The finance committee, the Cook County Board will come to order, and the Secretary will call the role.

Thank you, Chairman.

Commissioner Aguilar?

Commissioner Naya?

Commissioner Britton is absent.

Commissioner Degna?

Commissioner Gaynor is excused.

Commissioner Laurie.

Present.

Thank you.

Commissioner McCasco.

Commissioner Miller.

Miller is here.

Commissioner Moore.

Is excused.

Commissioner Marita.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Present.

Commissioner Stamps.

Commissioner Trevor?

Here.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Chairman Daly is present.

Chairman, you have a quorum.

Let me revisit those that did not respond.

I have absences for Britain.

Excuse the absences for Gaynor.

Moore.

And Sean Morrison.

You do have a quorum, sir.

Any correction to the agenda?

Chairman, there is an amendment for item number.

26 1733.

And it corrects a period of time as well as the contract value and the covered period.

Okay.

And no need for remote participation.

No remote participation, correct.

Okay.

We will begin with public speakers.

Thank you.

You have two speakers.

Let me remind you of the rules for public speaking.

Persons authorized to provide public testimony shall not use vulgar abusive discriminatory profane or otherwise inappropriate language when addressing the body.

Failure to act appropriately or failure to adhere to the time requirements may result in expulsion from the meeting and or disqualify the person from providing future testimony.

Our speakers in this order.

Is Blake Moore in the room?

Dr.

Norman, please come.

Okay.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Respectively, um honor to you, uh Commissioner Daly and to all the commissioners that are here.

My name is Um Dr.

Sandy A.

Norman.

I am the executive uh director of Life Beyond Limit, Inc.

Uh Chainbreakers VIP, which stands for violence intervention and prevention organization.

And I'm also uh a past I'm a pastor here in the city of Chicago, and so I continue to show up.

I continue to come to these meetings because it's needed.

And so I I always want to um to come and to really relate to the people that are here as a voice uh that represents uh the communities of Chicago, West and South Side, the reality of of what's going on in our inner cities and our neighborhoods.

And so we have the audit uh committee, the budget committee.

I am a proponent of violence intervention and prevention because it's needed, but I want to continue to bring uh to your attention that when we talk about audits um and finances, there really needs to be oversight uh when it comes to CBI organizations.

I could I will continue to advocate because I've been on the grounds for about eight years um doing violence intervention work, my work is proven.

Uh you can look me up.

You even see superintending of the Chicago police uh department snelling, actually on the news, talking about the work that we do.

I'm bothered that I have to continue to bury young men.

Um I'm at all the mass shootings that are on the west side of Chicago, South side of Chicago.

I'm in the communities, I'm knocking on doors, giving wraparound uh services, and I want you to and once renewals are exhausted.

We're looking at uh going back out with a competitive solicitation uh for a for a new contract.

So uh that's uh that's the process that we would be working again with the sheriff's office to put the RFP together so that we can go through the process to uh advertise and then go through receive proposals, go through evaluations, then contract negotiations, and then bring a contract once it's negotiated uh to the board uh for its approval.

So, Rafi, this is not the first extension though, right?

Because it seems like the original contract ended in 2025.

Yeah, and then there were three one-year renewal options available.

So then this is the second option to that.

This is the second exactly.

This is the second of those three one year renewal options.

There's still one more left.

And so it so at some point between uh uh now and the term of that third one year renewal option.

If the board approved it, uh we would be uh working on a new RFP question.

And then do you have the total amount?

Um it seems like the current contract authorization is fifty-six million dollars and some change.

And then it's being increased another 17 million, correct?

Correct.

Correct.

So then if the board approves this amendment to increase, then the new contract value would be 73.3 million dollars.

Thank you, Ronnie.

Commissioner is Jason does have a presentation.

He says, Oh, regarding this item?

Yes, this item.

Oh, I think that's a good question.

I just was informed.

Yes.

I'd like to just add a question right now before we do the presentation.

Thank you, Chairman.

So, relative to this item and the 17 million, what's the fiscal um analysis associated?

Is that payable in one year, two years?

I I I'm not clear on that.

So it it is a it's a a new contract.

It would uh no so it would be for three years if we went to no, this is I'm sorry, this is for renewal.

Rafi, are you around?

Yeah.

Yes, I think.

One year renewal.

I'm sorry, yes.

This is a one year this is a one-year.

That would be for one year, forgive me.

All right.

All right.

I want clarity.

It wasn't clear to me when I looked at the uh supporting documentation.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

Go ahead, Jason.

Great.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Jason Hernandez, executive director for intergovernmental relations of the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

I am joined by um several members of our team, under Sheriff Marlin Parks, um, executive director Jane Goopser, first AED Steven Walinski, and we have several representatives uh here today from the vendor.

Umlivia, next slide.

Great.

So uh Chairman, thank you very much.

Commissioners, this item uh requests approval for a one-year renewal and a corresponding contract increase for our food service management costs.

Uh the renewal period covers July 26th through July 27 and allows us to continue providing daily meal service throughout the County Department of Corrections and the Sheriff's operations without interruption.

The dollar amount reflected here represents the additional authority needed for the upcoming contract period.

The increase is driven primarily by the scale of our operation, ongoing food and labor costs, and the need to maintain uninterrupted service for a population that must be fed every day, regardless of fluctuations in our population or numbers.

So for context, the slide also shows the original contract approval period in 2022 and the board approved increase from 2025.

We included that history to provide a clearer picture of how the contract has evolved over time and it demonstrate that previous adjustments have been brought before this board for approval.

Uh Libya, next slide.

So our scale of our operations.

Um this slide's intended to provide some context regarding the scale of our operation supported by this contract.

The Sheriff's Office is responsible for providing three meals a day to individuals in custody across the Cook County Department of Corrections campus, as well as certain court holding locations throughout the county.

This is daily responsibility that operates 365 days a year without interruption.

And since the inception of this contract, approximately 26 million meals have been served.

On a typical day, the operation produces roughly 19,000 meals, which translates to more than 6.5 million meals annually.

Olivia, next slide.

This slide is intended to demonstrate the operational footprint supported by this contract.

While um food service is often viewed as a single operation.

The reality is that meals must be prepared, transported, secured, and delivered throughout a very large and complex correctional environment of the correctional campus alone.

Meals are delivered across nine divisions, approximately 160 housing tiers intake operations, our residential treatment unit, and other specialized housing locations.

Each area has unique security movement, dietary and scheduling requirements that must be accompanied uh accommodated every day.

In addition to the Department of Corrections, the contractor supports meal delivery to court holding facilities throughout the county, and these locations span multiple courthouses, branch courts requiring coordinated transportation, inventory management, and delivery schedules to ensure meals are available where individuals are in sheriff's custody.

The key takeaway is that this contract supports a countywide food service network, not a single building.

