Thank you.

We have our Bureau Chiefs who will be coming to sit on the dais.

All right.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chairman Daly, and members of the Finance Committee.

I'm Linetta Haynes Turner, Chief of Staff to Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle.

On behalf of President Preckwinkle and offices under the President, I am proud to present our mid-year budget update.

Joining me today are our Bureau Chiefs.

You've heard from Angela Manning Hardeman at the last session.

Zara Ali, Sochi Flores, Valisha Haddocks, Tom Lynch, and Interim Bureau Chief Jamie Myers.

Avic Doss is also joining from the Justice Advisory Council.

Together, they are the backbone of the important and impressive work we do on behalf of our millions of residents.

After my remarks, we will be happy to take any questions.

As you just heard from the Bureau of Finance, or if you just watch the news, we're living in exceptionally challenging times.

The difficulties are undeniable, but so is our dedication to our residents.

Years of disciplined financial management, responsible budgeting, and long-term planning have positioned Cook County to navigate significant economic and fiscal uncertainty.

Despite these many challenges, the county just received two ratings upgrades from Fitch last week, marking six ratings upgrades in five years.

Fitch noted the upgrade reflects the county's reputation for judicious debt management, growing reserves, and addressing long-term liabilities.

Over the last five years, rating agencies have also recognized the county's work to dramatically improve its financial position, implement budget best practices, address legacy pension liabilities, and put forward balanced budgets while also building solid reserves.

This great work enables great work.

Just look at our recent preliminary forecast town hall.

It highlighted the immense breadth, impact, and heart of our county enterprise.

We heard vital testimony and discussion on a remarkable range of priorities that define our mission.

From the public safety and justice, we are leading with forward-thinking approaches to pretrial justice, robust funding for survivors of gender-based violence, and critical domestic violence grant support.

Health equity and behavioral health.

We are strengthening behavioral health systems, supporting HIV education partnerships, and reinforcing Cook County's health lifelong commitment to closing the health care gap.

Housing and community infrastructure.

We're taking a comprehensive approach to community stability and growth, addressing shelter shortages through our housing partners like Connection for the Homeless.

We're also delivering essential infrastructure through the Build Up Cook and Invest in Cook initiatives to support our municipalities.

Economic development.

We're advancing equitable economic development by partnering with the Southland Development Authority, expanding business growth services for thousands of small businesses, and building institutional capacity in the Southland.

And workforce and veteran support.

We're expanding veteran peer-to-peer mental health programs, funding resources to get veterans back to work, and investing in young people through programs like the JTDC Introduction to the Electrical Trades.

We're deeply committed to supporting the people we serve despite the many challenges behind and ahead of us.

We do not shy away from the hard parts of the job.

We are meeting chaos with calm.

We are undaunted by the unexpected, and we stay true to the same mission and vision of the last 15 years.

We are being responsible, we're being responsive, and we are being reliable.

Under the stewardship of President Preckwinkle, our strong financial management and responsible budgeting have positioned Cook County to take a leadership role in transformative government despite the many national and regional challenges.

But I really am most proud of our people.

Every day, thousands of employees clock in and make this county better, provide services to those in need, and do the work.

And it isn't always easy, but at the county, we do hard things.

Let's recognize the reality.

Despite this thoughtful financial management, Cook County is confronting budgetary pressures caused by several outside factors.

Harmful reductions in federal funding to the hospital system by the Trump administration, economic pressures from geopolitical instability, pending litigation, and general inflationary pressures are impacting county finances.

It's under clouds of uncertainty and adversity that I sit before you today to discuss the urgent work we do under President Preckwinkle's administration.

We are unwavering in our commitment to ensure the progress we have made continues forward.

Like I said, at the county, we do hard things and we remain steadfast in our commitment to be a more equitable, fairer county where all communities can thrive.

The offices under the president represents 10% of the county's budget.

That includes approximately 2,000 employees and a total budget of about 285 million dollars.

While the size and cost of our office is modest when looking at our full 10 billion dollar county budget, the impact is vast.

Every day brings a huge range of activity that spans so many areas of importance.

It's always a challenge with these remarks to distill the many initiatives, projects, and programs we oversee.

But I will do my best to summarize our highlights.

Cook County forged this movement and established and served as a national model for how public resources can be effectively utilized to deliver immediate high impact support to residents.

