct there was just an
allocation error so is it is it safe to say that there is at least one ballot per person per precinct
i mean per registered voter per precinct more than that yeah so the we also as mrs spera mentioned
We had over or almost 40,000 same day registrants that did not cause any problems in any of these other precincts, even though it was, I think, the second highest number of same day registrations we've ever had.
So those are people who were not even, you know, we account for the unknown people who may show up to register and vote for the first time.
Okay. And then polling place administrators, those are individuals who should have a little more in-depth knowledge and should be able to operate everything in the precinct, should the judges.
in the precinct should the judges or not go to the training or, you know, stuff happens, right?
So these individuals should be able to jump in in any space, point, or time in the election
process in that precinct and manage or run that particular process. Is that correct?
That is correct. And we do have a robust training system that covers everything. We have our
election judge handbook, which is also available on our internet and supplied to all the judges.
and everything is in there.
Then we have additional training videos
that the judges can come watch.
The problem here nationally
is that elections are run by people from the community
who do this two days a year.
So nationally, every election authority
hears the same thing.
It's wonderful when we have returning judges
who get really good at the job over years,
but we just have to acknowledge
that not everybody pays attention in class.
the training has it it's in there how well each individual judge learned it is
debatable I would also point out we heard you know the the party feeling like they don't know
the judges and I want to remind the council as I have before the election code the statutory
process is that we are supposed to receive a list of judges for ward by each ward committee
person of the two established political parties. That's the first step in filling the roster of
election judges. So it's really supposed to come from the ward committee persons. That's the
statutory mechanism. We had literally had ward committee persons call me this year and tell me
they'd never even heard that before. We had 165 total from Democrat and Republican Party combined
165 judges assigned by ward committee persons out of the seven or eight thousand that we needed.
38 of them did not serve. So we had 127 ward committee person assigned.
127 ward committee person assigned judges so we certainly encourage the political parties to be
more involved 10 years ago 15 years ago a much higher percentage of our judges came from the
ward committee persons so we certainly welcome that it helps us with recruitment tremendously
it's the statutory process it's supposed to be oh one thing hold on hold on I got y'all I got you
So one thing I'll add to that, as someone that does assign judges, the fact that I can't see judges outside of my ward that have traditionally been judges in our communities is a challenge.
And at the same time, you all have a deadline that you impose upon us to have judges selected by, then that system shuts down, which is Poll Watcher, I forget, Poll Worker system, Shop Poll Worker, it shuts down.
So those are just some observations that I have.
I know we got a series of individuals that have points of information.
I'm going to work my way from this way going forward.
So Alderman Curtis.
and it's piggybacking off of your first question uh is is that the reason why i saw a um
a chart that came from the board of election that showed every ward in the city and then it
showed the precincts and it had high low high low was that saying that was to your original question
uh was was was that saying that uh about the ballot being delivered to the precincts were
you trying to identify which precincts vote high and which precincts vote low you know what chart
i'm speaking of you're talking about the ada uh well it had a column it gave you the ward number
and then the precinct
the precinct uh at the end it said high low high low high low that's the polling place that's
accessibility rankings you need you to speak into the mic you all need to speak into the mic so no
the the the comment the the spreadsheet you're referring to that's what it is uh polling places
with along with nick those are the percentages we have within your ward who are accessible
in different levels, high, medium, or low.
Am I correct?
Right.
Okay.
It had nothing to do with the balance.
Oh, no.
All right.
That was my point of information, Chad.
Thank you.
Who's next on the same point?
I saw a bunch of people jump up at the same time.
Same complaint.
Autumn Scott?
To piggyback on something Michelle stated
about having the contact.
When I first was elected, each alderman had a specific person
that was assigned to our area, to our ward.
Did that change with staffing?
Are you referring to the number of judges?
No, not the judges.
I'm going back to the representation.
Oh, so that falls within polling places.
Okay, so that falls within polling places.
Because we have hired two.
How many do you have total?
I'm looking at them four.
So after the hire freeze from 2025, we were not allowed to hire anyone.
Yes, I did go back and forth with OBM.
You wasn't allowed to hire.
We were not allowed, but we were able to, I was able to negotiate three polling place investigators to be hired,
Hired along with the assistant executive director and I was allowed to do that. So we have recently hired
individuals. Darcy did retire, Jaime retired. Those are the two that I could think off the
top of my head that retired, and we have now have three individuals in place, if I'm not
mistaken. No, we have three new. So how many total do you have? Four. Four. So how many
do you need? We have to hire an additional, and I'm looking at them. Go ahead. I believe
we have two how many there's somebody speaking to mike and say what this is please okay initially
what we had what would you identify yourself my name is clinton hurd i'm the manager of pre-election
voting and logistics initially we had eight positions and uh i believe right now we have
a couple of openings but we've been down to six now with four being filled so you have two vacancies
at this point correct okay all right chair down questions oh no he uh actually alderman bill is
i was just trying to go back to the point of information anybody had raised at that point
oh you follow okay you'll follow alderman bill alderman bill thank you mr chairman i just have
a quick question what is the role that the commitment plays according to your office
the committee the committee person the role there are if correct me if I'm wrong Adam
help assist with recruitment of judges of election appoint them if I'm not mistaken
the committee person I know it's not paid I know they are over and I know our staff
Polling places does have conversations with the committee persons
about early voting and polling places.
Okay.
So also the commitment is also responsible for the judges, correct?
That is correct.
So why is it so hard to get rid of bad judges if we're the ones charged?
hard to get rid of bad judges if we're the ones charged with putting judges in place. There's two
judges I've been trying to get rid of that are horrible. And we've asked your office to get rid
of them because they're disrupting the polling process. And it's just like pulling teeth trying
to get rid of somebody. So number one, I'm pretty sure you've called election central and made a
complaint? Several. Several. And then Adam, can you answer that question? Because I know there
is a process that we have. We do have a process to go through. I would recommend you speak with
Delina and file a complaint. And once we receive the complaint, we can start the administrative
process. Remember, the judges, once we get the list from the ward committee persons and then
fill the vacancies with our own, they're appointed by the circuit court. And so there's just, we have
to go through an administrative hearing procedure to remove them. The reappointment process just
happened again this this fall for this election it's a two-year term so but but we we do remove
judges who are found to um we have to have you know evidence of a breach of duty but if they're
not performing their job right then that's a breach of duty and we can and will remove them
and not rehire them okay it just doesn't seem like it should be that difficult if we're responsible
for placing them we should be also held well it's but we can get rid of that yeah without going
through all the process if they're bad we should be able to just say hey okay this person is done
um i mean they're entitled to the process because they've been appointed to a a governmental
position by the court so we have to give them due process we have to have some evidence
and that's a process it's in the election code it's not our own policy um but we we can and will
we certainly work with you on it well like i said adam you know i think the world of you yeah um but
But I just, you know, when I have people who are just absolutely disruptive to the election process and I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get rid of them because when I tell you that they're bad, you know, it's just ridiculous.
bad uh you know it's just ridiculous yeah and so we need to maybe tweak the code or something to
try to streamline um you know what we don't have to well maybe we can get rid of them pending
due process yeah you know what i mean so that's number one number two uh you guys are changing
your voting machines so the last so our contract will expire in november of 2028 okay and we will
be uh guadalina correct me if i'm wrong we're going to be issuing an rfi next year after next
year after your elections after the uh municipal election we will be issuing an rfi and then
preparing new voting equipments okay and so are you coordinating with the county as far as the
machines they have um to try to make sure we can you know keep the machines the same so we don't
have two different so so currently uh yes we do have the same machine but sadly uh i think we have
not been coordinating lately and that was not due to me i believe no i believe it's my predecessor
uh stopped that makes sense he didn't want to communicate with
uh cook county but i definitely will start communication and you know having more
engagement with cook county uh commissioner i mean cook county clerk okay well i would i would
highly recommend that um you know everything is the same that you all should be working together
and you know if you're going through an rfp you know whatever process is out there you might want
to just coordinate with them to see if that your rp can be crafted in a manner to where it syncs up
with with the county i'll say we're two different jurisdictions but we follow a different procurement
But it's still an election process.
And, you know, when we look at returns coming in, you know, I mean, one system may get the returns in faster, you know, but, you know, we need to just make sure that we are coordinating.
But, you know, we need to just make sure that we're coordinating, I believe, that we shouldn't have two different types of systems.
I think the issue there is that we, from our perspective, have some ideas as to which direction we want to go on behalf of Chicago voters for what works best for Chicago, the city, which is much more consolidated than the suburbs, has a different voting style.
So, I mean, while it would be great if we end up with the same thing, we could buy in bulk to save some money.
but i i think that one of the reasons that we have board of election commissioners serving the
city is so that we can be more tailor-made for what's best for our system and so one example
is that we've been talking a lot internally about going to a ballot on demand system
which would first of all alleviate the very complicated process of ballot allocations for
split precincts we have incredible amount of split precincts in this city ballot on demand
completely eliminates that process ballot on demand also makes every precinct universal so
that in a situation if there was some sort of shortage like that instead of saying go to one
of our 50 early voting sites we could say go to any one of our 1200 voting sites and spread out
where there has to be and if there's a line at one precinct and there's one across the street
it would no longer matter this universal system is something that we think is important for the
city of chicago in the future making it easier for everybody for us and for the voters if for
example the county clerks wasn't office wasn't interested in that then i wouldn't want to have
to be tied to them on it they they get to make their decisions suburban elections look a little
different than city elections and the the beauty of the board of elections is we get to meet with
you and our city voters and make a decision as to what's best for in the city if that happens to be
the same thing the county wants, then that's great. Let's buy in bulk and save some money.
This universal ballot on demand system, they've got it now already up in Lake County. They've got
it in DuPage County. And it's something that's kind of sweeping the nation because the technology
kind of sweeping the nation because the the technology now allows for it we didn't get that
when we rolled out the current equipment in 2020 but that's what we're looking for in the future
so we have you know um we do have a good relationship with the county clerk's office
and we do talk with them about these ideas but there's also some i think advantage to us being
able to make the right decision for the chicago and then see if that also works with the county
All right. That's all I have. But hopefully, I want to ask you what my colleagues have been saying about the communication. You need to button up the communication and you need to get out and understand who we are and what our roles and responsibility is. We're here to help you and we're here to make sure that elections run seamless in our wards and having those point persons come here.
and my colleagues are saying
communication has broke down
somewhere, and so we need to
correct that as soon as possible.
Thank you. I appreciate that. So I do have Jake Pollack.
He will be reaching out to all
the older persons. Please, he's going to leave
a message. He's going to make a phone call.
He has been doing that already.
So Jake Pollack
will be reaching out to you
to get more of a direct
email, more of a direct phone number.
Jake, please stand up.
He just joined the board late July, and he's under me now as of late August.
Auto-immense.
A clarification for me while he was talking about this universal system.
Are you speaking in terms of the early voting sites,
making them universal throughout every precinct?
Is that what we're talking?
No, no.
He's talking about making essentially any place you go in the city a place you could vote at.
that that is correct not just for that one day right that is correct well the the we would still
have only we can't have 1200 locations open for weeks for two weeks we'll have the early voting
sites which are all universal and all accessible they'll be they'll stay open for that longer
period then what we're talking about is when all the precincts open up on election on election day
the same thing you're currently required to go to your own precinct only and and we only have
paper ballots for you at your precinct. But the election code, thanks to the Chicago Board of
Elections, the election code now allows vote center voting to be open on election day.
That's where we can keep our early voting sites open. That's where we marched into court during
the pandemic in 2020 and got a court order allowing us to keep the early voting sites
open on election day. And then we got the legislature to make it permanent. So we're
still doing that. What we can do is process two different kinds of voters at the neighborhood
precinct. If you actually live in that precinct, you come on in, you get your ballot, you're voting
as a precinct voter, and you're assigned that way. If you live in a different precinct, instead of
having to turn you away like we currently have to do, we can say, all right, you can vote as a
vote center voter right here. It might be a slightly different application form, because one
is for an in-precinct voter, one's for an out-of-precinct, but the point is we would have
the technology to allow you to walk into any precinct, 1,291 precincts throughout.
but right now they can use a pavilion ballot can't they if they choose not to go to their
polling location to vote so if they're at a location then that's not their precinct rather
than i travel across town then uh the judges can offer them a prevailing ballot yeah well no man
no did you say something about a mail-in provisional oh if you vote out of precinct
you get a provisional, and if you vote out of
precinct, that provisional is probably not going to get counted,
at least not for all the offices.
not for all the offices oh okay okay thank you because you're voting for the wrong people
okay wrong ballot i think then maybe they need to have a better training because i did see that
happening well this is what we're looking to the future i don't know that we're going to end up
going this route but it is certainly what we've been talking about internally
for our upcoming procurement and new equipment we definitely want ballot on demand at what level
we'll figure that out and determine that.
Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chodell?
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What is your name again?
Sandra Aspera.
Okay, I'm going to tell you this.
If you passed me on the street, I wouldn't know you.
We have not had any kind of conversation or relationship,
and I believe that we should have a relationship
with the Board of Elections.
I am a committee person speaking to you here as an alderman, but the relationship is with
the committee person, and I just don't know who you are.
And so I want to also support Chair Harris's call for an organizational chart.
I also would like a person that I can contact on election day and not have to use the 800 number, because that does not work for me.
Thank goodness Chris Turner picked up my call on election day and was able to get, hopefully, some information to you.
and although it did not get happen I had some judges not show up and had people at a polling
place where the line was getting long that should not happen when I have people calling me telling
me they've been in a line for an hour or
an hour or they had to get the owner of Chick-fil-a to donate some sandwiches to people in line
because they were standing there that should not be so i'd like to have that taken care of
what happened with the posting of the polling place notices that said march 17 2006.
i'm going to redirect that question to brandon pickens i i am aware good morning everyone uh
brandon pickens polling place supervisor um we had one box that got mixed in with our actual
signage that went out it didn't impact the entire city of chicago but it didn't impact a few uh
wards my apologies for that um but what we did was we did send out a second notice citywide to
everyone to correct that. And then if we received calls from any of you all, we personally went out,
had those signs taken down and the correct signs placed. How many polling places were impacted?
I'm just curious. I believe it was one box. And in one box, it's about possibly 500 signs.
And those 500 signs, we sent two to every facility. So it could have been 250. I really
don't have that number off the top of my apologies. All right. Thank you. No problem.
it was taken care of. I just was, I just wanted to know what happened and where
March 17th came from because it's February and April. Okay. The mail-in ballots, did you have
any issues with mail-in ballots? Because a lot of my, I've, I have the National Letter Carriers
Association in my ward, the union, and they spoke to me about the difficulty of getting mail-in
ballots to the Board of Elections. There were some areas of the city that they named Roseland,
actually Lincoln Park, which I was surprised by.
Lincoln Park, which I was surprised by. Did you experience anything like that?
So I am going to redirect that, but I do want to acknowledge that we did receive
and have a lot of undeliverable vote-by-mail ballots in our pre-election voting and logistics
department. We also experienced, and correct me if I'm wrong, Clint, who is the manager,
we did receive emails and notices or complaints from voters where their vote-by-mail ballot
was sent back to their home i know clint immediately he could talk a little bit more
about that he immediately reached out to the postal service to inquire so with that i'll hand
it over to clinton hurd who is over the vote by mill ballot department morning my name is clinton
hurd i'm the manager of pre-election voting the logistics again as far as having issues with
ballots we did receive a large number of return ballots that were unable to be delivered and
there are a number of things that that could possibly be from. A lot of voters had either
moved out of the city and moved somewhere else, possibly had to do with the carriers as far as
the carriers actually being able to find the address or that there was some issue with that
block. Now, we meet with the Postal Service on a regular basis, and anything that happens in
regards to that, our contact who handles that, Regina Atkins, does a great job in getting us
any information or any issues and addressing them right away. As far as we did have to speak to what
Mrs. Sparrow just spoke of, return ballots. There were some return ballots that actually
were mailed to us and it had our return envelope address on it but for some reason it was tagged
and returned to the voters and I can think of only three where I have instances of knowledge of
knowledge of that we reached out immediately to her. I'm sorry, make that seven. We reached out
immediately to her. Four of them were returned directly to us where the tag didn't have any
effect on it, but there were three that went back to the voter. So you're saying of the last
election, only three mail-in ballots failed to get counted? No, that's not what I'm saying.
OK, what are you saying? So what I'm saying is that there was an issue where there were labeled return ballots that I know of three in particular that were mailed that were mailed to us and then returned to the voter instead of being delivered to us as it should have been.
those ballots i reached out to the post office and the post office is investigating exactly
what happened with those ballots as far as any ballots that have not been counted
and not being returned to um us and the voter i cannot tell you what that what number that might
be because we are still receiving ballots that actually never made it to the voter it was returned
to us. All right. So what recommendations do you have? I mean, is there anything that needs to be
amended or changed to make it a more seamless effort? As far as getting the ballots out,
that's something we constantly have tried to work on with the post office. What we do is all those
ballots that come back in, we document within our system why they were returned, because each one
has a code on it we enter that into our system and at the end we're going to create a file for
the post office to look at and turn it over to them and they're going to give us because they
are they're easily able to read the codes and tell you why something wasn't delivered we don't have
that knowledge so we're going to work with the post office in order to get that done okay this
get that done okay uh this is maybe something um chair harris that we should bring to the
executive committee of the county party those that you're speaking about are the post office
issues to be clear like we we put the right address on the envelope we don't know why the
post office didn't deliver it to the voter and then clearly our return envelopes to us
they're they're not ever supposed to be returnable they they're coming to back to us they should
always come to us. We've had, that's where we had three or so that had the little yellow sticker
put on it, undeliverable to our own address. But I want to just point out that the Chicago
post office personnel have been very helpful for years, but even currently in identifying the
situations, working with us to clear up the situations. So we always have a debrief like
Mr. Hurd is talking about after the election. And we can just harken back a couple months ago,
So the president had issued an executive order that dealt with some vote-by-mail issues and put new requirements out there for vote-by-mail, which included the brief time that this executive order had not yet been struck down by the courts.
It required getting pre-approvals for our envelopes and so forth from the post office.
And I do just want to point out that we're at the forefront of vote-by-mail technology.
so the requirements that were in some of the requirements that were in that executive order
we had already been in compliance with like having barcodes having the mail the election mail emblem
so we applied very quickly early in the process as soon as we heard that they were going to
potentially require this pre-approval we applied to the post office and according to the illinois
attorney general's office we're the only election authority in the state of illinois that received
that pre-approval from the post office before the courts then struck the whole thing down so we were
ready to go even if that was going to move forward thank you for that um what's your policy on um if
an election judge does not fails to show up for work
judge does not, fails to show up for work. Is that, you mentioned you can remove judges and
replace them. Is that a criteria for removal? That's a dereliction of duty. That's a statutory
breach. Yes. Okay. So this is where I think the partnership is important, right? So
So my person should be contacting me to sit down to talk about who showed up at our polls,
what are we going to do to replace them.
So I need you all to be a little more proactive and collaborative.
I think that's my main message here today.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair Dow.
you all send out
the vote by mail
the permanent vote by mail
vote by mail individuals
when does that go out?
Are you referring to
November or are you referring to
2027?
The election we just went through
40 days
which was October
so you mail those ballots out
and then you said some of them
were returned
and some are still being returned from the 40 days that you sent these out is that is that
your testimony yes that is correct and and they were sent out 40 days ago but are now just now
coming back to you so those individuals did not do you cross-reference to see if they voted or
how do you manage that so what happens is we are allowed to mail out we have a date where we're
allowed to mail out the vote by mail ballots we steadily receive once we send them out we start
to receive them and as clinton just mentioned our staff then puts a code in the uh our module
that the vote by mail was returned i believe that email goes
mail was returned i believe that email goes out to the voters letting them know that there was
an issue with their ballot being delivered and that and that happens over this course of the
leading into the election that is correct is there is there ever a point where there's some follow-up
if a the ballot has not been returned or in either case because you won't know because you've sent
it out and you're just waiting for it to come back in right so our it department also sends
out an email to remind the voter to deliver or your ballot has been sent for instance your ballot
has been sent your ballot has been uh received so we do have email emails that go out through the
to the voters if we have their email address okay now i would i'm just making an assumption
because of the nature of a lot of our vote by mail people, they may be advanced in age and may
not have email addresses. Is there any other methodology by which their reach out occurs
to those individuals who you've mailed a ballot to, have not had it returned, nor have you received
a piece of return mail from the U.S. Postal Service? What other measures do you have in
place to understand what happened i would say we don't have a measure to do that maybe if we could
probably look for options of text messaging i don't even know whether they'll receive a text
message or if they again we have emails that we we send out if we have to look into text messaging
maybe that's an option we can explore there is no other way we can communicate with the voters
unless we send them another mailing no no not even a many of those voters call us though and
we get a lot of phone calls from people who have not received their vote by mail ballot
and our staff is trained to talk with them about their voting options depending on
to talk with them about their voting options depending on um how far along it is in the early
voting or the vote by mail process maybe early voting has started they can go there or they can
vote at their precinct on election day if they haven't received their ballot is there a case
where you would just mail them another ballot only certain cases we we could we could do that
so certain cases we do just a thought just just thought that you might want to send them another
ballot if they call you and tell you that they haven't gotten their ballot for whatever reason
i'm sure that there's methodology that you wouldn't double count uh a second ballot coming
in for an individual um i'm just i'm i'm i'm a little baffled to to say the least that
with all of the issues and concerns around voting and issues around voter suppression.
And I'm not saying that the Chicago Board of Elections is engaged in that type of atmosphere
or attitude, but with all that's going on, I think we got to be a little more proactive
on how we can help people exercise their franchise.
And so I'm just hopeful that we can think about it a little more in those terms so that
that people can actually you know do do what it is that they're asked to do um okay chair dial
you got a point then i'm going to alvin mitts i'll follow by alvin ryan one more question i'm sorry
chair um once a judge has been appointed by the committee person does the staffer at the board
of election have the authority to move that judge a staff or no we we have like on election day when
there's malfeasance no not on election day i'm saying when that polling poll worker
dashboard shuts down and the committee person has
shuts down and the committee person has made their selections does the person who's receiving
that information have the authority to move a judge on their own no no because again the election
code says you give us that list so the one exception i could think of is if if we've
previously found grounds to remove somebody and they were previously gone through the due
process proceedings to be removed from that office um but that's not i think what you're
talking about generally speaking when the ward committee person submits the list those those
judges get assigned then the statute calls for a supplemental list and that's where we're allowed
to take in applications over the counter and fill whatever vacancies there may be okay thank you i
do just want to clarify one thing from chairman irvin um because i started hearing about it in
stereo um Kimberly Carrillo Walker here our finance director was poking me because she did
not receive her first vote by mail ballot for this election but she received a second one in the mail
and then Mr. Hurd over there was waving me down that we do already do that if there's enough time
left in the process um so so we are already proactively if if your vote by mail ballot we
send it out and it's returned to us we'll already um if there's time left get you a new one sent
thank you for that clarification
Alderman Mitch followed by Alderman Riley
thank you Mr. Chairman
my concern is around
the seniors in polling places
so there were
incidents on election day
where I had no clue who to contact
at the board of election no clue
So with the incident and we were currently housed in a library during the early voting cycle
early voting cycle. There were constituents who were leaving. You know, you have a cold day
and the seniors standing outside and are not able to be able to go into a place. It was one of the
most, I mean, I literally hit the roof because I despise anyone misusing seniors, first of all.
and then I don't even like for him to talk to him disrespectful so we had one senior who went to
another polling place I reached out to the commissioner of the library um he called me
back but that wasn't good enough for me so I called the mayor's office um I did get a call
back from them um they were doing some work within the in the library at the time but they were saying
there was not they didn't want the peoples to come in there was one lady
who act like she was in charge as if it was her library and this is taxpayer
dollars I grant you that and we need to accommodate so I want to make sure that
we are going to accommodate disabled seniors who want to be able and that's
their priority is to catch their vote and be able to do it in person that take a lot of energy
but they can't be able to just stand outside on kings in the rain in the cold in a long line
just to get in so uh this particular senior some of them left but i was able to get the mayor's
administration on. And it seemed like they were able to get some
results, but not what we needed to get. So coming up, we should
make sure that we have plans in place that
we have plans in place that that is taken care of that's the least thing we could do
but people's trying to cast their vote i don't want to see that deprived i did want to ask you
about in your statement you have throughout the year how you coordinate with the community and
you have partners who are those partners that you coordinate with and where in the community do you
do this thank you uh great question um i do have the community services manager here today
she is more familiar of the communities or uh individuals that we do meet with regularly in
through the summer months and also leading up to election day she's also over the deputy
registrar program here so her name is audra lewicky so audra hi alder person um audra lewicky
manager of the community services division. I will be happy to send you a list of our partners.
We work with hundreds of organizations throughout the year, have over 100 events that we've done
in the past year. So I look forward to collaborating with you. That sounds good, but I need to meet you
first. So it would be helpful if I got a chance to have some conversation. We've met. I get a
wonderful letter from you every election uh well maybe you do you know how that go you hey um let
me ask another question around um can i add one more point to the uh outreach we did newly uh we
did hire a jay taylor and i'm not sure if anybody has talked to jay taylor he is the assistant
manager of the community services division and he has some good ideas after the election of how we
can have more voter engagement so he's not here today but we definitely have a new hire as of
july of 2026 this year uh his name is jay taylor he is a audress assistant and he has a great plan
He has a great plan for voter engagement.
I would love to hear a plan that he have, too.
I would love to hear the plan.
Okay.
Do you have judges' applications when you put them in that you deny at any point?
Can you repeat the question?
I'm so sorry.
I didn't.
The question was, do you have judges' applications that you deny?
Oh.
I would redirect that to community services.
Paulina?
Hi, Alderperson. Paulina Mishlivitz here, Judge's Supervisor. So we do not deny applications. We accept and put on applications into our system. We just might not be able to assign every election judge because of the limit of vacancies we have in precincts.
and as a legal caveat you do have to reside within cook county you have to be a u.s citizen so like
i guess if we were to receive an application from an ineligible individual that could be denied
but i don't think i don't think that really happens so if they go through a training
how do you determine if they are qualified enough to even serve as a judge
And once they go through the training, what's in place to ensure that they understand the protocols and procedures?
So we have election judges who are newly assigned to go through four hours of training.
We have judges who are returning from previous elections, go through a three-hour, we call it a refresher training class.
They are assigned before they attend training.
they attend training and so that is why we rely so heavily on the committee
persons and on the people who live in the wards to know exactly who it is that
should be assigned as a poll worker I will say the interest in serving as a
poll worker has not been as robust as it has been in the past and so a lot of
times when we have a large number of vacancies in a precinct or in a ward we don't really we can't
look at all of their answers on a quiz to make sure they got a hundred percent but we do make
sure that they are able to communicate with us that they understand what their expectations are
on election day and how important the role of serving as an election judge is all right thank
Thank you very much.
That would be all my questions for now,
but I, too, like Alderman Dowling and Alderman Harris,
would like to have an organization chart so that it's important.
It's so important on Election Day, early mornings,
if a polling place hasn't opened up,
we need to know who is it that we can call and get someone right away
so that that information can transfer and you know you have some movement a lot of things happen
but we need that contact so i appreciate you all for all the work brandon thank you for helping me
to pick out make sure our polling plays accessible and we are up to part in 37th thank you all so
much thank you chairman uh one question uh what is the current pay for election judges
you want to I have the numbers I just
Paulina Mishlivets, election judge supervisor again.
So the pay for election judges is $170 for election day,
plus $60 for attending a class, so $230 total.
And then we also have additional judges who earn $25 extra for being a key judge,
cell phone judge, and then also those who return supplies on election day.
And how long has it been $170?
i don't have that exact year but for quite some time now um what would it take to increase that
amount because i your quality may be tied to the amount now we try to lean into people's civic
responsibility and civic duty and i've encouraged people hey you they call and complain about the
judges and i said well can you take a day off and be an election judge and they i get strange looks
right um but i think it may be something uh worth considering uh that we're literally asking people
to do a whole day i mean a very important and sacred responsibility and we're not really even
giving a minimum wage uh for the day um i think that's something we may need to think through
and come back to, because I'm not saying that the pay equates quality,
but I know that if we raise the pay, we may garner better quality of folks
that would want to take on the responsibility.
Again, I know it's a long day, but we've got to give people something more,
especially since that number has not been adjusted.
I mean in my tenure I don't recall it being adjusted and that's going on almost 16 elections
so I think that's something that is that something that you all can do
is that something that's set by state statute how has that come about
set by state statute how has that come about so i would start and i know adam will try i will add
another comment so currently the irs anyone over uh making over 600 would have to pay taxes a lot
of our judges that we do recruit then are and correct me if i'm wrong paulina they're flagged
because they have some type of assistance and they're threatening to remove you know
to remove that assistance because they see that they're making more than $600.
And I don't know if Adam wants to touch base on that, but I know we have to probably more than
likely change legislation to make sure that election workers are not taxed. Currently,
if I'm not mistaken, it's the $600 threshold we have. And Adam, if you want to add more.
We did have an increase that started putting some of our judges over that $600 threshold,
and so we've had to increase budget for the payroll processing that's required to withhold
the taxes and so forth, but we have that system in place now. There is no statutory. The tax code
issue is a federal law. I've talked with a congressman about it who thought it was a good
idea, but it's been a tough time to get good-natured legislation passed in Washington, D.C.
There's no Illinois election code limit on what we pay these election judges,
so really this budget committee has the authority to increase our budget we're spending what is
this already about four million you know four million it's one of our larger expenses we're
spending over four million dollars on judges for every election but is that every election
or the two elections that's every election but this is the budget committee that gets to pass
that budget so go ahead and increase it and we'd be happy to pay more that would I'm sure help us
with recruitment okay thank you for that answer um i have uh vice chair lee alderman mosley
alderman vasquez alderman riley do you have any others alderman viegas do you have any others
If you have any others, Alderman Citro-Lopez, Alderman Fuentes, Alderman Conway, Alderman Scott, I got already, I'm sorry, Alderman Walkerspeck, I had you down as well, Alderman Moore and Alderman Colvin.
Okay, so we have some clarity here. Next up we had, was Alderman Riley.
Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon, Commissioner.
I wanted to follow up on Alderman Dowell's question about judges.
So if we have a judge who fails to report for work or they misbehave during their shift and they're dismissed,
do they then go on a list that they can no longer do this type of work in the future?
Or is it a case-by-case basis?
Just briefly, if you could explain how that works.
Hello, Paulina Mishlevitz again, judge's supervisor.
So if we have election judges who do not according to our standards on election day or if we receive complaints post-election, whether it's from city officials or fellow judges or someone at the polling place, we have to investigate the situation and contact all parties and see what happened with that particular judge.
And then if we decide that they are not worthy enough to be hired back to work in a precinct,
we do put them on a list and flag them for the next time that they apply
so that we know not to hire them again,
especially if they were removed by legal for whatever visit that they did on Election Day.
Okay. And is that a standing committee within your department that reviews these cases?
or is it just whomever gets the paperwork that day?