You know, meals must be delivered safely, securely, and consistently across numerous locations every day.

Next slide, please.

Quality.

Uh this slide addresses an important aspect of the contract, ensuring that meals provided to our individuals in custody meet established nutritional standards.

Uh these meals must meet nutritional standards.

The contract is required to develop menus that comply with those standards and dietary requirements.

And again, we have several representatives from the vendor on hand to answer questions.

I would ask that you just state your name and your title when the time is ringing.

Next slide.

Specialty diets.

So this slide expands on the nutritional requirements we discussed on the previous slide and highlights the complexity of providing food service within a correctional environment.

At any given time, more than 1,300 individuals in our custody receive some form of specialized meal.

These meals are not optional accommodations.

They are driven by medical needs, religious requirements, dietary restrictions, and other approved considerations.

The Sheriff's Office and our partners at Cook County Health have an obligation to ensure that individuals with legitimate medical conditions receive appropriate nutrition.

It also illustrates that these assets these special diets range from religious meals such as halal and kosher operations to broad range of medically necessary diets.

Those diets are dialysis-related requirements, pregnancy-related nutritional needs, and other clinically directed meal plans.

What's important to understand is that a special diet creates additional operational requirements.

Meals must be accurately prepared, tracked, packaged, and delivered to the correct individual while maintaining compliance with both medical directives and security procedures.

It's not a one-size-fits-all program.

It's a highly individualized system that must safely accommodate a very diverse population with a wide range of nutritional needs.

Next slide, please.

This slide highlights the economic impact of this contract on food service operations as part of the county's commitment to supplier diversity.

This contract includes goals for both minority and women-owned business enterprises.

The vendor has partnered with local County certified firms to support those objectives and ensure that the contract spending benefits businesses within our community.

The participation goals remain consistent throughout the life of the contract, and the dollar amounts show the slide on the slide illustrate how these opportunities grow as the contract authority increases.

In addition to supplier diversity participation, the operation also supports approximately 125 union positions through local 450.

These are individuals who help operate the food service program every day and represent a significant workforce component of this contract.

Next slide.

So the good food purchasing program, I placed some literature here on top of this little desk.

It's an analysis from the Department of Public Health that everyone can read if they are interested.

This slide highlights our participation in the Cook County Department of Public Health's good food purchasing program and our efforts to strengthen transparency and local sourcing within the food service operation.

Since joining the program, the Sheriff's Office and our vendor has worked to increase purchases from local food producers and improve the quality and availability of data regarding food sourcing and procurement practices.

The action plan listed at the bottom of the slide reflects our ongoing commitment to increasing transparency, exploring additional opportunities for local purchasing, and continuously improving the program over time.

Thank you, Commissioner Anaya.

That concludes our presentation.

Certainly happy to answer any questions commissioners might have.

Commissioner and I'm sorry, do you have a follow-up?

Well, my follow-up was regarding the good food purchasing.

So I'll take a look at this and I'll I am very interested in you know the alignment between vendors like this, because they are big vendors, and I know they're out of state, so for me it's always, you know, how do we align with um with uh the procurement process that we have for good food um purchasing?

Um so I appreciate you putting this together, Jason.

Sure.

And thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Lowry, do you have a follow-up?

I do not.

Thank you for the presentation.

Commissioner McCasco.

Good morning.

Thank you for the report.

Thank you, Chair.

With regard to the um the total the totality of the 17 million dollars, what are we looking at with regard to increase of inmates in the actual jail?

Yeah, so we um we budgeted for approximately 6300 individuals in custody, but again, that number fluctuates.

We have seen a slow increase in the jail population, so it's important for us to be able to factor that potential rise into our operations.

Okay.

And I know that you indicated that the bookings I saw on the slide, they went up by 173, approximately 173 bookings per day.

So we're accounting for those individuals.

How many of those are actually translating to actual incarceration?

I'm not sure I follow the question.

I I could tell you this.

Um the population yesterday morning was 5992.

Okay.

It slowly increased.

The summer months usually bring in uh an increase in our population.

I think the 6300 we feel the 6300 um projection kind of covers us with the amount of the amount um of the contract.

And then lastly, with regard to the um also the scale of operations, they provided a chart um that actually identified the um well I think it was the other one, but it it one of the charts identified like the information for subcontractors.

Are you able to present something like that to show percentages of how much of this actual dollar amount is going to each location we could certainly follow up with you?

You mean through the vendors and the procurement pro as part of the minority and women-owned enterprises?

And the reason I'm asking these questions is because we have had a couple of people come in to provide testimony specifically regarding the quality of the food that's being served specifically at the jail.

So if we're going to increase by 17 million, I would like to see that align or equate to better um meals because the description of what was being provided did not reflect um this particular pamphlets, especially as it relates to nutrition.

So I'm just wondering if the 17 million is is going to give you the dollars you need to do a better job or for those particular inmates specifically.

I'm speaking specifically about the jail.

Yeah.

So we are minority.

We're we're sympathetic and hear the public commentary related to complaints about the quality of the food, um, nutritional value of the food.

We also monitor that internally.

We have a grievance process where the people in our custody can grieve a variety of issues.

We monitor it literally daily.

Our the people in our custody tell us where our vulnerabilities are and where we have to improve.

I could share with you that I personally track this, and just for the calendar year since January, it's not in the top 30 grieved issues in the jail.

I I think for any one month, remember 5800, 5900 people in our custody.

The most amount of grievances we got related to the issues you are speaking of are 23.

No, it's it's bigger than um who relates the comp who makes the complaint because we have a plethora of issues.

I just far more important than food, but they aren't require requesting 17 million dollars to solve them.

I so I just want to make sure we're as to the quality, your concern seemed to be among the things was the quality of the food.

We work with the vendor consistently to make sure that we're providing um requirements related to calories, re requirements related to new nutritional value, and we hear the concerns about quality.

We're I spoke to them this morning about that very issue.

It's pretty consistent.

The people in our custody are telling us, not that the food is perfect, but they're not grieving it related to the quality and content.

And maybe a better question, or maybe a better uh line of communication would be um if you could provide not just myself but the other commissioners, maybe just a list of, for example, today, what can they expect to be served?

Maybe that will give me a better window.

I think we have menus.

Yeah.

Would that help you?

That would be correct.

Of course.

Commissioner, I also want to add, and maybe I should have emphasized this more during my presentation that the increase, a lot of it is tied to the increase in inflationary pressure, increased labor costs, everything costs more since the contract was established.

So a lot of that is tied to the CPI.

The percentage.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you both.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Scott.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um Jason, I one I want to thank you for um the presentation, and then also when we had our brief in, I just appreciate the the info that you you've uh been able to give out.

So the the current contract, and I forgot to ask this current contract right now is $56 million plus.