As of March of this year, Cook County has leveraged approximately $7 million in ARPA funds to eliminate over $820 million in medical debt for residents.

Together with the statewide Illinois Medical Debt Relief Program, which has erased an additional $700 million in Cook County, the total medical debt forgiven for Cook County residents now exceeds $1.5 billion, the most medical debt forgiven at the county level in the nation.

The Office of the President also continues to advance the implementation of the Cook County Digital Equity Action Plan while expanding the county's role as a national leader in digital equity policy and systems change.

In FY26, the team is focused on education, workforce and economic opportunity, health and justice, while facilitating community conversations to ensure resident voices continue to inform the refresh of the Cook County Digital Equity Action Plan.

And Bureau of Administration, our Department of Research Operations and Innovation presented its updated performance management structure for OUP and the 2025 Annual Performance Report, which was published in early May and appeared as at Finance Committee in June.

The intent of the new approach is to present a more holistic approach and picture of departmental operations and performance by aligning metrics with clearly articulated goals and outcomes, something that we all want to see.

Our Department of Environmental Sustainability has helped collect material from more than 4,000 homes and diverted over 875,000 pounds of material through the Center for Heart to Recycle Material since January of 2025.

In the villages of Dixmore, Pozen, and Phoenix, recycling services became available for 2,778 homes, and the program has diverted more than 423 tons of recyclable material in its first 12 months.

This year, land for our new medical examiners building has been acquired.

The architect has been chosen and was approved by the board last week.

Now the design process will begin.

The new building will have improved ventilation, increased stability to handle infectious diseases, and improved features for safe for staff safety and visiting grieving families.

The Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security continues to assist municipalities and residents impacted by severe storms, even as the Trump administration denies critical disaster relief funding in Illinois.

EMRS is working closely with partners at all levels of government to conduct thousands of assessments and help affected residents gain access to alternative funding sources.

They are also initiating a one-time storm relief program, which the board passed last week to help residents recover and rebuild from storm damage suffered in July and August of 2025.

In JAC, this year we invested another 20 million dollars in community violence intervention or CVI services.

CVI is an evidence-backed community-led strategy that helps break cycles of violence.

This investment is part of the Cook County's commitment to fund services as a member of the government alliance for safe communities and has a proven track record of success.

Over the last five years, we've seen a 50% reduction in violent crimes, 30% in Cook County alone.

There are likely many factors contributing to this trend, but one thing is clear.

Investing in violence prevention strategies like CVI has made a difference.

The Department of Transportation and Highways has initiated the development of the next major long-range transportation plan, a strategic roadmap that will guide how the county invests in and improves transportation for its residents and businesses.

At the Bureau Asset Management, the Green Building Standards Goal has been completed, and the Green Building Standards version 2.0 have been finalized and available on Cook County website.

We are setting ambitious standards that prioritize decarbonization of operations, reduction of energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and operation expenses.

Our Bureau of Technology will complete a major milestone at the end of July.

The county's technology modernization project will retire more than a hundred legacy applications and transition nearly all county offices to modern platforms.

This initiative reduces costs, including $6.5 million in reoccurring annual savings.

It also strengthens security and reliability and positions the county for more resilient, sustainable technology systems.

And our Bureau of Human Resources, Cook County launched its inaugural engagement survey, of which 77% of offices under the President employees participated in.

Cook County had a strong mean score of 3.86 out of five.

These elements indicate a strong sense of employee alignment to meaningful work and a culture of feedback that drives performance.

Supporting multiple strategies to increase available capital to small businesses.

In its first six months, the program leveraged costs to seven million and assisted over 230 businesses.

BED is also piloting the use of good job standards for employers hiring and training staff as part of the Catalyst Grant program.

The team has also expanded opportunities for affordable housing ownership through its modular homes pilot program, bringing single-family homes to Humble Park, Chicago Heights, and Proviso Township.

And earlier this week, the department made a third round of down payment assistance available, allocating $2 million to assist residents in the home buying process.

And finally, the Bureau of Finance, year after year, is implementing budget best practices, spending taxpayer dollars responsibly, and taking a strategic approach to finances.

They are doing all of this while overseeing our ARPA administration and continuing the work of the ARPA Sustainability Reserve by establishing the policies and procedures necessary to transition priority ARPA funded programs to long-term county funding.

I truly could go on and on, but we'll stop here and say that this work is exceptional because our team is exceptional.