No, we have clerks at the judge's department that handle those complaints.
so we basically forward those complaints to them we go over them um and we we make the decision
who's we i guess i'm trying to figure out who makes the decision so we have myself paulina
then we have a clerk over that ward and then we also talk with our legal um council she's not here
today but we we communicate with her on removals okay um i wanted to move on to vote by mail i
know there are a lot of questions around that, and I think everyone wants to make that as smooth
a process as possible, make sure that people's votes are being counted properly. I recall some
time ago, there were a few different daily updates that both Republican and Democratic
committeemen in the city of Chicago were receiving. I just spoke with Alderman Dowell about this. One
of them was a daily update on the number of early
votes cast and vote-by-mail ballots cast by
Ward. Is that something that is still
being issued on a daily basis during elections? Because I
don't recall seeing that data this time around. I could answer
that, too. Both my predecessor and the
predecessor before had two executive administrative assistants.
I have not had one for a couple months, so I not balanced it out.
I made those early voting numbers available on our website.
Jake has recently sent out this link to many older persons who have inquired.
Again, I don't have the best email addresses for everyone, but as suggested earlier today,
I will have Jake reach out to all the older persons and ask them what can how can we help you
and those numbers early voting numbers are posted on our website okay well I'd encourage you to
revise that and get back to it I do see you have a vacancy rate you need to handle I assume that
to handle i assume that has to do with your personal assistance
so we were so this budget well the city froze our budget last year uh then there is a process that
we have to follow there is a budget profit process that we work with our what then when she's no
longer here annette guzman she will then approve our a forms to hire there is a process so we
cannot immediately hire anyone we have to meet our uh what is it called our uh turnover thank
you and there's a process that we have to work with the city as well so yes we definitely are
looking to hire i did hire an aed last year at the end of the year and she just recently left
in august okay um well i'd encourage you to fill your vacancies uh because this this council has
an appetite to eliminate vacancies. So if they're needed, get them filled and work with OBM.
I would also like to suggest that you return to proactively, I would say less,
say both would be helpful, early voting and vote by mail updates. But given some of the challenges
we've had around vote by mail, it seems that Democratic and Republican committeemen could be
of great assistance to you if you're providing them with a daily update of those who have
requested vote-by-mail ballots but have not yet turned them in so that the committeemen and their
teams can do some outreach on behalf of the board reminding folks, hey, you've requested your vote-by-mail
ballot. Don't forget to turn it in. That doesn't cost the city a dime. It costs the committeemen
some money, but they, of course, want people to turn out and vote, whether they're a Republican
committeeman or a Democrat, so I would encourage you to consider taking that back up. I thought
years ago, and again, this predates you, Commissioner, but many years ago, maybe a couple mayors
ago, we were
we were receiving either through a FOIA request or proactively from your office
a list of those who had requested vote by mail but had not yet submitted am i correct in that
recollection i i'm i'm going to answer it so i believe that you are correct these lists were
sent out to the uh alder persons however adam i were they following there's certain code certain
When vote-by-mail data like that is restricted by the election code, like we have a computer terminal, a public access computer terminal on our sixth floor, outward facing, the election code is specific about making that list of information available at your office.
And I have to follow up with you after this meeting to find out there may be a statutory restriction on that getting sent out, but there is also statutory requirements on certain data that we post on our website and provide to the State Board of Elections for them to post on their website.
So but that's, I think, more general about the numbers of received versus applied for, you know.
Yeah. But let me follow up with you. No, hold on. I have the time to confirm the statutory.
I know that there's a statutory restriction on some of that information.
I just sitting here in the moment can't recall. That information is made available.
I know it's available via VoteBuilder because you can see who's requested a ballot and who has not returned about it.
And I may be a day or two behind, but you generally can see in that application.
So I'm sure they're pulling that either from the state or from the city or the county for that particular information.
Okay.
And I'm happy to follow up for the rest of all that conversation offline.
I also wanted to compliment Brandon Pickens for being very responsive and always answering phone calls from my staff.
So thank you for that.
um the last question i have because we've covered a lot of turf here today and i know
we have other departments with a lot of questions heading their way
For the vote-by-mail permanent roster,
the same question applies there.
Is that publicly accessible,
sortable by ward or precinct?
And then the second question is,
I understand that currently the portal
to register for that permanent roster is closed,
I think due to the proximity to the most recent election.
And just for public knowledge,
if someone were to want to go ahead
and be added to the permanent roster for vote by mail,
when is the soonest date they could go about doing that
ahead of the upcoming municipal election?
Go ahead.
Hi, my name is Clinton Hurd.
I'm the manager of pre-election voting and logistics again.
So right now it is closed
because of the closeness to the election,
but it will reopen on the 25th of November.
So November 25th, people can add their names to the permanent roster for vote-by-mail.
Correct.
November 25th.
Okay.
And that is also statutory, just so you know, the time frame, we have to be closing on that.
Okay.
Great.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
And, Commissioner, I'd encourage you to heed some of my colleagues' advice
and take the time to do some personal outreach on your own
so that we can develop a better working relationship with you.
I would argue you've got very, very good, well-seasoned staff here
that various aldermen have relationships with,
but we really do need to establish that with you as well.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alderman Riley.
Vice Chair Lee?
Oh, she stepped out.
Alderman Mosley.
Thank you, Chair and Director.
It's great to meet you in person.
Good to meet you.
We've been on the phone.
I was grateful to have your number,
but your hero of election day is Brandon Pickens.
From when I went to go vote and was given a provisional ballot,
he was able to assist me in that.
And I want to know, talk me through how things like that
happened.
I was able to connect with you, a voter who came to vote,
because then the system is already being voted and he had not voted so this is uh so this is a
poll book error uh this happened back in 2026 there was another uh candidate and um i don't
remember i don't recall the name but this is error this uh error is came through our poll book so
there's coding errors as you under what happened earlier or if you were not here through due to
the shortage of ballots the poll book there is an error that i have to follow up with the poll book
vendor when i was made made immediately aware brandon actually came to me we have the poll book
vendor on our election central a command center i immediately went to the vendor and i said this is
what's going on this sounds like 2026. he they immediately addressed it i think it was 20 30
minutes if the most where they addressed the issue so then what happened was it was a glitch
and i'm going to say a glitch i'm not an i.t person but there was a glitch in the poll book
where this judge of election did something on the poll book that probably left something
opened um then then it showed that you voted but it was really just a glitch then they had to
address the they there was a delta file that had to be uploaded all the poll books needed to be
uploaded with that information and then i personally went to get your information
but they wouldn't believe me so they needed to talk to the judge of election to
they wouldn't believe me so they needed to talk to the judge of election to make sure that your
ballot and all your forms were still there and spoiled and then they removed the the the vote
that you had already voted it's just a lot of things that happened to say that for residents
in the 21st ward and sounds like beyond felt like voter suppression tactics and so we don't want to
be in that situation can we talk about how we can increase maybe also the electronic uh availability
electronic ballots at sites most of my sites had one and so when we had uh for example at
powerhouse powerhouse ran out of pens and so you had a room full of people with ballots that were
waiting and trying to get pens you know we want to keep it accessible and make sure that we're
prepared for each day so we definitely have enough pens i'm not sure whether they walked
out or not with them but we definitely have a lot of pens and markers ballot markers who are doesn't
you know who are who are given to who are in the esc i don't know whether they looked carefully in
there or not but we do have enough pens in the um esc i don't recall your first question can you
electronic uh okay our current vendor the contract we have with the current voting equipment vendor
will expire in november of 2028 so we are looking to procure for new voting equipment
come presidential I believe will be the first time we would use the new equipment again we know that
city funds are will be needed to purchase new equipment but we are looking to make sure that
we procure the correct equipment for the city of Chicago and part of that is as Adam mentioned
earlier i'm not sure if you were here we want to have ballot on demand printers that print
ballot on demand at each precinct and my uh colleague bought up uh pay for judges do we know
brought up uh pay for judges do we know how much judges are being paid in suburban cook county
outside of the city how it compares to city i think we're not far from each other like i know
we're we're close enough uh i know it's 170 of the work election day 60 for a full day training
uh 25 or i believe 30 for a refresher class and then you get additional pay if you return the
the key pick up the key not return the key pick up the key return the materials and then if you're
the cell phone judge so there's additional pay for all those and what happens when like judges
or election workers just can't get along uh you know i had a situation at my early vote site which
is a very popular early vote site and part of the remedy seemed that well both individuals could be
removed but we seemingly had someone who was just making false allegations and i don't believe that
that's the right remedy to punish both um when when folks are there so we have election central
early we have a early voting election central phone line it's different than the election day
cell phone i mean election day phone number i did have it on my notes i don't have election
central for early voting for your elections will be 312-263-1394 election day is the 312-269-786
seven zero please report any of those issues i know we don't want we want direct communication
with our staff however that'll be the if i if respectfully i ask all other persons to please
make that phone call because that that is where we actually document all of my staff is everywhere
and they're not close to a computer and we have a help desk where if you enter the problem we could
immediately send investigators we can immediately contact the election
coordinators we can immediately immediately contact the election judges
if there are issues we immediately contact them because we have that's our
issues we immediately contact them because we have that's our form of how we contact them
i'm going to answer because i did answer a lot of the older person's calls on election day but
i'm one person and i'm i was i try to deal with every uh situation the best i can the first the
first thing we should do is call election central they'll immediately document that it'll it'll send
to the proper channels of who will need to uh uh who it will be escalated to if it's a polling
place issue brandon pickens will get that um for the early voting again 312-263-1394 if there are
any uh in uh election official issues hr and the manager and clint says he wants to answer your
answer too so go ahead and i'm aware of the situation because me and you talked about that
Okay. So again, Alderman, I spoke to you directly in regards to this and the situation it was looked into. It was, as I told you at that point, we sat down with our HR department. We knew about it ahead of time, right? I guess even before you called, we back checked everything regarding that.
And at that point, our HR person decided there's no collaborating evidence to one or the other.
So we did send both back.
After that situation took place, we did have an issue with that initial person again, and they were notified.
I did talk to you in regards to your statement in regards to that, but then it started to manifest itself again.
At that point, I spoke directly to that person and told them that either they followed directions or they were going to be dismissed.
They ended up resigning.
And I do know, did both of them lose out pay on that day as well?
That the person, considering how things may have shaken out, if it was founded to be that one person was making ups associated.
that one person was making us associated allegations was then the other person giving
their back pay or that they lose out for pay they actually lost out on pay at this point yeah
and that's what i think i just got two last questions uh i'll give both um one wanted to
ask director your take on the voter information that was found on a candidate's website uh did
Did the Chicago Board of Elections have anything with any safeguards in place?
Are you talking the voter history?
Are you referring to that?
No, there was a municipal candidate that it was widely reported in the media that voter information was found on their site through AI and so forth.
Oh, you're referring to one of the older, I mean, mayoral candidate who had created an, well, this is what I read.
Right.
My website, and there was voter information, voter history.
Voter history is open to the public.
I am aware, I don't know how this person got that voter information.
We do have FOIA requests for other information, but for voter history, that is available.
It's public record.
Just would encourage whatever safeguards, policies, and so forth that the board can have in place to help protect us against that.
We would need the state legislature to expressly make it exempt from FOIA in order for us to not be required to release it upon request.
Understood.
and then state legislature again.
Can you talk about this process?
This was the first election that I'm aware of
where there were kind of two overlapping elections happening.
You had...
Redirect that to Adam.
Thank you. Good question.
Very good question.
it was approximately four years ago that the state legislature changed the filing periods
for the candidates they moved the filing periods 28 days earlier so what that did is for the first
time that we remember um your february election now overlaps with us handling the november
election uh for example the objection filing deadline and we had we still have our hearings
going 108 cases going right now over at our office the filing deadline was monday the second
in November. So the candidate filing period happened while we were in active early voting
for the November election. So we've had this overlapping. As this committee recalls from last
year, we had to ask for additional budgeting for this year because we knew that we would need to
lease additional office space. You all, many of you have filed your nomination papers. We were
down at 11 East Adams for that. We had public viewing for the current electoral board cycle
was at 11 east Adams so we've had to hire additional staff temp staff we've had to hire
or rent additional office space our our staff is working late late hours uh getting having to pay
you know extra overtime it's been very difficult for us very realistically the the staff has been
working double time um so it's a statutory thing we are living it right now is seeing how exceedingly
challenging it is and we're definitely going to be meeting with the state assembly state uh the
general assembly to try to change this back for next time um the question is what's the right
answer um what where what do you move on the calendar to make it work the reason they moved
it 28 days earlier was to give us time to get electoral board challenges done right because
today we're starting 108 cases um to figure out the ballot for february they wanted to give us
28 extra days that's a valuable 28 days for now because remember the original time frame statutory
time frame did not include early voting and did not include no excuse vote by mail where hardly
where hardly anybody did vote by mail previously because you actually had to be gone so they
updated the statute and moved the filing period but now it's created this problem for us and it's
not just a problem for us every county clerk throughout the county doing elections they have
february elections as well the same time they're doing november so we all need to put our brains
together and figure out what's the answer going to be it might have to be moving the date of your
elections pushing it back a little later in the year so that we start working on your election
after we're done with November's election.
There's a lot of different options.
I'm not sitting here saying I know the right answer,
but that's something for us all to think about and talk about
because I don't think this is sustainable.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
I do believe you all can walk and chew gum at the same time.
I hope that we can do that.
So, Vice Chair Lee.
Thank you, Chairman.
Good afternoon.
No, it's not afternoon yet.
Oh, it is afternoon.
It is.
I don't know.
We're in budget season, that we're in a time warp.
I know lots of questions have already been asked by many of my colleagues.
I just have a couple in particular after this last election cycle.
It was brought to my attention by one of our Chinese-speaking election judges that on the
ballot that was translated into traditional Chinese, the terms Democrat and Republican
were not translated themselves into Chinese.
So we did have some people that were interested in voting in particular for Democratic candidates.
They may not have had a familiarity, but then they had to be explained to them sort of to
look for the D or the R at that point versus being able to point them to a translated version.
so if we can just make sure that i think it's great that we have translated ballots i think
it makes a huge difference but if it's a little incomplete it's really not doing its job so
So that being one, I know how difficult it is to find election judges and poll workers.
In the 11th Ward, in particular, with respect to Chinese speaking resources, we need to
have a more concerted effort.
And I'd love to partner with you to try to recruit more people to do it, because I'm
not going to reliably have as many of the same people.
I've just been put on notice that a couple of them
probably aren't going to be able to come back
and they are invaluable in these precincts.
And it makes a lot of difference to have somebody
who can actually speak the language.
And we're talking about two different dialects at this point,
Mandarin and Cantonese.
I know it gets a little bit more complicated.
It's not just Chinese.
We can, the written word can be translated
into traditional Chinese and both dialect speakers can read it.
But when it comes to speaking to someone,
And the two dialects that are most predominant are Cantonese and Mandarin.
So we'd love to work with you in your offices.
And I know we don't have Jane anymore, but we're going to try to find somebody else to
replace her or to at least replace the, continue the momentum.
We've got great organizations like the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community.
I think I saw at least one of their staff members, you know, was working the polls that
day.
But whatever we can do to get more language equipped.
And I imagine that many of my colleagues who have constituencies that are not all native English speakers have some of the same concerns.
When you get down to the precinct level, I kind of know where people live, so we can be a little bit smarter about that.
That was my most important question.
Just, you know, I can't impress upon you enough the need for that.
We did have a couple of strange instances or incidents this last time around at two different polling places where I think police had to be called.
I think police had to be called because people were acting a little funny.
That's how I'll put it.
One person who was just very loud and bossing people around wouldn't leave the polling place
and I think was trying to intimidate other people and then somebody else was just yelling
outside.
But can you talk a little bit about the security and how that works?
I know you don't have enough capacity to have security at every location, but if you can
talk about the protocols um for precincts um and how they're supposed to handle so uh alderman lee
do you older woman i'm so sorry that's okay could you speak in a mic please
was this a poll watcher was this just a person it was so it was not a it was not a poll watcher it
was not an election it was some some stranger had walked in okay i just i wanted to uh okay okay so
walk you through so your judges the poll watchers and all of the poll workers are excellent they're
they're all really good people so so our election workers are instructed to call number one 9-1-1
but they should call election central we could deal with it if it is beyond the 100 feet
9-1-1 but within 100 feet we definitely have uh our election central help a desk line who
anyone can call in and make a complaint whether it's a
for whatever issue they can call in then we would
send out an investigator
I don't know the number but I know we have a supervisor
at every 50 wards and every ward has anywhere
from 4 to 8 depending on the size of precincts
you have we have investigators who will be immediately
sent to the location within the 100 feet.
Again, I'm not sure whether it was the 100 feet or outside the 100 feet, but we do have
investigators who are peace officers, either retired CPD, Cook County.
They're retired CPD, Cook County Sheriff, again, retired or took off the day,
and also County Sheriff and a state police who are police officers
who are trained to keep the place calm within 100 feet.
Of course, anyone outside, we could definitely address that,
but immediately call 911 because we don't expect our election workers
uh to or or our our election orders to deal with that type of uh well those type of incidents
right that's all i've got thank you chair oh and oh alderman lee we do have a job posting for
jane so if you could help us oh yes please share that with me and i will i will circulate it
jake's gonna reach out i believe he tried to reach out to your office and i'm not sure whether
he got a response we'll make sure we connect well jake's gonna call every elder person perfect
All right, Vice Chair, Alderman Conway, Father Alderman Villegas.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Unfortunately, in the 34th Ward, I had all of the problems that have been discussed.
We had equipment problems.
We had paper ballot allocation errors.
We had long lines.
We had delayed results.
And to put a little more meat on those,
our equipment problems
Sheridan Park in Little Italy
high voting area
their ballot feeder wasn't
working I got there
before 9am I called
explained the problem
I
subsequently called on this too
when they didn't get one
they never got a piece of equipment and apparently
they had to like hermetically
seal the ballots and two judges
had to take them someplace and long
story short is that precinct
remained uncounted until Friday. So those are my equipment problems. Paper ballot allocations.
La Quinta Inn, 1 South Franklin. I share that polling place with...
one South Franklin I share that polling place with with Alderman Riley they had four different
types of paper ballots I called about three o'clock saying hey the one that they actually
need seems to have run out can you deliver more investigator will be right over those never showed
up I called about 5 30 and I asked them for it for I said look can you bring these ballots they
said they're on the way. And they eventually did bring a second touch screen, but there was one,
then there were two. So there was still a couple dozen people in line. Long lines. I have both.
We had a few places, but the super sites in my ward, about seven o'clock, there's at least 500
people in line. I also have the UIC early voting location was in my ward as well. I got there a
A little after 7 o'clock, still 250 students in line waiting to vote.
And it took them more, I say they're still the bitter end,
it took them more than three and a half hours from that point in time.
And then delayed results.
I don't think that District 5B and 7A,
I mean, they're just reporting in the Sun-Times an hour ago that they've been called.
And 5B being Blaze and Hargrove and 7A being Lozano and Ayala.
those races remained uncalled for a long time a lot of them due to the fact of of some of the
problems that that I've mentioned and we're in a situation where people are concerned
across this country about the future of democracy and it is these kinds of complaints that you know
I think they are due to negligence and not some kind of willful manipulation of anything.
But we really need to find a way to do better.
As I saw, the mere 20 precincts I have in my ward.
saw the 20 the mere 20 precincts i have in my ward seem to have seem to somehow represent all of the
problems now i know a lot of these have been brought up brought up already a question i did
have as a follow-up is and you're welcome to respond any of that of course a question i did
have as a follow-up is the petition challenges being moved up um as you said understandably
that added a lot of staffing concerns on the eve of an election. Do you think that those
challenges caused some of the problems that seem to indicate, seem to happen across the city
on election day? So I'm happy to answer about long lines. Yeah, you can respond to any of that
or not. You can take my statement as my complaints have been registered. I'm obviously somewhat
passionate about them, but I'm not the first person to bring them up. Feel free to respond
any of that uh if you'd like so for the long lines i feel personally that's a matter of perspective
i love to see long lines yes not for the ballot issue error we just had i wish the same amount
of voters would come out in 2027 uh to vote we will not have long lines long lines have different
reasons why there's a reason why we have long lines there's many reasons number one we have
two ballots, we have the judges, is the retention of judges, that does take a lot of our time in the
in the touch screen, that could be one. Another reason why there were long lines is a lot of
voter registrations wait, a lot of constituents have waited till the last minute to register to
vote. This, this, besides 2024, if I'm not mistaken, this was a big number of registered
unregistered voters who either a register for the first time change their address or have to do a
provisional ballot because either a they did not have voter ID or their ballot was never you know
you know they don't receive their vote by mail ballot so there are many reasons why there were
lines also our equipment as you just mentioned the scanner our our our equipment is at the end
of life yes we're going to utilize it for one more time 2028 presidential elections and 2027 elections
um they had 33 days at the super site and at 69 west washington where because where voters and
considering could have registered and voted we had the 14 days of early voting at the ev sites
yes i understand there was issues uh with the ballot error code error but there are many reasons
why we have long lines it seems like a lot of those are very foreseeable it seems like for
example the super site was obviously understaffed is that did you come to that no no i don't think
the super site was understaffed no it was the processing of new voters it takes a it takes time
and then they can't find their bills or they have to go on their phone to show us proof of their
bill it there is it takes time i think the the biggest problem with the super site was it had
80 voting machines but it had 500 people in line yeah and in illinois we've got long ballots you
know the paper ballots were 17 inches two pages printed on both sides a four-page ballot um if
If we had the equipment to set up a larger site,
so what I'm saying is I don't think the delays were caused
by checking people in.
I think the delays were caused by once the people are checked in,
they've got no voting screen to go to.
If we can have a super site with 160 machines instead of 80,
then we would need basically the same amount of staff,
but we could get through twice as many voters
when there's a big line out the door like that.
So what's the limiting factor?
Is it machines? Is it staff? Is it leadership?
is it budget like budget it's machines and it's square footage of a facility okay we don't own
we don't own a super site do you think we could get a you know noting we got a couple elections
coming up do you think we can get a bigger facility perhaps i mean a lot of these problems
are talking about i i see that people shouldn't wait till the last minute but they sound like
they're pretty foreseeable that we're going to have these issues so you know we obviously we
have a role in trying to encourage people to vote early and we properly incentivize them by making
taking it making them wait three hours if they wait till election day but is there something
else we can do here to doesn't doesn't it's not reassuring to say yeah we're going to roll with
the same equipment through the through the next presidential election also in that there the
equipment is still process is still working pretty well there are some exceptions okay um but again
like if we want a bigger super site then we would need the assistance finding that larger location
that's available for short-term rental um or i mean that the current site we you know we can take
a longer term rent if they're willing to do it but that's extremely expensive it's a budget issue
and equipment we'll set up as much equipment as we can as we have you know notice i was a little
surprised that some of that you pushed back let me ask kind of a basic question do you all think
you did a pretty good job last tuesday or no we actually did i mean we had actually feel we
no actually i feel our staff did their best of their a really good job it was the ballot error
coding error that created a big, not confusion, I think it created a lot of media, created a lot
of immediate attention. And then everyone assumed it was because of the ballot error. No, it was
many reasons why we had long lines. But you all broadly think you did a pretty good job last
Tuesday. Okay. I think the people in the city of Chicago would largely disagree with that,
as would as would many people in this chamber but do you think that the move up of the petition date
caused some of these caused some of these problems no i i don't think that there's
any direct relationship between the petition filing and the problems our staff is overworked
overworked potentially we have two elections overlapping yeah
so your staff was overworked but you don't think that caused any problems i don't
the i think that the problem was a coding error in the it department i don't think that that
is directly related to working two elections at the same time it was just it's a very small
error that had a very unfortunately noticeable ramification. I mean, was the coding error
committed in your office, or was that? It was a committee in our office, our T department, yes.
Okay. Well, I sort of come back to what I said initially. I think we got to find a better way
to do this. It makes me wildly concerned that you don't think you didn't, that you did well
last Tuesday, because I think people in the city of Chicago, certainly in the 34th Ward, were
very frustrated they certainly been taking it out on me which is that's my job that's okay
but i think we got to find a better way to do better on by by february and frankly i've obviously
been hard on you but to the extent that we can make that possible obviously you know our our
love is endless but our budget is not but whatever we can do to sort of make your jobs easier so you
can run a more efficient election i think would be well helpful i mean let's let's keep this in
mind as we budget for the purchase of the new equipment because i i personally believe that
the biggest slowdown in most places is budget. We, we, we allocate one touchscreen for every
precinct really designed for voters with accessibility issues. The touchscreen machines
then are used at all of our early voting sites, but we're not limiting the size of an early voting
site out of choice. It's out of being able to find a large enough facility and having enough
equipment. Well, it's funny you mentioned the touchscreen machines. I went to go vote at
uh, Hampton in, um, my, I was issued a normal ballot. My wife was issued a touch screen ballot.
She went there. The touch screen wasn't working.
went there the touch screen wasn't working they said they couldn't give her a new one then they
had to like put her through a spoiled ballot process then she uh was eventually issued a
paper ballot i had been done for a long time i didn't choose to bring that one up but obviously
there's problems with the touch screen equipment there too there's also just rules that i mean
that judge in that scenario was correct my wife is not disabled or anything oh yeah i get it but
she was issued a touch screen ballot and once you're issued a ballot i mean there's just
rules that are based on laws that need to be followed about spoiling the one and giving a
second one so that was an additional equipment problem i didn't mention so you know perhaps
perhaps i was at the epicenter of of problems on election day but i was feeling it seemingly every
every most of the precincts i went to with and especially my early voting site and super site
too we've talked about the the desire for the uh universal or the you know vote on demand the
ballot on demand system that will hopefully also help alleviate these problems in the future
because instead of having right now the way to vote universal is through the touch screen yeah
but in the future system it's through the it's through the poll pad that issues the ballot and
prints it out right in front of you so it's just a matter of printers then which are cheaper than
than you know printers and toner and paper as compared to these touch screen machines so again
we're trying to figure out the best solution for the city of chicago that can process more voters
better for the voters less on the budget and so but we're but we do our we we just rolled out this
equipment six years ago under a 10-year contract it's it's expensive equipment we don't want to
have to abandon it early because that's just a burden extra burden on the taxpayers but um but
this is we're already looking at what we can do even better for the next generation of equipment
and and so we just you know again that's why it's so important to us to be able to
do what we think is right for the chicago voters well we certainly are going to do what we can
in this chamber to encourage people to to vote early and i'm a committeeman and alderman and
i'm sure i speak for all the committee men and all the aldermen that we're gonna
that we're gonna uh that we're gonna do that so i hope we can work
that we're going to do that. So I hope we can work together to see how we can resolve some of
these problems. Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Thank you. To follow us from what
he just stated, is there a reason that we don't find a facility that's the super site that is
outside of downtown that may have more space, that may have parking, that may have some of
the modern conveniences that people across the city may be looking for we we can open another
site we can open another super site we could leave downtown but i think we get a lot of people
downtown and we can start looking for other sites but then the question becomes where you know if
we put on the north side do we also put one on the south side and one in the middle of the city
and we want to be equal to everybody no i just raised the question because it i mean not everyone
One is downtown, not able to get to downtown and you can't park or other items.
So just a thought in relation.
And the second question is, is there a national standard or some rubric or matrix that tells us how long it should take for a person to get through the process of voting on Election Day?
There is equipment out there that we don't not have.
We definitely procure.
And when we procure, we will look for all these efficiencies
and make sure we get the correct equipment.
But there are other jurisdictions who have things in place.
We just don't have them.
Well, we have them.
No, we don't have the money.
We have to procure the money.
Everything costs.
So just as a point of reference,
uh the average time to get through the process nationally is x and where are we in that
process it all depends what state you're in kind of laws they have in in terms of registering
as they have in terms of registering to vote.
I've participated in conferences
with college, university professors
who's dedicated their careers to voting
and analyzing and studying voting rights.
And I think particularly chairman,
well, Charles Stewart,
the chairman of the voting rights
in MIT University.
And they think that Chicago
does a really good job.
You can't just take a national average
because there's a lot of precincts out there
an entire county that's only got to work you know a thousand voters through or something
they're going to have a much different voting situation than a condensed
city with an older infrastructure like chicago houston is a similar size of chicago but when
we've talked with the doj on accessibility matters they realize that it's apples and oranges
in relation to things like drive up voting houston has gone hey they've got all their
universal vote sites is not i'm not talking curbside for people with disabilities but drive
through voting like mcdonald's well we they in houston they're much newer infrastructure much
newer city has parking lots available to fill up with you know voting tents like that and stuff
that we don't have in the city here so um but if you do want to talk i mean charles stewart's a
good person to call he's done a lot of looking at what happens in chicago and um i think that
we had some unfortunate issues this past week
with this ballot allocation thing
that's never happened to us before.
We're committed to it never happening again.
But I think that given a condensed population,
the budget restrictions that we've got,
I'm proud of the job that we do
with the resources that we have.
Our staff works very hard to get things done.
And that includes the election judges,
even though some of them don't show up
and some of them make mistakes.
All right. Thank you for that. Alderman Villegas, followed by Alderman LaSpada.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Director, over here.
Oh.
Yeah, no problem.
The chairman had mentioned the addition of super sites.
Have we considered, that's my question,
have we considered community colleges,
given the fact that there are city agencies,
we could use them as super sites, there's parking,
there's like nine of them throughout the city,
just as an idea?
So yeah, we currently do have some early voting
that is conducted three days out of the,
three days the last week, if I'm not mistaken.
But yes, we just need to partner up more with you and everyone else in this chamber here to get more ideas.
We're using more and more CPS students, right, as judges?
We are recruiting.
Yes, we are recruiting.
Yes, we have an internal person who is dedicated to recruit high school students.
And she comes from the MICVA Challenge Organization.
So yes, we do have an individual person
who actually works with the high schools.
But have you asked CPS to make it part of the curriculum
to really engage these kids?
Because it's twofold, right?
We get the judges, but also we expose them
to the civic responsibility that we hope
that they'll take advantage of.
um we could definitely look into that um plus to make make 300 bucks for the day so i mean
no we could definitely look into uh reaching out to chicago public school we had 1 304
student election judges in this election out of how many just curious how many judges total
eight what eight i have that info a total of six thousand three hundred and fifty six judges
about eight seventeen percent so okay well since we're looks since we look like we're
Since we look like we're relying on them more,
just wanted to make sure you guys partnered a little bit better
so that way they seemed more eager to make the $300
and if they get some school credit, that helps them out as well.
So just an idea.
Also, they tend to be really good judges.
Yeah.
We had just one little quick story this past Tuesday.
There was a precinct where at the end of the night,
the judges walked off, right?
The two judges that stayed behind it,
two high school judges in that precinct,
now statutorily they can't bring the machines in the ballots and statutorily the high school
judges can't do that we had to send investigator out and everything but like my point is those
two high school judges are the ones who stayed while the grown-ups walked yeah and they were
they were through election central they we took them through every step of the process
got that precinct closed down and then had the investigator cool um with the ballots right so
So state statute says that we're required to print a ballot for every person plus 10%, plus 1% for the Board of Elections.
Is that accurate?
Plus 10%.
Just plus 10%?
110%.
110%.
Okay.
Did we do that?
Yeah.
Okay.
So then the shortage of ballots was just the coding you're saying, right?
Right.
Like I said, the proper number of ballots was provided to every precinct, but the flip-flop and splits where...
I got you.
That's cool.