We're adding an additional um $17 million, correct?

Correct.

Two questions.

One, what was last year?

What was the the contracted amount, and then what was this the the amount that we actually spent?

Did we did you come to before us to change that last year?

For 2025.

Yeah.

So the original approval was four was 42, correct?

Yeah.

It went up to 56 on the first renewal and 17 additional additional for the renewal we're talking about this morning.

Okay.

And that increase is just the cost of food and the cost of delivery with the cost of gas going up, the cost of food going up.

That's what that seventeen is.

Yeah.

Okay.

I just wanted to make sure, and and um again, I appreciate I asked a lot of questions on a briefing.

Thank you so much for your thank you.

Commissioner Stamps.

Thank you so much, Chair.

Um, my first question is, and and forgive me if I'm I'm mistaken or I overlooked something, but is this the first time this information has been shared with us?

Did I did I miss it?

Because it's possible.

The the handout you from that's from the Department of Public Health.

Um I don't know if in previous years.

No, I'm talking about your slides, what you're presenting with us now.

Yes.

This is the first time.

Correct.

Is there a reason we didn't get these sooner to be able to ask relevant questions?

Well, I well, and thank you for the question, Commissioner.

I did reach out to the county board trying to make myself available to anyone who might have had questions, and I certainly offered a tour, but as is usually the case when we have a contract item coming before the board, I prefer a prepare presentation and then deliver it to answer questions.

So in the future for contracts like these, if you would like an advanced copy of our slide deck, I'm certainly happy to accommodate them.

Yes, thank you.

That would that would be good.

Also, I uh did um have an opportunity to tour the facility, so thank you for engaging me on the tour.

And um while I was on the tour, a couple of things stuck out to me.

And um, I'm looking at this really beautifully prepared handout.

It has all kind of fruits and vegetables, but I didn't see any fruits and vegetables for detainees while I was there.

As a matter of fact, I was told two things that was concerning to me.

And it was A, that um fruits and vegetables are only given to on special menus, and then the gentleman was about to say, and we don't want to encourage nefarious behavior as if to imply that having fruits and vegetables will become competitive.

So my curiosity is that in this with this increase, will there be an upgrade to the full complement of a nutritious and balanced meal, or would it be just more processed foods?

Because on the menu that I looked at, actually, not even the menu that I def I I received a copy of, but as I was taking the tour, I pointed out that the detainees are going to be served a the cold breakfast that was peanut butter and something else three times that week, or bagel, that there were two coal meals, one hot meal, but the hot meal included ground chicken that was going to be with the beans and rice from the lunch that day.

And then I asked, okay, so you're telling me that you're reaching the not necessarily the nutritional value, but the caloric value.

And so I said, okay, understanding that, what happens when detainees are still hungry?

And then I was told that they could buy from the commissary.

Last year when I was um did a uh activity for Father's Day at the jail, one of the complaints that came out was the quality of food that's actually for purchase in the commissary that's often old, often um past the date, um, and not really enough of it.

So just making sure that people are being fed well seems to still be a concern um even as we're trying to get 17 million dollars.

So I want to know how people are going to be fed better with a higher quality.

I also saw um on the handout.

So this is this question is based on the handout that I just received or that we just received about the scratch kitchens.

So scratch kitchens is meals that's going to be cooked, although uh when I was there just last week, two of the three meals are pre-packaged.

And so I didn't really even see ingredients that would be used in scratch cooking.

So um can you comment or respond to any of my observations, please?

So thank you, Commissioner.

I appreciate that.

And um thank you for taking the time to come visit the central kitchen.

It was nice having you there.

Um there's a couple questions there.

I'm I I want our vendors to be able to discuss a little bit about how our menus are formulated and how that diet and those options come to be.

But there's also another element of your question that is speaks more to our operations around security and what the commissary process looks like.

So if you'll allow, I think it would be best for our colleagues over at CBM to talk a little bit about the nutritional standards and how those menus are formulated.

And then my colleague here can discuss a little bit about some of the unique operational considerations that are that exist in the in the jail.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who is it?

Hello, everyone.

Uh can you hear me?

Can you all hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

Uh morning, everyone.

My name is Justin Barthel.

I'm registered dietitian representing uh uh CBM Premier.

All of our menus are uh uh designed, uh reviewed and approved by a registered dietitian who is licensed in the state of Illinois to practice medical nutrition therapy.

So she works very closely with the sheriff's office to ensure that the variety that we have on the menus is acceptable, that it meets all nutrition guidelines for RDAs and DRIs, uh so on and so forth.

Yes.

Yeah, DRIs are dietary reference intakes, and RDA is recommended dietary allowances.

They're just new, they're kind of the gold standard of nutritional values across the country.

We serve both.

But I didn't see any analogy.

I know this is coming.

I saw very few, I saw with my own eyes, very few fruits or vegetables.

I saw some carrots and I saw some apples.

But when I asked about fruits or vegetables, I was told that they're only given to people or detainees with a special diet, that they are not given to the general population and that they don't want to incur or encourage nefarious behavior.

That's what was stated to me directly.

We serve we serve uh fruits and vegetables to everybody.

Uh it's part of the is part of the menus, part of the nutritional makeup.

Um it it if it's if there's something that we want to increase or or or change up or something like that, we can certainly look at that, but uh it we currently do serve that stuff.

What is the frequency?

Because I didn't see it.

So I'm just telling you what I saw, and I don't believe that would be that they would not show me because I was there for this express reason.

So what is the frequency in which detainees are served um fresh fruits and vegetables as a part of their meal plan?

Depending on the diet.

So diets typically um diets typically receive fresh fruit depending on the diet, they could receive it at lunch and at dinner.

Uh typically at dinner we do canned fruit, and at lunch we do fresh fruit just because of the nature of the the delivery of the diets because the the lunches are packaged and the the dinners are made so they can go on the trace.

So and for regular diets, they get vegetables at every um at every dinner.

Uh we do fruit once a week for the for the general population.

So for the general population, it's not regular, it's only once a week.

For canary for fruit, yes.

For fruit.

Correct.

And it's what is the frequency for vegetables and at which meal?

I because I'm I'm only asking you to repeat that because I think you just said it.

Yep, every every every day at dinner.

So I I can't really remember the day I was there last week.

It was either Wednesday or Thursday last week, and um lunch was prepackaged, and I was told that the red beans and rice or beans and rice with some ground chicken was going to be served that evening.

But there was I did not see a vegetable, neither was there any mention of a vegetable that was going to be served with that meal that evening.

And and so I guess when so bear with me, because I'm a school teacher, okay.

And so I remember having the little tray in the picture of what a well-balanced meal looked like.

Um, and I remember as a part of that food pyramid or that picture that fruits and vegetables at most or all meals were really was a part of that in terms of meeting nutritional, not just caloric value, but nutritional value.