When President Francoicon came into office in 2010, she established the county's values of equity, engagement, and excellence.

These are all embodied in the investments we have made over the years and the programs I've just highlighted.

I hope this was a helpful glimpse into the remarkable work we are doing and the change we are making every day.

This year, we were once again able to accomplish all of this while remaining within our budget targets across all bureaus and departments and offices under the president.

I am proud of each and every one of our employees for the role they play in making this a stronger, safer, and healthier Cook County.

We anticipate being able to meet all budget targets again for FY 2027.

As always, this has been very much a team effort and all made possible because of the dedicated work of everyone in OUP.

Thank you again to each of you, our commissioners and your staff for your continued collaboration and partnership.

Now I would be happy to answer some of your questions this morning.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, uh Luna.

And let me some of the questions.

Yes.

Let me thank you for your leadership and your strong uh ability to talk to every single member and your team and your department the department heads under the president.

The hearings that we have and choose to be in, whether we choose your are uh remarkable.

Um this is under your guidance and your team.

You always talk about your team, but Lynetta, you really have been the one that has stepped forward on all these various issues.

I commend you uh seeing a lot of chief of staffs come and go.

Okay, really have a strong commitment to all the taxpayers of this county because you know the the ability to pass the budget is easy, but implementing it is hard is very hard.

And you know the reach directly menu as well as as I said, your entire team.

Thank you.

We'll begin with Vice Church Laue, and then we'll go in senior seniority.

Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Chief Haynes Turner, uh, for that report.

Uh I'm gonna echo the chairman.

I I truly uh am fortunate to work so closely with you and with other members of the office of the president, including the president, but I think I talked to Samiki and Laura and Matt Richards more than I do my family.

Um but I I thank you for really modeling and extending to the offices under the president uh that model, and that model is it's uh responsiveness, um, it's partnership, and it's a willingness to at least consider doing things different than the way they've been done.

Now I hear no more than I care to hear no.

But that willingness and that consideration is really all I can ask for on behalf of the third district.

So I just simply say thank you for the uh uh ongoing partnership.

Um you all in that in that office as well as the other offices under the uh president uh make my job easier and make me better at what I do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, and Commissioner we'll come back to Commissioner Gaynor, Commissioner Moore.

Um, thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Lenetta, for being here and for so beautifully sharing all of the good work that you do and have done for many, many years.

So I appreciate you and the work and triangulating between a lot of complexity inside of your team and uh with commissioners outside of your team and with the public.

So I have probably one or two questions for each of the different bureaus.

Okay, we've talked about over the last six months since the last budget hearing.

The first one is the Bureau of HR.

So as the chair of the audit committee, while one of my primary uh responsibilities, I feel like, and the things that I have looked at is to ensure that they have uh a full uh capacity and complement of a team.

So um I look at what it takes to get those people with tushes and seats.

It takes about 35 days and has taken over 35 days to give a listing of applicants once they are selected to that office and up to a hundred plus days for other listings.

So I'm curious about what's going on there and how we can pull down the number of days to get the listings of the applicants to the audit team.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Commissioner, for the question.

Is this fine?

Okay, thank you, Commissioner, for the question.

Velisha Haddock's chief of the Bureau of Human Resources.

I'm actually not familiar with the data you're speaking to, so if you could send me that data, I'm certainly willing to check with my team and understand the circumstance and have a conversation about that with the county auditor and with you if you'd like to be part of that conversation.

Yes, I would love to.

Um, you know, we have long talked about the county hiring process and some of the limitations we have with SHACMAN and court orders and just the bureaucracy that happens in government for hiring.

So the Taledo system is the one that we use to kind of make sure that we have a tech system to keep that hiring um you know proceeding, I guess.

So are we using all the functionality of that system?

And are there additional efficiencies that we can make in hiring?

So we are.

We've been through a teledo enhancement project over the last couple of years.

We're in the final phase of that project, so we're confident at this point that we have turned on all the bills and whistles that the system has to offer.

Um and so we are moving forward with those efficiencies as well as other process efficiencies as we continue to evaluate the process.

So then do we we're also triangulating that with a human component?

So if somebody that's like a ticketing system and something sitting on somebody's desk for too long, whatever you determine that too long is that there's a human that says, hey Jerry, you know, that thing has been sitting there for X number of days, you know, what's the problem, or can we move this along?

Right.