I just wanted to make sure, at a minimum, we did the state statute of printing the 110%.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Along those lines, I know that, I think, Adam, we've spoken in the past that your department does not,
you're not governed under the MWBE, VBE provision.
Is that accurate?
Well, we strive to follow the city's provision.
No, no, but you're not required to, correct?
Required to, no.
you're not required to use the mwbe we have a procurement procurement policy says that we
should that we should follow the cities uh yeah i mean it's like we follow your
I mean, it's like we follow your version of it,
but our procurement office does include that as a...
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
I thought maybe two years ago we had a discussion around MWBE
and you said that you guys were not required to do that.
Maybe we're not, but we do.
I mean, I don't...
The answer to the question...
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
The man's answer to his question is,
No, you're not required to follow the MBE requirements, but that you all strive to do that.
It's that simple.
Y'all talking too long, saying the same thing over and over again.
Does that answer your question?
That's my question.
Thank you.
We've put it into our policy, even though.
And so you guys met that goal during this, during these, you guys meet that goal, correct?
Yeah.
I mean, and they come through the chair, provide more data.
We usually provide data on where we're at every year.
I just wanted to make sure about that.
That's, um, that's the end of my questions, Mr. Chairman. I know that we're getting close to
lunch, so. Is that, are we getting hangry? Getting hangry, Chairman. You're getting hangry. Do I need
a Snickers? Where's Nick at when I need him? I need a Snickers. Okay. All right. All right. Very
well. Um, uh, next, next up is Alderman Cardona. Thank you, Chairman. I just want to, uh, piggyback,
uh i'm i'm back of uh alderman viegas um just to let you know um well first i want to thank you
guys for being here and uh thank you for uh the communication that we have myself with you sandra
and others in the box um but piggyback on alderman viegas the chicago public schools they do have a
civics class and you guys should tap into that because um you could get more probably participation
with high school students that would want to participate by because they're learning how
government works probably they want to be judges for the day um but that's the only thing that's
That's my only point of information I have for you guys.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Autumn.
Autumn Scott.
Thank you, Chairman.
I have a few.
First, I want to thank Brandon for always taking our calls.
But I do have some concerns because on voting on Election Day,
we had a few people to call our office after the next day,
and then I saw on social media that a lot of people went to vote
and someone had already voted.
What caused that?
By any chance, do you know if they issued a provisional ballot to your voters?
They were able to, yeah, do a provisional ballot.
Those will get counted.
Yeah, well, we have to still look into the reasons
of why they were issued a provisional ballot
or if they were already marked on the poll book,
if they already had voted,
we definitely will follow up and investigate
whether it was true or not.
And I have to say, we still have to follow up
to make sure that we don't have record of them
actually voting at an early voting location
or if their vote by mail was returned.
We still have to do that investigation,
and then we will definitely finalize that
and count their ballots by November 17th.
Can you do it by the precinct to let us know?
Like, it occurred in multiple precincts.
This is what Ms. Spera previously talked about,
where there was an entry error from an election judge
into the poll book system that caused a temporary maybe 15 to 30 minutes
where any person who's newly registering, changing address,
or something like that was shown to have already voted.
And so there was that brief period on that Tuesday where that was happening.
By one person? You said it happened by one person, or this happened within a precinct?
It happened into the poll book system, which then was citywide.
system which then was so for it was city-wide for a while our our analysis shows that the
duly registered voters were still being issued ballots like normal it was only for people who
had to register for new change of address change of name things like that to to go through the
registration system first these are people that have voted in at the same precinct for the last
50 years and it still occurred well if then if they weren't doing any kind of update then we
would need to in order to confirm what's going on you can follow up with us after today's meeting
give us let us know exactly which voters we're talking about we can look into the system and
find exactly what the what that was what that cause was and i want to go back um into the 800
number that you all have? Is that a, is it a system that you, I mean, is it a IT system or
some kind of generated system? How do you control your 1-800 numbers? Oh, the 1-800 number.
You know, like I said, typically we were told to, we had a representative to represent the different
committee persons. And then we were told to go to an 800 number. So how do, how is that 800 number
managed so there is no i'm not sure what 800 number you're referring to there's a 312 number
that's election central no on election day i called that's not us on election day i called
brandon i think we called brandon he gave us an 800 number to call so i want to know how that's
managed fraud kind of issue that sounds like maybe he referred you to the state's attorney's
office on something no we said we were out of uh paper and we were that i don't know which one it
was which one but i know i was sent to the 800 number which for what so was it election central
because it was about regarding ballots correct this was about we were sure
This was about, we were short, I can't remember that far, okay?
But it was on election day.
But it was on election day.
Okay, if it was election day, it was definitely the election central number.
Could you identify yourself with a record, sir?
Brandon Pickens, supervisor of the polling places department.
Sorry.
I was given an 800 number.
I don't know what, I'm going to call my staff to figure out what it was for.
There are, like, community organizations, both national and local, that have 800 numbers, hotlines.
Ours is specifically a 312 number.
We were calling for assistance, and I got an 800 number.
So that's why that was – that's why I wanted to know how your 800 number was managed
because I got an 800 number.
Okay, so –
You all get that information to her about what – and I think this is overall –
there's just way too much confusion over something that's extremely serious,
So we definitely need to make the communication a little more robust so that people know who they need to reach out to at the at their appropriate times and to take care of this.
Because I've never heard so many people with so many challenges around elections in my tenure here.
And we've got to do a better job of getting people the right information at the right time so that they can inform their constituencies of what is what is needed.
All right, Scott.
That's it. Thank you.
Thank you. Next up we have Alderman Ciccio Lopez, Alderman Vasquez, and Alderman Moore in our member queue plus Alderman Lospato online. So Alderman Ciccio Lopez followed by Alderman Moore.
Thank you Chairman and again
thank you chairman and um again chairwoman thank you i'm good to see you i want to start by um
addressing some specifics in my word i do believe that um our community deserves better when it
term when it comes to um ballot access you know i know that your team believes that they've done
a good job but i think in terms of our ward in the 25th ward i tell you that we have several issues
you know, that are still waiting to hear the full report, but investigators were deployed at least
to one precinct because many voters who were waiting to vote for a long time never got those
ballots on time. So there was a response, but the response was not timely. And again, you have,
you know, and your team has my full list of complaints, for lack of a better word.
being in touch with them, but I tell you that my report from some of the judges on site, as well as
people who went, that is the people who waited for hours, and you know, in some of the report,
two out of three people who were waiting basically left when they were called out. So definitely we
lost people's ability to vote, and that's just unacceptable. It's just simply unacceptable.
I know that you mentioned an issue with coding, but I tell you, for us, it was not only obviously
not enough ballots.
I just think that it's an embarrassment not to have enough ballots.
I think that we should have predicted that there will be a bigger turnout.
You know, I tell you that for me, it was clear that a lot of our people in the community
was coming out.
And I see, and it's a good thing that a lot of young people in particular came out, and
this was the first impression.
And I just don't think that is acceptable.
And I will not categorize this as a good job by the Board of Elections.
You know, so I know that I made my request for a full report on the precinct in question.
on the precinct in question, and, you know, I was told to FOIA.
So, I mean, I will make the formal request here.
I want to see the full report for the investigators.
And I do believe that, especially when it's asked, I mean,
one of the departments is asking the biggest increase in, on average,
I think you have a 75%, almost 75% increase of budget.
We need to make sure that those resources are properly and adequately deployed.
and I just don't think that was the case. The other thing I will tell you is that
it was not only not enough ballots, in one of the precincts
we did not have enough pens or
clipboards. How do we don't have enough clipboards or pens?
I just don't think that that is acceptable
when it comes to basic resources
for an election that I think, at least I would expect
the Board of Elections predict a higher turnout, if anything. So let me just start with that, and
now I know that we're 24, so I was speaking on behalf of what I saw and I witnessed, but you
mentioned there were 24 precincts, and I know that we're going to go through the chair, you're going
to say, we're going to share that information of where those precincts were, but pending the
response from the investigators, I would like to ask of you, because since you categorize this
as a good effort, how long did it take on average per precinct to get those extra ballots?
So I do have an answer for you about how long it took an average number, the average time for
precinct to be delivered to the ward. So to print 100 ballots, it takes about roughly
40 to 45 minutes and then you have the delivery time again our equipment is is is at the end of
of time you know it's at the end of its time uh we did send out and we addressed every precinct
that we were made aware of through the election central help desk yet we proactively immediately
identified additional precincts and we sent out touch screens so then it could help us help the
voters vote while we try to send out vote by mail ballots to
every of these locations that we identified. It did take 45
minutes, though, plus an investigator to either come
either they were sent from our 69 main office, or they were
sent from our warehouse. And I believe one of your wards and I
don't recall the the precinct, it was past seven o'clock, and I
still had the warehouse deliver ballots to your constituents, and I'm not sure what precinct it
was, but I know there was a precinct where it was past seven, and they had about 70 voters, if I
recall correctly. We issued 100 ballots to your precinct polling place. I'm not sure if you're
aware of that location. I know there was many more, but there is one specific one that you did
have in your ward. Yes, and I am aware, and that's what I want to make sure that we get the full
report, investigators did arrive, but the issues were reported since 10.30 a.m. that day.
So there were issues early on, right? And those issues were not addressed, even though I was,
I received an email from the Board of Elections saying that it will be handled and addressed.
That's just paraphrasing. That did not happen. Again, this is the same precinct when, again,
if there was something reported back at 10 30 a.m you mentioned you're correct by 7 p.m those issues
persisted so i would imagine that by you know 10 30 a.m to 7 p.m i think that we should have
received not only enough ballots but plenty of ballots
not only enough ballots, but plenty of ballots and or the, you know, that data station was never
delivered. My understanding is that those issues persisted in this very location. Two out of three
people have left when they were called out by just some of the judges expressing their frustration
in the process. So you are correct. It took us a while. So number one, I do want to make all the
the person's aware that i was not aware i don't think anyone would have been not even my predecessors
would have been made made aware of the error until that day i personally got a call from either
alderman martin or la spada that morning and then hopkinsworth called me the like that was the three
older persons i remember calling me that morning and i said this is not normal something is wrong
So I immediately contacted the IT department to figure out, this is not normal.
What is going on?
So they did, you know, they investigated and made me aware it was a coding error.
So I said, I need to know exactly how many precincts it affects.
The number, I believe, was 64, where the numbers with the coding error affected.
and we immediately started to reprint there was some of the older persons in here were reaching
out to Paulina Paulina was putting in a request it was a miscommunication within our office as
well Paulina was putting in ballot orders I was putting in ballot orders the help desk was putting
ballot orders to the warehouse so we had a couple batches they were duplicate it was taking us at
least 45 minutes to produce 100 ballots um they i have gotten quotes from the our vendor uh per
to up upgrade our printers our printers here so i do have a quote uh i i will implement new
uh i i will implement new uh printers for election you know for the 2027 and 2028
so we can get these ballots out if needed it will not happen i could under my watch this will not
happen again i see has put some safeguards into their process i will make sure that i personally
address that with my at department and have um but the reporting structure have a reporting
a reporting approval structure within my office yeah chairwoman i will definitely like i said
with every other alderman here i'll definitely do a follow-up with you to go over this report
make sure that they were really properly prepared and now you mentioning contracts you know that's
another question and you know just for clarity i know that in your inclusive inclusive contractor
data uh you have women majority owned black majority owned asian majority owned but the
hispanic majority only inclusion does not seem to have any data is there a reason why we don't have
any data of you know what are the contractors have been um in all purchases again i tell you
this is um data from uh 2024 2025 and then year to date 2026 there's no population in that data
can you explain me why? Carolina would you like to take this one here? My name is Carolina Roman
I am the purchasing director. So 2026 reflects lower amounts because a lot of our vendors
provide election related services and so a lot of our maybe we be vendor expenditures are actually
going to reflect on Cook County's budget because they are paying for this election.
It was brought to my attention at the last budget hearing about the concerns regarding
issuing contracts to Hispanic vendors, and I have made a conscious effort to
And I have made a conscious effort to issue contracts to Hispanic vendors, which we have.
And a lot of the contracts that we have established over the course of fiscal year 2026 will carry into 2027.
So the city of Chicago will definitely see more me be we be vendors on there for the 2027 expenditures.
Yes, because it's been a recurring issue, Chairwoman.
So, again, since it was brought up last year, it was probably the year before, right?
And the problem persists, right?
So part of the follow-up, I want to make sure that, because the data shows, you know, no
improvement, if anything.
So I would expect us, especially when you are requesting in non-personnel matters a
$31 million increase, right, that that is actually reflective on what the city of Chicago
looks like, and also reflective
on the needs of the city of Chicago, so
through the chair, I think you can get
some of, especially the report on the 25th
Ward, but I do want to follow up with
you directly to make sure that this issue
on procurement is, it
must be addressed. Otherwise, I will
not be supporting this increase.
Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Chen.
Thank you,
Audemarsito Lopez.
Okay.
Lunch is ready, so
we're going to take a break. We're going to
return at
can we do 40 minutes
y'all okay thank you
man must be a great day
today alright we'll be back at
what is that
2.15 we will return at
2.15 and
we will
we'll see who's here
who goes first
committee of standards is at 2.15
so
Good afternoon. We are back in session, Committee on Budget and Government Operations.
We still have before us Chicago Board of Elections. I have Alderman Taylor.
Thank you, Chairman. How y'all doing this afternoon?
I know it's been a long day. Can we talk about cost of using electronic?
I'm online. I see you looking for me. I'm online.
um hold on i'm sorry
there you go um how much does it cost for us to go totally electronic and what do you all feel like
is keeping us from doing that well i total cost
well do you what does that mean i am not sure i'm understanding
I mean, I am not sure I'm understanding your question, vote online?
No, so when I went to the polling places, they had the option to use the touchscreen,
which I felt like was very easy, very convenient.
Most of the seniors that I talked to liked that option because it's very easy touch.
Also, people who have disabilities find it easier than kind of punching holes.
What does that look like for us to go probably 50%, maybe 70% electronic in that way?
So in 2018, I did look into those numbers.
I figured I was going to get asked.
I believe we paid close to $22 million just for the voting equipment.
The board will need voting equipment soon.
uh we our our goal is to have after the municipal election is to uh have an rfi request for
information uh from vendors who already certified uh have sort of uh their equipment been certified
through you know the uh pbs 2.20 2.2.2.0 version um and then we're going to procure new equipment
in 2027 for 2028 so we need to do this uh before the next budget season so the older
persons are aware of how much the equipment will cost i know 22 estimated at 22 million for new
voting equipment in 2018 so i anticipate with everything going up it's going to be a little
higher than that okay i think one thing one thing to consider say punching holes no no you know how
you gotta
we ain't did that
in a while
so if I'm bringing it up
that came from somewhere
okay
no our
our touchscreens uh their touch screen yeah we like the touch screen way better yeah so we're
required to print it all for using the marker i think people feel comfortable with that i think
it went faster um i think it would answer some of the the technical issues um we were having um i'm
not gonna beat a dead horse i'm not the committee person what i would love to see from you all is
six months before we have um an election that contact with not just committee people but all
the people most of the times on election day we don't take the day off because we're answering
to those calls and while my committee person is very responsive you all are responsive
i will give you that it's not a time that i've called or had a question um i didn't get answered
but i think um if we start to look at some of these issues sooner than later and we had a
a more frequent check-in that um we wouldn't have as many issues on election day um i'm asking every
committee have you all created a dashboard that she's asking if you all have created a dashboard
dashboard i so that is so for me uh what i want to see in every department um is a dashboard and
that is transparency talked about it talks about how many people voted where they could vote
something real simple other than the board of election things was something people could kind
of go to and kind of see um just on a consistent basis so if i wanted to like go back and say
i wanted to see what people voted four years ago there's a dashboard that's there that allows me
to see the most recent update but lets me go back to um what happened in the past and i'm asking for
that information from every group because I feel like a lot of these calls and problems that we get
they could have saw on the dashboard it's a click of a mouse to where people could
dashboard it's a click of a mouse to where people could go to actually register to your vote because
i do agree um that some of the lying people standing in line stuff is them actually trying
to register to vote so i'm not disagreeing with that but i want to see every department
um have a dashboard and that dashboard is something that is updated on a consistent basis
but it's also something that we're using to to be transparent so we do have our website
alderman alderwoman taylor so like see i would say we have one for cdph and so in in that type of
in that type of form am i what i do want to say is that we're not we're we're not really a city
agency and Adam if you want to follow up well I mean we we can provide past data for sure to get
put into a city right a city dashboard if that's what if you'd like to create a city dashboard
that's what I would like to see with election data we could certainly work with your IT team
and provide that data we don't have a city like I would like for us to see that because I think
that you we don't realize we look at it at the board of elections war by war and so of course
when things happen or information that we want that's important and i want it as quick as i can
for my constituents but for something for us to have city-wide i think that's less cost for you
to actually work on things that you actually need to work on and not the small stuff does that make
sense yeah yeah yes okay um i want to know how you all are working with the city county and state
around the Jesse Jackson ordinance.
I know that I don't think that anybody
on the state or county did a good job
County did a good job at actually working with you all because I feel like a lot of things that
are in that that legislation you all kind of do and maybe y'all need y'all support on but I want
to know what are you all actually doing to help see some of that stuff through well the city did
reach out when they were drafting the ordinance they did reach out with us and it's you know
predominantly like everything that's in the ordinance is outside the jurisdiction of the
board of elections really because it's outside of our 100 foot campaign free zone and so the city
had ideas through that ordinance of some things they wanted to do and we you know sounds like a
great idea but it's but frankly we're not very involved because it's not it does not affect
things that happen inside our precincts or inside our campaign free zones so um and then there's
you know i think that that's really the distinction to be made is that while the ordinance has things
that you know are effective in relation to elections it's stuff that's outside our jurisdiction
so we just it's it's just through a partnership then where they they handle the ordinance outside
of the campaign free zone and we keep on dealing with our precincts and everything inside the zone
are you all communicating and talk about that well we have been um there's not again there's
not a lot more to talk about we've been in communication with um for you know for like
the lead up to this election, for example, with the police department and OEMC, so that
there's coordination for if they have matters that they're dealing with outside the 100-foot
zone, we're in communication about it to make sure that it stays outside the zone, or if
we need assistance from those departments for something inside the zone, we'll reach
out for that.
I think the lead up to this, there was very great coordination in the lead up to this
election, and then, thank goodness, not really any issues that needed to be worked on in
that regard.
I'm concerned.
that you all are not, that is not working.
all are not that is not working hand in hand i was honestly disappointed that you all were not
more at the table when there was a discussion about this um because we depend on you all to
make elections as smooth and as easy as possible and so because these systems are not talking or
you all are not talking and we are doing folks a disservice and i get wanting to honor reverend
jesse jackson um in a way because voting was his big thing getting people registered to vote
and getting out the vote was his big thing and so um i would like to at some point set up a
meeting to have a conversation with you all just about that because i do agree um
that you all should have been at the table and this is not the first time I've said it
I've said it in the committee hearings as well um that you all should have been at the table
because it's like we keep doing this thing of making legislation for folks um and they're not
at the table to tell us that we're right or we're wrong and so that's something um I want you all
to think about how are you all working with our congress folks around the mail
um i i represent a ward that has 18 senior buildings and i was getting calls weeks before
time that people had not received their mail-in ballots um and now my concern is a lot of those
balance either or not they haven't shown up yet or they haven't been counted uh when we need them
and so if somebody could kind of talk me through that good afternoon um as far as the ballots
ballots vote by mail ballots we're still in the process of counting if there's a process to
this question came up earlier in regards to what happens when someone doesn't receive their ballot
or hasn't received their ballot we do send out emails we send out emails to prod people to send
in their ballots as well as emails along the stages of you receiving us receiving your ballots
if a lot of the you know older generation might not have emails there are a lot of people that
don't so what we ends up happening is a lot call in and talk to us and our staff the team is set
to let them know we either reissue another ballot or depending on how close it is to the election
we try to push people especially with this time to kind of push people to hey you still have the
option to early vote. You still have the option to vote election day because on the 12th, well,
the Thursday prior to the election is when we stop accepting applications. If you haven't received
your ballot by then, you know, we don't control the post office and it's no way of us to guarantee
that you will get your ballot by the time we send it out. So that only gives you four days to turn
around and get it back to us. With the ballot process again a lot of people don't have tracking
because we have tracking on those ballots. Once you mail it out back to us you're able to track
your ballot once it hits the mailbox. You're able to track it once it's on the way to you as well.
So we're able to see that and give information on the calls as they come in. Is there a list of
senior buildings that you all have that you kind of work with to make sure that seniors are
because let's be honest seniors are our biggest voting base in the city of chicago that's i know
i have to tell you that y'all the experts on that what i always get is people
the experts on it. What I always get is people saying it's a mixed match and people never got
it. People don't know that it got counted. There's all this. And so maybe some more clarity
for us figuring out how to work together to make sure that those seniors get their ballots. I got
a bunch of seniors who can't walk, so they're not going on election day or any day. They need that
mail-in ballot. And Lord forbid, if the elevator is not working, they're not going anywhere. And so
So I would like to see you all kind of do some more work or us have a conversation on how we can make sure, because you said it's four days before.
That is not information.
I'm not the committee person, but I don't know that.
And so what I want to see us do is have more of these conversations that are word by word and you kind of hear from us.
And so I'm going to be setting up a meeting with you all to come to my office so that we can have a conversation because I feel like right now we just throwing every bad thing that happened to y'all happened during election because these elections are important and we know how they suppress voting in our communities.
And so we want to make sure that we're working with y'all, not against y'all, to make sure that people actually get to cast their ballot.
That's all I got. Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you, Audemant Taylor. Audemant Moore.
Thank you, Chairman.
Well, I respect everything a lot of my colleagues have said.
I'm almost afraid to speak because my experience is a little bit different.
I want to thank you and your team for the work that you are doing.
Maybe accessibility for yourself personally to the ultimate could be helpful more,
could be helpful more and i think you already made that clear that you will do that
but your team and um especially brandon pickens you linda price and um ralph baker chris turner
man they are some of the best um not only for me reaching out but they are proactive let me let me
just um and this has been going on not just this election this has been going on for a few elections
now um and so i don't know they were i think assigned to me um i almost want to say um
the last administration i can't remember we've been working together for a while now
and they've just been proactive and we've worked together i've been able to get
um you'll understand on top of me about my judges get those judges in
um sometimes i'm laughing lagging behind she's calling me get up get up get those judges in
And so I've yet to have a problem of getting judges on or taking off on my end.
And as far as the locations go, Brandon has been proactive on top of it.
We just had a situation this election almost at the last minute where a facility had a maintenance, if you will, issue that put us in a situation where we couldn't use that polling location.
and us working together we were able to find something it was just constant communication
man and i appreciate you so much for that that we were able to also within that week get our
voters notified and everything that my office didn't get calls saying hey i don't know where
my voting location at and things like that so we were on top of it and so um as far as the service
and even on election day when I'm having problems with machines I know I'm probably supposed to call
somebody else but I'm calling Brandon and he getting me to the right person or getting somebody
the right person or getting somebody out there quick and um you know i remember there's the last
couple of voting cycles maybe the last three for sure that um you know we've had problems but they
we got people out in a timely fashion and so i want to make sure we could continue to keep that
going and so um i would if you're not communicating with brandon is communicate with him because my
my quality control class what we learned in quality management was that if it ain't broke
break it find out why it's not breaking and improve on it and so you know find out what
he's doing and improve on it that's all I can say because it's it's working for me
and only thing I have and I'm bringing just the words back from the judges this past election
I guess maybe because it was a presidential election, but I'm also expecting it because of the type of mayoral election and automatic election we're going to have this year.
Three, was it three, one, two, three, four of my locations, one of them with two precincts, all of them said, and I didn't ask.
i was just there going to visit all my locations but they felt they needed another um electronic
pad um they they they said we got too many people waiting i think there was only one per precinct
or something like that so i remember uh victory i wrote him down because i told him i promise you
i'll bring it up in budget that was uh victory missionary baptist church um that's the third
precinct montessori that's 11 and 12 murray park 6 and precinct 1 targeting i i didn't hit all 29
precincts i got i think i got a little over half of my precincts that i visited but those the ones
i don't i don't know if we i just i'm mentioning those because those are the ones that told me
but i don't know if that's an issue um throughout do you understand what i'm saying and
um throughout do you understand what i'm saying and so they they felt that they needed another
um um digital um electronic voting pad and other than that there were there were no other
major complaints that i heard while or saw um while i was out there so i want to thank you all
for your service and um my two people um my main people you lend their brand don't take them away
from me i don't know what i'm sorry to hear what other people going through but you touch them and
take them away from me it's going to be a fight some consequences and repercussions as Eddie
Murphy would say and um but I just want to say I thank you I thank them um tremendously and I
appreciate um the effort and the work that they're doing thank you thank you Alderman Moore Alderman
Laspata what sir can you hear me yes we can okay um listen I'm glad for this meeting I'm glad for
this hearing hold on we need you to step back off the Alderman need you to step back off the mic
thank you all right i i have to say i'm i'm here and director you know this because we
we spoke last tuesday i have a lot of frustration with how election day went down you've said a
couple different notices about numbers about how many precincts ran out of ballots at one point you
said 64 where you heard 24 reporting in other places but three of them were in the first ward
two of them precincts four and five ran out of ballots by nine o'clock in the morning and my
first question is how can a precinct run out by nine o'clock in the morning because I can understand
not having enough for the day I have trouble understanding how someone could be dropping
off those ballots and see a number that surely by the eye test is below what would be needed
needed for any polling place and not report that in immediately can you can you talk me through
that so so alderman uh let me just jump in right here um that that question has been asked and
answered um a couple of times we we got we we got to get rolling i'm not hanging anymore so
we just we're gonna can you go to your next question i'll say sir it would be a i i'll
leave it for now i would say it would be a disservice to our election judges who dealt
with a lot of anger, with a lot of poison patience, if I did not raise up that point.
So I'll go to other points. I had a case in another precinct where election judges were
telling voters that they needed to either throw away or hide written election materials that they
were choosing to bring in with them. They were told that that was part, told me that that was
part of their training. As an older person who felt not my place to correct them, but after
looking up state statute, we had others at the Board of Elections who actually had to call
to correct them on that. What is happening in the training for election judges that they could have
mischaracterized or misconstrued so dramatically? Thank you, older person. I will direct this to
audra who is the community services uh manager who deals with the training scripts for the
election judges and coordinators yeah um hello alder person audra wiki manager community services
division um i was on leave for this past election so unfortunately i was not overseeing these
trainings in particular. However, in general, we train election judges to prevent any electioneering
in a precinct. So if someone walks in with a flyer that has a candidate's name on it,
and that candidate is on the ballot, that is considered electioneering.
is on the ballot that is considered electioneering and they need to put it in their pocket they need
to put it in a bag just have it not shown um and so i i wasn't there i don't know how legible the
materials were that the voters were bringing into the precinct but if it was legible enough to other
voters to see um the candidates that uh were on their ballot then that is technically electioneering
is my understanding. I could believe that if it wasn't directly in conflict with state statute
that says that voters are allowed to bring voter guides, written materials in with them,
this isn't state statute. So let's get clear. It doesn't say that you can't bring it with you.
It's just that it cannot be visible to others in the polling place. You can keep it with you. What she's saying is that it cannot be open and visible to others in the polling place. So you're both right.
I think in the future, it was. I understand the difference between electioneering and bringing voting guides in with you so that that can be a conversation for the future, because what we do know is that the Board of Elections did end up calling election justice to correct how they were interpreting their training.
Um, my next question is, we've covered the printing matter. I'm assuming in the future, we can get better at that because we had a situation where they were sent all of 100 ballots to last out the rest of the day.
I have a question around accessibility in polling places.
So we do have certain schools that serve as polling places for three different precincts, two different precincts.
I understand the value around accessibility and trying to avoid stairs.
accessibility and trying to avoid stairs, we've created in certain cases conditions that are so
cramped and then oftentimes impassable that it creates a whole new set of accessibility issues.
My question would be, what can we do to decompress polling places in the future
so that we're not trading one accessibility issue for a whole host of others?
well first of all statutorily right it's the size of the number of precincts we've had a
legislative change on that we've discussed this before where the legislature on a statewide basis
changed it from 300 to 1200 people per precinct so we're not quite the way there yet as we reduce
the number of precincts there should be less overcrowding but also Mr. Esposito can discuss
how we do have policies and guidelines for setting up those polling places so that they are
accessible good afternoon alderman in regards to creating accessible within the schools
um we went through a major project uh last summer to remediate about 60 plus schools moving them
from auditoriums into more open areas and that were along more accessible routes throughout the
school and also from the entrances we've done extensive work trying to keep up with changes
with schools as far as doors as far as construction as far as remediation with ramps and things of
that nature we always try and look for the most accessible space that that allows us the most
room to actually conduct an election within some some schools have better access than others others
you know we we have to get creative and plan out spaces as much as possible we
actually are currently doing layout maps for site
We're currently doing layout maps for sites as much as possible, and we are continually working to find new solutions to certain schools that do have less accessibility than others.
For reasons that I'm not aware of, that doesn't seem to be a conversation that happened in the first ward, but I will say, I will reach out to your team, I have your number, let's schedule a conversation.
about how these issues can be addressed because there was a lot of the vote that was
suppressed in the first ward. There's a lot of trust that has been broken in our electoral
process here, and we have a lot of work to do to address that and correct that before February. So
I will reach out, Director, to you and your team so we can get that meeting set up as soon as
possible. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Next up, I've got Alderman Coleman.
You ready? Followed by Alderman Fuentes. Thank you, Chairman, Commissioner. This is my first time
meeting you or being in the space with you, so glad to have you here. A little problematic when
the first city vice chair of the Cook County Democratic Party does not know or we're not
we're not even provided an org chart. This is a very, very basic, very simple. I mean, I can look
at, I can look online to see who the three members of the board are, you, and then your assistant
executive director, Mary Beth, is she still, is this the one? So she's no longer left. Okay. So
your predecessors who were amazing, Mr. Goff and Mr. Valentine had Kathy and Yvonne. Who do you have?
good question so i have not had anyone until recently uh as of august late august august
august august 29th jake i believe you jake was hired back in uh in july of this year so i've not
had anyone uh i have not had an administrator for almost a year you did not have an assistant
for a year more than yes i've not had as the executive director of the chicago board of
elections in 2025 uh there was a budget uh hiring freeze if you everyone recalls there was a hiring
freeze uh i was told just to choose one position to hire and i said to alexis and brennan they're
not in here i'm like and i think i was someone else who was in my uh meeting that we a pre-budget
meeting uh if i'm not mistaken i forgot his name and i said i need more than one i need an assistant
So when will you be hiring another assistant?
It's posted.
We should be hiring, hopefully, I don't know how soon I can do that,
because my priority right now is to hire an AED, Assistant Executive Director.
Then we have a manager, assistant manager in the P-Volt Department of Pre-Election Voting and Logistics.
Those are my two priorities.
I already have Jake currently right now.
Yes, this will happen, but it will have to happen after the new year.
So I would recommend that you make all these positions a priority,
especially for the upcoming election because you will see a different city council if February 23rd
goes left. I'm letting you know that now. If it were not for Kathy and Yvonne, both of the former
executive directors would not have been successful as they were because they kept a lot of this in
order and together we actually had someone to go to. I don't know anything about your office other
than Brandon and Dwayne Valentine. I requested a list from my liaison for the, both the Dem
and Republican judges. And I was told that your office has put it.