So please help me to understand the difference between what I grew up understanding to be a well-balanced meal and what you're purporting based on the dietitian is a balanced meal for detainees.

So all of our menus meet all the RDAs and DRIs there are planned to meet all of all of those, so they meet all of the standard nutrition guidelines.

So the what what you're talking about is more of a general uh guideline for for general population.

Again, I'm just sorry, you might have mentioned it at the RDA is again maybe just refer to it.

I I'm not sure if you're correct.

The acronym, sir, I'm sorry.

Uh the RDA is recommended dietary allowances, yes.

So I believe answered your question.

So every, like I said, every dinner has vegetables planned for it.

So I'm not sure for that particular meal if you didn't see it or and and beans are part of fruits and vegetables too.

So is beans.

Vegetable.

Well, a little bit of both, really, but it's it is a vegetable.

We don't I don't classify No, I'm asking you because I specifically asked while I was there if beans were being considered a protein or in some other food category.

You just said that they could be both.

So I'm asking, when you're making up the menus, are you considering beans as a twofer?

Like this can be considered either a vegetable and a protein.

We don't plan, we don't design the menu necessarily in categories.

We design the menu to meet the recommended dietary allowances and the dietary reference intakes.

So we take into account the protein that comes with the bean, but then we also take into account any of the other vitamins and minerals.

We're not necessarily looking at it as a category when we plan for it for the nutritional makeup.

We plan we when we plan the menu to see what's on the actual tray, that's more of a presentation.

Does it fill the tray?

Things like that.

But when we're actually designing the menus nutritionally, we're looking at the protein in the bean, we're looking at the the vitamin A, vitamin C, so it's it's more specialized in the numbers rather than a category of protein or a category of vegetable, if that makes sense.

Let me ask you this.

Um and then and then is that a diet you would consider good for you on a regular on a daily basis?

Yes.

Would you be open to having the ground chicken and red beans and rice or feeding that to your family?

Like when I said it or the two cold packaged meals, is that something you want to send your son or daughter off to school with and feel like they're good?

Absolutely.

And and and why is because again, uh it it meets all of the dietary reference intakes and the the recommended dietary allowances.

So that's that's why I would definitely for myself and for my family.

Okay, thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Those are all my questions, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman.

Um, what about the inmates that have to suffer from uh chronic illnesses like diabetes or so maybe allergic to certain foods?

Has is that being monitored?

I'm sorry, can you can you please repeat the question?

Yeah, what about the inmates suffer from a chronic chronic illness such as diabetes or or some uh ailment or some uh they might be allergic to certain foods?

Is that being monitored?

Yeah, if they have a medical condition.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

We we custom design uh those medical diets.

Our dietitian takes the regular menu and redesigns the the menu to meet the medical nutrition therapy for whatever diet it is.

We do diabetic diets, we do dental soft, we do um gluten intolerance, um, all kinds there's about 17 different uh special diets that we plan for.

Okay, thank thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner McCasco with the fellow.

Before I go to Commissioner McCasco, were there any other commissioners?

Commissioner McCasco.

I I don't want to beep this down, but I'm just asking with regard to the 17 million.

I'm really trying to wrap my head around.

I know that there's a a portion of it, a percentage of it that's going to be going towards inflation.

The meals that were just described, because when I did my tour, I didn't really take a look at the kitchen.

I was more concerned with the actual people that were there.

The dietary number that was shown online was actually on the chart, was actually a little under 1300.

So we know that they're a little under 1300 that are getting these special meals that are receiving the special quote unquote meals.

So my question again, with the 17 million, I understand the inflation part.

Do you have something that breaks those numbers out to say this is because of food cost?

This first two million is due to food costs, and then the other uh 15 million is specifically because of the number of increases in inmates, or we're gonna be providing a better meal because it's almost like if you're um we can't have it both ways.

We can't say that um we're having issues in the prisons or the people are angry, whatever, and we're not feeding them.

People get angry when they're hungry.

So if we're feeding them beans and rice and thinking that that's going to be culpable to a full meal that sustain them for the day until the next pre-packaged meal or whatever, um that just doesn't make sense.

So I'm really hoping that this 17 million dollars that you're asking for will reflect larger meals, not just the recommended RDA, because if RDA was the um the protocol, then half the world would not be obese in according to the RDAs.

So we want to make sure that we're actually not creating our own sabotage but feeding them these very, very small or skimpy meals, if that makes sense.

So what are we doing to actually for this $17 million?

What are you going to do with it to make the meals either more robust, or is it that we're receiving so many more inmates that we must increase the number?

What is the actual reality?

And I I do appreciate that question, and we you know share those concerns.

Um I have to get you a more detailed breakdown, but what I can tell you is that the CPI and the increased cost just to do anything in the county in the United States, coupled with the fact that we're forecasting for what the population might be.

The vast majority of that increase that's being requested is to serve that population.

Now I can get you a more detailed breakdown of where that falls and what if any of those dollars might go towards exploring different menu options.

I just that's not information that I have in front of me now.

But I will follow up with you.

And I think a menu will be more reflective of what the totality of what of the types of meals that we serve.

Okay.

Commissioner Trevor.

Thank you, Chair.

Just have a really quick just math question here.

I've been listening to this and trying to figure out whether or not this is even adequate.

Uh you said I think when you brief me, you said you serve some approximately six thousand um uh inmates a day.

Is that correct?

Or is that too high?

Probably more than that, but approximately 19,000 meals a day.

19,000 meals a day uh times 365.

Uh so we're getting um uh about six point nine million meals a year, uh, according to my quick math here.

So we're talking about um just uh basically um about $2.50 uh a meal per inmate.

Is that does that sound right to you?

Commissioner, we've uh uh calculated looking at the contract that it's uh approximately seven dollars a day per detainee.

The daily the the meal cost per meal fluctuates between two dollars and thirteen cents and three dollars and twenty-two cents, depending on the type of special diet that might be required.

But yes, you're you're you're you're in the ballpark.

Right.

And and you know, given the the cost of food, the cost of labor.

Um and I hate to be asking this as a county commissioner uh in a uh uh era of budget tightening, but is this enough to feed adequate meals to um detainees?

It certainly is.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Opposed?

Opposed the motion carries.

Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you.

Commissioner Lowry.

Thank you, Chairman.

I now move to approve the following two items.

26-0722, a proposed resolution for the suburban Cook County wraparound service for survivors of gun violence initiative.

And item 26-0723, a proposed resolution for the Cook County Wraparound Services for Survivors of Gun Violence Initiative 2026.

It's been moved by Commissioner Lowry Sec by Commissioner Sky Stamps to approve.

Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Stamps.

Commissioner Scott to approve 260722 and 260723.