So that's that's what the management team does as it manages the recruiters in the hiring process.

So much of the process, as you know, is manual.

So the Talleo enhancements have helped us automate certain phases of the process.

Um, and to the extent that there are people responsible for moving um items along in the process, the management team makes sure that they do that efficiently.

Okay, my last question is you know, there was a lot of movement out of the federal government with a lot of the firings that happened through Doge.

Um, some of those were uh not allowed to happen through court order, but are you seeing an increase in federal candidates that had federal experience?

To some extent, to the extent that they share that information with us.

Yes, we have seen that.

Uh we had a record of hiring employees, former federal employees at our job fair last year.

Um, and this year I don't think that we have a record of those hires from the job fair, but there is some level of increase.

Okay, thank you, Belisha.

My next questions are for Bureau of Administration.

Okay, thank you, Commissioner.

We'll reach out for um a meeting about the assessor stuff.

So not assessor, sorry.

The auditor.

Yes, thank you.

Mr.

Gaynor.

No, I still have a number of questions.

I thought you said your your last go ahead.

Hi, Zara.

Good morning.

So one of the goals listed um in the budget uh book is regarding the warehouse assessment and records retention.

Are we still finalizing that study?

Yes, we are.

Oh, good morning, Zara Lee, Chief Administrative Officer.

Um, thank you for that question.

Yes, we are.

We're in the process of finalizing that report and assessment.

When will it come?

Um within the next 60 to 90 days.

Perfect.

Okay.

And then the Department of Veteran Affairs sits under BOA, and then we have the Veterans Assistance Commission.

So those are two independent agencies.

Is there is it would it be appropriate to pull them together to make sure that those resources and the team building capacity are um unified, or is it better to keep them separate from a budget and resources perspective?

Um, our mission and mandate are in in our framework is different.

We do not overlap with the veteran assistant commission of Cook County.

We are two resources, and we're more of a facilitator connector.

We work with veteran service organization, and we also are in communication with federal, state, and local um government entities.

So kind of so what we do, we um we're more um facilitating as well as communicating the various services for veterans throughout Cook County, not just um some of the framework and services that are just provided in terms of with the Federal Veteran Assistant Commission of Cook County.

So you're saying the missions are different, therefore they have to say separate.

Okay, those are my questions.

Then I have a uh one question for Bureau of Asset Management.

Thank you, Sarah.

Okay.

We have an interim bureau chief, Jamie coming up.

Hi, Jamie.

Good afternoon.

Oh, not quite yet.

Good morning, Commissioner.

Identify yourself for the record.

Sure.

Uh Jamie Myers, interim bureau chief.

Thank you.

Well, I will say that I have been a long-term fan of putting solar panels on buildings to save the money so that we're not spending to Comed.

Over the last couple of years, there's been double digit rate increases from Comed, and us putting more solar panels, pulling in clean energy is both better for the environment and better for our pocketbook.

I know that is one of the of the many priorities we have that has been one of the highest and best.

So thank you for the work.

I know it has been a lot of work triangulating the work between the federal government, uh the money they promised us, and then the money they tried to take away from us for that.

You've done extensive and significant work, and I have you have all my gratitude for that.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

So back to CMAR and the CMAR contracts that we have had at the county.

So there's one for the hospital system campus.

It's a $372 million.

And when this first came up, I had a lot of concerns about that much money in one tranche going out and not having it kind of be blocked out project by project.

And in connection with that, there was a promise made that there would be quarterly reports by project and dollars.

So we would see how those projects are moving forward, how swiftly they were moving forward, and whether or not they were staying on budget.

So I haven't gotten a uh project report since last year in October.

And I was wondering if you're still doing those reports or still committed to doing those reports and when we can receive the next one.

Yeah, uh, Commissioner, we are committed to doing those reports, and I know we're in the process of preparing one now.

Um, so you should see one uh very soon.

Like a week, 14 days.

Just a second.

I'll get it in just a second.

I'm good with that.

Not in just a second.

Uh we'll have that ready for you by mid-August.

Okay, thank you.

Then are those costs for those projects still staying on target as to what they were protected in that original 372 million dollars?

Yeah, they've some of them have gone up a little bit because of the inflation you talked about earlier.

Um, but we're doing everything we can to try to keep those in line.

Okay, thank you.

And then I have a question for the CPO.

Thank you, Jamie.