I was told that your office has put a constraint on
they cannot share that information.
Why is that?
What was it?
The judge's list.
So that is a FOIA request, if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah.
Prior to you, we did not have to FOIA anything as committee men.
We were giving that list because in order for Election Day to work,
we need to know who's in our polls.
And if they're not in our polls, you all don't have the eyes and ears,
but we do so at their minimum you can't provide names and addresses of the people that are supposed
to work the wards it's my understanding that that was done incorrectly if a committee person
would like the list of our election judges you have to put in that request it was shared
i believe it was done incorrectly and i'm just trying to correct information that was being
sent out inappropriately? If I'm wrong, Adam, please let me know. We should have, FOIA requires
that we log the requests. We should have a log of every time we're handing out someone's name and
address, we would like to comply with the law that requires us to have that logged. So please just
submit your request and you'll get the information. Okay. So when election judges do not show up
for work and we're left with a polling location without an election judge, what is your process?
since we can't have their contact information two things either a and correct me if i'm wrong audra
the election the the team at the polling places can swear in an election judge there's a process
on our handbook and if they're very very short they're they're instructed to call election
central because we do have standby teams ready to be dispatched oh well what happened to them last
week i'm not aware uh any situation paulina do you are you aware of any standby or any
sent up a lot of standbys being short on i'm sorry and i'm absolutely and let's see
In my home precinct, there were only two judges at a senior building.
In my home precinct.
What precinct is that, if I may?
Precinct 15, Ward 16, West Haven, 850 West Garfield Boulevard.
We have standby judges.
We have to prioritize where they go.
So sometimes if there's two judges that are still serving,
they can statutorily carry on the duties.
They could swear in a temporary judge.
That's a part of their...
of? Well, respectfully, there were no standby judges. There weren't even any standby investigators
because not one machine worked. They were not provided enough ballots. They weren't provided
pens. They didn't even have stickers. So for the first time in my adulthood of voting, I had to
place my ballot inside of a blue box, which was not accounted for in one of the largest precincts
in my ward. And I'd be damned, excuse my French, if that happens February 23rd.
And which precinct was it?
Precinct 15, Ward 16, West Haven Homes, 850 West Garfield Boulevard. So executive director,
because I was not provided a list and because I am who I am and I know my ward, I had to ask
one of the judges in the next precinct to come over and help that precinct. I had to ask them
for pens and stickers just to come over to my home precinct.
So you can imagine not only the embarrassment, but the lines.
I was stuck in my home precinct for over an hour.
And when I called DeWayne, we're doing the best we can.
We've sent an investigator.
We're waiting on an investigator.
I've sent it up the food chain.
I've sent it up the food chain.
That was the response to no resolve that day.
No student judge, there is no translator, nothing.
Coordinator didn't know how to coordinate.
For the early voting positions, which I have a great, the flow is very good, those seem
to be more prioritized than election day.
So who handles that hiring process?
We have Clinton Hurd, who oversees the hiring of the early voting officials.
How many positions per ward?
We attempt to have eight per ward.
Eight?
Eight per ward.
Yeah, per location, we try to take that up if we can, but we attempt for eight.
So, Quentin, what's your last name?
Clinton Hurd.
Mr. Hurd.
I believe at Limblum Park there were more positions in the event.
I'm all about fixing and solutions-based and pivoting.
if there's any way that if on election day if we are overstaffed from early voting we've got to be
able to send judges etc etc in polling places if that's at all possible it's two different processes
judges at um and audra and uh paulina could speak more to this but judges are appointed
to um precinct level they're not to um to uh early voting site levels so i'm saying from
a early if you have an early voting site with 10 judges and then you have a precinct with
one judge you can't call for an early voting judge to go help that precinct
that would be something
they could swear him in
but the election official
working early voting is not a statutory election
judge who's been affirmed by the
but anyone can be sworn in correct yeah yeah so that is very well possible
okay so may i recommend having actual standbys and maybe making sure that early
early voting is staffed properly so if you come into a situation where a precinct is not properly
staffed that that judge can then be sworn in day of it's recommendation yes we can look at it
of the available positions, I believe that the warehouse is one of the vacancies. How does one
get, you're shaking your head, how does one even get, so with Mr. Ballantyne as chair of the Black
Caucus, we were sent, when positions were open, when there were vacancies, specifically the
warehouse, I remember when you all were looking for someone to run your HR department, do you have
liaison or do you have anyone that could communicate and send out information to committeemen
so jake pollock who just recently was hired and he's under me as of august 29th we're trying to
get that list compiled if anything i believe he left you a business card on your sask area there
last year last year the warehouse position was
that warehouse position you're referring to?
Okay, so is there a link or is there job listings?
Yes, we list all of our jobs on our website.
We put them in Indeed.
I've had three different HR managers this year.
The one that we just recently hired is leaving us tomorrow.
So, yes, I am looking.
I will be posting for a HR manager for the Board of Elections.
Either it should be posted today or tomorrow.
It should be posted today or tomorrow, but we're looking for an HR manager.
Okay, so may I recommend you're looking at probably one of the best HR firms in the city
of Chicago that doesn't get paid, that doesn't charge a service for that.
I would recommend sending it out to especially committee men, people that know the city,
and we can send it amongst our networks, especially please reach out to the Black Caucus,
reach out to the latino caucus reach out to different organizations to help with your workforce
deficit um what i'm sorry round two okay location for training for election judges
where is that that isn't it's across the street but well not across the street here but it's at
Block 37. Okay. Have you all considered maybe having a south side, west side, a more convenient
location for judges that live in the neighborhood instead of downtown? That was done many years ago.
In fact, we could definitely look into that. Okay. We did that before. I know the question
was posed about student judges recruitment. What is the amount of students per precinct
that should be assigned to to polls oh polina or audra one of you two i don't know the judge's
department is handled by paulina she could definitely answer hi elder person paulina
michelievitz here at the judge's department so we are allowed to assign one high school or two
high school students per precinct excuse me one from each party and last question what african
americans are part of your staff do you have any african americans a part of in your immediate
at office uh i did ask our man
office uh i did ask our manager for those demographics and i believe she emailed me
really quick let me one second does anyone work in your office i'm not understanding like on your
in the board of elections correct we have a commissioner finance director manager supervisor
um assistant assistant manager and community service um i mean there's still turner
right down here you go krista who is she just sent me oh okay not helpful under me if you're
being specific of how many correct um off the top of my head i've been committeeman for 10 years
alderman for seven and i remember a day of you know board of elections was represented amongst
the community there was odell sterling there was of course the way in valentine there were just
more there is more representation because the more people that you have in our neighborhoods
the easier today will be for you because we don't know you i know nothing about you i know nothing
about your office and there has been a major disconnect amongst board of elections and this
body you keep not that i want to be disrespectful in any way you keep referring referring to a
Valentine? Are you talking about Charles
Holiday? Holiday.
But I'm sorry, Valentine is my
liaison. Which, by the way, let me do
my shout outs. Thank you, Brandon.
Thank you, Dwayne.
Thank you all for doing the best
that you can with what you have.
I know you were stretched out,
but more representation,
more people
to work.
You understand me more.
Alright.
You understand?
I understand the question.
And I do have staff under me that are African-American, if that was true.
that are African-American, if that was your question.
Just staff, period.
Staff? I have a lot of staff.
I just don't have the numbers in front of me.
Unfortunately, there's a chair.
Okay, she's going to answer the question through the chair,
get the names, the information, and the demographics
that the chairperson is looking for.
Is that all we have?
That's all today.
Thank you. Appreciate you.
Point of information, Chair Dow?
yeah since she was taking notes on on polling places that had uh problems with the judges not
showing up and not getting a compliment that we should have the 11th precinct and the third ward
alderman walgesburg thank you chairman uh good evening direct or good afternoon director
uh i don't want to beat a dead horse but i agree it was a rough election day and uh
there was a lot of resilience by our Chicago voters to withstand the long lines um and the
kind of the pain sitting out there and waiting and and waiting and thank god it wasn't in the
winter otherwise we'd be providing hats instead of uh Chick-fil-a but um it has been harder and
harder to recruit election judges over the past few years I think you got that message from our
colleagues but through the chair could you give us a breakdown of the committee person's party split
on election judges and um also the number of students uh just everything through the chair
is fine um in regards to the new equipment for going into 2027 and then 2028 um i'd like you to
have a public hearing in the rules committee where everybody could be present and advance your
decision um for open discussion because we do have procurement coming up later today and i'm not sure
we'll get the same kind of transparency that we would in a in a ethics hearing as opposed to our
in a ethics hearing as opposed to our other committee where procurement doesn't show up but
i think what we need to know ahead of time are a lot of questions that need to be answered
about the types of companies that you'll be looking at for the rfi that you're going to put out
and again through the chair if you can answer these ahead of time that'd be great how many
companies could bid that are capable of handling the city of our size for the next generation of
equipment, who those companies might be. And we know that companies like Dominion were taken over
by Liberty, who are directly tied to the Trump administration, as far as we can tell. So I'd
just like to know what those companies are. And if you're doing preliminary discussions about those
companies who can we trust out there to make sure that our our elections are not compromised
in the way that they have been in other states and i'm not saying ours have been i think you guys
have done for the last few decades have done an excellent job of making sure that
we are solid in that sense but um i would like to just make sure that we have a hearing well
in advance and that when that time comes you can present to the alderman the rfi and not tell us
who you're picking obviously but just be open and transparent about where we're going to be
for the 10 years that you'll be buying into those new systems um with that i i submitted a letter to
you uh from our 32nd ward committeeman uh through um i'll send it through the chair to you but the
issues are in essence the same as what we all experienced here on election day and we're hopeful
that we don't have to repeat those but i appreciate the work that everyone has done in your office for
many years um they've been great to work with i think um do every
do everything you can to
prevent any kind of slip-ups
in the future, and everyone will be back
to square one.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you.
Again, I'm sorry,
Alderman Fuentes, we're going to close
with you.
Thank you, Chairman, and thank you all for
being here.
I think what you're hearing is frustration, right?
Tuesday was extremely frustrating,
particularly for those of us who
bear the responsibility of making sure we have uh seamless fair and easygoing election days
i have a couple questions hopefully not repeating any of the ones that have been currently asked
what is the training like for investigators and i want to contextualize why i'm asking the question
i have you know several i have 32 precincts in my ward which is a lot i didn't create that map
but we have a lot of polling locations and we have had several election coordinators place
blue cones three to five hundred feet away from the polling location. My precinct captains,
myself, we go out, we correct, we place blue cones where they should be. I even bought several of
those rolling tape measures to make it easy for everybody. I argued with an investigator for
almost two hours about what 100 feet was so can you walk us through what the uh training looks
like i even pulled out the election day manual and the investigator asked what was that okay so
i do not train but clinton heard who was over pre-election voting logistics he actually does
a training for the investigator so he could definitely walk you through so um clinton heard
manager of pre-election voting and logistics.
Investigators, they come from law enforcement.
So they come from backgrounds, CPD, Cook County Sheriff's, Illinois State Police, and other agencies, including some that are, for instance, DOJ, not DOJ, it doesn't matter.
But to that end, what should happen and what does happen is they are directed on specific issues that face a polling place and their routes and what they need to do at each polling place.
In the morning, they're instructed to go to every location, introduce themselves to the judges, check in with the judges, and let them know that they're there in the event that they need them, and they rotate throughout the day, going back to those same polling places.
As far as the cones, they are instructed 100 feet, so it's kind of curious to me that they would not know that because that's one of the things, the electioneering zone is one of the things we hammer home hard about, especially with this election regarding potential interference and what can be done in and outside of that line.
but i'd have to we do have new investigators that come in and they might misinterpret some
things i would never see a cone be 500 feet away from a polling place that is ridiculous but yeah
you you got to come visit the 26th ward i'm telling you they're putting these cones on each
side of the building that you know are they trained um to understand they should follow
the rules in the election day manual the physical book they are but they receive instructions
as well from our election central where we have two supervisors
where we have two supervisors there who are CPT lieutenants or above,
sergeants or above, that give them direction too.
And they've been doing this for, I guess, over 20 years,
those particular officers.
If there was something in regards to that that took place,
and I know it's difficult sometimes to get through Election Central,
you can call myself directly and we would have addressed that
immediately but in the future if if not me directly uh everybody talks to brandon um he
can you can get directly in touch with me because he's right outside my office but we have that i
i apologize for that and i cannot figure out why that would happen but it'll be something else we
address at our next meeting when we talk when we speak to the uh investigators it is being
One of the things we're doing is how we can improve our two investigator supervisors are actually asking the 50 ward supervisors what it is that we can do better.
What do they think that we can do better?
So we are trying to compile a list, and we're going to add that to the list because I've never heard of that happening before.
Yeah, thank you.
And, you know, I want to add that I acknowledge this work is difficult, right?
But safekeeping an election is not easy.
So, you know, I do want to acknowledge three individuals that are very helpful to us.
That is Paulina, Enrique, and Brandon, who are always answering my phone calls.
So thank you all so much.
Chairman, if you would allow, could I just ask one more question and I'll be done?
Chairman.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
You know, I do want to elevate the comment around training for our judges.
Look, I've been working elections for more than 15 years as a precinct captain, as someone who's been on campaigns.
precinct captain, as someone who's been on campaigns, this election was probably the most
difficult with judges not having the proper training, coordinators not having the proper
training. And we had, in the 26th Ward, particularly a hard time getting judges to come back because of
the payment nightmare that was the last cycle. What is the payment process for our judges?
how do we ensure that every judge that applies has direct deposit and what is it that we can do
at the hyper local level because there are dozens of judges that i just could not get to come back
because in the last cycle several of them were not paid for four to six months after working
election day kimberly's our finance manager she is the one who actually works on the
judges payroll including paulina but finance has a different process for payment my name is
kimberly curio walker i'm the finance manager for the board of elections there are three
individuals in the finance office handling election payments vendor payments contractor
payments all payments period uh over 10 000 individuals we once an election coordinator
election judge or individual works in election they coordinate with our judges department
who proves that they have actually worked attended training or whatnot at that point that
information is pulled from our payment system from our voter registration system for me to
upload into a payment system and my team it does take us six to eight weeks at this time
because there's such a small group handling such a massive amount of people as far as getting them
paid we must have a w-4 completed correctly from
a w-4 completed correctly from everyone full name address social signature a lot of individuals we
reach out to if they have not completed a w-4 we are unable to place them into our payment system
and pay them so we at this time after the election we're still reaching out to people and begging
them to call us back or they won't call us until they realize they have not received their payment
so we do you know make a lot of phone calls emails everything reaching out for people to
turn in all personnel paperwork so that we can process their payment at this time we do not
have direct deposit as an option we only do paper checks so that is something we are
discussing but not looking to implement until after our next municipal election where we'll
have more time to ensure that that payment system is set up properly to handle direct
deposits for individuals. Is no direct deposit new in this cycle? Because folks who didn't get
paid for four to six months in my ward were told that if they had signed up for direct deposit last
cycle they would have been paid faster that sounds like early voting our early voting officials do
have direct deposit option i don't process the early voting individual payroll um so i'm not
familiar with that process so i'm again i'm not going to implement we're not going to implement
anything for the remaining uh election workers poll workers until we're 100 sure on my side that
i can process it properly and not delay payments any further than people are already waiting
is the completion of the w-4 is a part of the training process that is requested uh before
That is requested before training.
That is requested during training.
Any time we have, we accept them online.
We have a drive that people can upload them to.
They can mail them to us at any time,
before or after training or during training.
Okay, thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Alderman Fuentes.
Alderman Gutierrez.
Thank you, Chairman.
Y gracias, Chair Hernandez, for all your work and your team.
I know it's been a busy season, and I know you all are getting ready for the municipal election.
I just want to thank you and your staff because I know it was a big one.
And, yeah, it was a big one in all levels, and particularly in the 14th Ward.
Yes, there was a lot of people lined up, but let me tell you,
I was happy to see all of those youth, seniors, and everybody, and also want to commend the judges, because they were coming out and seeing if there was any senior, any people with disabilities.
They were coming out to get them to come inside and vote before anybody else.
So, yes, we need to learn, right, things that happened during this election time, but it wasn't presented, right?
There was people that were coming to vote for the first time.
They've been citizens for many, many years, and they never voted before.
And they were excited, and they really felt that it was needed and important, like we've always said,
not only because of our voice, but because, especially in our communities,
how blessed the ones that we are citizens to vote for all of those that are not able to do so.
So I think that was a great message that it was conveyed in our 14th ward.
And I know throughout the city, throughout the 77 communities, people were excited to come out.
And it's up on us also to let our constituents know to come out and vote.
to let our constituents know to come out and vote early if they can, right? Because sometimes
there's, let me tell you something real quick. In Mexico, right, there's one day for election.
That's it. If you don't go and vote that Sunday in July, you don't vote. But here we have two weeks.
You can also mail your ballot. You can, you know, you can come in on election day. You're busy. You
go to work. You go to school. You're busy. But we need to make time for these that is so important.
And if with all these good things that we have, you still cannot go out and vote early.
Yes, you're going to come in the day of the election and, you know, there's line.
But this year it was a lot of line, which I know it was people were upset.
It was inconvenient. But I know you are going to put into work to make some changes.
I'm going to say as well as my colleagues. Yes, some more training is needed to our judges.
I also love to see many young judges working Election Day.
And I know some of them, it was the first time they've never worked before because they were just in school.
So it was a first timer for everybody, right?
Working, voting, and also seeing all these people come out and vote.
So it was an exciting, for us, the Democrats, yes, it was an excitement.
It was an exciting day.
And I know you guys and we all are going to be ready because also I'm not the committed woman.
but I also work together with the committee man in my area and we're going to continue to rally
up those people and I know they're going to come in and it's going to be better because I know
under your leadership I know you're going to take upon all of these and we are going to have a great
municipal election so thank you all for your work and thank you chairman. Thank you Alderman Gutierrez
alderman manohopenworth thank you chair hi director hello i don't know where you are but hello she's
along. Okay. Thank you.
okay thank you on election day on november 3rd we received 50 paper ballots and one machine at
gaudy elementary that's precinct 21 in ward 48 by 6 30 a.m the judges ran out of ballots and we
requested more at 10 a.m i was at gaudy and i was making calls to you and the board of elections
where I was informed that this was the first time they were hearing about it despite the
election judges making numerous calls and VOA investigators being on site. By 1 30 p.m. seven
hours after the request for more ballots was made they arrived. That's seven hours where
neighbors waited in lines for more than two hours long to cast their ballots on one voting machine.
By 5pm the paper ballots ran out again and sending folks to an early voting site miles
away was not a solution for many of our older adults or folks with disabilities.
Many left upset and presumably they did not vote that day.
This is of course unacceptable.
It's not the only place that it happened in Chicago.
It's unacceptable to voters in the precinct that happened in the in the 48th Ward, and especially to those candidates down ballot whose races were impacted.
Starting with 50 paper ballots on election day is wholly insufficient and waiting 7 hours for the matter to be resolved is unacceptable.
and you said you had yes I'm sorry let me let me let me say this um we we have um heard the
issue there were several precincts in the city that uh through some uh technical glitch did
not receive the proper allocation of ballots among split precincts
This is something that we've experienced
throughout the city.
The director has asked and answered this
on a couple of occasions.
And we're all aware of this particular situation
throughout the city, not just your ward,
but several wards throughout the city.
So I'm gonna ask that we move on from this
because this has definitely been asked and answered
a couple of times already, ma'am.
Okay. Thank you, Chair. My second inquiry is about early voting places and regular voting places. What is the difference between them? Are there, it seems to me that the early voting polling places were very well resourced.
they had they have regular judges that come back all the time whereas our other polling places do
not is there a whole different operation between the early voting places and other polling places
in terms of recruitment of judges and retainment of judges yes it's a completely different process
election judges of election at the precinct level are approved by across the street they're approved
by the circuit court election officials are hired internally by our pre-election voting
logistics staff or the manager and the staff two different types of election officials okay is
they're I'm really impressed with the polling places that retain their their judges I was an
election coordinator in the 10th precinct in the 48th Ward and I know that it makes a difference
when people know each other people come back I mean they understand how the the books work who
to call when technical difficulties arise and so in the in the 48th ward we had 17
48th Ward, we had 17 less election judges than needed three weeks from election day and in the previous questions, especially from Alderwoman Alder Fuentes was talking about with payments, that might be one issue.
but can you think of other ways that we can help retain those judges that that would be really
so of course a more pleasant place for people to work it is a very long day people are there from
four or five o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock at night and it makes a big difference
when you get along and people know what to do and who to call one thing that would be really helpful
for us as alder people and as committee people is understanding the difference between the early
voting places and regular or non-early voting places and who to call in terms of when to when
we need help and I know that there are two different numbers that's not that wasn't really
clear to me or my staff at some point so I want to thank you director for being available on
election day and i also want to thank paulina mislewick and brandon pickens also for their
help on election day i hope that we can have better processes to recruit our judges and to
keep them coming back because i know that maybe perhaps half of them come back would love to
retain more of them and have them have a great experience and want them to come back and tell
all their friends to also join them.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Alderman Manahoppin-Werfury.
Definitely appreciate those comments.
No, no, no.
All right, with that,
okay, so, Director, we need,
We need the improvement.
We've got elections.
I mean, this is how we exist, right?
So we're extremely sensitive to the work that your office does.
We know we've had, you know, changes.
It's always a challenge.
We know that Lance had been there for 50 years, and then Holiday was there for a few years.
So we got used to a certain cadence.
and I think that
I'm not necessarily saying that
what you guys are implementing is incorrect
we just need to be brought along
so we understand what you all are doing
understand the changes that are being made
and understand how they're going to improve the elections process
so again I know this
you've only been in for about a year now
and again this is
our bread and butter not only as
alderman but also as committeemen from a
political perspective and we just really just want to understand
what you all are doing make sure that we're
communicate it to and make sure that that information is getting out to the necessary
individuals. Let's make sure that we do that survey around our judges pay to make sure that
they, that it is competitive so that we can retain and recruit individuals in that particular
position. So as you all move forward, I know that Alderman Walgespett has had a request. I'm sure
they'll process that through the appropriate channels so that we're understanding your
the processes as it relates to this new RFI
that you're doing for election equipment
coming up after the 28th election.
So with that, the committee will stand at ease
as we bring in our next department
and the Board of Elects, you all are excused.
Good afternoon. We are back with the Department of Human Resources,
represented by Commissioner Hinton. We'll have a brief presentation from Council Office of
Financial Analysis, after which I'm going to take a motion to waive the reading of the opening
statement. All right. Thank you, Alderman. Riley, all in favor, signify by saying aye. All right.
After which, you introduce your staff, and then we'll go into questions. HR is Rodriguez. He's
not here. Who's his vice chair? Gutierrez?
She's not here either. We'll start with
whoever wants to start first.
Okay? Director?
Chairman Irvin, Vice Chairman Lee,
members of City Council and guests.
My name is Janice Oda Gray, CAO
of COFA. For the sake of time,
I'm going to give an abbreviated overview
of the proposed FY27 budget
for the Department of Human Resources.
FY27,
the Department of Human Resources, is proposing
a budget of approximately
$13.79 million.
an increase of $830,000, or 6.4%, over the FY26 revised appropriation.
Personnel expenditures total approximately $13.11 million, representing an increase of $850,000.
Non-personnel expenditures are approximately $680,000, reflecting a decrease of approximately $20,000.
From a funding perspective, approximately 80.56% of the department's budget is supported by the corporate fund.
The department maintains 119 full-time equivalent positions unchanged from FY26.
FY 26, with a reported vacancy rate of 10.08% as of October 21st. That concludes my brief
overview. Thank you, Director. I'm going to open a quick question. Can you talk about your time
to hire? I know that we talk about what is perceived to be the slowness in the process
of hiring. Can you talk about how that process has improved from last year to this year? And
secondly, what are the steps you all implemented to further reduce that time? Yes, thank you for
that question, Alderman Chairman. So, as I'm coming in and doing my assessment of the department as a
whole, I know that there have been numbers that have been given out over several years, and I
believe last year's number was at 92, but one of the goals that I have here in this role is to make
sure that i'm communicating clearly uh to the council body uh so one of the things that i've
identified is that uh the high the time to hire actually depends on the type of position so where
we can uh throw numbers out my goal is to make sure that that communication is clear to the team
so if you're looking at a union position that time to hire may be a little bit different
because there are additional steps where the union partners are involved with reviewing that hire.
If you're looking at a senior management position, that timeline may be a little bit different
because that advertisement may not be as long as a senior position.
And then if you're looking at a Shackman-exempt position, that's a different process within itself as well.
So, again, there are different types of titles and different timelines, but as I'm taking on this role, what I'm doing is actually reviewing process.
is actually reviewing processes and procedures
and also looking at systems that are needed
to make sure that we're able to capture true information.
Thank you for that.
Questions?
Audemann Moore.
Thank you, Chairman.
I, unfortunately, due to having to go to the hospital,
I wasn't here for your confirmation.
And I just want to say, you know,
you're definitely deserving of this position um one of the things you just said as you were
talking is that things that you um are assessing could you talk about some of the things that you
are looking at and how you plan on improving hr as a whole morale and everything like that
yes thank you alderman for that question so one of the first things that i did coming in the door
was actually set up a listening tour
with every alder person
that's a part of city council.
I believe that it's very important
to get feedback from the team at large
as well as my internal department.
So I'm about a quarter of the way in.
I'm listening to every staff member
from the frontline positions
all the way up to the first deputy
to figure out what the concerns are.
And so I'm doing the same thing with this body.
So I've met or communicated on some level
with at least 38, 39 of you all,
and I have other meetings that are scheduled
in the weeks to come.
I've appreciated the feedback and the input
that I've received from you all,
and I've actually implemented a couple of immediate things.
And so one of the things that our team
one of the things that our team is working on right now is actually updating our webpage.
I understand the concerns and the frustrations of something as simple as one of your constituents
may call and need an update on an application or the status of an interview.
And so one of the things that my team is doing is we're working with DTI to update our website.
And right now, though, we're governed by various policies and procedures.
That's another component that we're looking at on updating various policies and procedures.
But what I'm looking at, what can we do right now?
Because it's not good enough to say that this is the way that we've done things and we can't provide answers or feedback because of this, that, or the other.
So I'm looking at immediate things that we can do.
So with the website, what we're doing is we're now coming up with a number, a customer service number that you all as alders should be able to give to your constituents.
They can call this number and get a customer service friendly person on the other side and provide that update on whatever status it is that they're looking for.
So, again, the next thing that I'm looking at is also policy updates, procedures, municipal codes.
A lot of things that I'm realizing, even from being on the other side, on the user department side, there's a lack of information.
and that causes frustration as well.
And so one of the things that I want to do
is look at the policies.
A lot of things that we're doing,
it's governed by things that could have been
25, 30 years ago.
And so we're coming up with ways to look at that.
And I've talked to some of you all
about some of those things
and we'll be looking for feedback from this body as well.
I know that there are concerns
with many policies that are out there.
But another component that I'm looking at doing
is just rebranding the Department of Human Resources overall.
I know that there is, again, concerned about.
There is, again, concerned about customer service.
Our employees are customer service.
The community at large are customers.
And it's my job to make sure that we begin to communicate that clearly to all stakeholders at large.
And so I've heard some of the concerns that you all have shared from the returning citizens.
We got some good things that are coming up actually within the next couple of weeks.
It may be small things, but it's small steps that we're looking to take to get to that bigger picture.
Well, it sounds like you hit the ground running.
I definitely look forward to working with you in any way.
I can be supportive of my office.
Don't hesitate to reach out.
And I look forward to you succeeding in this position.
Thank you, Audren.
I appreciate it.
All right.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you, Audren.
More Audren Riley.
Thank you, Chairman.
Good afternoon, Commissioner.
Good afternoon.
So vacancies and police fire and 911 are driving overtime costs for the city, as you know.
Police overtime alone hit $224 million through September.
How long does it take to hire for those public safety jobs on average?
Yes.
So with the police department, our process is to do the intake for applications, and
then we turn over that list to the police department. So we're here to work closely
with the department, but the additional steps are actually managed by the police department.
So yes, OPSA. On average, how long does it take your office to process your piece of that equation
versus the back end? Yes, that's a good question. Let me
Let's see.
um so it depends on whether it's entry level or if it's a promotional test so if it's an entry
level position it can be quicker um because basically what we'll do is it's it's generally
an off-the-shelf test that we will be using um when it is a promotional um exam there's generally
two components of the test there's like a part one and a part two um so the process for that
can take a couple of months only because we have to administer the first part um wait for it goes
out to a third party vendor who handles our scoring and then it comes back to us and then
we have the second part of the process then after that we go through adding the components that
make up their actual test score so it's 30 seniority 30 test score and i'm going to blank
on the third 30 jill jill bank director of assessment and selection methods so what katie
he's referring to specifically is for fire promotional testing and scoring for fire
promotional press testing is a 35% the written exam, 35% the, the part two assessment and 30%
seniority. Okay. And then I guess, so I understand it's a little bit more complex and, and time
consuming for promotions, but say for a new hire on average, how long is it taking you all to,
to complete your portion of that task so in 2022 we gave the test in december and um because we had
to do a makeup test um i believe we had the results in may of 2023 um and when we had the
results then we gave the first tranche the first list over to the psa um they worked through that
list we then gave the second list and i think by the time we got to the fourth list we actually
We actually ended up giving them the entire list, but just broken out into groupings.
I believe it was 250 and then 500 for those extra groupings.
So we are still working through the list from the December 2022 test.
Candidates who took that test, we still have about 900 people on that.
500 have been contacted and are somewhere in the process with OPSA, but 400 have not
even been contacted yet.
so it can take you know someone can be on the list still for a few years from when we actually
took the test but within these years since we had the test the first group of individuals who took
the December 2022 test were hired into the May of 2024 class. So two years. It took two years
because we still had individuals who were coming off of the 2014 test who were going through our
process. Wow. Okay. That's disheartening. Ernst & Young identified between $41.6 million and
$52.2 million in potential savings from employee benefit contributions.
Ernst & Young's own update says those savings have not been advanced.
Do you have anything to say about that? Again, this is the outside consulting firm that
the administration has spent many millions of dollars on. So could you react to their
observation, please? Thank you for that question, Alderman. So actually, my very first day,
today is my 54th day, and my first day in, I actually had a meeting with EY. It's been
interesting taking a look at their recommendations. I've been doing that on a regular basis. I've
you know looked at the things that that are recommended for the Department of
Human Resources benefits not necessarily being one of them but I am working
closely with my fellow partners and fellow commissioners in the Department
my fellow partners and fellow commissioners in the department of finance to be there in whatever way
necessary when it comes to benefits but i guess the question is have you implemented any of the
recommendations that ernst and young has made to help us capture some of the savings they they
outlined as as realistic for us again thank you for that question so uh i'm i'm assessing and
reassessing. I have not been able to identify evidence of any HR related recommendations that
have been implemented, but again, I'm in the process of assessing. Keep in mind, benefits is
under finance and not HR. Understood. All right, I'll move on. You know what? In the interest of
time, I'm fine, Chairman. I cede my time. Any others? Oh, sorry, automobile. And then
And I'll follow up on Nugent.