We have a representative of uh JC, if you want to give an overview if there's any questions on this.

Needless to say, this is a continued commitment of the administration on uh gun violence initiatives.

Um we're adding more of this this time.

Um but we've had a have added a significant amount previously.

Okay.

Yes.

A brief overview.

If there are any just say the positive things that we've done with this one and the new uh with these awards in in the past.

Thank you, uh Chairman Daly.

Good morning.

Oh, good morning, good.

Good morning.

Okay.

Hello, everyone.

Good morning.

Uh thank you uh for having the Justice Advisee uh counsel here.

Avicdas, uh director of the Justice Advisory Council.

Avik Das, uh Director of the Justice Advisory Council, and these are opportunities that we're always very proud to be able to reflect back to the County Board.

The continued commitment, as the Chairman mentioned, to supporting survivors of gun violence as part of our overall portfolio of addressing community safety and specifically gun violence, both in dealing with those that are most proximate to the experience of gun violence as either potential shooters or potential victims directly harmed by gun violence, and those swept up in the aftermath of the experience of gun violence.

So last year we had the survivors of gun violence wraparound services initiative sent out for $5 million to the City of Chicago and $5 million to the suburbs.

What we were pleased to do was be able to stand up the first cohort ever of survivors of gun violence providers, specifically in the City of Chicago, but we had to reissue the suburban survivors of gun violence notice of funding opportunity earlier this year.

And this came after some comprehensive listening sessions and feedback, and thank you to Commissioners McCaskill, Commissioners Miller, and Aguilar for assisting us with being able to get out into community to understand how it is that we can make sure that there is more participation in our suburban survivors of gun violence initiative.

And so what you have before you is a continued assurance and commitment to get out all appropriated dollars for that specific arena of work and to make sure that we're standing up a growing cohort of providers, both in the city and the suburbs, to be able to work with families, communities in different spaces in addressing the trauma and the supports needed in the aftermath of the experience of gun violence.

And so with that, I'm hopeful to continue to garner your support and insight as we continue to build out this continuum of grantees, both on the gun violence prevention side, re-entry services side in the area of domestic violence as well and for youth and families.

That's what we want to continue to build in a world that comes after the American Rescue Plan Act funds are expiring.

We want to be able to continue our work at the county level to support these communities.

Any questions for your uh hard work as well as all the community groups that do a tremendous job.

Thank you.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Opposed the motion carries.

Thank you.

Okay, Commissioner and I.

Yes, Chair, I'd like to move to receive and file item 26-1562.

This is the report.

Scouts independent um evaluation of Cook County's early resolution program.

Second by Commissioner Scott to approve item number 2615.

Receive and file, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, good make the uh number is 26, 1562.

1562, correct.

Dana, Dana.

Thank you.

Um Daly, um, honorable commission commissioners.

I'm Dina Algate, manager at the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development.

Um thank you so much for your time today.

We have an esteemed panel to present a preview of findings from Independent Evaluator Stout's second evaluation of the eviction component of our Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt Program.

Um today's presentation is a preview, and we have some slides that should be coming up soon.

Um the full report will be released later this summer, and we will share it with commissioners as soon as it's available.

So without further ado, I'd like to introduce our presenters, the honorable Judge Barrett, Bob Glaives from the Chicago Bar Foundation, Karina Segalini from the Chief Judge's Office, Sandy Thamonico from Stout, the Independent Evaluator, and Denerica Brooks of Legal Aid Chicago.

Judge Barrett.

Good morning.

Good morning, everyone sorry, I'll figure the microphone out eventually.

Good morning, everybody.

My name is Michael Barrett.

I'm the Deputy Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in charge of civil operations.

Let me begin by saying that Chief Judge Beats sends his regrets that he was unable to attend today, but also his appreciation to the commissioners and to the chair for the opportunity to present this material to the committee today.

Today, myself and the partners who you just heard about will provide you with an overview of the Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt Program, also known as CLAAD, which encompasses the early resolution program and the mortgage foreclosure mediation program.

These programs relate to cases and litigants in housing cases such as mortgage foreclosure, evictions, tax deeds, things like that, as well as consumer debt cases that are pending in the circuit court of Cook County.

The programs provide immediate legal aid resources to litigants, both inside and outside the court.

CLAD is the result of collaborative efforts between the President's Office, the Chief Judge, and the Circuit Court, as well as the County Board and its agencies and the multiple partners who actually provide the services, some of whom are with us today.

Throughout its roughly six-year existence, CLAAD has attained national recognition for its truly innovative approach to comprehensive programs in the areas of housing and consumer debt and exemplify the use of limited resources in a most effective manner.

Among other things, the partners with me today will highlight for you the following.

How the brief services effectively improve the overall court processes for litigants engaged in court cases, how brief service provisions afforded through these programs, facilitate efficiencies for litigants similar to those who also receive lengthier services, and how the financial investment devoted today returns more to the cities to the citizens, I should say, of Cook County and through the county board.

My experiences in this space are not limited to my current role as deputy chief of civil operations.

I had the first hand knowledge when I said in Markham, both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic when these programs came into existence.

And I had first hand opportunity as a judge hearing cases such as this to see and observe the effectiveness of these cases and the positive impacts that these programs have on litigants and the courts themselves.

At this moment, I'd like to turn the process, however, over to Bob Glaives.

Mr.

Glaves is the executive director of the Chicago Bar Foundation and an integral partner in the CLED programming.

Thank you, Judge.

And thank you all of you for your leadership and support on this program from day one.

And thanks to the President and her team, the Bureau of Economic Development, the Circuit Court, and all of our nonprofit partners in this program.

I want to specifically recognize Commissioner Naya, who I'm looking right at, Commissioner Daly to my right, and Commissioner Britton who were with us from the very when this was just the seed of an idea back in 2020 helped to develop and shape the program, and Commissioner Lowry really jumped right in when he came onto the board as well.

But all of you have been really integral in your uh feedback and support uh throughout the years to continually evolve and improve this program.

As Judge Barrett noted, this really is a uh a model public-private partnership that uh we've collectively put together here that's truly transformed the eviction court process.

I think you all know a lot about the program, so I'm not going to go into depth, although we can answer questions about that.

But there is a slide that really highlights the comprehensive and uh really multi-tiered services available from all the way from community outreach all the way to extended legal representation.

The program centers around an innovative service model that really focuses on getting people the right level of legal help that they need to get a fair outcome in their case.

And with the help of a neutral case manager working with the court, all tenants and small landlords who are unrepresented get access to a legal aid lawyer for brief legal advice, and the court process has been modified to make time for that to happen.

Depending on the nature of their case and programmed capacity, tenants can then get further legal assistance from there.

And while it's a smaller percentage of tenants who need that further assistance, it's especially critical for that group who often have legal defenses or are especially vulnerable to be able to get that representation.