All right, thank you.

Rafi isn't here.

What's your question?

And we can see if we can handle that question for you or to call him in.

Okay.

So we've talked a lot about in the last few months about how to hold vendors to account for what the county and by proxy taxpayers have bargained for as we continue discussions around the withholding of 10% until contact uh contract is completed or how to identify when contacts gone wrong.

This has kind of given me the ability to talk to other municipalities around the country about their contract provisions and how they negotiate.

So I was curious about how does the agencies themselves monitor this and who really is in charge of monitoring contracts?

Is it in CPO?

Is it with the agency or do the agency go back to CPO and coordinate?

And how fast does that happen?

Okay.

Rafi is on the good morning.

Good morning.

Uh thank you, Lunetta.

Good morning, Commissioner Rafi Serafian, Chief Procurement Officer, and thank you for your question.

Uh generally speaking, contract management pursuant to the uh procurement code is the responsibility of the using departments.

And and so it's their they receive the services, they receive the goods, uh they are they are in constant contact with with their contractors, they receive the invoices and review the invoices before they send them on to the comptroller.

So uh when when a matter arises, uh they they first try to work with their contractors to uh to iron out uh the the matter.

And then if they if they are unsuccessful, then they can then they uh come to the OCP only work with them to resolve the matter.

Um generally speaking, in our boilerplate is the uh in the context of Rafi, let's just put a pin in that for a second.

Okay.

So is there a protocol, you know, when contracts go well, that's great, and that happens in the vast majority of the time.

But when they go sideways, is there some protocol in your office as to how fast you need to know about that to kind of keep it in those guardrails?

There is no uh set in stone timeline uh regarding that.

Should there be?

We we that's something certainly we can look into when we can do some best practices to see if they're uh if the codes of our uh counterparts nationally have something that speaks to to that point.

But we rely, as I mentioned, on our on the using departments to come to us uh as well as well baked into our boilerplate in the context of uh let's say default, etc.

Is the idea of curing.

Uh our in our contracts, we want to work with our vendors to cure any issues that might arise.

And and it's important because we want to have continuity of service and the and we want to have our contractors have a good relationship ultimately with the county.

And so we so I know that our departments try to cure, and uh that's something we we when departments come to us.

That's one of the first questions that procurement will asset department.

Okay, what have you done to work the matter out with the with your contractor?

Have you communicated the issues to them?

Have you given them timelines to cure the matters?

Have you documented it all as well?

So uh that's generally speaking what what uh what we do.

Okay, and all that makes sense.

I'm really just talking about the sliver of contracts where um you know your office is brought in later than maybe you would have liked.

And so at that point, things have kind of gone on for maybe longer than you would have liked.

So I guess what I'd like to know, and I'd like to coordinate with you on in the future is to make sure that there is some documentation as you see fit.

You're the expert, not me, but to kind of put some sort of guardrails around that if it's 30 days or 60 days or whatever it is that you can then give them that information.

Nobody expects a contract to go sideways, but they do happen, especially the vast majority that we have.

Um, and talking to other municipalities and and counties, they have contract compliance staffers that work only to triage problems around contracts.

So they are in CPO, but then they worked with the using agencies so that there is some immediacy around these issues, and then the county is put in a better position.

We're not as passive, but we're more active at saying this is a problem contract, let's kind of get it back online.

That causes downstream um to have less issues for those municipalities, and those people pay for themselves because the work gets done faster.

So that's just something I learned through this whole process of looking into other counties when I was talking about this withholding 10%.

Um at that point, if you could uh if you haven't supplied that information to Rafi, the other counties had have the ordinance that you were referring to.

That's in committee.

Okay.

Well, it's they're not ordinances, they just have to guess staff are without really.

Because that does seem like it would be effective, reduce some of the issues that we like to see that.

We are uniquely positioned in terms of how we are structured versus other jurisdictions.

We certainly um try to do our best to learn from them, but we're also the ones that have 11 separately elected offices.

So that plays a part into all of this.

And of course, uh to what Rafi has said at some complexities, uh, but him and his team are subject matter experts, and having your information will certainly help in future conversations for sure.

I didn't know about this until I started looking into it.

It just seems to be something unique and interesting.

Um, Rafi, one more question about the bottle any bottlenecks.

Um we have heard, you know, just like HR in a county as big as we do, we have there can be existing bottlenecks for procurement.