Okay, got you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Commissioner.
Good afternoon.
I guess I'm one of the 39 that you haven't met with yet, huh?
No, no, I've met with 39.
39, okay.
Well, I guess I'm part of the habit.
The 11.
So hopefully we can get together soon.
Thank you.
Okay.
Just a couple of questions.
Has the city of Chicago had a hiring freeze over the last year?
um thank you for that question alderman i wouldn't call it a hiring freeze because one
of the things that i've done since i've been here is actually work with my fellow commissioners on
uh vital urgent positions so uh it may have been a slowdown depending on whatever uh you know
concerns budget-wise may have been there but there has not been a hiring freeze under my
administration okay and so well you you just got here so in this role um so um but under
basically the last year you have no knowledge of a higher
The last year, you have no knowledge of a hiring freeze?
Does hiring slow down?
Eddie, do you have anything to say?
So there was a freeze on certain positions
that were not revenue generating,
connected to public safety.
So there was a freeze on certain positions
given out by the budget office in 2025.
And that same scrutiny is still being given
of all of the vacancies that come through that are not okay so over the last over the last year
how many uh people have been hired period this total and not i don't want to talk about police
and fire public safety just you know outside of public safety okay thank you for that question
alderman so hires uh 3 418 in 2026 through october of this year and these are non
um you know public safety personnel right this is just overall hires
it includes public safety i don't can we okay take out public safety okay um
okay can i get that information back to you oh commissioner that's a number that we should have
But I don't want to put down your time either.
We'll get that information.
Okay.
So, but as of now, you said the total that you have with public safety is how many?
The total with public safety, 3,418.
Okay.
And so if we look at public safety, we probably have two classes a month coming through the academy
to the tune of probably maybe 100, 150.
Maybe 100, 150, so we can probably deduct that from that number, that 3418,
to give us a roundabout number of people that have been hired.
So basically, when we're looking at, let's just say 2,000 employees,
knowing that we had a budget crunch, why are we filling over 2,000 positions?
If we supposedly have a hiring freeze.
You said, why are we feeling?
Okay.
Well, thank you for that question, Alderman.
So we still need to make sure that vital services are done throughout the city of Chicago.
We need to make sure that garbage is picked up.
We need to make sure that services are provided to our residents.
So, yeah, we don't want there to be a lack of services for our residents of the city of Chicago.
Let's narrow it down.
How many people have been hired in the mayor's office and also IGA over the past year, year and a half?
Okay, we're pulling that information up for you.
While you're looking for that, before you became the commissioner of HR, what was your prior?
First deputy of procurement.
First deputy of procurement, okay.
And how long were you in that role?
um as the first deputy for a couple of years all right well i mean do you all have it or you want
to we do it through the chair through the chair that's what i figured i'll take it through the
chair that's all i have mr chairman thank you thank you thank you thank you alderman uh alderman
nugent yeah nugent sorry did i say you might have i'm having some hearing issues i apologize
uh thank you chair and uh thank you guys for being here just like i wanted to piggyback off
of Alderman Riley's questioning, when did you say you met with EY? My first day on the job
in this position, it was September 16th, I believe. Okay. So what were the takeaways from
that meeting on efficiencies for your department? So at that time, it's my understanding that we
were in phase two of their agreement and we said something we were in phase two of their agreement
and um for whatever reason i guess due to administration change um there were there
was like a five month um postponement in in communication what what administration changed
With the previous commissioner. So I'm not sure if what additional implementations actually took
place, if any, during that time of five months. And do you have any implementations you're
currently working on through the EY report? Not at this time, no. So what we're doing is,
so here's the thing. Again, my goal is to make sure that I'm communicating clearly with you all
and giving realistic steps in this process.
So looking at some of the recommendations,
it was stated that we would have a centralization
centralization that start to take place during the month of October with three departments as
a pilot program. But what wasn't taken into consideration is that in order for that to take
place, we have to actually communicate with our labor partners. So there are steps and again,
policies and procedures and things that governs HR that was not taken into consideration when
we're looking at centralization. So now what I'm doing is taking a step back, looking at policies,
procedures, union, communication. So it's certain things that we can't just do it.
We would, you know, love to. I think that would be great if we can centralize. But the reality is
there are various steps that we're not taking into consideration. I guess my frustration is
that we received this EY report in late summer of 2026, and we had to fight to get that report
into the light to hear about it. And I guess I'm just wondering why the human resource department
is not moving on that. We're a year later and our budget is a disaster. And I recognize that
you might not deal with the benefits component of it, but they've identified 41 to $52 million
dollars in potential savings in that, um, is there an urgency coming out of HR on this? And
when, when will we expect to, to sort of hear the next steps or what these savings might look like?
Yes. Thank you for that, that question, the follow-up question. So again, with, with the EY,
recommendations. As I look at this, I look at it as my home. So I can have someone come in and tell
me that I need new windows. This would help to decrease the cost of my heat. But still nobody's
telling me how I'm going to pay for it. I've paid this company to come in and give me what they
me what they believe would be a good recommendation to make sure that my heating is taken care of,
but nobody's talking about where the money is coming from. We need resources in order to pull
off. I guess I was under the impression that the city spent $3 million on an EY report and then
north of $6 million to tell you guys to effectuate that report. So are you saying that the advice
that you're getting isn't good or like what's the hang up? So, so what I'm saying is that I'm still
in the process of assessing because it's a lot of layers to this. Um, and again, I, I, I want to be
the one to communicate clearly to you all so that your expectations are met in, in real life. Um,
right now. Yeah. So, so yeah, we, we, there's a lot of layers to, uh, that EY report and I would,
um would welcome us uh sitting down uh going through some of the the the concerns that i may
have uh with that uh with i i think i just would welcome efficiencies and in moving on that like i
i think i get very frustrated in these hearings because i don't feel like folks are coming to us
with the sense of urgency that i think taxpayers deserve um absolutely and that's where i i'm
frustrated i i recognize you've been on the job 51 days but if you met with ey on day one and we
still got nothing i'm a little concerned particularly since we've had that report
for 14 months now um i just we owe taxpayers this urgency and i i have concerns thank you chair
thank you uh alderman the uh alderman mitts thank you mr chairman um commissioner maybe you
could help me out on many years I've been seeing when there are bits that comes out from the city.
comes out from the city that they have a list that they'll post that is bid is
open I find it to be confusing or at least confuse residents who want to
apply with the city but are not working with the city see that being a problem
because I think bidders are folks that usually are working
in some capacity, they get the first bid.
So if somebody could explain that to me
and then tell me if there's something we could do to clarify that
and make it more transparent so where it's understood,
the public versus employees who are already working with the city.
Thank you, Alderwoman, for that question.
so yes so uh current city union employees should be able to bid on the positions uh first so that's a
um a selection first there there so when people apply both the union workers as well as the non-union
workers will apply but the non-union titles are actually submitted to the departments first for
consideration. If an individual, if a candidate is selected from that list, then the person
is selected and the department moves forward with the selected candidate. If for whatever
reason no candidate was selected from that bid list, then the department is able to go
to the non-bid list.
now how often does the department go to a non-bidder or a physician somebody answer that
question katie doyle first deputy department of human resources so it does happen um and we we
actually have worked with our recruiters to make sure that when we are posting um we are considering
what the likelihood is that we would actually get to the external list our external lists
we would actually get to the external list our external lists are good for a period of now up
to 24 months so um it is beneficial to be able to have that list to go back to if for some reason
the bidder who does even take the job maybe they move on go back to their old job that we can just
kind of pick up where we left on that list to continue on going through it but when we do have
positions where we know we're not going to go out to the external we do post it that it's a bid only
job one of the hindrances that we have right now is the fact that we don't have a system in place
that we can have individuals go through a like an intranet portal to apply for jobs so that's one
of the reasons that we post them all on our external site that anyone can see because we
don't have a way to have individuals have to go in with like a login a username and a password
to be able to get to bid-only jobs.
So that is something that we are working with DTI.
We definitely expected it in our ERP,
but we're not going to try to wait for just ERP solutions.
So that way we can make it more clear to somebody that you cannot.
All I'm saying is that it needs to be more clarified
and not have a person expectation where it may be very low.
And they don't know that just by applying because it's there.
Let me get on to some questions here.
The Employees' Wellness and Support Program that the department launched,
the Assistant and Wellness Program with mental health emphasis.
How many employers used it in 2026?
And what do you think the outcome shows?
I'm sorry, Alder Wantman, can you...
Our Employees' Wellness and Support Program.
It's in your overview book on page 89.
Okay, and what's your question?
How many employers used it in 2026?
How many? Okay, let me see.
And what do the outcome show?
The GOP, right? The Employee Assistance Program?
Yes.
Okay.
The Employee Assistance Program usage for 2026.
Thank you for that question. So, new clients, we had a total between January of this year and September, we had a total of 150, a total of 490 sessions, a total of 129 cases opened.
as of September, there were still 150 ongoing cases, 157 ongoing cases, a total of 30 calls
for information, and we had a total of 12 city events, and we had on-site crisis support for
three. Just to clarify, our EAP, this is Katie Doyle, First Deputy, our EAP does not cover police
for fire they have each have their own set of clinicians and also our AFSCME members have a
program called PSRP so while they can use our resources and one of the things that we're doing
is doing a large wellness component where we are going out into the field and we're hosting some
different events to promote the employee wellness programs that we have going on but the actual
counseling hours it's for a smaller subset of employees so you go out into the community and
do or our when I say out into the community I mean into our employee community oh okay
only for employees yeah okay and their family members
Okay, and the family members.
How many retirements are you projecting for 2027?
And how many of those positions are budgeted to be refilled?
And while you're looking for that one,
a reasonable accommodation and a VAST program
shows about older workers' requests.
Wes, can you give me information on that program, the VES?
Which program are you referring to?
That's B-E-S-S-A.
It's an agent, it's under agent, so I guess it would be found in that book on page 89 and 90,
in the overview book.
And it was the questions around the older workers and the volume and the outcome, you know,
as they're leading into it.
So you're looking for the item on the older workers
and then the one on accommodations?
Retirement.
I'm sorry, ADA accommodations, retirement projections,
and the older workers case management.
Clear?
So you're asking for the number of employees with reasonable accommodations?
You can get the information to me through the chair.
Reasonable accommodations, the retirement projections,
and then the older workers as well.
Absolutely.
Okay, we'll get that to you through the chair.
Okay.
Is there a hiring plan change that was made with Inspector Jones?
Is there any results to that change?
yes let let uh katie doyle is going to answer this hi katie doyle first deputy um we did make
uh changes to our employment plan we actually are on um an annual renewal or an annual review basis
now so we are making changes to the employment plan every august um and what one of the things
that we're trying to do is look for places that we can be more efficient um while we obviously
want to keep the integrity of the hiring process at its you know highest level um we do definitely
want to take out some of the pieces that are um that are in the process that are slowing things
down and and really not adding value um to ensuring that there is no um undue influence
going into the hiring process so we did just make some recent changes so some of those changes
included um we have extended the length that a referral list can be used um so a referral list
previously was available to be used for 12 months and then had to go through a
process with the Commissioner of Human Resources to renew to use it for an
additional 12 months we've removed that renewal process and it can be used for
up to 24 months however it doesn't mean you have a department has to use it for
24 months it is completely up to a department if they have a list and it's
nine months old and they choose not to want to continue using that list we can
repost but it's there if they want to use it and we see that a lot with like
want to use it and we see that a lot with like trades positions where the position is um you
know maybe a plumber and we know that the individuals who are still on that list would
definitely be very interested in taking a job with the city um we don't see departments utilizing it
as much when it's like an you know maybe an administrative type position or um you know
like an attorney or something um because a lot of times you'll see that people have already moved on
to other jobs so the department will choose to repost it.
Let me ask a question, another question,
because you've been using my time up.
On the first floor, what happened to the personnel office
that usually used to be downstairs?
Did it move, and if so, where to?
Thank you for that question, Alderwoman.
So are you referring to the cafe that was coming,
or you're talking about the personnel office
that used to be there many years ago.
Yeah, right, when they used to be there.
Yes, so...
You're not there, right?
Right, we're not there today,
but we do have plans to do some things
in the coming up weeks.
So we're definitely looking at bringing some resources
back to the first floor.
So where are you at now?
We were relocated back to the 11th floor
for our two major components that happened in the room 100,
which was the fingerprints and the photo IDs.
So we are up on the 11th floor.
We had to reconfigure a conference room to take care of that space.
But as the commissioner has mentioned,
we are in plans with DFSS and the mayor's office
to bring back space on the first floor.
I'm glad to hear you saying you're bringing it back
because my face really frowns
If we're going to be representing the city of Chicago and don't have a personnel office
where people can be accessible to the public, I would think something was wrong with us.
So thank you for telling me this is short-term, and eventually you'll move back.
Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Chairman Mitts.
Alderman Villegas is not here.
Any other, anybody else for DHR?
Okay.
I'm sorry.
Vice Chair Lee?
Conway, too.
Conway?
He didn't.
Oh.
Go ahead, Alderman Conway.
Okay.
um i was looking back at a at a inspector general report from 2025 and it said that we essentially
were not uh doing enough to protect the data regarding the mental health needs of some of
our employees and then when there was a follow-up report in 2026 uh it said that many of the
recommendations were still not corrective actions had still not been implemented so my question is
have these policies and procedures now been completed and if not sort of what safeguards
are in place to protect employees confidential mental health records and and who's sort of
responsible for ensuring compliance and uh and monitoring the outstanding recommendations
lady doyle dean uh first deputy and yes we thank you alderman conway um we have been working with
dti to um create better uh systems so that we can save the um individual's mental health records
um electronically they previously were held in um a file cabinet which was not the most
ideal situation so we have been working with DTI in order to secure those files and make sure that
we are HIPAA compliant and that any we've been looking also for a system a case management
system that we could utilize but we have run into some issues with some of the HIPAA compliance that
we needed to produce to be able to get some of those so we are working through that with DTI
be able to get some of those so we are working through that with dti and the law department
now so i i noticed this i mean this last report just came out like september early september uh
if they follow up again next september will this will this uh issue be resolved yes okay great
that's that's all i have mr chairman thank you uh miss doyle for answering my questions thank you
on mcconway vice early thank you chairman hello commissioner how are you hello um can you walk
me through what the process is for hiring if i'm a department and i've got you know positions i
want to fill so we've heard we've heard people um sit at the dais and say oh it's got a clear
obm first and they've got a it's it's a process that doesn't just involve your department i guess
i would like for us to have a broader picture of what the hiring process is like so start to finish
i know it's probably going to eat up most of my time but i think it's an important point to make
to try to figure out where some of the bottlenecks are
and kind of why those things are happening.
Yes, thank you for that question.
So as I stated earlier, as I'm coming in and reassessing
and assessing processes and procedures and policies
and things of that nature, when it comes to hiring,
there are four different major types of hiring.
So we have the non-union employees.
We have senior management, we have union employees, and we have Shackman-exempt employees.
And so the initial steps to that starts at the department level, and that could be various
steps depending on the department, how small or large or staffing concerns there, who does
what as it pertains to human resource-related functions within a department.
So the department works with the budget office on their hiring plan for the year, I believe.
on their hiring plan for the year I believe at the top of the year a hiring plan is put together
and priorities based on that department's needs are figured out and planned with the department
of the office of budget and management and from there once a department decide on let's just say
a non-union position. There's the process for getting the A-form approved. Once the A-form
is approved, then the form is then submitted to HR. And then we have a process that we work
on in-house. And I'll let Katie talk a little bit more about that.
so and just to be clear the approving party for the a form is budget correct o bm okay
go ahead katie so once the um katie doyle dean uh first deputy once the a form is approved then
uh the department is able to do at the same time they can be doing their what's called the hiring
manager consultation form and so this is a form that we've tried to simplify um and one of the
things that we did is we removed out of the employment plan having to have um what was called
an intake meeting the reason we removed it is so that way it would speed up the hiring process
because there were notifications you had to do to the inspector general's office with four days
advance notice um so they can still have it just fyi sometimes people say we you know why did we
remove that they can still absolutely have it but what we try to do is simplify the form so that way
essentially the hiring manager consultation form or hmc has all the relevant information that we
need to be able to post the position so it's going to have your description of what the job is any
any places that that department knows of that they are interested in having it posted at who
are the hiring manager who is the hiring manager responsible for the position who are the subject
matter experts if they have any assessments or tests that they would like to use kind of anything
that they want to tell us about the position then it goes through routing in our department
the position then it goes through routing in our department while that sounds like it could take
a while it doesn't because it's pretty sight you know it's all happening at the same time but our
testing team will look at it and recommend if there is a test or if there should be a test
our class and comp team will review it just to make sure that the title that they're trying to
use is the appropriate title for the work that they're looking to have done and then our recruitment
team is the final group that gets all of this information and they are the group that is going
to get it posted onto our taleo and then as well onto any other outside sources we have regular
they call scraping of our system so that it goes on to sites like linkedin
we have a an account with it it's called circa now it used to be called chicago diversity so
it has hundreds of different more niche sites that it automatically gets put onto
i'm blanking on um most of the general you know places that you think of our information is
getting scraped and put onto these sites so that way we have a lot of um traction out there so
posting goes up depending on what type of position it is um senior manager has to be posted for a
minimum of seven days regular union and non-union positions have to be posted for a minimum of 14
days shakram exams actually don't even have to be posted although we are seeing a lot more
departments requesting that they are posted so that they can get more interest in the positions
so once the posting is down we then go through the applications and that's when we are overlaying
the different preferences that we have so we have various preferences chicago public schools
graduates chicago police and fire training academy line of duty death veteran cita i think those are
all of them um and so we apply those preferences which is a manual process we create the referral
list and then the referral list is what's given over to the department and they
and then the referral list is what's given over to the department and they select people to
interview then yes right now they are the ones who are doing the calling scheduling interviews
hosting interviews um one of the things that we are talking about is trying to figure out how we
can maybe pilot something where we take that in so that way we know that it is done you know right
now it's a lot of kind of sit back and wait and there's a lot of passing of the baton that we know
is a cause for delays gotcha and then when you were measuring the time that it takes from you
know, to hire people. What's the start and end point for that? So we're doing it from the day
that it's posted until the day that that rec has someone in the seat. The problem we see though is
sometimes we will do what's called a carryover. So it'll get posted in August of this year.
Someone might get hired on it. You know, let's say it's an administrative assistant position in CDPH.
Someone might get hired on that. Then they get another vacancy that comes available.
we will go back to the same list that we had from this posting makes sense yeah and then
the next one will be you know maybe they get hired in 2027 it makes it look like it's longer
when the reality isn't because you don't have the the ability to disaggregate the the two
distinguishing positions um the other thing that it doesn't really take into account and i think
you know just i think we've heard one too many times here like you know it's obm's gotta approve
our staff and the Board of Elections. I was without an assistant for the better part of a year
after she was appointed until OBM would approve a position, yet we've got positions on the book.
So, you know, it's less for you, but you're at the impact of it because you're HR. So it makes
it look like the process is much longer than it actually is. Because to me, you know, the length
of time that it takes to hire somebody is from the time that I know I need to hire somebody and
i fill out that a form that's when the clock should be starting um that's just a point i wanted to
a point i wanted to make there if you do you have any line of sight into like when an a form is
submitted to when you get when it hits your desk i'm assuming there's a date requested on there i'm
just wondering if you track that information there's a report for it um so we one of the
things we're doing is trying to figure out what's the best way for us to display some of this
information and and make it available for people to look at um so i mean we do have that information
um we have not yet quite figured out the best way to attach all of these kind of data points
together to make the uh make the story go all the way through but we're working on it yeah
through the chair if you even if it's just like raw data I I can make a pivot table and other
stuff through the chair if you would share with me one of these reports just pick a department
I don't even care what department it is I just like to to see what kind of data you're you've
got available. I think that hiring for the city is a huge undertaking. And the more streamlined
we can make it, the more efficient we can be. I know we talked about EY efficiencies earlier.
You're going to keep hearing us talk about EY efficiencies because we have to. We have to look
at how we can do our jobs better and faster to save taxpayer dollars. That's all I've got.
Chairman, I'm done. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner.
thank you um vice chair any other questions for our um commissioner for hr okay well uh commissioner
uh there are some uh things as i said we look back at the ey report talks about the um bringing
forth and the consolidation i know you got some stuff to do with that but hopefully over the
course of the next year you all will make some progress on some of those consolidation and
back office operations that hopefully will save the city some resources and also improve the efficiency on the process.
And also improve the efficiency on the process and making that time to hire a lot faster than what it traditionally has been.
So with that, you all are excused and we'll bring our next department in, which is Department of Administrative Hearings.
Thank you.
Good afternoon. We're back with the Department of Administrative Hearings, represented by
Director Jokowiak. We'll have her and introduce her team. We're going to waive the reading of
the opening statement through the time now, take a motion from all.
statement through the time now i'll take a motion from alderman riley on that one
all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed in opinion chairs i was having a way to read
another opening statement so after uh adrian does the uh overview from kofa if you could introduce
your staff and then we'll open with questions from alderman riley adrian good afternoon chairman
urban and members of the city council my name is adrian russell they them i'm a data analyst with
COFA and I'm here to do a very brief overview of the Department of
Administrative Hearings. The proposed budget is 8.5 million dollars which is
up about 1.29% from the prior year. Most of this accounts for non-personnel
costs at 4.86 million dollars while the rest 3.64 million dollars is for
personnel. Department of Administrative Hearings is 100% corporate funded. They
have 39 full-time equivalents budgeted for 2027 which is the same as last year
and as of October 21st of this year they had a vacancy rate of 18.5 percent quickly looking at
the appropriations by category and fund you can see that personnel services and contractual services
had the most notable changes for appropriation category and all of it is corporate funded
over time we see that the appropriations fluctuate slightly for the department of
Administrative Hearings, staying around $8.5 million. And lastly, here's the FTEs over time,
slightly decreasing from 2018 from 42 down to 39, but relatively staying about the same.
This concludes COFA's overview for the Department of Administrative Hearings.
Thank you, Adrian. Audemar Riley.
Thank you, Chairman. And I'll be as quick as possible. I don't want to be the person standing
between this body and the Department of Procurement. I know that there is quite a-
is you uh and and thank you um for being here commissioner i as you know i'm a big fan of yours
As you know, I'm a big fan of yours and ask predictable questions every budget season,
so I'll stay consistent.
Thank you for responding to my memo that I sent out before budget.
Appreciate your responses.
You sent to me a chart, and I'm happy to share this with my colleagues, but you sent a chart
in response to my question about how many cases are being dismissed versus failure to prosecute.
And in observing the data between 2023 and year-to-date 2026, it seems that the trend is
generally that we are non-suiting or failing to prosecute more and more cases as each year goes
by, but it's hard to tell that because I don't know, and if you could through the chair, provide
the total number of tickets and citations that AH is processing, so we have a better sense of
what percentage are actually being non-suited. That was probably my omission, but if you could
through the chair for years 2023, 24, 25, and year 2026 to date, that would help me get a better
sense of the volume and how it stacks up. That said, another metric that I didn't request that
perhaps I should have is that while you've provided two sets of data, one for something
you call DWP, dismissed due to failure to prosecute, and then the other category is MCNS,
non-suited or dismissed do you track how many cases are being settled so hey Joe
Schmo we see you've got five dumpster tickets or $3,000 you know what today's
your lucky day we're gonna we're gonna combine those into one fine pay us 500
bucks and we'll call it even I understand that they are routinely
I understand that they are routinely settlements like that.
How are we tracking that?
We don't track that, Alderman Riley.
That would be done by the law department
or the business affairs and consumer protection
because both of them prosecute cases.
They do.
At administrative hearings.
And that would be prosecutorial discretion,
which would be the motion city non-suit.
If for purpose of settlement,
if like you said, they had five counts on a ticket
and they're going to proceed perhaps maybe on three or four of them so that one counts.
Thank you. I apologize for interrupting.
And since I want to go to those departments and get at that information,
is it the same folks that represent BACP and law before administrative hearings on a regular basis?
Is there, for example, within those departments, a certain group of attorneys
that are kind of there on a regular basis managing these dockets?
That is correct. Other than being transferred maybe to a different division at some point
once they come through our department. But it's the same group for a period of time.
Okay. And to your knowledge, especially say for the law department,
are they using in-house counsel for these proceedings or are they typically farming
that out to an outside firm? In-house counsel for these proceedings. Correct.
Same thing with BACP. Great. So if there's accountability to be had,
would be within the department staff very good great then i will bother them about that
two questions left just so we can move along here the vacancy rate is is a concern
and again i know that percentage looks really big but you have a very lean and mean staff
are any of those vacancies impacting your ability to churn through cases
no we currently have um six and um i'm sorry my staff i just as soon as you're saying that let me
As soon as you're saying that, let me introduce the staff.
This is my deputy, Anthony Rizzo, and this is a new member of our staff.
She's a program specialist, Latonya Ames Bryant.
Someone who's not with this because she just retired after 32 years of faithful service
to the city of Chicago is Welgenia Irving.
So Gina's been here in the past, and she has retired.
So no, we actually, they have been interviewing.
We had six vacancies when we prepared that memo.
We are down to four now because they will be continuing with the hiring process and we will be hiring two positions.
And let me tell you why.
We have a fantastic team at administrative hearings and also our union partners.
What we have done is done a lot of cross training because it's department work.
Say you're standing in a line and at a kiosk, you have our municipal division and our vehicle
hearings division.
It's still department work.
So the union has worked with us.
Our staff has worked with us.
They are fantastic to do the cross training, to learn about each case type.
This way, you don't have to, it's not my job.
It's not my case type.
So we are cross trained and we work together as a team.
That's great to hear.
and again no doubt due to your great leadership um the one last question i have um because
this there's discussion about expanding the smart street enforcement program citywide and
i'm someone who is actually a big fan of that program um but assuming that at some point in
the future whether it's with this buzz a budget passage hopefully someday um or sometime in the
future if we do take that program citywide knowing from what we've learned
from the pilot program there is a an incredible volume of violations being
issued day in and day out when we when we scale that to citywide that's
When we scale that to citywide, that's going to be a tremendous amount of volume for your administrative hearing staff to process and adjudicate.
Would you be requesting additional headcount, I would assume, to help?
No.
The initial part of that, unlike our non-parking cases, is handled by our vendor.
And we're pretty consistent, Deputy, about just 10% of those who receive violations in our hearing division request hearings, is it?
Because the evidence is awfully clear, right?
It's video evidence, it's photo evidence, right?
And they've been pretty consistent in our almost 30-year history coming this January.
So we just have to then just make sure that the people who are coming in and requesting them,
make sure they're into a courtroom, answering their questions and so forth.
But everything else is done by our outside vendor, mailing our decisions if it has to be that way, if it's a default.
Okay. So you're not concerned about volumes?
Not at all. We've put in, budget asked us to do a briefing on that, and we did.
And they added something back in for the administrative law judge.
0-140. That's very good to hear. I'm glad to hear that. Finally, the people that are
managing the hearing, so administrative law judge, whatever you want to call it, hearing officer,
are those city employees or are those contractors? Our administrative law judges are
independent contractors, Alderman. Okay. And are you tracking each of those judges and how many
non-suits they're issuing in their courtroom per year? No, the non-suits are prosecutorial.
Sorry, excuse me, the dismissals.
The dismissals, if we receive an inquiry from the prosecuting department, we would do that.
But through their fine training, which Deputy Rizzo coordinates, they are informed about what the ordinance is.
They know our department's procedures and policies.
We do not go after the not liable unless, of course, we receive an inquiry.
The inquiries will come up usually from a respondent would be that they were found liable.
And so then we listen to the audio.
We look at the ticket.
We listen to the judge's decision just to make sure that they are within the ordinance.
Okay, so you're checking up on them.
We do.
Exactly.
Very good.
Okay, well, then I'll take up my issues with hemorrhaging fine money with law and BACP.
And thank you very much for answering my questions. Mr. Rizzo, I loved your work with the Cubs.
And hopefully we'll get procurement up here soon. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.
All right. Thank you. Audemant Mosley.
Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Commissioner. Just some quick questions.
Sometimes there's a citation to act that we have, for example, when there's a fly dump and we have to get a ticket on it in order to get it up.
And that goes to a resident who had nothing to do with it.
And sometimes we'll give citations where the GPS gets it wrong.
It's the neighbor or someone.
What's your recommendation that our offices can take in those instances?
So for the first, for the fly dumping is anytime they're at their property or checking their property, 311 to make sure that they set that they notify 311 and get the service request,
the SR number to make sure that they have filed that complaint that someone is illegally dumping
on their property. Because when they come in to do a pre-trial with the corporation counsel for
the city of Chicago, they will say, look it, I have this SR number and it shows that I was
complaining about the fly dumping. And the city attorney will take a look at that to, you know,
to confirm and then they'll meet with them and decide what they're going to do and if they want
to proceed on the case then they come and have the case heard before the judge administrative
administrative law judge, and they can present that as their evidence to show. And then our
judge would consider that as evidence presented to refute the city's case, to rebut the city's
case that they made. The second one is that we, there's on the notice of violation they received,
there's an ownership that goes right to the law department that has done the title search.
And that's happened. Sometimes we just sent one over. They served the, they named as the
respond at the person who filed the complaint. We said, but she owns the property next door
and log out on it immediately. And we always make sure the Alderman's office is copied on any
response. And they said that they would go in now and bring the case back and non-suit it because
they know a mistake was made. So email me. We work with the staff. We love them. And we'll
absolutely make sure it gets to the right people. Right. You all are always helpful. I know
So our chief of staff, Carla Glover, thanks both of you.
Then turn my regards, please.
I also want to ask about that fly dump enforcement, though.
Do we need to increase our use of technology or are there other recommendations that we
can do when a truck pulls into an alley, has this debris in their bed, and then leaves
that alley without it?
What can we do to best position ourselves to be able to enforce our codes and ordinance against individuals like that?
When it comes to the enforcement, I would have to defer to my colleague, Commissioner Stollard from Streets and Sand, to see if he, you know, if there's anything that he has.
I know you've been meeting with them, Deputy Rizzo, too, about any programs and so forth with the cameras and so forth.
Is there anything else recently?
no again we would defer the enforcing department as to how they prosecute their cases how they
bring them forward but the more evidence the better what evidence would you need or would
you prefer their recommendation again it'd be it'd be tough to speculate
for their recommendation. Again, it'd be tough to speculate, but any concrete evidence ALJs
consider, it makes it easier for them to make a decision because they do have to, they are the
trier of facts and they have to evaluate what's in front of them. The more that's in front of them
to make a decision, the better decision they can make. Understood. My last question is just around,
we have issues with fraudulent leases and your department has come up as a potential way to
define or make a judgment on if a lease is in fact false. Are there any thoughts on that? How
would that appear before you all? This comes up when enforcement, particularly with our Chicago
Police Department, when, of course, our squatter laws, whether we're talking about the state or
even our municipal code here, there's a concern at times for an unlawful eviction. And even though
we may be able to look at a lease and see that the pin number isn't right or you know the owner
on record isn't right or so forth police just don't seem to feel comfortable making that decision
you all being administrative hearing looking at the facts being able to do some research or so
forth how would that how could that live in this department you know we as deputy said we're the
prior facts. So we would have to also work with the law department on that. Um, and also anytime
we do a new case type, um, we would ask for some training and people from real estate and so forth.