Due to capacity constraints, not everyone who needs that further representation can get it today.

So that's something we're continuing to work on to improve uh in the program.

That's one of our areas of improvement.

But that said, you'll hear more from my fellow panelists the rest of the way.

That uh, as Judge Barrett already noted, it's made a tremendous impact for people facing eviction and for uh just improving the process for everyone.

Karina will tell you more about how it's transformed access to the court process and perceptions of fairness.

Sam from Stout, who is our independent evaluator will tell you about the key findings from their evaluation, including that thousands less people are getting evicted today, and that the program is a solid economic investment as well.

And then lastly, Denerica is going to tell you more about the just the real world impact for real people in Cook County and why this really matters.

So, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Karina to tell you more about the court piece.

I just want to say thank you again for all your leadership and support.

We're proud to partner with you on this program.

And happy to answer questions.

Please add Commissioner Moore to the roll call.

And yes, I add Commissioner uh yes on our previous roll calls.

Stan.

Yes, and previous roll calls.

Good morning, Commissioners Karina Segalini, on behalf of the Chief Judge.

Um I'd like to reiterate that all the points that Judge Barrett and Bob made are important to contributing to a better experience in the court for all litigants.

Can you guys hear me okay?

Um Bob gave a really good overview of how embedded uh these services are within the eviction process, um, both before and after litigation.

Before a litigant even gets to court, the community outreach creates awareness of resources and begins the trust building process.

Once a litigant comes to court for the first time, the ERP process ensures that each litigant has the opportunity to meaningfully access those resources.

While this adds some extra time to the process, litigants are able to speak immediately with lawyers at no cost directly from those court calls.

The lawyers educate the litigants about the process, their rights, and guide them to the best possible outcome for their situation.

This helps litigants remain engaged in court, participate more consistently, and feel that the process was fair and unbiased, even if they need to move out of their current housing.

Next slide, please.

When litigants are educated and feel that the process is fair, we often see a transformation in participation and cases and a greater perception of trust and fairness in the judiciary.

After several years of ERP, we have seen dramatic changes in the eviction landscape.

This slide highlights some of the changes from pre-ERP and to post-ERP, and I encourage you to look at those the slide more closely after the presentation.

Some of the highlights include extending the time it takes for an eviction to occur.

Instead of as few as seven days, now it's a minimum of 14 to 28 days before an eviction can occur, which allows meaningful access to legal aid.

The default rate has declined.

Instead of a nearly 50% default rate that we had pre-ERP, we are now around 16% to 23%, which is almost a 50% decline in the default rate.

All six courthouses now have at the same access to legal aid.

Pre-ERP, many of the suburban courthouses were shut out of legal aid because of due to staffing issues, and the legal aid agencies could not actually staff uh legal aid in the courthouses.

Now the court has leveraged technology and we can provide the same legal aid access to all six courthouses.

At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Sam D.

Domenico from Stout, and she's going to go over the more detailed highlights of the report.

Thanks, Karina.

Good morning, commissioners.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity today.

My name's Sam Domenico.

I'm a director at Stout.

Stout's been working with the Barr Foundation and the legal aid providers across Cook County for several years on independent evaluation of the ERP program.

This is our second evaluation report, as earlier panel panelists noted.

And before I jump into some of the key evaluation findings, I want to just highlight again what Bob and Karina have mentioned, which is this program is really truly innovative and a one of one of a kind model.

We've evaluated eviction-related programs in about 40 different jurisdictions across the country.

And as far as I'm aware, this is the only program who is tailoring the types of services that tenants are receiving to their circum to their own case circumstances.

Next slide, please.

Driving that innovative model is uh three primary data sources that we've helped the providers collect and have analyzed as part of the this new evaluation.

Their intake and interview data, information about the clients, households, their case circumstances, and what their goals for their case are.

Second is attorney perception data.

So what is the attorney's perception of the impact that their services are having on clients and their ability to achieve their goals?

And then lastly is a client follow-up survey.

So clients are being texted after their case is closed, asking whether or not the services help them achieve their goals.

Next slide, please.

So I think we have three key findings here that I wanted to share.

Um first, brief services are effective for certain client populations.

We use those three data sources on the prior slide to analyze for whom and in what circumstances are clients able to achieve their goals through this program.

There are three key data points that do impact the ability for a client to achieve their goals.

One is confidence, second is the amount of back rent owed, and third is household income.

So what we see in the data is after clients are receiving services, they are more confident in their ability to achieve their goals.

And then for clients who are in more favorable economic positions, so clients who owe less back rent and clients who have relatively higher household incomes, are they able to achieve their goals at higher rates.

I think one of the most interesting findings from those data sources is some of the attorney perception findings.

So 74%, almost three quarters of ERP attorneys believe that the services they provided avoided a destabilizing move for their client.

And then even in cases where clients aren't able to achieve their goals, the brief service have likely helped them avoid some sort of disruption to their lives.

Next slide.

Second finding, and Bob talked about this earlier, but the model here is really tailored to meet the needs of the residents and deliver them the right level of service based on their circumstances.

80% of cases where the client didn't receive more legal services is because a legal services attorney indicated that more assistance, more legal assistance, would not have materially reduced the harm that that client would experience.

I think that's really an indication, as we'll see later, of the responsible fiscal use of these dollars.

Folks are getting the level of service that is required for their case.

Twenty percent, so the the other 20% of clients who have not received extended representation have not received those services due to capacity issues.

And then of that 30% of that 20%, 31% were living in suburban Cook County and would not have qualified for additional extended representation within the city of Chicago's right to counsel program.

Next slide.

For some households, uh legal services are not the only answer and are not the only form of assistance that they they need.

One of the data points that we um worked with the providers to collect was what other non-legal services would have been helpful for clients.

Those types of services included most frequently identified were rehousing, employment, household budget budgeting, and assistance enrolling in public benefits.

So while the legal services that were provided and continue to be provided through ERP are certainly crucial, they're not the only type of services that clients in ERP need.

Next slide.

We've got a few metrics and visualizations here around some of the key findings related to client satisfaction.

So 97% of ERP clients, we lost the slides.

97% of ER ERP clients were either very satisfied or satisfied with their experience.

And as Karina mentioned before, we've got a significant decrease in the default rate post-ERP implementation.

Next slide.

Lastly, I want to mention the return on investment.

So our preliminary estimate is that for every dollar that's being invested in the in the integrated model of brief services and extended representation, there's a $3.41 cent to $4.25 return on that dollar invested.

These are public benefits that are related to social safety net responses that are often required to respond to people, Cook County residents who are experiencing housing instability.

And this return on investment is primarily driven by just the breadth of the number of clients that are served by ERP.

Thousands and thousands of clients have been served to date through the brief services component, and then also several hundred more have been served through the extended representation component.