So what technologies or staffing efficiencies or other workflows do you look at to reduce those bottlenecks?

Uh uh thank you for your question, Commissioner.

So a couple of things.

Uh, and I think I mentioned it um uh uh last week at at the either committee or board meeting.

We have recently filled our our buyer vacancies, and that's going to have a uh a really nice impact on our ability to process uh contract requests and amendments as well.

Uh we we also are have been and continue to work with the CFO's office on a project uh to uh look at the procurement process overall and see where we could improve our process uh to the idea is to make our uh to make our procurement process more efficient.

And so those are those are two of the things uh that we have uh that we're doing uh to improve the way the uh procurements move through move through the OCPO.

When will you have that finalized when you have like a list of things that you can do to improve the time frame?

Well, uh it's ongoing, Commissioner.

So right now, what we would what we do know, and we we we track our procurements uh uh weekly, we do know that that roughly about 70% of the of the procurements that run through the OCPO uh are processed within 12 months.

That's IFBs, RFPs, RFQs, et cetera, and also the non-competitives.

Uh and so uh that that's what we look at.

The thing the thing to keep in mind there too uh when we're when when I talk about 12 months is we is how we measure how we measure that 12 months.

Uh we measure the 12 months from the moment a department submits a request to us all the way through until that that specific item, whether it's a contract request or an amendment, is executed.

If you talk to some of our counterparts around the country about their cycle times, I think an important question to ask them is just that.

How do they how do they define the cycle time?

And I can tell you this, Commissioner, when I've asked that question of some of my counterparts, some of them do not define their cycle time the same way.

They define cycle time the moment that they advertise an RFP, RFQ, or IFB.

They do not factor into their cycle time the critical and important amount of time that's invested to draft the statement of work for that specific solicitation.

So the result is those counterparts are able to report cycle times that are spectacular.

You know, 90 days, you know, 120 days, 30 days.

So that's that's a key question.

The other thing too to keep in mind, also we're the second largest county in the country, and our procurement operation is vast.

And and you have to factor that in as well when you're looking at when we look at our counterparts around the country and and dive into the question of cycle times.

Um, so very few folks ha around the country have a procurement operation as vast as ours.

And you also have to factor in as was mentioned just a few moments ago.

Our procurement operation is highly centralized.

And there are not many procurement operations that are like ours where we're doing all the all the procurement for everybody.

So, Commissioner, just again for clarification, I I indicated in in the beginning that we were going to do 10 minutes for each commissioner and then come back in light up because uh a lot number of the commissioners without seniority.

I I think it we did we did it last in the in the uh budget.

So I would suggest we will come back.

Well, I have a number of other questions, so as long as we circle back, I'm fine.

We are going to circle back, yeah.

Okay.

Um so if we could, if we could really quickly, um uh Rafi was uh um was trying to finish his remark, but I'd like uh our CFO to kind of round that up.

Yes, Commissioner Dagnan, in response to your question, one of the things I've been talking to uh Rafi about is national labs.

Uh uh national labs are very comparable into the size and structure of of here at the county, same volume, uh size and organizational structure.

And some of the things we've been talking about are some of the KPIs they use at national labs.

They call them PALT, which is the uh procurement acquisition life uh lifetime cycle.

And I think there is a disconnect between the way we're capturing that life cycle in relationship to some of the best practices I've seen specifically at national labs.

So I'm in the process of getting some information from my former employee uh for us to benchmark uh we Rafi to look at are we capturing the right data for our cycle times, what additional KPIs can we explore?

Uh, because they definitely uh do uh it a lot quicker, and so I want to bring those best practices here if possible.

He's been very open to learning uh from from uh that information.

Love it.

I love all of that.

I love everything you're saying.

Thank you.

Um for the last thing for Rafi, it's really a very helpful for me to see you in person um along with everybody else, because it's easier to talk to a face rather than it is to talk to video screen.

So next time I'd like to um humbly and respectfully request that you appear in person.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um, well we will see if we make that happen.

We make sure that all of our bureau chiefs are here.

Um we do have members of the leadership team that are remote uh for reasons that we talked about, but certainly we brief you all the time.

Um and our team and Rafi always meet with you in person when they need to.

Thank you.

Thanks.

I have a question for Sochi Flores.

Good afternoon, Commissioner.

So she flores, Bureau Chief of Economic Development.