Let me defer to my general counsel here. Is there anything else you want to add? I think it'd be
worth a conversation with law if that's the appropriate type of case to bring to our forum.
Again, we are, we were built to adjudicate municipal code violations. That's what our grant
of authority is under the code and that's what we do so we have to consult with law if that's
something that would be more appropriate here or brought to circuit court thank you so much thank
you chip thank you all the mosley all the minutes thank you mr chairman ottoman mosley
i started speaking a little about um vehicle
vehicle vehicle hearings but i want to talk a little bit about red light
red light cameras that speeding cameras booting and um parking tickets how many were heard in
2026 if you have that number you know i do
bear with what what share of them was dismissed as well uh fines upheld sure
category you know the speed and the red light will be a little bit higher with the liable but
i'm going to give you as of september 30th and that is parking red light speed and the smart
street that we started uh in february of 2025 so this is a combination of all of them
we had adjudicated 112,894 cases the percentage of liable was 40 percent not liable 60 percent
and if you want we can break them down that's all all four categories together
can you please we sure can we can break them down uh by parking yes speed and red light in
smart street we can get them and the boots as well with i didn't get that with i'm sorry someone
said by ward as well by ward i i think that's coming from okay which department can uh control
payment plans and hardship relief for these fines that would be the department of finance
they handle that okay alderman we'll check and see if we can get it by ward uh we'll check with
our our vendor uh who runs those okay now to the vacant property and building how how long does a
vacant property case take from citation to order and what enforcement follow a
And what enforcement file a failed order?
The police department, they do the vacant and abandoned property,
the failure to have the night watchman there.
We have those cases heard at administrative hearings once a month,
on the first Friday of the month.
And we have, more likely than not, on the first time up.
So say they have a case that they filed in July,
we would have a decision if they have the case by September.
And it's only if they want to show that the property was boarded up
because they bring it under the building code to show compliance
that they have it properly boarded up,
then that case then is generally dismissed by the law department.
But CPD brings those cases to administrative hearings.
The water debt e-filing.
The department began accepting the water debt e-filing from the law department.
in April 2026, how many filings and how many
are they processed so far? Do you know?
Two. So we have numbers.
I'm going to give you the ones just from last year for
water indebtedness. Yes. Okay.
They filed 6,736
cases. All right. And then they assessed
$22,646,375. As of, because we went with e-filing now, as of October 31st of 26, 7,111 cases
assessed $32,139,483. Okay. You have that. That was a recruitment team visit.
solo and small law firms in the Latinx and Asian community,
how many candidates applied, and how many were hired?
So I'll give you my current stats.
Okay.
All right.
As of October 24th of 2026, we had 42% were Caucasian,
42 percent african-american and 16 hispanic now if i can add alderman myths since 2010 when i
became the department head i have made 65 appointments 72 percent were minority appointments
african-american hispanic and 18 were non-minority that would be caucasian
so that is a total 72 percent minority 28 percent non-minority all right well thank you very much
um thank you um commissioner for the work that you're doing in the area um
we do at times um may send letters a recommendation or not recommendation i want to say but
But to justify or explain one of the constituents, if they've gotten a citation and may have gotten it through error, for whatever reason, they come in and ask us, and we can give them that information based on what we have from the office to justify having leniency or not finding them at the time.
But thank you for the work that your department is doing, and we appreciate it.
Keep up the great work.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all to be missed.
Do I have anyone other than the vice chair, Lee?
Okay, go ahead, Audemars.
Just for the public record, I want to say thank you for the years of working with you all.
It's been super amazing.
You are one of the most informed group of individuals.
I know when you can't solve it, you tell us exactly where to go.
So on behalf of me and Barbara Williams, we say thank you so much for everything that you do for the ward.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair Harris.
Alden Moore?
Yes, I don't have any questions.
Just thank you so much for always taking my calls and being responsive.
You're a joy to work with and a true sweetheart, and I truly appreciate you and your team.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alden Moore.
Chair Dow?
Thank you. I just wanted also to thank you, Pat. I did have one question about the interface between your department and the Department of Finance through IT. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Sure. The Department of Finance has access to our case management system. So when they're seeking to enforce our judgments or set up any of these payment plans, the hardship that Alderman Mitz was talking about, we make sure that they have access because they sometimes have to answer questions about whether or not, you know, somebody may forget that they had a ticket from, you know, 10 years ago.
they make sure that they have access to our systems. So that's our biggest interaction
and interface to make sure that they can read and see everything that we have done so that
they, in fact, can answer the questions intelligently. Are you able to track how
often that gets pinged by the Department of Finance? I don't think so. I have to defer.
so I have to defer. Besides being my general counsel,
he's also my IT guru. I believe
we have visibility, but we don't track
payments. That's a function of finance.
They ping it, she said, too.
Ping it, yeah. Okay.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you,
Chair Dowell. Any others before we close
with Vice Chair Lee?
All right. Vice Chair Lee
and the Bridgeport Connection.
Save the best for last here.
Go ahead.
So I'm going to join in the
chorus of thank yous to you um pat favorite daughter of uh bridgeport and the 11th ward uh
and so proud to have you representing uh our community as a commissioner for as long as you
have and for all that you do um in your capacity and i know anytime that we call you um you are
always quick to remind me of what your job is and what the the job of your department is to
adjudicate these cases without bias um i think too often sometimes we we look at you uh you and
your department and your administrative law um judges as a as a ticket collection um
a ticket collection agency and that's not what your role is um certainly you know looking at the
the number of citations that are issued um and examining uh the number that um are
that are ruled in our favor versus in favor of the of the person who the citation was against
should give us some sense of what we're doing well and not doing well uh while we're writing
the citation so i i'm hopeful that the departments that work with you uh begin to see if there are
patterns if there's an inspector that is just looking at a situation incorrectly that that
gets called out um along the way so that we can improve those processes uh thanks for sharing
that uh with alderman riley that the department of law tracks the settlement uh information that's
tracks the settlement information. That's something that we're very interested in. We'll
make sure we talk to them about it. One of the things that Clerk Valencia and I and others are
working on doing is an amnesty program in an attempt to collect more of the debt that is
outstanding. We don't have the ability to write off debt. So these amnesty programs have seen
some success and we're trying to ramp those up. We're trying to understand which debt
we should be providing amnesty for so that's one of the reasons we are very interested um
but no i have you seen an uptick in cases having to do with smart streets program uh with the the
vans that are going around ticketing people for parking and bike lanes i'm just wondering we are
expanding that program so one of the areas that i was interested in uh asking you about um is as
those citations have been issued are you seeing more people coming in to contest those um i i
I think one of the things that we as a council need to work out is in a,
in the event that my parents got one of these tickets and my mother was
furious.
Nicole, why did I get this ticket?
I looked at the ticket.
I said, well, we have a new program for not parking in, in bike lanes.
And, you know, my, my parents have a disabled parking,
placard with four replaced knees between them and a heart surgery and some other ailments
they can't walk very far so I think in this particular instance my dad was dropping my mom
off and not knowing that he couldn't pull over into the bike lane he parked into the bike lane
so he's blocking the bike lane while he was dropping her off so I don't know how the the
tickets are issued do they do they take pictures before and after as they're passing and for how
long because i didn't i didn't think that the van stopped at all to take the picture because
my understanding is that these vehicles and the buses they drive past the person
and the buses, they drive past the person that's in the bike lane, and then the citations are
issued. So my fear is that people, especially seniors and people with disabilities, are not
able to then have vehicles stop and pick them up, even if it isn't a bike lane. We're not giving
people good directions, so I'm asking what you're seeing. Of course. So let me give you first the
number so we began our first hearing on february 13th of 25 and last year we had 621 smart street
cases as of september 30th of 26 it was 1953 cases um i don't know how long it is like you
said with the vans but we did receive one of the judges came to see me about um and that's why we
sent it over to finance to have them whoever's reviewing the tickets like they do for the red
light to make sure they didn't come to a complete stop or was the light red when the vehicle went
through the cab driver had the trunk open and was taking the wheelchair out and and that showed in
the picture so we we immediately brought that to the attention of the department of finance um
we had our division chief uh randy holstman do that and said that they need to look at that so
the fact that they were able to get that uh but again it's still you know still new exactly and
before we go citywide that's something that they are starting to look at and i complimented uh
administrative law judge for bringing that to my attention i said because that was something
we would uh escalate and we should we can talk to the department of finance um about what they're
seeing and exactly what tweaks they might suggest making in that case will that require any changes
in the ordinance for those types of exceptions
when someone needs to unload or unload,
especially someone that is disabled.
Also calls for the expedition loading or unloading,
if i remember correctly no not yeah well they should see it they should i mean if they show
them the picture though right they show them the picture okay so that may be something need to be
adjusted ottoman reilly thank you chair point of information just as the uh the author of the
smart streets program i can tell you that the intent was to stop any loading or unloading in
bike lanes that's what not necessarily parking right um most of we've had a lot of um tragic
events, deaths, and people that have been maimed because they had to steer out of a bike lane to
avoid a car, even just dropping off for a moment. So that was the legislative intent. I think where
the debate needs to occur is on the front end before the lanes are installed. If there are
ADA accommodations for folks that are disabled, that would be a flag against installing a bike
lane that's not curb aligned. When you have a curb aligned bike lane, you can have a parking
or a drop-off accommodation
in what used to be the lane of traffic.
So I think that's an engineering thing,
but it goes to the point,
CDOT is not doing a good enough job
on the front end engaging with us
and other stakeholders about
what conditions exist on the street
before they put a bike lane in.
They need to respect those things
because, yes, people with wheelchairs,
mobility issues,
there should be an accommodation for them.
Okay.
Yeah, building in some community benefit
type loading zones
for pickup and drop-offs, and I just think that as times have changed, you know, before the age
of food delivery services like Uber Eats and Grubhub and the rest of these, I think about
Chinatown and certain areas of Bridgeport, and as you're entering the neighborhood where food
delivery cars are picking up food, and they're causing all of these traffic scenarios because
there isn't a place for them to just pull into um and you know so i'm looking at designating a
series of parking spaces near chinatown square that's strictly for um for food for food delivery
and it's like a 15-minute standing zone.
Um, and it's like a 15 minute standing zone period. That's so that's what I'd like to work
with CDOT on more is being more thoughtful as we are thinking and, you know, figuring out
how to make the streets safer. We've got to consider all of the different users and how
they use this, the streets and the curbs, um, especially in business districts. So that's all
I've got. Thank you so much for all that you do. Welcome to the newest, uh, the newest addition to
the dais. I'm glad I see you in purple, but you don't have your purple tie on. Oh, it's very,
it's very small and purple. I'm sorry. I did not wear my purple today. You didn't remind me on
Sunday. Thank you very much for your service. We appreciate all that you do. Chairman, I'm done.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair, Director. Thank you for all that you all are
doing over there. We know you all have to balance, as I say, balance the scales and
making sure that you all are doing the necessary needs
around enforcement and also
listening to the concerns that are
being brought forth by members of the community as well.
So appreciate the work that you're
doing and continue
on. I think you, are you
the only director of this department or?
The longest serving.
You've been the longest serving. Okay. First
Jim Riley. Okay. All right. Very well.
And the late Scott Bruner. Okay.
All right. Very well. Okay. You all are
excused. And with that, we will
We'll stand at ease.
I was going to say, hey, let's recess to tomorrow, but I know y'all would shoot me if I did that.
But we're just going to take a short break while we bring in procurement.
Good evening, and we're back on. We have before us the Department of Procurement Services, led by Commissioner of CPO, Sharla Roberts.
We will have a brief overview from COFA by Chloe, followed by introductions from Sharla and her team, and we'll dive right into question.
Chairman Mitch is not in, so Bill, you get to go first unless she comes back. And with that, go ahead, Chloe.
Thank you, Chairman. Good evening, Chairman Irvin, Vice Chair Lee, and the members of City Council.
This is Chloe Ute-Ming with COFA, and I will give a very brief overview of Department of Procurement Services.
For FY2027, the department has a proposed budget of $14.56 million.
This is an increase of approximately $0.64 million compared to prior year.
About 77% of department's budget is supported by the corporate fund.
Personnel services account for the majority of the budget at $13.06 million.
Non-personnel spending totals $1.5 million.
totals $1.5 million. In terms of staffing, the department has 126 budgeted full-time
equivalent positions, unchanged from last year. As of October 21st, the department had a vacancy
rate of 25%. Moving to the breakdown of appropriations, the overall budget increase
is primarily driven by personnel services, which increased by approximately $800,000.
This increase is partially offset by a reduction of approximately $160,000 in contractual services.
Looking at funding sources, the corporate fund increases by approximately $500,000,
accounting for the majority of department's overall budget growth.
The remaining funding sources come from Water Fund, Vehicle Tax Fund, and the two airport funds.
This concludes COFA's overview.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you, Chloe.
um chairman mitch you want to start you want to let somebody else start
our you this is your department you want to start you want to let somebody else start
okay very well automobile go ahead good evening commissioner um are we going to introduce
everybody i'm sorry you're correct um hold on you got one go ahead oh no you're good yeah i'm sorry
go ahead uh uh director um thank you chairman um charlotte roberts street procurement officer
for the city of chicago um to my right i have courtney del judice and besides her i have
isibio islas and the team that's procurement department that's in the box i have benjamin
ho lori crosley stephanie munoz um valerie walker nadia tarnes michael richie kahari andrews altha
Riley, and Valeria Stokes. Thank you. Thank you.
Audemar Bitt. Did you waive an opening statement?
Yes, we did. Well, let me take a motion for that, but we waive the rest of them.
Audemar Riley with his motion. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
the Senate. Are you opposed?
The chair's eyes have it. The
reading of the opening statement was
waived. We'll move directly into questions beginning
with the ultimate bill. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Again,
good evening, Commissioner.
Good evening, Alderman.
As you know, we
are finally glad to see you.
Can you
tell us
outside of the letter that you wrote
to the committee,
um where are we at with the new contract with um the gunshot detection
um thank you for your question alderman um where we at with the gunshot detection um rfp
is still in active procurement um we are tell me about the new pilot program okay thank you
for that question alderman um originally when i announced the pilot uh program we planned to
execute a contract with the vendor within two weeks and what's happened since then um i heard
your feedback i received extensive inquiries from the vendors participating in the rfp
i met with the district officers um in which in the areas that we plan to have the pilot programs
and based in the information that we received from the referendum from the vote last week
Based upon all of that information, I've been working closely with OPSA and CPD to pursue a broader path for the pilot that will provide access to the shortlisted firms that are in the RFP and move towards a process that by the end of the week, we should actually have a more comprehensive response to the team where we are on updating it.
but based upon all the information and listening to the concerns
and what was introduced and meeting with various different stakeholders.
Okay.
Hold on, hold on.
What's that mean in English?
In English?
Yeah, what is that?
What is that? You said a lot.
Just break it down real basic for me.
So two weeks ago, we announced a pilot program that we wanted to implement.
One of the things that, you know, during the two previous hearings is what I heard from the alders is that they needed a tool,
that they needed this tool to for the gunshot detection.
So beyond that, when I left the meeting and listening to the alders, as the chief procurement officer,
we have to look for solutions and see how we could operate from a standpoint to
think about the objectives that the city of Chicago have. So while we had the RFP process
moving forward, and from a standpoint, how could we still ensure that we have solutions in the
process while the RFP is still moving? Despite what the body believes, the city of Chicago
RFP process is rather long, rather long. And as an example, the CAD RFP took roughly four years
from the time a procurement was published to the time a procurement was fully executed.
Another RFP for radios for OPSA, that was roughly five years from the time the procurement was
published for solicitation to the time a fully executed contract. So what I'm trying to stress
is, as the chief procurement officer, we have tools in our toolbox to ensure that we are looking at
all the objectives to meet our department's needs. So while I know that the process is still moving
forward, I looked at solutions and using tools in our toolbox to see how we could still have a pilot
the elements from gunshot detection standpoint to ensure that we had some type of technology
in the marketplace. Thank you. Go ahead, Alden. Thank you. Well, wouldn't the quickest thing to
do if we were looking at having something in place was to turn the system we turned off?
in place was to turn the system we turned off and turn that back on wouldn't that be the quickest
solution to to get something going i don't know if that determination is that that's the quickest
solution because that contract ended so i cannot just turn a contract on once the contract has
expired um we were in the bidding process so it's not just um as you may perceive to just turn
something back on um the contract expired um the end of 2024 but we don't we don't have a contract
with the pilot program who's doing the pilot um there we don't have a vendor in place at this time
as i stated how do you hold on commissioner you wrote out an announcement that we were going to
have somebody in two weeks and we don't have a vendor in place no how do you make an announcement
thank you for the question alderman we were in the process of negotiating with a firm okay but
you're saying you said two weeks and here we are we're well over two weeks and we still don't have
anybody in place that's correct okay so what was the purpose uh what was the whole purpose of making
an announcement to appear that we are doing something when we have the committee meeting
that you didn't show up to um no not no not not at all um the intent was as i stated earlier to
ensure that we were using all our tools in a toolbox as the chief procurement officer we have
the authority to have pilots and to test technology one of the things that we consider was
the complexity of this procurement before we fully invested in such type of product we want
to ensure that it's not ineffective as we roll out the process. So as I move forward with any
procurement of this size and nature in complexity, we're going to do more pilots. We're going to do
more testing of products because that's, as the chief procurement officer, that's some of the
the things that um i could do okay well if you have in your preview the authority to do a pilot
uh i'm going to recommend that you pilot shot spotter and turn that back on make that a pilot
until we get somebody else in place okay people are dying on the street okay people are bleeding
out in the street every single day because we don't have this technology and we don't have time
to play games with a hypothetical pilot program that we're making up in order to make it seem
like we're doing something.
Now, I read an article just came out today that the mayor said, oh, now he's in favor
of ShotSpotter.
Whoever you're in favor of, oh, gunshot detection.
I'm sorry.
Let me rephrase.
He's in support of gunshot detection technology.
Turn ShotSpotter back on.
The money's in the budget.
If we want to do a pilot until we wait two, four, five years or until May of next year to get a new program in place, we need to do that.
We're playing games with people's lives, man.
And this is not a joke.
I'm very passionate about this because, you know, the police are asking for it, and we want to play games on the fifth floor with this technology.
That's not right, and I'm not going to sit by and stand for it, okay?
And I think you did us a disservice by not coming and talking to the committee.
You had 21 aldermen at a committee meeting waiting for you to come and talk to us, okay?
We confirmed your appointment to work with us, okay?
I understand, you know, the mayor made the appointment, but you know what?
Every year, y'all got to come and talk to us about your budget, about what you're...
So you should have said, you should have told the administration, I'm sorry, I got to go talk to them, okay?
I'm working with them.
We're trying to build a better city.
We're trying to work together to totally disrespect us and not come to that hearing.
Man, that that really hurt this body.
OK, and you're not the first commissioner to do that.
first commissioner to do that several commissioners have done that so with that i'm hearing that
motorola may be the the vendor of choice for this pilot is that correct um thank you for the
question i'll turn it over to my subject matter expert courtney um courtney jill judas managing
deputy procurement officer um with respect to the pilot um as the commissioner mentioned in her first
response um there was one vendor who was originally in process with negotiations um but currently
we're in process of opening this broadly to shortlisted um vendors from the rfp process
based on the feedback we've received from vendor interest um hearing all of your feedback since
the announcement of the pilot and also based on that referendum vote last week
alderman scott so we don't have a pilot um thank you for the question alderman we are in the
process of reviewing um the pathway that we're going to take so it will be a pilot but we're
opening up to a broader base, as well as with the shortlisted firms that were in the RP.
Hold on, hold on.
You finished, Scott?
Okay, all right.
Just as a question, what you provided to Chairperson Mitch's committee kind of led at least me
to believe that there were several things that you were looking at, but you were piloting them
in several areas of the city. Was that the case or have you changed what you're doing
since you've issued that letter? Was there a change in direction or am I mistaken in my
assumption that there were several pieces of technology that were going to be tested in
different parts of the city um thank you for the question chairman the pilot was
supposed to address looking at broader technology to
addressed looking at broader technology to include not only acoustics, but to include
licensed place readers, drones, and artificial intelligence. So it was to test those types
of technologies that are out in the marketplace. So you were testing multiple types of technology,
including gunshot detection and now you're saying that you shifted to specifically deal
with gunshot protection is that a fair statement um not exactly what we did was to um based upon
the feedback that we received when we met with the um district offices and the referendum we
we're going to open it up to, in the responses that we received from various different firms,
we're going to open it up to the shortlisted vendors in the RFP.
No, I'm confused. So, all right. So we're testing different technology today than we were two weeks
ago. Let me correct
that. Okay. It was
to test
different technology
with one firm. Ah, okay.
All right. Different technology with one firm.
Now that it's turned into
different technologies with different
firms, more than one firm. That's correct.
Okay, very well. Thank you. Audemars, you
had a point of information? I had
so many points of information. Well, then this,
let me let you wait for your turn there. That was something
Jermaine, too, but what?
I'm going to wait.
Aubyn Beal.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You know, based on what I'm hearing, it really is not passing the mustard, okay?
And I understand you got your marching orders.
I get it.
Trust me, I get it, okay?
The administration is telling you what to do, and they're telling you, you know, roll
this out, do this, do that.
We all understand, okay?
So that's not, you know, I'm just letting you know that don't let them send you out
the window, because that's what they're doing, okay?
They're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Don't let them do it.
As of right now, an announcement was made a couple of weeks ago that we were rolling out a pilot program.
Now we're not rolling out a pilot program.
If there was a pilot program, how come the police department and OAMC knew nothing about it?
We work closely with, we receive the data from, I'm sorry, thank you for the question, Audemann.
we received we did work with cpd as well as opsa the data that we received to the areas that we
were going to test the pilot were information that he didn't know anything about this
he provided the information on from a data standpoint where we would place the pilots
but the police district areas they're the ones charged with rolling this out they're they're
the ones charged with using this and we did not work with the police department we you know we're
to give us some data and then say okay uh here use this what what what sense does that make
we worked with um cpd and they provided us the information i i understand the cpd provided you
with the information that you needed to come up with your uh pilot wards or whatever but they knew
nothing about the rollout the announcement who it is what it is they don't know any of that and oemc
same thing so commissioner what are we doing what are we doing we're working thank you for the
are we doing we're working thank you for the question alter we are working closely with the
departments to create a pathway that we could test um technologies including lprs um drones
and the like okay well i'm gonna close and i'm gonna just gonna i'm gonna make a recommendation
and i'm gonna reiterate my recommendation okay turn shot spotter back shot spotter back on
while we're doing whatever makeup hypothetical test that you all are doing okay turn it back on
okay you have the preview to do that okay i would use the authority of your office to do that
because that's what's in the best interest of this body it's in what's best interest of the
people of the city chicago and we need it and we deserve it so i'm going to ask you to do that
before the end of the week thank you thank you thank you ultimate bill two um point that was
made as relates to CPD, Superintendent Waller's testimony was that he was involved, but had not
gotten all of the information, but was heavily involved in the selection of the districts,
if I remember his testimony correct. However, part of what Chairman Beal states about when and how,
I think was the point that they did have some involvement, but not necessarily when and how
it was going to be rolled out. So, Audemar Riley. Thank you, Chairman. Good evening, Commissioner.
I think everyone here knows that Chicago has gone more than two years without gunshot detection.
Bids came in 18 months ago, finalists were tested, and recommendations reached your office
before last year's budget hearings. Instead of an award, the administration announced through
your office, a no-bid pilot, while the competitive procurement process remained open.
And I think we all saw on Tuesday, Chicagoans overwhelmingly resounding.
Chicagoans overwhelmingly, resoundingly voted to restart gunshot detection here.
And now we're hearing today that the pilot that was announced wasn't really a pilot that was going to happen.
And that's incredibly frustrating, I think, to hear for many of my colleagues.
The mayor's office claims that you have the authority to run pilots and that vendor selection belongs to you.
Can you show us, or perhaps your counsel can, where in municipal code or procurement rules,
where you're allowed to administer a no-bid pilot of the very technology that's subject to an open request for proposals?
Thank you for the question, Audemars.
And I guess, has the law department approved this approach in writing?
Do you have something that's memorialized this approach as being lawful within the rules of procurement here?
um thank you for the question alderman i'll turn it over to our subject matter expert
um courtney dale judas hi uh courtney del judas managing deputy procurement officer
um for the pilot authority um there's authority under the innovative procurement methods um i
believe it's 292 640 um for the chief procurement officer to issue no-cost pilots um as long as
they're in the best interest of the city and competitive so this um that authority is
independent from any competitive process that's occurring. So even during an open competitive
procurement process, that does not expose the city to bid protests or lawsuits?
Thank you for the question. The city has a pretty established, well-established record of losing
lawsuits. And so I want to make sure that by rushing this pilot out the door for political
expediency, we have not then just exposed ourselves to be sued by all of these vendors competing for
our business um thank you for the question alter uh courtney del judas managing
uh courtney del judas managing deputy procurement officer um so for the independent pilot that was
originally announced that um would be um not with the shortlisted vendors we were confident in the
authority to do that despite um the competitive procurement process but i do want to make sure
we're clarifying that um the broadening of this to the shortlisted respondents um does bring in
those vendors who are finalists in that RFP process to be able to pilot their technology
for the city. And when was that adjustment made? This adjustment has been made over the
last week. The past week? Since election night or before then? Around election night maybe or
on election night? Thank you for the question, Alderman. I don't have the time frame because
we've been, as I stated earlier, gathering information, meeting with the police districts,
hearing from them as well. And yes, the information from the referendum does play because as you
stated earlier, I spoke loudly. That's what the community wants. So we are listening not just to
the altars, we're listening to what the community wanted just as well. And I guess that explains why
the mayor suddenly is in favor of this technology. When was the decision to launch a pilot actually
made. So when you sent us that letter, instead of showing up at committee that day, how many
weeks prior had you decided to do a pilot? Thank you for the question, Alder.
Early October, we're considering how do we, while we have two competing interests, how do we get
the technology out in the marketplace. So early October. Okay. And just these are yes or no
questions, please. Have you sent an award recommendation to the mayor's office?
award recommendation to the mayor's office? Um, I didn't, could you, I didn't, could you repeat
that question, please? Have you sent an award recommendation to the mayor's office? No. Has
anyone outside your department directed you to pause, slow, or hold the procurement? No. No one
in the mayor's office has communicated with you, encouraging you to slow down procurement? No,
you're correct. No one has. At the police department's October 28th budget hearing, CPD
said they knew few details about the pilot, and a deputy director at OPSA told us that it needed
procurement in the mayor's office in the room to explain it. Since CPD is the user department,
did you consult them and the Office of Public Safety Administration regarding the scope of
the revised pilot um oh thank you for the question alder oh yes we did and i'll turn that over to
um courtney del jude ice to answer that um courtney del jude is managing deputy procurement officer
um so we have been working on on the scope as the commissioner mentioned with um cpd and opsa
including meetings um last week to ensure that when we are implementing um there are no issues
with operationalizing the program.
Okay.
And will the pilot be held to the same standards as the RFP?
Yes.
And who will evaluate it?
Thank you for the question, Autumn.
We are...
Courtney, could you expound upon it?
Sure.
Courtney DelGiudis, Managing Deputy Procurement Officer.
So the evaluation under the pilot authority would happen in DPS.
DPS.
and what do vendors receive in return so who owns the data and will the city council see these
And will the city council see these signed agreements?
Yeah, go ahead.
Courtney Till-Jewis, managing deputy procurement officer.
Under the agreements, the city will have our standard city terms, which will have the city
owning the data ultimately.
And when contracts are executed, those will be public documents, and we are happy to share
those.
Where do we stand in the procurement process for the RFP today?
There's been a lot of information shared here today.
and like the chairman, I'm trying to keep it straight as well.
Again, this process started nearly two years ago,
yet we still don't have a vendor selected.
Thank you for the question, Alder.
We are in the review phases prior to negotiations.
So I guess we're looking for a date.
Okay.
a date for? When a decision will hopefully finally be made. We've been waiting here for
nearly half the mayor's term for one. Meanwhile, to Alderman Beal's point, we read these horrific
and tragic stories in the newspaper every month about EMS services not being deployed
after someone's been shot and they're bleeding out and dying alone because no one called 911.
one. So it is an urgent matter. And so I think it's reasonable to ask, date certain, when can
the three quarters of Chicago voters get what they've been asking for? Thank you for the question,
Alderman. As I stated earlier, this is an act of procurement. And as I would love to say that
it will be a fully executed contract in 30 days. The city of Chicago procurement process
takes way over, upward to three years to sometimes five years.
years. So we are working endometrically to get things done in the process. So this one's already
gone two years. Does that mean a year from now we may have a gunshot detection system in place,
or is it another two or three years? You just told us it's three to five years to procure
anything in the city of Chicago? So let me ask this question. Let me ask this. So you're in the
review phase right now prior to negotiation. However, we have a pilot going on at the same
time, which potentially if product A performs better than product B, you may make an adjustment
in that. So as it relates to the process, we're in the review phase. What are the steps after this
to get to a final decision and approximate timeline
to get to that point from where we are today?
After review phase, we have a recommendation to move to negotiations.
And the negotiations, after the negotiations process,
once the negotiation is completed,
there's a lot of rounds between the firm's legal team
and or in the city of Chicago.
So after that time frame, once you have a contract that's fully executed, and then that's when the procurement process is final, because the process from the time of publication to we have a fully executed contract.
And how long can we expect for the pilot phase to go once it is implemented?
Chairman, can we amend that question to find out when will the pilot be implemented and how long will it last?
so when does it start and when does it end i think it's probably a better way to ask it
um thank you for the question um i would have courtney jail judas answer that thank you
um courtney jail judas managing deputy procurement officer um so for the pilot
implementation we're working on getting that as quickly as possible um the vendors do need
to sign agreements they are um we do not expect
sign agreements. They are, we do not expect the negotiations to be as long as a standard
agreement. Generally for pilots, those agreements get negotiated much more quickly. How long does
a typical pilot negotiation take? I would say they have averaged somewhere between two to four
weeks. Two to four weeks. And when you sent us that letter, had you, does that mean you've already
been in negotiations for two weeks or have you changed the scope and parameters since election
night no when i sent you that letter we were in the process of selecting and negotiating with the
firm before we start the inflammation so we already have two of the four weeks on the clock is that
correct could you repeat your question please alderman you said it typically takes two to four
weeks to negotiate the terms for a pilot program and then commissioner you just told me that you're
two weeks in so based on what i just heard we should have about two weeks to go until we have
pilot approved no we are reassessing because based upon all the feedback and meeting with
the departments to see create the best pathway as we move forward um hit the reset button maybe
around tuesday does that sound fair no i wouldn't say that we met with a couple of departments prior
to um election um prior to tuesday so we have been gathering information waiting meeting with
their district officers getting more feedback from the stakeholders that will be included
in the process.
And for the pilot, does that mean then you're going to select one of the shortlist finalist
vendors to participate in that pilot?
Or will all of the folks on that list be asked to take up a different piece?
The plan is to potentially have more than one firm to participate in the pilot process.