Thank you.

I'm going to hand it over to Denarica for further comments.

Good afternoon.

Thank you so much.

I know I'm crying, but tears of joy because I know me and my kids are safe from him.

I really appreciate this, and I am truly grateful for having you in our lives and all the help and support you are continuing to give me and my family.

This is a sentiment that is not uncommon when tenants have access to an attorney either to avoid an eviction filing or to preserve their housing after an eviction has been filed.

I have three really brief examples.

Kelly fled the apartment she shared with her abuser due to domestic violence.

Well, she explained to the landlord that she'd left and was living in a shelter.

Kelly was told that she couldn't and that she needed to contact her abuser and work out the unpaid rent balance.

She was sued an eviction court.

Tanya faced eviction for a messy home as she battled postpartum depression that followed a traumatic birth, troubled or coupled with a slow recovery.

She faced eviction because her home wasn't pristine and because she had a verbal argument during one of her toughest days.

All things she corrected before the case was ever filed.

Finally, Sarah.

Sarah had to choose between paying rent and a car repair for the car that she used as her job and to get her children to their activities.

Sarah decided to catch up with rent later, calculated that she needed two paychecks to fully catch up, and she told that to her landlord.

Unfortunately, the landlord sent the case to an attorney and said that he could no longer communicate with Sarah, who continued to beg to pay her rent that she had saved.

And no one allowed Sarah to pay that rent that she had saved until an attorney was involved.

Life happens.

It happens a lot more nowadays as rugs continue to be pulled from underneath people.

But what remains clear is the fact that tenants need access to an attorney to make informed decisions, to write a wrong, or to preserve their stability.

Landlords need access to this program so that they can be informed about their decisions and connect their tenants to the resources that they need to resolve their housing instability.

Access to this program provides that access as well as access to complementary services like rental assistance and targeted referrals to other needs like social work and social services.

So thank you for your time.

And we encourage you, if we can just go to that last slide, to share and spread the word about this program that there is help at the courthouse, that there is help with legal aid, and that we are present to help our residents in Cook County.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

And let me also say how we see many programs that are really indeed helping the citizens of this county.

And this is indeed one of them.

And all of your outstanding work.

If it's within the county or sure.

But they do get referrals to other programs that can assist.

And we also can act them with two-on-one and the homeless services where we're needed.

And I think based on this report, we're going to look at how we can strengthen some of those referral opportunities across our programs.

Thank you very much.

Commissioner Nye.

Thank you, Chair.

First off, I I want to just, you know, thank you all who who are here.

You know, I judge Barrett, thank you for being here.

Um also want to just acknowledge this has been six years.

It's hard to um think that it was six years ago when these conversations were happening.

And I know um Commissioner Sufferdin and Britain, of course, man, uh of course uh Chairman Daly were uh instrumental in in helping, you know, build this, but it really was um the beauty of the collaboration that was happening, not only with the chief judge, but also with the agencies that are present here.

So Bob, thank you so much.

Um, and others who um really uh saw the need, understood that we did not want another 2008, right?

Um, in which people are losing their homes and we're so intentional in the program.

Um I often enjoy when I'm able to jump on the calls um how it pivots and how it really is reflective of how we need to act as a government body um to ensure that we are perfecting the program.

And what has been presented today shows just that the intentionality of ensuring that we are um putting both parties um at the forefront and we're ensuring that um we see what we can do collectively to ensure that there is a resolution.

I will say, and I will um uh continue to reiterate this is one of the top, you know, two, three programs that the county has.

It doesn't get enough um I would say uh a light, right?

Uh, in regards to uh yes, people know it's happening, yes, people know that things are um you know happening in in in in the way that it that it again reflects both parties and that it's able to help people stay in their homes.

But the fact that housing is such a crisis here in Chicago and in Cook County, and that we're able to step in through the process to ensure that we can try to mediate, can try to prevent, you know, families, families from losing their home or potentially uh connecting them to resources so that they are not homeless.

It is so crucial.

So I just want to give you all kudos because it was not easy.

I know it wasn't easy, but you are making the dollars go far just based on the return of investment that you've highlighted.

Um and it is really creating such a wonderful change.

So I just want to publicly, you know, acknowledge that and thank you all for working with us uh as commissioners um who uh at the beginning thought of this idea and um really was uh a great collaboration and I don't have anything bad to say about this program.

So I just want to congratulate you all.

Thank you.

Commissioner, thank you for your support.

Thank you, Chairman, and thanks thanks to all for the presentation.

Uh really appreciate it.

Um Bob, I've had the pleasure of serving with you uh in different ways, and um you just you're always moving mountains.

Denerica, you've been doing that ever since you left Loyola Law School, uh the best law school in the history of law.

Um but you know, in the history of law.

But you know, we often as a board in this cook county, we resource various initiatives and programs, and for me it's often hard to determine the efficacy of any program, you know, once it's off and running.

Um we continue to ask ourselves how we can get that data so we can effectively do so.

But I can speak to CLAAD and and just share I've seen the results of it.

Just since January, I've referred probably four different residents to CLAD.

And each and every time I follow up with them, they've received assistance.

And I ran into a young man who I've come to know and I think very highly of last Saturday at the Pancake House.

And he had asked for help because he and his three kids were homeless.

And uh I referred him to CLAAD and I asked him how things were going, and he he really he literally teared up.

He said, Commissioner, we're doing fine.

So I just want to really shine a light on your work, but also do so in a real world, real time kind of way.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Commissioner.

I concur in your loyalist statement, by the way.

Yes, I read July Ola as well.

So I'll added a third one.

Any other questions or comments?

Thank you again for your hard work and dedication.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everybody.

All those who it's been moved in uh second, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Oppose the motion curious.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Thank you, Chairman.

I would like to move for approval uh 26 uh 1732 proposed resolution for the Cook County 2025 storms uh resident relief project.

It's been moved by Commissioner Kevin Morrison, second by Commissioner Naya to approve item 261732.

Um I think the everyone has been approved, and I believe there's your representative.

Alex, are you going to make any of the good morning, Commissioners?

Good morning.

I'm Alex Joves, executive director of Cook County Emergency Management and Regional Security.

Uh the Cook County 2025 Resident Relief Project is funded by the Cook County Disaster Response and Recovery Fund.

The 2025 Resident Relief Project is a one-time program that will provide 15 million in direct grant assistance to eligible residents impacted by the 2025 storms, helping communities recover and rebuild.

This project is a direct result of the federal government's denial to issue presidential disaster declarations for the July and August 2025 storms that devastated communities in Cook County, and we are proud to help support those impacted by the storms.

And again, you stated this was a denial by the administration.

That's correct, Chairman.

Denials.

Chair.

If I may.