So I mentioned this with the CFO, and we'll talk more about it with the the clerk and potentially with the land bank.

But um, as you may be aware, because Tyler has not progressed, we are unable to transfer land outside of the county.

So you because the clerk cannot record the transfer.

There's bunches of problems too with the treasurer's office.

So it means that we're kind of stuck.

And the only way to do that is to come up with some like manual process in which they're writing things down, they're putting it on an Excel spreadsheet, they're putting it off to the side, but doesn't get yet incorporated into the enterprise system.

And it's uh time consuming, but I think that's less of their concern.

It's also that there's just limitations on what you're able to do.

Um this is a huge issue for the land bank because they cannot get property to sell, which is how they fund their budget, but it's also I imagine an issue if you think about attracting business, attracting investment.

Part of what the county can offer is is land, especially in areas around commercial and industrial development.

Um, you know, ultimately I think we need a total cost for what the Tyler implementation delay has cost the county and what it continues to cost, because there are knock-on effects.

I don't know if we're considering.

And so as you think about your next year's budget, um, have you kind of taken into account the inability to transfer land and sell land and engage in this way in the way that we have done so in the past?

Interesting question, Commissioner.

Well, thank you.

Um as the Bureau of Economic Development had an also uh being on the board of the land bank.

I work very closely with um Jessica Caffrey at the land bank to really reimagine how we can utilize this asset that we have.

And the land bank over the last decade has done an incredible job of really um bringing back to the tax rolls many of these vacant parcels.

So we are excited to have a process that's more streamlined so that we can reactivate these processes, uh reactivate these parcels.

So last year I worked very closely with Jessica and the Civic Consulting Alliance to think through what it would take to be an administrator of um all these vacant parcels.

It's easy to reimagine and dream big about what the county can do.

Um the challenge is always in ensuring that we have strong infrastructure in order to efficiently do it.

And I think that um we are not underestimating the amount of time effort and systems that are needed in order to do this well.

So we absolutely do need to work very closely with all these agencies.

Um not saying that it's going to be easy, but making sure that there is the systems in place in order to do this more seamlessly is going to be necessary.

The administration of 40,000 vacant parcels is quite an undertaking, and I know that that's needed.

The infrastructure is needed in order to be able to reactivate it and work very closely with developers in order to get these vacant parcels out there and utilize them for more affordable housing or even to utilize some of the commercial properties to reinvigorate our commercial strips.

So not an easy undertaking, and I know that there is a lot of coordination that we'll be required with these separate electeds to streamline the process and utilize the right system.

Okay, I appreciate all of that.

And this isn't a coordination issue.

This is a compute, like there is not the computer system to actually execute these.

So one of the things we may need to think about as a county is that if there's no end in sight to getting that done in Tyler, what is a workaround that might be something that exists for two years?

Because the 35,000 properties that you refer to, like I'll just give you one example.

We sent the map of all the properties to the IQMP, the new quantum facility.

They identified like over a hundred that they may want to use and think about like do they want to do worker housing, do they want to do just in time development.

All of that is going to be compromised.

It's already complicated.

You have to give notice process, you have to send out the affidavits.

We've worked that out.

But if the answer is we can't do something like that because the computer system we bought 110 years ago and are still implementing, we can't do it, then we gotta maybe make a decision now that says as much as we don't want to create a workaround, we also have to function.

And so let's start thinking about the total cost of this delay and where you might we might be willing, whether we like it or not, to stomach some two-year fixes or three-year fixes, things that allow us to at least continue the functions of government.

Because I think there are more of these issues than might be obvious from I mean, we know about the big ticket items, people can't get their money back, the exemptions, the all that, but then there are also these tributaries that are going to be blocked up and cause issues.

So thank you for that.

Um Commissioner and uh to Soshi's point that she has made, and I think that what we have done um from the very beginning is we understand all of those impacts, um not just on the land bank, but on everything.

That is why we have spent significant time and energy on um the property taxation, Tyler, along with uh separately elected offices.

Certainly we will continue to do that work and certainly have some answers.

Uh and um I think it's really something that that the land bank could be talking about um much broader uh within the context of of all of those ongoing considerations around the property tax.

So yeah, yep, that's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, but but the actually the point that I was trying to make is we may want to start considering workarounds because it may not be possible for Tyler to to allow the county to do these functions in a reasonable amount of time.