But not all?
the plan is to have more than one firm to participate in the reason i ask chairman is
because there is a scenario here where say i don't even know how many firms are in the running
are in the running at this point,
but say there are six,
and you choose three
to engage in the pilot with us, right?
The three folks that were left out
who are still in the active bid process,
it seems that they could protest
during the active bid process
if they don't like how things shape up,
and that could further delay
us getting a signed contract
to implement technology.
Isn't that a risk?
I wouldn't say that it's a risk, but it's definitely part, that definitely could happen as part of the procurement process.
So it is a risk.
Having the hearings, what we've learned has been a risk as well to the procurement process just as well.
Well, I know, but we are endeavoring towards transparency here.
We're not doing so well here this evening.
Well, let me, let's say this.
We understand that there's a desire to get something implemented as soon as possible.
at this point you're telling us that you are re-evaluating the technology that you're using
you intend to have a pilot negotiated and on the theoretically on the street I guess I'm assuming
mid-December-ish or by the first of the year is that a fair statement? Yes it is chairman. Okay
first by the first of the year and have a pilot functioning and rolling by the first of the year
you'll go through an evaluation component uh i'm assuming during the time um is it a six-month
pilot i well i mean if it's if it's gonna start in january i don't unless you're gonna get the
new year's eve shots i don't know how much data you're going that's why i'm asking chairman we're
gonna be testing this technology in the dead of winter when no one's outside understood no i
understand i understand what you're saying but i think that the data will have to prove out what
it is that works or what does not work in that respect so we we expect there to be some uh some
time for a pilot and then there'll be a final implementation because this technology I'm
because this technology, theoretically, we're going to live with for a number of years.
It's not going to be something that we just have for a year and then decide to discard.
So I would pray that we would.
We had it for years before, Chairman.
Yeah, but there were some questions and concerns around that.
But again, we're all here.
We're going to get this done.
Alderman Nugent, we're going to go to you, followed by who else has questions outside of Chairman Mitch Alderman Moore?
Okay.
Thank you, Madam.
aren't we right okay sorry uh thank you chairman i madam cfo and team i this is so disingenuous
you sent us a letter on october 20th in a committee that you ghosted us on you didn't show up
no call no show it's the most disrespectful thing i've seen in council and you sent a letter that
you'd be piloting a project that you'd have out in two weeks you just said it might be out in
December. I don't believe you think in your heart of hearts that you're ever going to roll this
thing out. Now, with that being said, in your experience in procurement, have you ever had an
active RFP going for two plus years, then rolled a pilot out mid-RFP whilst you're still going with
an RFP? Have you ever done that before? Yes or no? I think I know the answer, but come on.
Have you ever done this? That's a great question. I think that's why you have tools in your toolbox
that you have the ability just yes or no yes or no i'm going to assume the answer is no unless you
say otherwise we have the ability that's why we have tools in our toolbox to certain things
so when we've met over the last year um one of the things that i've talked to you and your
department about repeatedly as efficiencies that were identified in the eyi report um
madam cfo we were on a couple calls throughout this year where i asked for follow-up information
none of which was given to me or my colleagues where are we with maverick spend which is
um where are we with maverick spend which is our our non-contract spend in the city have we been
able to hone in on that at all over the last year um thank you for that question alderman have we
been working on that i'll turn that question over to my subject matter expert um ben good evening
um older woman benjamin ho deputy procurement officer for i.t um yes we have been working on
a number of things that the e and y report brought up and maverick spend is one of them but i do want
to give you some context to understand what we've been doing in 2026 prior to this year
e and y was correct that we did not have the ability to um look at that data to even
gather that data, which would allow us to pinpoint where money is going within the city.
So we have done something which has never been done before within the city, which is
to combine accounts payable data and purchasing data with the collaboration of the Department
of Finance.
and we have put in analytical tools in place as well that will allow us to account for every penny
of where spend is going in the city and um so we have since um then looked closely at the e and y
data to validate it and we have seen where the misperception that dps does not know where half
the money is going in the city is not true we do know where
is not true. We do know where it's going. I guess it has more gone on contract spending over the
last year. So on contract spending, let me give you again. I have limited time and so I need you
to sort of lay in the plane. I do, but I want you to get the most accurate information so that you
understand that we are doing our best to rein in spend. So we have discovered that 50, actually in
2025 spent now so we've updated it because they gave you figures for 2024 in 2025 um 58 was not
spent on dps contracts where did it go 1.72 billion dollars went to commissioner authority contracts
these are contracts that this body has given um other commissioners not the cpo the the ability
to award. Of this, the biggest portion of this is $780 million went for the employee health plan
run by the benefits department, which they put out for bid themselves. None of us would say that
this is Maverick spend. Another $129 million went for electricity and gas contracts that were bid
out by 2FM, all competitive processes, but not administered by us. We also saw $559 million
for payments to delegate agencies that provide social services to Chicago residents. Another
$2 billion of payments was processed by the Comptroller's Office. Many of these payments
are for financial transactions that are not dps contracts for example payments on city bonds
transfers to city sister agencies like cta cps and the park district torch settlements for example
for the city amounted to 332 million dollars so we can account for this
So we can account for the spend.
If you want to call it maverick, that's fine.
But really, these are not things that DPS has control over.
I appreciate that response.
And EY used the term maverick, too.
And I am citing what came out of the report.
I appreciate that.
So let me just want a question.
So of the amount of spend that EY categorizes non-CPO DPS related spend outside of what
you've just named, which are very reasonable expenses that are generated by departments
in their various subject matter areas, what is the delta left between that top number
that EY gave and what was actually left?
Thank you, Chairman.
Ben Ho, you can continue.
thank you commissioner benjamin ho deputy procurement officer for i.t so we have identified
that potentially some of that spend um up to about 144 million dollars could potentially fall under
dps contracts this is just a high level overview that we would need to examine more closely
to see if there are truly opportunities to put them under dps contracts and achieve some savings
for example we understand that all the manic offices by and large do not utilize city contracts
if you had access to the fmps system and the financial system if it you could potentially
achieve some savings by using city contracts but we understand that's entirely your prerogative
we also see that there are some things that are processed as reimbursements this is up to a
maximum of maybe 50 million we need to explore this in further but that people are
further but that people are improperly processing them as payments as opposed to contractual you
know purchasing on dps contracts so those are things that we will work with our comptroller's
office and other departments to identify these areas and put them under dps contracts thank you
uh thank you for thank you for that answer i and i i appreciate that um cpo's office has the
ability to enter into contract agreements without council approval correct um thank you for the
question alder that's correct and is there a monetary threshold um that requires council
approval um thank you for the question alderman um no how many contracts has your office entered
into since october of last year um thank you for the question alder i don't have that number at
the top of my head but i could provide you the information through the chair could you guess is
it five is it 20 if you had to guess um i don't i couldn't have a number at this time do you know
what the highest contract vehicle the price of the highest contract you entered into
does anybody in the box or the whole team know um thank you for the question alter since january we
entered into um 130 contracts 130 yes how many of those contracts were over 10 million
Can I provide, I would have.
I'd rather have that today on the record.
Well, I'll allow my team to figure that number out because it's not that easy.
guess it's not that easy we don't have that information at this time as i stated earlier
we can get it through the chair do you have is there a metric perhaps the council knows do you
rank them contracts over 20 million over 50 million how do you how do you divide the contract spend up
i'm confused about your question so i want to be able to answer it properly could you repeat it
please do you look at the contracts that you enter based on a dollar amount for example is
your review process different 10 million and under or 50 million and over is there any
um perhaps thresholds you use in the office to determine how you proceed with contracts
um thank you for the question alderman for clarifying the question so we have um different
any i believe anything over 10 000 is the process i can't hear you can you speak into the mic please
thank you for the question i'll i have uh courtney del judice answered the question
courtney del judice managing deputy procurement officer um the way the different standards work
is just the procurement vehicle rather than a particular dollar amount um our main ones are if
it's a small order 250 000 or less those can be solicited um just out from quotes from different
vendors and then we have our bidding process competitive bidding where we award to the lowest
responsive and responsible bidder and rfps will award based on an evaluation usually to just one
vendor and rfqs typically we are awarding based on qualifications often to a pool of vendors okay so
130 contracts roughly over and we don't know how many over the 10 million threshold or we think
130? As I stated earlier, I don't have that information in front of me, but I'm
more than welcome to provide it through the chair understood um last thing i wanted to ask
you would um i believe it was either alderman riley or beale who was um discussing um about
when you announced the pilot versus um the active rfp if you were if you were in consideration for
the pilot have you been notified no thank you for the question no and when you are meeting internally
to discuss the pilot who's in the room um thank you for the question honor um it's been in discussion
with opsa and cpd is the administration involved in those conversations when you say administration
so we have been council have you engaged with the administration on gunshot detection
could you be a little more clear in what you're asking uh because i'm theory all of them part
of the administration thank you chair what i'm trying to understand is we have voted as a body
that we want to see gunshot detection enacted um with an over more over overwhelming majority of
our colleagues we have been told that this is an active procurement with an rfp um what we were
told is, if I was reading my notes correctly, that bids were due in April 2025 and that this
was supposed to be done months ago. What we've heard from the CPO and her team today is they're
now in the review prior to negotiation portion of the RFP process. Contemporaneously, we also are
now in a pilot phase and we were told that the pilot would be chosen within two weeks now
be chosen within two weeks. Now, we were told that on October 20th. Now, if we're following
along that logic, then we should have been told the awardee of the pilot on, shockingly,
Tuesday, November 3rd, which was election day. We're now on Monday, October 9th. Our CPO has
said that, well, she hasn't denied or admitted that she has worked on an active RFP for a couple
years and then entertained a pilot in the middle of it we're now being told that a pilot might take
six months i'm just something isn't working here like we have to i'm trying to get some answers and
figure out how we move the will of the body and what our constituents are asking for and you seem
to be obstructing i i would welcome your response to that because that is what it appears to be right
now. I seem to be, I didn't understand. Could you repeat your last word, please? You seem to be
obstructing. You're not moving forward on what my colleagues and I have been asking for. And
we are, we have asked you to come to a committee meeting. You didn't show up. Your presence,
you sent a letter as a proxy for your presence saying that we'd have a pilot. You said we'd
have it in two weeks. The two-week date would have been last Tuesday. We don't have a pilot
identified. Today in this meeting, you've told us that it may be weeks, perhaps per Chairman Irvin,
the first of the year till we have a pilot. So barring other information from you or your team,
it just appears that you're obstructing. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Alderman. Care to respond? Okay. All right. Any other questions? I had Alderman
Alderman Moore, Vice Chair Lee, Alderman Villegas, Wagon Spack.
We'll go to Alderman Moore.
Thank you, Chairman.
First of all, Commissioner, I want to personally thank you for being accessible to me whenever I needed to talk to you and your team.
but let me say this i i need the level set here um and i think automobile uh did somewhat of a
good job in recognizing um your leadership but also recognizing the will of the administration
and um i know let's deal with shot spotter first and foremost i was one of the poster
Chow's, me and my community, as well as others, for advocating for this, and I still do.
We're going to look at the business part of this and the politics part of this.
When the administration ran, they ran on getting rid of ShotSpotter. But our job as electeds is
to make sure that we fight for what we need for our communities, regardless of what the
administration um says and i think that that's what we've done and i want to ask this question
um samantha nugent asked it another way but i want to ask it this way
has there ever been any contracts that you've worked on that took more than two years
um yes about how many do you know of like that and do you know of any off the top of your head
any type of contracts well here at the city of chicago earlier i stated that um the processes
are in my professional career at where i previously worked the process is a little
different from the city of chicago whereas the city of chicago their active procurement process
active procurement process is from when a time a RFP or solicitation is published to you have a
fully executed contract. In my professional career at the state of Illinois, they have a slightly
different process where that is still an active procurement process, but during the procurement
process, they do an intent to award, and during that time, it's identified publicly who the
the state of Illinois plans to intend the contract with.
So in my professional career, it's slightly different.
The procurement process, it appears to be longer,
but I think the process at the state of Illinois
that they had an intent to award.
So you would know at the end of the procurement process
who you intend to do business with prior to negotiations.
So, but for the city of Chicago,
Well, two to three years for a contract is not abnormal.
That's correct.
Okay.
And so let's take that off the table.
Now let's get to the pilot piece.
When there's a pilot, it is your authority to do a pilot.
Is that a pilot free or is the pilot a cost to the city?
The pilot is a no cost to the city of Chicago.
Absolutely.
Absolutely. And so at that time, then why would, if a pilot is no cost to the city, and if this from a legal standpoint, why would we be potentially held for a suit if we didn't allow other people in?
I don't think you could potentially be sued for a pilot. I think the question may have been sued because you're running two processes at the same time, which we can do.
absolutely and so I run these two processes at the same time and the fact
that we were going to do a pilot repeat why you you said that you you not pull
not pull back but decide to open it up even further I want to be have some
clarity on that thank you for the question Alderman the great thing about
the city of Chicago's procurement process that you do have tools that you
can run two things simultaneously we as I stated earlier we listened we learned
and we wanted to ensure that before we made this huge financial investment to
the city of Chicago we was exhausting our resources so while the procurement
process is moving forward we wanted to see that if we could test other
solutions including the LPRs and in technology is changing as we speak now
we wanted to ensure that we are testing other technologies just as well now I
remember when we tried I can't remember his name right now it was escaping me
we tried to have
I think it was CTA come before us
I can't remember
if it was under the previous administration
or this administration
and they didn't show up
and they had the
you're in an at will position
aren't you correct?
Could you repeat that?
You are in an at will position right?
At the will of the mayor right?
That's correct.
As this
CTA
president was and as an alderman no alderman um likes that when people don't show up because
they're representing their constituents but have you ever turned away alderman um for coming
directly to you and asking you any information um i welcome conversations and reached out to
alders to see if there's anything that our office could provide to them um as it relates to the
procurement process um so we can have a better understanding so my department has reached out to
various different alders to answer any questions that they may have.
may have all right thank you thank you um chairman i think we're going to continue um to go through
this process i gonna i think we're gonna get where we need to get i appreciate all of my colleagues
because um this shot detection is very very important to all of us even i think we didn't
have to wait until this last election i think that was stipulated before so we knew from the standpoint
that the residents
wanted this and we're going to continue
to push forward and
we're going to support
you, CPO, in making sure that
this gets done. Thank you.
Thank you,
Audubon Moore, Audubon Conway.
Okay. You had said
okay, I'm happy to, I am happy to go
so just, so
on the gunshot
detection recognition technology
here, if you, it sounds like
you've already chosen a specific vendor and you're going to be considering expanding the services to
that person that firm um thank you for the question Alden as I stated earlier the intention
was to work with the vendor to provide the pilot program testing but as we listen and learn to
ensure that we were exhausting our resources um we're going to open it up to a broader pool
Okay, so you have opened this up to a broader pool
because it may include license plate readers, drones, and AI.
That was what you stated earlier?
Is that correct?
So the broader testing pool
and open it up to the shortlisted vendors in the RFP process.
And you're opening it up to a broader group
because you want to see if they can also provide other services such as licensed
play readers drones and AI that's correct okay now is now the two
Now, is now the choosing of the vendor, is that something is the does the power to do that entirely rest in your in your department?
Yes.
OK, because OPSA said they had gotten everything, everything to you on that already.
As far as the the districts to be where the pilot program is going to be going to go to be executed.
Is that something that your department decides or decided?
No, we work with the Chicago Police Department to provide data on the testing areas.
Okay.
Now, and I just want to confirm this.
You said, so this pilot is a no-cost pilot to the city of Chicago?
That's correct.
And will the pilot also include these additional services, such as license plate readers, drones, and AI?
That's correct.
Okay.
Okay. So the pilot's going to potentially include these additional services.
That's correct.
Okay. That's surprising to hear.
Now, is this expanded RFP? Is this a public RFP at this point?
No, it's not a public RFP. It's a pilot program.
It's a pilot program, you said?
That's correct.
Or you said it's a private or pilot?
No, I said a pilot program.
Okay.
But you also said it's part of the RFP process.
So is the RFP itself still out for bid?
The RFP process is still an active procurement process.
The pilot program is a separate process,
but to expand it to the shortlisted vendors that are in the RFP process.
So there are still multiple vendors in the...
in the rfp process for this this and so do the
the rfp process for this this and so do the will the pilot program then involve multiple vendors
yes and do um and then pivoting to uh to the questions about maverick spent as as ian why
called it you said something about 50 58 sir i forget your name i apologize uh but you said
58 percent is inside or outside of your department now um thank you for the question alden i'll
refer that to subject matter expert benjamin ho benjamin ho deputy procurement officer for it
um 58 in 2025 was outside of dps okay so i think when i read the e and y report back then it was
only 51 so that number has gone up um thank you for the question hold on hold on hold on let's
keep this in mind that i think the eny report is is somewhat of a mischaracterization of what
i think you and i as lay people would consider maverick spend because it did include things
such as bond payments um it included things such as electric bills i think uh per the testimony
that you probably could get down to about $140, $150 million
that could have been done in a different way that wasn't handled.
So I think that term just doesn't necessarily keep the mark.
But, Mr. Chairman, it's an apples-to-apples term.
So, I mean, that's what they used.
That's what they used, but I think that's a mischaracterization
of the spin that occurs outside of DPS
that truly would have occurred in DPS had other things been put in place?
Why would bond payments flow through procurement?
I mean, just think about that.
That's all.
The number, I mean, we're trying to compare the things apples to apples here.
E&Y said use 51%.
I'm hearing the numbers going to 58%.
Presumably they're using the same methodology there.
But what I'm trying to get you to understand is that that methodology may not line up with what the average person thinks is what they're terming Maverick spin.
That's all.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, I, you know, Mr. Chairman, you're obviously a very smart guy, but I'm certainly, you know, I'm certainly going to listen to perhaps the largest consulting firm in the world
and what they may have to say on this.
So curious as to how it got from 51% to 58%
since it seems like we're going the wrong direction.
The answer may very well be bond payments.
I don't know.
Do you have an answer to that question, Mr.?
Thank you for the question, Alderman.
But I think it's Benjamin Holt stated in his response earlier
that Erson Young provided a report based upon, I think, 2024 data
and where in the information that we've reported today
was more up-to-date data.
If you want to provide additional information, Benjamin Ho.
Benjamin Ho, Deputy Procurement Officer for IT.
So we aren't exactly comparing the same thing.
When we looked at 2024,
we did validate that the numbers were as they said.
It does not change our overall conclusion
that I just mentioned that there's a huge amount of spend
which is incorrect to categorize as maverick because it implies that that spend is just run
amok and nobody's accounted for nobody's accountable for it and we have to look by looking at um that
spend we see there are many different processes which do account for that but that said we do
agree with e and y that um with many of their um characterizations of improvements that could happen
with the department, and we have been undertaking that through our DPS modernization program.
that through our TPS modernization program so but nonetheless that that
measure seems to have gone from 51 to 58 percent through your own due to your
own testimony so yes so the but again our concern is more using the E&Y report
for the recommendations that make sense.
They make a lot of things, recommendations with regards to efficiency
and areas that we could look into for more cost savings,
such as strategic sourcing and category management.
These are long-term reforms for DPS,
which we have been putting into place since the commissioner took office in 2024 and we intend to
modernize procurement to be the best to adopt best practices from public and private sector
so that we become the best public procurement state and local procurement body in the United
States. Well, I wish you well in that pursuit. Obviously, we're here to help you, but it's a
little bit difficult when we ask you all for information. Your department doesn't show up to
a hearing and then sends a letter of which it proved not to be, who knows if you knew it at the
time, but obviously by the end of the time, it proved not to be factual. So your department,
for better or for worse, has completely destroyed your trust with this council. Now we have to look
at your budget which we'll do with that what we will but the problem is it's become very difficult
to work with you all and i'm sure you're hearing that from my colleagues and you will continue to
do so in the next questions i suspect thank you mr chairman thank you uh alderman uh viegi
Thank you, Alderman Villegas.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner.
A couple of questions.
So are you aware that CPD did do a test on all those technologies that responded to the RFP?
Are you aware of that?
They do a test.
For gunshot technology?
Have they done a test?
Say that again?
Is your question, have they done a test?
No, no, I said, are you aware that they have tested all those products that submitted?
I'm just curious as to, if CPD already did it, why are we doing a pilot?
If CPD already had tested all these products?
I wasn't aware that they tested, have done any testing.
Okay, well, I would defer to the subject matter experts, which is really CPD in this matter.
But I'm here to talk about another issue that was brought to my attention.
which I'd love to get some responses.
And this was just brought to me,
or else I would have talked to you early on.
And so I have here a contract for $17.8 million,
which my first question is,
and I can give you the contract number,
because I was looking for it to see if there was a public RFP,
and I just can't seem to find it.
So I wanted to know first if this was a public RFP,
and if so, if you could point me to where it was advertised.
I can give you the contract number.
Okay.
The contract number is PO332879.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Go almost lower.
3-3-2-8-7-9-er.
And the specification number is 1-3-3-8-4-7-1.
and it's a contract for Kerasoft for the Department of Fleet Info
for the Department of Fleet and Facility Management
to purchase software solutions for Samsara cameras,
five-year contract, $17.8 million.
And I'm just curious as to whether or not this was advertised.
Thank you for the question, Alderman.
With this contract number,
we use the reference agreement for this particular contract that you're referencing
okay so is that typical that we do that do we do that on that type of a scale of contracts where we
just piggyback off other approved vendors or approved contracts uh the city um thank you
for the question alderman the city of chicago does reference contracts um um various different
dollar amounts could you could you prove could you provide through the chair a list of all the
reference contracts that the city of chicago enters into without competitive solicitations
and what those dollar amounts are um think yes alderman i could do that okay and then
could i answer your question i think uh the difference between the demo and the pilot because
I think I just was not confused about your question earlier. So we, there was a demonstration
that was done in the RFP process, which is different from the pilot. So, so to go back
to it for one second. So then did CPD approve the vendor that's doing the pilot since they're
the ones that actually looked at all the demos? As I say, well, there's a difference between the
demonstration which is which is separate from the pilot program so there was a
demonstration done as part of the RFP process and then the pilot program is a
separate program that's not no I understand that but what I'm saying is
No, I understand that. But what I'm saying is, so if the companies that are demoing it per the RFP, then CPD would look at the demos. So my question is, are the firms that were provided the demo, are those the firms that are actually doing the pilot program? Or are they separate entities?
Thank you for the question, Alda. I'm going to have to turn it over to Courtney. She can answer that question.
uh courtney del judas managing deputy procurement officer um the ones who provided the demonstration
were the shortlisted vendors but what they provided in the demonstration was just
a very short demonstration on their acoustic technology in a simulated environment this will
be um a real live environment in a longer period of time that was um done in that demonstration
so the company the company that's doing the demo where they want were they also part of the rfp
process that demoed their, I'm sorry, the pilot, are they the part of the demo for the RFP?
So the C's answered that. That's yes. She did? Yes. Is that your answer? Yes. Okay. All right.
Cool. All right. Let's get back to this. So on this $17.8 million contract, there's zero MBE
participation, zero WB participation, and zero percent VBE participation. Can you explain why
we would do a piggyback contract for $17.8 million and not have any type of participation
on a contract? Thank you for the question, Alderman. I do believe there's minority and
women on participation, but I could provide that information through the chair. Well, I'm looking
at Article 6 right here, and I wanted to make sure I was reading this. And this talks about
special conditions. And on here, it has 0% MBE, 0% WBE, 0% VBE. So this looks like a waiver.
VBE. So this looks like a waiver is what it looks like. And so if you could explain or have your
staff explain why we would be given a $17.8 million now no bid contract with 0% MBE, WB,
and VBE, I would love to hear that response. As you stated earlier, I do believe there is
minority in women on participation. I don't know what document that you're reading, but I could
provide that information through the chair with the other information that you requested earlier.
I can provide this to your team if you want to see this, just so we don't have to wait that long.
I'll submit this to the chair.
Is that okay?
That's fine.
Could you submit the packet in its entirety so that we can review that?
Yeah, 100%.
Love to.
Okay.
Thank you, Alderman Riley, for your assistance.
We appreciate you coming out and supporting us today.
Thank you, sir.
Any other questions, Alderman Villegas?
Yeah, and then is it...
Are we, is it customary to have a provision in a contract where a contractor will be paid seven days within receipt of invoice?
Wait, I'm sorry. Could you repeat that, Alderman?
Is it customary where a vendor has a contract with the city that stipulates that the payment will be no longer than seven days after the submission of the invoice?
I hate to, could you repeat it? Just slow it down because I want to make sure I answer your question, Alderman.
Is it, do we put in our contracts where a contractor will be paid within seven days of submission of invoice?
Well, I see you await that.
Thank you for the question.
While you await that, I got this paperwork here that this references something that's probably about 100 and at least 108 pages.
that's probably about 100 and at least 108 pages is there more than this that you can send through
to me to give to the department for them to review yeah well that's so they have the contract number
so they'll look at that okay all right that's fair all right cool that's stuck out to me chairman
only because this body has been fighting for participation so thank you for the question
ottoman um i would have my so dramatic expert um provide a response for that
um courtney jill judas managing deputy procurement officer um our standard payment terms are to pay
our contractors within 60 days of invoice and then um they need to pay their subcontractors
within seven days of receiving their payment so so then it's not customary to have a contract where
the vendor is going to be paid within seven days of submission of their invoice because
believe me we've all received calls in here from contractors about slow pay and so we've called
you charla and you've been great at helping us cut through the red tape to get these folks paid but
i just i was just curious as to whether or not is that something that's uh that we typically engage
in where contracts will be paid within the seven days of submission of invoice and based on your
subject matter expert which you stated it looks like the typical date is 60 days for prime
contractor is 60 days but when a subcontractor is 14 days right 14 15 days right yeah yeah okay
um and then um this is a 17.8 million dollar contract no bid no mwbe vbe participation
wbe participation and we entered into this contract um and i want i'm look i want to see
from you whether or not this public this was a public rfp um and what the rfp number is
and then are we aware that carasoft which received this 17.8 million dollar contract
was under investigation in New Jersey
under federal scrutiny
for $2 billion in overcharging government?
Thank you for the question, Alderman.
No, I'm not aware of that.
Okay, so I'll let you know that,
and I think that this could be done
with a simple Google search from your team,
but this company was investigated
for overbilling government to the tune of $2 billion.
So just wanted to put that on the record.
But looking forward to hearing, seeing those responses.
Again, $17.8 million is a lot of money
to not have a public solicitation.
And I'm also going to be interested to see
what those other contracts are
that do not have public solicitations
and what those dollars amounts that are associated with it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Alderman Villegas. He raises a point. You talk about a reference contract. Could you kind of help us to understand that process of a reference contract? And what do you mean by a reference contract in that particular regard?
Thank you for the question, Chairman. The Municipal Code allows the Chief Procurement Officer to use reference contract. In the procurement world, a reference contract is piggybacking off other municipalities and our group purchasing organizations contract that have already been competitively bid.
is this uh the contracting question did is this a state federal or uh county contract or are you
all aware of what the derivation of the contract is um thank you for the question alderman um i
believe it's a um i would have to double check i don't want to provide the inaccurate
I don't want to provide the inaccurate information.
Okay.
But it is a contract that has gone through some process,
and I think it's not necessarily a no-bid contract.
We may not have bidded, but it's a contract that has been bidded,
but we're just, as you say, piggybacking off of that particular contract
to save us five years in some cases of trying to figure out what to do.
That's correct.
Okay.
All right.
Mr. Chairman, that's not correct.
So a piggyback, what that does is allow for the vetting of the vendor.
However, given the fact that they maybe have won a contract in a different municipality or even a different state,
you have that ability to cut through some of that time for red tape.
But I would argue that we need to put a dollar amount as to where we should be able to allow for that piggyback to occur.
Because $17.8 million is 17 times the amount that the CPO authority has right now.
And I think that we would...
Well, that's a different conversation than, I think, from the procurement perspective,
because I can recall in my previous life that I would use reference contracts from the state
and from various other organizations to do exactly what we don't want to do,
is spend the time of going through a process unnecessarily
if that's already been done and been vetted,
and you can utilize it at a rate that you probably could get better than someone else.
But your point is taken as it relates to a ceiling on something like that,
which, again, would require action by this body to do so.
And then, Mr. Chairman, if I could, just on the,
because this is the technology, the contract,
And it came out of DFS, Department of Fleet.
I'm sorry, 2FM.
Does DTI play a role in the solicitation of technology?
Or who makes the actual selection for this type of piggyback?
Is it the CPO that does it?
Or is it the using entity, using agency that uses it?
Thank you for the question, Audra.
It could be various different factors.
We could receive a request from the user department.
It could be a request that we work in in collaboration with the DTI
because they look at information technology contracts that we enter into.
So there's various different ways that the requests come in.
We get requests from user departments all the time to piggyback off a contract,
whether it's to piggyback or use a reference contract for the police vehicles.
So there's various different ways that we access reference types of contracts.
So through this contract, if you could tell me who was involved in this contract.
The user department and procurement services.
Okay.
So yeah, if you could let me know who made the final decision.
Everybody that was in play with this contract.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Vice Chair Lee.
Thank you, Chair.
Hello, Commissioner.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you.
Over here.
I want to acknowledge you and I have been trying to connect with each other for the better
part of a couple of weeks now. So I appreciate you reaching out. I'm so sorry that we didn't
get a chance to connect ahead of this hearing. Um, and I know a lot of questions have already
been asked, um, specifically about the, the gunshot detections. I won't ask you those,
that question in particular. Um, and if this question that I'm going to ask has already been
asked, just tell me, um, the, on the, on the pilot, who initiated the pilot? There's no pilot.
there's no no there's not a pilot now you're putting that back out to bid essentially no
we're not putting it back out we're still going to have a pilot procurement i mean we're still
we're still going to have to use a pilot program. And it was initiated by the chief procurement
officer. Okay. Did I hear you say that you're trying to exhaust all the resources that are
available to kind of look across, but the pilot is going to be a no-cost pilot? That's correct.
okay um so in looking for a company uh to a vendor to carry out the pilot what what are you looking
at in terms of um aspects that they bring to the table if it's i just have a question about like
the no cost aspect of it because if a company is willing to give you something for free and other
people aren't are we just going with the free one um or you know what i mean because i feel like
lots of other companies would be willing to provide some uh some some free you know testing
of something in the interest of having a leg up in the in the bid process down the road
can you talk about that um thank you um i'll turn it over to subject matter subject matter expert
courtney del judas courtney del judas managing deputy procurement officer so for this as we
shift it's going to be those shortlisted um vendors from the rfp who have the opportunity
of course it's not mandatory they do not have to but um part of it is that no cost um portion of
the pilot um and do you I know this is uh the process has slowed down a bit intentionally to
examine these other potential vendors um are we asking them to provide a pilot what's the amount
of time the duration for the pilot um thank you for the question alderman um the time period for
the pilot will be six months but we're reviewing um the time frame for if there's multiple vendors
um the length of time for each vendors to for their solution to be tested so you decided to do
So you decided to do the pilot and then shared the information with the OPSA and the police
department to select the districts to test it.
I know that's not where we are now.
I'm just sort of taking us back to the whole genesis of the concept of a pilot.