Um, that um folks that are maybe potentially living in lower level units.

Um, this is something that um, you know, it it's very detrimental, and I just want to, you know, uplift that because the reality is that um FEMA um has denied some of the Blue States requests for federal funding in disaster declarations.

So the county stepping up, um, I want to specifically thank Commissioner Stamps and Commissioner Aguilar that worked with me on this, and of course, emergency management, the budget team, the president's office in Laura Lekowitz, um, to really do this one time uh program so that we do not turn our backs on the residents that are still living a year later, potentially in hazardous um situation.

So I just want to, you know, uh congratulate you all for um for getting this program forward for stepping up and also just thank all of the partners that have indulged indulgent indulged us in a lot of conversations to build this program.

So thank you, Alex.

Commissioner Trevor.

Thank you, Chair.

I also just want to second everything that um Commissioner and I have said.

Uh the one of the places that was hit very hard by these storms was right on the border with mine and Commissioner Morrison's district, an apartment building, actually a condo building that had its roof ripped off and uh very large building, and those residents were displaced and caught in this sort of uh um I want to say twilight zone that unfortunately condo owners often find themselves sometimes find themselves in when they have these kinds of disasters.

And again, it's this is a one-time um uh uh program to try and address some of these needs across Cook County, not just these these homeowners.

But I think what's what I want to point out is that you know we're facing more and more of these situations um because of climate change.

Uh we find ourselves in a situation where we're trying to do these one-offs at the county level to try and um uh uh deal with the fact that these are being denied at the federal level for political reasons.

Um it's it's an awful situation to find ourselves in.

So I just want to thank the uh everybody who is involved in in passing this.

But I think we also need to realize that we're gonna have more of these situations coming up in the coming months and years, and um we we need to make sure that the federal government hears us on this.

Thank you.

Commissioner Evangel.

Thank you, Chairman.

I want to just commend Commissioner Naya.

When I first came aboard, it was five years ago, besides COVID being on the top line.

I made an effort when I took a survey of my district, which is one of the number number one concerns if flooding was up there.

So I made it my business as a priority that developed coalitions with federal, state, local, and municipalities on attacking the flooding.

It's obvious that Washington is not going to fund uh our problem with for obvious reasons, don't not get into it, but but um flooding is not gonna go away.

We cannot really fight mother nature, but at least we can try to decrease the number the number of floods or the damage that that our residents incur because these are expensive, especially with older for older seniors which live on um on a fixed income.

But I'm glad to see this that we're putting a lot of attention on flooding because it is a problem, it's devastating, it just destroys homes and businesses.

So thank you again, and I will fully fully support this again to think again, thanks again for focusing on flooding.

Thank you.

No, I just want to share my gratitude with all the staff at uh emergency management and regional security and all of our partners uh for moving this forward and all the work that we've done as uh these weather anomalies continue to get more severe, uh be it uh increased flooding uh or more tornadic events.

Uh you know, I was recently at a village board meeting where we had uh go shelter downstairs because there was a tornado that touched down that I came to find out was directly heading toward my sister's house.

Like these are scary moments, and you know, growing up uh in the Northwest suburbs, we did not have so many tornadic events, such flooding events, and um no one should be playing politics uh uh you know with the safety or the ability for individuals to uh you know make best of really tough situations when they're impacted uh by major flooding events.

Uh so I'm proud of the work that we're doing here at the county and uh all of our uh team that's working on this should be commended.

Thank you.

Commissioner Stamps.

Thank you.

Um I I miss saying this to the uh the other team that just left Board of Economic Development, but also to this team.

If we don't get housing right, we don't get anything right.

Um so any effort that we are making to restore people's homes to working order um and to get people on a path of recovery, whether they've been evicted or lost a home, is our good faith effort to keeping people in our county and improving the overall quality of life.

So thank you to everyone involved in this as everyone knows in this room.

Um I just didn't advocate because of my constituents.

You know, in the 23 when I first came to this board, I too was a victim of the floods.

I had a ton of water in my basement.

My uncle was trapped down there.

It's a very terrible, terrible thing to happen to a family, and the cost is is more than we can calculate.

So every dime that we're pouring toward this effort is just efforts and good government, and I'm just again proud of the work that's happening now.

And to uh echo Maggie's point, I think we have to begin to think proactively because as climate change happens and unless guardrails are put on the federal government to make sure that we're good being good stewards of the only planet that we have.

Uh those of us who are have operating knowledge and believe in science are going to have to uh marry that science to real activism.

So thank you all so much for the efforts and this money putting forward to make families whole.

Any other comments?

Let me just add to uh everyone's comments to thank you, thanking the county again for uh your uh Emma th and your fellow members for uh coming forward on this.

And we've all seen terrible storms under previous presidents.

What we have what we have not seen is politics enter and to individuals who are facing the worst scenario of their lives.

Um I've seen and this is worth wrong.

And I'm glad the county has stepped up.

We're uh we're very proud of it, and uh this it shows the commitment of the administration.

I'm sorry, Commissioner Dagman.

Thank you, Chairman.

I also just wanted to echo what you said.

I think we all know that our home is our greatest asset.

And so when your home is deteriorating because of no fault of your own, and the obligation under federal law is the federal government steps up and helps make you whole, you know, because infrastructure and roads and bridges and improvements like that are so baseline required by people's property taxes.

What we pay into the system should return that back to us when our homes are impacted because those roads and those bridges then funnel water into our basements.

So the fact that the federal government has stepped away from that with no real policy objectives and no reasoning, and having the county then have to fill those shoes and step into that space and having us do that and making that commitment shows that we are being fiscally responsible.

We are listening to our constituents, and at the end of the day that we are stepping in to support the people that elected us is so incredible.

And so thank you so much for making this program available to the citizens of the city of Chicago and the suburbs alike, bifurcating that money, looking at where it's targeted, where people need it most, taking in those applications.

People are so grateful for this, and this is government at its best.

So thank you, and I am a huge yes on this.

And on the floor is to approve item number two six one seven three two.

All those in favor signify by saying aye, oppose the motion carries.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I would like to move to accept the amendment to item 26, 1773.

It's been moved by Commissioner Kevin Morrison, second by Commissioner Aguilar to accept the amendment on 2617373.

All those in favor of accepting the amendment signify by saying aye.

Aye oppose the motion carries.

Now Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Now I would like to move to approve as amended 261733.

It's been moved by Commissioner Kevin Morrison, second by Commissioner Aguilar to approve as amended 1733.

And on the amendment.

Any any comments?

This is again the storm resident relief program.

And um I'm looking to see if anyone might make a statement from the administration administration.

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Oppose the motion carries.

Motion to adjourn by Commissioner.

So move.

Second by Commissioner Vasquez.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Oppose the motion carries.

Our next meeting is um business and economic development, followed by workforce.