Well, it's listening to, as part of the overall process and listening to the needs and concerns
of the the body on the tools that they needed as the CPO I looked at how do we
have the ability to ensure that we are still running the procurement process
and the objective to test other technologies just as well so neither did
the did OPSA or the police ask for the pilot or ask for a pilot or an
opportunity to test these beyond what they had already done initially as a alderman viegas
brought up earlier they didn't ask for the pilot however we worked closely on once we determined
that's the direction that we were going right do you know what happened to the funding that was
budgeted for the last couple of years for gunshot detection has any of that been used for other i
know we have a contract or we're piloting zero eyes right now can you tell me where where that
is currently um thank you for the question alderman um that's probably a question for the
budget department to answer um i only deal with the procurement process okay but do we have a
contract with zero eyes you can give that to me through the chair if you don't know i mean like
i my understanding is that cpd is has been testing or has had a pilot with zero eyes i don't know
what the status is i'm familiar excuse me with the services they use at a navy pier i was just
curious to know where we were in that process. Thank you for the question I could provide.
Thank you for the question. I can provide that information to the chair.
Okay. I'm going to switch gears a little bit because I want to talk about
pick up where somebody left off around time to pay vendors. Is there a difference between
contractors and professional services when it comes to time to pay? Like, do we pay them on
different cycles um thank you for the question autumn i have courtney del judas answer that
thank you uh courtney del judas managing deputy procurement officer um in terms of the contract
terms it's the same timeline but often we do find um on the construction contracts um in particular
sometimes we've had um payments take longer just based on invoicing issues that have arisen um to
actually get a final invoice so while it's still pay them within 60 days it's 60 days of a final
invoice and that is an area where sometimes we have seen more struggles with vendors getting
those invoices in properly so do you track the average time to pay sorry did you have a
oh they're having a hard time hearing you just got to speak directly into the microphone
um do you track the number of days to to payment so i'm just trying to track this cycle so i'm i'm
a let's say i'm a prime contractor on a job i invoice the city for the work that's been done
what does the city do in order to process the payment between and what happens in the the 60
days between when you receive an invoice to when the when the vendor is paid um thank you for the
question Alderman we the Department of Procurement Services we manage the
procurement process for from a per payment perspective that's the finance
the finance and i'll have courtney elaborate on that uh courtney del judas managing deputy
procurement officer um so on the user department level we have talked to them extensively because
we are trying to even though the payments don't go through dps we are trying to work with them
on this issue because we are certainly aware of complaints especially from the subcontractor level
wanting to get paid um so we do know that um as invoices come in um the user department reviews
it to reconcile that with the services they received um and they often find that sometimes
not all details are provided so that they can fully reconcile those invoices and currently
they've identified um that as one of the biggest holdups to getting what would be a final invoice
because it's not considered final until those fully match the services um but they've got to
check everybody's work essentially to make sure that the services that they're being billed for
were actually delivered upon and if there's any sort of dispute it just adds to the time
when before a final invoice can be signed off on that's correct that's correct okay um i'd love
through the chair if you can provide um and if you can provide the average time um for payment
for both contractors and professional services because i was actually led to believe that
professional services may run slower than contractors um you know i can't i can't reiterate
how important it is for us and i know that you're one piece of this you're the one sitting in the
box right now so you're going to get this piece of it um that it's so important for us to be able
to pay our our vendors and our contractors on time um i've i've had too many people come to me and
tell me about the dire straits the city has put them in because work has been performed and money
has not been dispersed so we can't we can't pat ourselves on the back for having minority and
women-owned veteran-owned businesses if we're not paying them on time because really what we're
doing is causing more losses in those industries or in those groups that we sit
that we say that we care
so much about. That's all I've got.
Chairman, thank you.
Thank you. I've got Alderman Robinson,
Suge Baby Mama, you got something over there?
Okay, followed by
Suge Baby Mama, then followed by
our chairperson. Go ahead,
Alderman Robinson.
Chairman, thank you very much.
Commissioner,
I want to thank you for
as my previous
colleagues have mentioned,
being accessible to my office and questions that I do have. I also want to thank you for
coming out and opening up your office to residents of the city of Chicago for doing business with the
city. We have a billion dollar spend and I think that it is important for us to be able to allow
citizens of Chicago to be able to partake in that spend and being accessible. So I want to thank
you and your staff for being open to creating opportunities for our citizens. You know the
constraints that we have in the city of Chicago closing this budget gap. I'm curious to know
in your department, how can we look at ways that we can be more efficient to close the gaps that
we have? And that's just looking at some of these, you know, larger contracts that we have.
Can you kind of walk me through what that process is or someone on your team to figure out again,
how can we use procurement to close some of our gaps that we have? Thank you.
Thank you for the question, Autumn. And one of the things that we're doing as part of the
procurement modernization process is to strategic sourcing, and I'll turn it over to a subject
meta expert, Eusebio Islas, to walk you through the process.
Slaus, Chief Analytics Analyst.
Procurement modernization is a process of overhauling an organization's purchasing operation.
We're looking at things beyond the transaction.
We're looking at total cost of ownership, which gives us a long-term savings and value,
not just the pricing.
A lot of things that we're doing involve consolidating solicitations so that we do things once instead of multiple times for the same commodities and goods.
There's different pillars of procurement modernization, technology, process standardization, cultural transformation, so many things that we're doing.
we're in the middle of the first year of a three to five-year process for procurement modernization.
And I believe that the progress that we've made is in letting the user departments
and our own internal resources know exactly what category management is and strategic sourcing is.
It's very different than the process that Department of Procurement Services was following before.
And so, you know, it's going to take some time and some patience to do it right.
I believe that we're following all the right steps to do it.
We appreciate the support of this body, and we look forward to continuing that progress for you.
And I'm sorry, if you can just repeat your title for me, please.
Chief Analytics Analyst.
Great.
If you can share, you mentioned how we could be helpful.
Can you break that down a little bit, how we as a council can be helpful in those efforts?
Absolutely.
I think there's a recommendation.
there's recommendations that we're looking at that would involve the
governance of the procurements I think different ideas right now are being
developed to put something in front of this body I don't know that we're there
yet but we do have a lot of things that will be very interesting to to this body
I look forward to to that time with with all of you in front of that that set of
recommendations. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner.
Thank you, Chairman Irvin. Commissioner, I want to thank you and your team for the
how to do business with the city of Chicago at Kennedy King College on July 21st. I was not able
to be there because I lost my father that day, but certainly you held it down in my absence,
and I will never, ever, ever forget that day, that very successful day.
A question. I have asked this to Superintendent Waller, as well as the CCPS or OPS, the folks that are doing the redundancy work of the public safety office.
um does the city have a records management system contract because um i know that the the writing of
tickets and with police officers and the overtime uh what is that rms because it seems to be a
we're in the process we're in the process but it doesn't seem like entities are really talking to
each other um thank you for the question alderman we um i believe one of the user departments within
the chicago police department has utilized the record management services through a cdw contract
i'll allow um courtney to provide additional information on that uh courtney delgides managing
uh courtney del judas managing deputy procurement officer um currently there is a piece of a records
management system being used and that's what the cpo is referencing with cdw however there is a
broader rfp for the comprehensive record management system and that's um the contract that is currently
in negotiations um that i believe opsa also referenced um during their hearing um could we
save money on overtime and become compliant with the descent decree via via this contract and why
aren't we using it um thank you for the question alderman we definitely can take that into
consideration to see where there could be some synergies with the current um process to see if
there if there could be additional cost that there could be cost savings by um looking at what the
current vendor provides and how we could expound upon that. Yeah, especially with overtime. You
know, we've been talking about efficiencies, efficiencies, and this is a prime example of
how you're actually, your department is actually moving this forward. However, it seems to be
other entities that is making this process stagnant when it could be saving money based
off of saving money from overtime so i look forward to uh to the follow-up thank you thank
you commissioner thank you any other questions prior to uh chairman miss any second rounds
anything you need need to get out of the way okay i'm sorry go ahead uh alderman conway
brief follow-up to alderman viegas's uh question you mentioned a reference contract
was the original shot spotter contract reference contract um thank you for your question alderman
And yes, we did use a reference contract to leverage the services for the gunshot technology.
the gunshot technology yes great okay so so uh good to know we can in theory as alderman beale
suggested turn that technology on pretty pretty quickly here based on the contract piece of that
and in another question you know you uh in a in a good way talked about using the innovative
procurement process uh to to effectuate the no-cost pilot for the for the gunshot recognition
technology why did the department wait two years to to engage in that process and go about you know
go about exercising some of the things that are plainly allowed in the code there including no
cost pilot programs um could you i want to make ensure that i provide uh the response that you're
looking for yeah so the so the innovative procurement process you know allows you to do
allows you to do a lot of things such as such as uh no cost pilots but as obviously has been
laboriously discussed in this chamber you know this this uh rfp's been out there for more than
two years why why did the department wait so long to um to go about effectuating using the uh
innovative procurement process um thank you for the um question alderman um as i stated earlier
as we are going through that we're going through the rfp process and it's still an active
the procurement we looked at how do we when you have two two objectives to
ensure that we are not only just going through the procurement process you you
collect data you have the ability to pivot when need be as you are aware this
is a huge financial investment to the city of Chicago and as you find data and
you listen to the voices and you listen to the community we have the ability to
to make decisions to pivot to leverage those procurement tools.
human tools. Okay. I'll accept that answer for this, just to keep things moving. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. I'll defer to the chairperson. Before Chairman Mitch comes, just two points.
We are one of the biggest challenges that we get from people who do business from the city,
of course, is payment. However, I know payment is a function of finance. However, in the early
stages of the procurement process, what are your thoughts on setting rules in place that would
allow for percentage payment of invoices upon being presented? And I say this because we
know that we owe people something. Now, if that number is 89%, 95%, or 102% of what is being
presented, we know that we owe something to that contract because they have done a service. Now,
we may have to argue over, you know, the T's being crossed and the I's being dotted, but we do know
in some respect that we've got something from them and that we owe them something.
And so in order to alleviate the cash flow concerns, especially of a lot of our small
and minority-owned businesses, why can't we in these RFPs and in these processes put forth a
provision that will allow for users to pay 60%, 70%, 80% of an invoice upon presentation so that
they can get some cash flow? And while at the same time, I know we have retention, we have
other ways to you know look at it but it's from a cash flow perspective
providing some resources to these contracts because ultimately
we pay higher prices for things because of our time
prices for things because of our time to pay everyone tells us this because they
know they've got to carry our bill for 90 120 150 days they're calculating that
cost in their bids to us so what are your thoughts on creating a system that
would allow for payment of something upon presentation of an invoice thank
you for the question chairman we do have mobilization payments that the city of
Chicago invest in and one of the things that we're exploring from a payment
standpoint is advanced payments and direct payments for especially small and
minority women-owned firms to ensure while they're going through the process
we are considerate that they're not carrying the weight of the city of
Chicago payments because as you stated earlier it's typically the smaller firms
that have the higher paying and points on their supplies.
So we did create a task force in collaboration with the user departments
as well as the controllers to look at how do we do exactly what you're saying
is to look at source to pay with contractors and how we can better in their process.
But we currently do a mobilization for firms that we can pay them monies in advance.
Well, the mobilization is one aspect of it.
I mean, after you do your mobilization, which is, what, 5%, 10% of that
or whatever that negotiated amount may be, we still –
and that money is for, again, payments of stuff that they're going to be doing.
I'm just concerned that our pace of pay costs us money,
and we've got to figure out either, A, how to get invoices approved faster,
or B, I think you would hear less issues if we were able to just get something out the door
to our vendors. Again, not trying to circumvent anything, but knowing that.
Again, not trying to circumvent anything, but knowing that we know we owe something without creating that unnecessary burden on some of our small contractors.
What is your expectation on a policy or a completion of the work of the task force, as you mentioned?
Thank you for the question, Autumn.
I'll turn that over to Valerie.
Yeah, Valerie Walker.
she's um participates with on that task force to solve this problem uh thank you for uh valerie
walker deputy procurement officer uh thank you um alderman irvin chairman irvin for the question
we have been working closely with the task force and that is one of the items we found is
um one of the what happens is all of the contractors that are involved with an invoice
have to submit supporting documentation in order to pass the audit before we can release payment.
One of the things that the committee is looking at is possibly allowing us to pay each individual subcontractor
once they pass the audit versus holding the entire payment until everyone involved in that transaction
submits the appropriate supporting documentation.
That is something that we are in discussion with.
We actually have a meeting set up with a couple of departments so we can understand whether
or not we have the tools and the capacity to separate the invoices into multiple payments
and still have the ability to track what the city owes and what they've already paid.
So that is one of the things that the committee is looking at, and once we determine that that is something that we have the capacity to manage with the existing tools.
capacity to manage with the existing tools and systems and resources in place, then that is
something that Commissioner Roberts supports. And we will try to move forward with that as quickly
as possible. That sounds like a spreadsheet reconciliation to what's being stated. And I
hope that we can move in a direction where we can, you know, get dollars out to people. Because again,
And the stories that you hear, you know, people have their homes, they have things on the line based on, you know, working for us.
And we don't want to inadvertently put people out of business by the pace of which we move on a payment perspective.
The other question is around the the JOC program.
I know we talked about that, especially around lead service lines and how that could be an effective measure to bring more smaller businesses to the table for what will probably be billions of dollars to spend over the next 15, 20, 30 years.
and how this has the capacity to grow businesses in the city of Chicago utilizing the work that's
going to occur. So what is the status of that and where are we at on getting that implemented?
Thank you for the question, Alderman. The request for qualification that we
approved last year, which is slightly different from the JOC program, that we are working
in collaboration with the Department of Water to release a solicitation before the end of the
fiscal year where we will pre-qualify some firms in the area that could respond to the lead line
pipe replacement program. In addition to that, we are strategic sourcing business unit operation.
sourcing business unit operation is working on finalizing a scope of work to solicit contractor
services that will pre-qualify small owned firms to be able to do work in the areas of
Sip could you expound upon the the areas of work that we included in in that solicitation process
Sure. Yusebio Islas, Chief Analytics Analyst. We would be pre-qualifying for different construction categories like electrical construction, plumbing, carpentry, interiors.
There's probably about 20 different categories for construction that we would be pre-qualifying pools of vendors that can provide that service.
there's vendors or contractors that can provide
multiple and there's vendors that will provide only singular categories
but overall we will have a pool of pre-qualified vendors
that will be able to provide the work quicker
than the bid process. Alright, thank you for that
Audemars Gutierrez, thank you for joining us. Any questions?
Yes, thank you Chairman. I've been in and out.
Chief Officer, how are you? Good.
thank you for you and your team as you know we've been discussing a lot with the latino caucus and
i know you've seen me around my tenure as a councilwoman here it's not about the race it's
about who could perform the job right but also it's important to to advocate for for our own
right and we've seen many of our contractors or companies small business companies contracture
companies, they're not being considered, right, to participate and giving a lot of opportunities
opportunities and the RFPs, and can you please speak about how many contractors we have,
how many active licenses and permits do we have, and also how much does that accrue of money for
contracts for those Latino owners? Thank you for the question, Alderman. To answer your question,
for construction and non-construction, you want to know the spend, the amount of spend that was
spent with African-Americans were $134.2 million. With Hispanic-owned firms, it was $168.5 million.
Asian-owned firms, there was $106 million. Native American, $55.5 million. And women-owned firms
is $50.6 million, which is a total of $459.5 million. And are they being considered as prime
contractors or just as subcontractors? The number that I provided was a combination of both
firms that are included as prime contractors and subcontractors. Can you please provide that
through the chair? Because what I've seen, and my colleagues as well, is that unfortunately
they're giving some opportunities, but not as primes, but always as subcontractors. So we need
to make sure that also they're getting an opportunity like any other firms. As well as
you know and we've discussed this many many times there's of course bad actors everywhere but we
just need to really make sure that whoever is getting a contract from the city right that we
have inspectors right from the beginning to the end of the project because unfortunately there's
a lot of barricades a lot of cones a lot of stuff that we get built for and it end up being trash
or being in the public way and it's difficult for our communities and our families to
difficult for our communities and our families to commute you know we need to provide safety areas
but sometimes of course neighbors don't know right if it's a city contractor if it's an
in-house construction or someone else is doing the job so we really need to make sure that whoever
we're hiring whoever we're giving the contracts to from the beginning to the end they're performing
well to our community and if sometimes they don't do the job well then we can hold them accountable
as well because we've seen oftentimes there's bad things happening and then again they get rehired
they get another contract and another contract and these other people that could do better
they're not getting the opportunity so i really want to make sure that we really to the nail we
look at those contracts and if it's bad actors and we've talked to them and we've tried
then we need to give the opportunity to someone else
um if you have a comment i will also no it's state that um we look at every contract to see
where there's an opportunity for minority and women or small businesses are able to participate
in the in the process we've unbundled contracts and utilize our small business program to ensure
that minority and women-owned firms are operating and presenting as prime and i believe in i do
believe there's probably will was like a 17 percent increase of smaller firms being primes
with the city of chicago that follows to my next questions um what would you think or what do can
we do better um what could be the biggest barriers from preventing our latino-owned businesses from
competing and securing those contracts um they are competing in the marketplace one of the things
that we're doing is we're working with our assist agencies to ensure where there's any
deficiencies in any of the small businesses doing business with the city of Chicago.
We're ensuring that we're educating them, having different workshop initiatives to ensure
initiatives to ensure that they have access to capital. We're working with the banks to ensure
that if there's lines of credits and educating them in that process, we're looking at bonding
and insurance requirements to see what those barriers are with the city of Chicago. So we're
removing those barriers so we can see more small and minority women-owned firms participate in
our overall process. So for concrete steps, what does your department has been taking into lead
uh for these to happen pardon me could you repeat that please so then what concrete steps have you
taken with your department to ensure equitable representation because we talked about this
the statistics and stuff but what can you tell us about concrete steps yeah um thank you for the
question alderman i'll have courtney del judice provide a response to that sure thank you uh
courtney del judice managing deputy procurement officer um one of the things we've been doing
is we have always used our target market program as often as we can on our non-construction
contracts and our SBI and MBI program on our construction contracts to get more opportunities
for small businesses to be the primes because we know as important as the goals are as subs
those prime contract opportunities are really critical to them as well unfortunately in the
last couple years with the current federal executive there are times where we can't use
target market program where we've previously were able to use them so that has shown a small decrease
in programs but to combat that we did propose an ordinance earlier this year to introduce a
non-construction sbi program that we would definitely appreciate your support in to get
that passed because we are looking to anywhere we can that would be a race and gender neutral
program but one where our certified firms definitely fall within those categories where
would be prime opportunities for them to be contractors so that was one thing we did and
with every request that comes in as cpo started to mention we look at if it's possible to unbundle
to unbundle a portion of it to get into one of those programs so we can start seeing those
numbers increase and keep those opportunities up despite some current struggles that are now
existing. Sure and I think I appreciate all of that and please continue to communicate to us
and to the Latino Caucus and all not only the Latino Caucus all of my colleagues to see
what can we do to help our communities our small business owners and to increase those numbers
into subcontractors to be prime contractors.
And just lastly, Chairman, if I may,
I just want to thank you for allowing us to work together
and that we passed anonymously, right, for our union workers.
I'm glad that we were able to pass it.
And, you know, we're here to help our union representatives
or our companies within our ward or the city
to continue to build in our communities
and also to be well-represented and well-taken care of.
So thank you and your team for helping me pass it with CFL.
And I'm just grateful for the job that we were accomplishing, because I know it wasn't easy,
but there were some barriers that we were able to work them through, and I'm glad that we
finished it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Audemars Guterres.
Audemars Walkers-Bank.
Yes.
Thank you, Chairman.
Good evening, Director.
director so um first question i have and it's nice to be able to do a little cleanup here but
on the gunshot technology pilot you announced a couple weeks ago was it a vendor from the six
vendors or was it one separate from the six that was selected because you said i can do one outside
of the group of six because i have contract authority to do it so is it part of the six
or a totally different vendor from the six um thank you for the question alderman i'll have
the subject matter expert courtney del judas answer that thank you courtney del judas managing deputy
managing deputy procurement officer um so that original vendor um we were working with um we can
provide all that information as this is finalized but it has been our practice as um prior to those
agreements being signed we generally um do not disclose the name just to protect that process
but when those contracts are signed we are more than happy to give those names yeah but that wasn't
my question. Are you an attorney or? Yes. Okay. So my question was, was it a vendor from the six
vendors or one separate from the six? You said I can do one outside of the group of six because
I have contract authority to do it. So was it part of the six or totally different vendor from the
six not the name i didn't ask for the name um thank you for the question alder um courtney
del judice will respond um courtney judas managing deputy procurement officer so because um
those vendor names are publicly out there with our process um that's why i had answered about
um the name um unfortunately that's not really a question we can answer without having that
um it's not a trick question it's not a trick question i think it's not that hard to say it's
either part of the six or outside of the six so so that i'm clear you're you're asking if the
people that are doing the demonstration are included in the same group of people that are
part of the procurement process is that your question well there were apparently six vendors
Well, there were apparently six vendors in the gunshot tech pilot that was announced two weeks
ago. And you said you could do one outside of the group of six. Is that an assumption that we can
make that there's more than six? I'm not asking a trick question. I'm trying to understand the
number six. So he's saying that there were six, or maybe the better question is, are there six
companies in the pilot process? There are not six companies in the pilot process. Okay, that helps
us in that respect. Can you disclose the number of companies that are in the pilot process?
As I stated earlier, we don't have a vendor selected for the pilot. No, no, no, no. We're
talking in the process that has yielded a pilot, there were X number of companies, right? And I
guess the question is what is the x number of companies and if company y is part of the group
of x is that what you're asking sure okay i don't want to know the name because i know you won't
give it so i'm not asking we're not asking that we're just asking what you're asking god forbid
i get the name but yes that's the question and it sounds like if you say it's outside of the six
than you've just disclosed.
Okay.
Well, hold on.
There were four shortlisted firms
a part of the RFP process.
Okay.
And I don't have those firms
at the top of my head at this time
of the shortlisted firms.
That was part of the RFP process.
Okay, so now the four firms
is a part of the RFP process.
Shortlisted.
Shortlisted in the RFP process.
The question is, is the one firm part of the four?
And my question is, at the top of my head, I don't have that shortlist number.
You don't?
Honestly, I don't recall who the shortlisted vendors are at this time.
But there is a shortlist of four firms.
Okay, the shortlist of four firms.
could you provide to us if one of the four firms meets the criteria that the alderman is asking
for you don't have to tell me that right now but if you could provide that information to us
if you don't know it right now if the people sitting here don't know it could you just provide
that through the chair to us yes okay alderman thank you um i feel like we're in an episode of
who's on first no I was thinking um Jack Nicholson like you can't handle the truth
man uh you know so my other questions are okay you know he went to jail in that
scenario and I don't know being a part of that I'm just asking the questions no um so chairman
you've already asked this about the uh subcontractor payments and we've seen you know
a lot of subcontractors are getting knocked out of business with the city because the city doesn't
pay. The lack of payments are killing off their business with the city. It's costing the city
tens of millions of extra costs. I had submitted an ordinance that demands a third-party administrator
to create action on payments, but we can discuss this, I think, in the future. Moving on to a
different question um how often do you deviate from solicitation awards when uh rules without
amendments on the lowest and responsible bidders in the procurement process how often each year
um we don't deviate from rules once there's a solicitation um that's public
those are the rules within that solicitation
that we adhere to.
Okay.
Under the EY report,
we've been getting a monthly report
about the potential savings.
In the EY report,
and I know you guys don't like it,
you're kind of whatever they said, they said,
but EY found potential for 55 to 100 million a year
in procurement savings.
I realized some of that is this maverick issue
but um when we were looking at the September report that apparently you guys put out
of all the actions that you undertook um some of them had details some did not could you please
provide through the chair all of the details of all the actions that you undertook and were stated
as accomplished in that monthly report yes September because a couple of them said we
we hired people or we put a couple people think people on but some of them um just say expanded
cost savings evaluated existing contracting structures assessed category-based sourcing
approaches advanced recommendations but no details so we spent a good majority of um time
and a lot of taxpayers dollars 10 million to be exact on ey i'd really like to see um specific
accomplishments under the category management procurement authority analysis the vendor
analysis and the revamped government structure sections um so that we can provide that to our
constituents just make sure that we're following through on each one of these things
okay yes thank you thank you chairman appreciate the time thank you alderman uh any other questions
Okay, Chair Mitz.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And good evening, Chief.
evening, Chief Procurement Officer. Let me get that terminology right, because everybody seems
to be calling you Commissioner. You are the Chief Procurement Officer. Let me ask a question. How
long have you been working as the Chief Procurement Officer? When did you come in?
Roughly two years.
About two years?
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
And how many new hires have you brought in that are here today
that have two years of less experience with procurement?
And it seems to me as though we should have had that deputy chief at the meeting,
if she's going to answer questions that we held,
that didn't nobody show up at since she answered she's an attorney somebody should have showed up
i'm just looking at her answering most of your questions that come there she's advising you
and i felt really offended really offended but you already know this because we done talked about it
how long have she been with uh procurement um how long has your dip uh thank you for the
question how long courtney has been i've been um with procurement for about six years
six six years okay and how many others that came in with you um cpl over the last this year we've
hired roughly um 15 15 hires this year okay and what are those
What are those positions for those hires?
A large number of those positions were in a strategic business operation unit,
two spec writers, a strategic source and analysts,
three compliance certification officers, and one senior procurement specialist.
Okay, something tell me that for no one from this office,
from your office to not show up at a meeting and even with the attorney there being here six years
something wrong somewhere i feel even more offended it do you realize that we're not
i don't know who playing around here but it's certainly not us playing just on election day
alone there were 82% in my community that voted for a shot spot for no one to
come up or even have their conversation with me about a pilot and as the chair
of this committee I'll give respect but I also to have respect back I don't think
you would have wanted that to happen or none of you would have wanted that to
happen so as the chairman is committed I'm holding a whole department responsible
but not stepping up to the plate because each and every one of you knew that that
ordinance was introduced into the city council it doesn't take the day before
or two days to reach out to me to say I'll just try to call why I can't get
here we should have been discussing that as the chairman
Long before it came on the agenda.
it came on the agenda in the committee now I don't know who's working with you
around there but y'all need to get the act together you're gonna work with me
now let me ask this question how what is the percentage in the city Chicago with
these contracts for MBEs and WBEs just tell me that um thank you for the
question Alder let me get that information I do have that information
bearer meanwhile go through my stack um so the amount of payments that was paid to minority-owned
firms for 2026 was 393 million and for wbes is 92 million what's the percentage don't someone over
there um the percentage i'm sorry is 33 for minority and eight percent for um wbes can you
break that down further through for me white black hold on i'm flipping a page so you want the number
for the number of african americans um overall spend was 11 million i mean 111 million which is
nine percent um hispanics 176 million which is 15 percent for asians 129 million which was 11
percent and for women-owned firms 69 million which is six percent okay um is that you all use ai in
Do you all use AI in your department at all?
Thank you for the question, Alderman.
The city of Chicago just finalized its artificial intelligence policy.
And as we move forward, as part of the procurement modernization process,
we'll be exploring opportunities on how the Department of Procurement Services
could integrate AI into our procurement process.
Do you know the cost?
The cost to implement AI in the procurement process
is to leverage AI software.
Like tools, consulting, training, those things.
Oh, the total cost of implementation.
As of right now, the city of Chicago
is exploring opportunities to look at,
to work with various different AI providers
to see what's, and as the Department of Procurement Services,
we will be exploring that option to have a license software
for our department to utilize AI.
What are your subcontractors' record?
What is their subcontractors' records with the city now?
Could you repeat that, please?
What are the subcontractors' records in terms of your MBE, WBE,
what about the subcontractor what's their record do you know do you want to know what a city
subcontractor record like how many uh firms the city of chicago is doing business with
that subcontractor we can provide that information with you through the chair okay okay
Okay. Which department contracts move slower or faster?
Which departments do? I want to address.
Do you work with other departments, right?
That's correct.
I heard you mention the water department. Do you have one that pays slower or some that pays faster?
Okay. Thank you for clarifying your question.
I really think it depends on the, thank you for your question, Chairwoman, it depends on the type
of procurement for construction services. They, as we stated earlier, they have to validate the
services once they're being provided. Within for information technology, those are the types of
procurements that tend to pay quicker versus the construction types of projects because the
validation process and validating the work and the invoices that are submitted to the user
department so construction projects may take a little longer in payment but once the comptroller
receives validation of that information the comptroller pays within seven days so how how
is your the technology the new technology that you're implementing how
is that working in order to process payments faster the new technology that
our department is implementing for payments being could you expound upon
the new tech or technologies that we're utilizing with within Department of
procurement services. Benjamin Ho, Deputy Procurement Officer for IT. Thank you for that question.
um thank you for that question all the women um the technology that our department has deployed
for this year is primarily for analytical purposes like i mentioned before diving into
where the spend is going and identifying cost savings what you're talking about for payment
processing is different that goes through our fmps system which is not new it's been part of
city for many years that said the prom payment team is exploring the possibility of using
um looking at technological solutions that would enable vendors to or enable the city
to have a better handle on invoices as soon as they are submitted to the user department
and even prior to the Department of Finance obtaining those invoices.
So to clarify, we don't have technology at the moment that beyond our usual payment process technology, which is FMPS,
but we are looking at technology for improving the payment process.
All right. Well, thank you very much.
But Chief Roberts, I look for somewhere that I feel when you're coming in and reaching out to you, that relationship hasn't been where it needs to be.
I offer it to me monthly, that fell through, whether it's quarterly.
so we never met on that part but moving
part but moving forward understand one thing for sure you'll be right back here next year
having to come up under these questions and it's not going to be as nice because I think this one
was pretty easy given the fact we out here working every day trying to take care of issues in our
community not for ourselves but for the residents of the city of Chicago in every one of these
communities and i we i know they don't take the job lightly and so neither should any of you take
it lightly uh your chairman is still here and i don't want anyone to overlook that we are available
reach out to us and if you think that you can go past me i don't think so because you're going to
have to come back to the same stop chairman derby better let him know that you used to be the
chairman of his committee so don't don't play with me thank you very much thank you mr chairman
thank you uh thank you chair smith's it's gonna be harder than this next year
yeah
all right well hey let let the record reflect um that uh council does have some concerns around
issues with the department as it relates to communication. Let's do what we can to
make that more seamless and work with our chair of the Contracting Oversight and Equity Committee
to make that transition work. I know there's a lot of conversation around this
gunshot detection technology. I think the people have made their statement in relation to that,
and so it looks like we need to be moving post-haste to...
We need to be moving post-haste to solve for that.
I'm glad to hear that you all are moving in that direction.
Of course, a lot of members wanted that to happen yesterday.
However, you know, we are where we are.
Let's make sure that we continue down the path of keeping an open line of communication with members
so that all of our concerns can be met.
I don't think anyone is acting or doing anything out of anything other than their desire for having a safe and strong communities that we all represent.
So with that being said, we thank you for your participation today, and you are excused and subject to recall.
With that, committee will stand in recess until 9 a.m. on tomorrow, 9 a.m. tomorrow.
We have our final six in tomorrow, so get a good night's sleep
and finish up our final day with the bang.
Again, committee will stand and recess until 9 a.m. Tuesday.