If that is something that we have to do, we will look at it, but it's not coming from the uh Bureau of Economic Development.

That is a joint decision that we will be making as we continue to look at everything.

And of course, uh she is in constant contact with just Jessica Caffrey.

For sure.

And so those conversations will continue internally.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Um so just a few questions.

First of all, Lynette, I just want to thank you and your team.

Um a few of us just got back from NACO.

Obviously, you've heard of all of the awards that um uh Cook County wants.

Yes.

Um I know Commissioner Dugnan put out a resolution next uh last week, so we've been celebrating that.

Um a lot of the awards were from offices under the president.

And I just want to recognize you all um for that.

Um not to mention that in many sessions and many of my interactions with folks from other counties, um, they kept bringing up two important issues, and they kept they they kept asking me, how did you all do it?

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

And it was the medical debt relief initiative and a guaranteed income.

Yeah.

So those were huge undertakings.

And I and I am very, very proud to say that I'm from Cook County and that we have taken um, you know, such a proactive uh viewpoint with the funding that we received um to ensure that we are making people's lives better.

So I just want to congratulate you all and also uplift that.

Thank you.

Um just a few questions for uh Bureau, uh BHR, human rights and ethics, and veteran affairs, and these are all regarding uh vacancies.

So just wondering if we have a status on labor relations higher.

Um there's uh four vacancies under human rights and ethics, and I know the director of veteran affairs.

Um so if there's any updates on on those uh three um so I don't know necessarily that we have any updates other than what we've already placed um in the template, and as you can understand that those are kind of time um like snapshots of where things are and where they stand.

Um I would be remiss to say that uh similar to procurement, our Bureau of Human Resources has to provide um that support to all of offices under the president and often supports um the separate elected offices.

So I'm not sure if we have any um particular update now.

Other than to say that our vacancy rate is about 13 percent across all of our various funds, um, except for grant funds.

Okay, well, I'll follow up specifically on these.

These are um areas that I know um that I've either um have shown interest in before or that I think are very valuable.

So I can follow up um with uh with the chair's permission, I'll send over specific questions regarding those vacancies.

Thank you.

Um my next question is in regards to emergency management and regional security.

So in the mid-year um, you know, snapchat, like you just mentioned.

Um I know that it it mentions many interactions, um, but I do recall that emergency management gets a lot of federal grants.

Um just wondering if we can get an update on what those grants look like, if we have seen any additional uh potential decreases or um grants that are we're no longer gonna be receiving.

And then my last question is oftentimes when we do um agreements with uh federal government, they typically ask us for certain information or collaboration.

I just want to know what those look like and if if those are in place right now.

Okay.

We have executive director Alex Jovas.

Alex?

Hi, good afternoon, uh Commissioner Alex Joves, uh executive director of EMRS.

Uh just on your question on the grant funding um that we are we're receiving again.

Um I guess there's two uh buckets that I think you're familiar with.

Um obviously the hate uh the DHS Homeland Security uh funds and specifically the UASC funds, the urban area security initiative.

Um so yes, we have seen over the past year um the last fiscal year a 44% cut, and then for this fiscal year another 7% cut.

Um so uh we are working through that obviously with uh D BMS uh to make sure again we can continue our services both with uh one uh moving some of uh the funds over to corporate, but also using um the funds from fiscal years 22, 23, and 24, which are still uh active to cover our expenditures.

Okay, and then you said the seven percent is that in addition to the 44% that you saw last okay.

That's correct, Commissioner.

Um so those are the grants, um, but we've talked at length regarding reimbursements.

For example, FEMA.

Um, do you have an estimate of any reimbursements that either we don't qualify for anymore or have been discontinued?

Well, we are seeing actually um at this point, as you know, last year with the um with the federal um again um with the grants being put on pause, first of all, and then second, obviously the government shutdown.

We did see delays and and we're waiting for that those fundings from those other programs like the emergency management preparedness grant, um, other uh flood mitigation grants that are available.

Uh those have actually in the past um month or so, um, the notice for funding opportunities for those have been released.

So we're working with both of our partners and obviously to put in requests for those uh grant funds.

Do you have a total uh impact?

I don't think the 44% plus an additional 7% and and some other, but I I'm just wondering like what is the total impact when we're looking at you know your overall budget.

I think we'd have to get back to you on the specific numbers on that, um, but we can provide that.

Perfect.

And then my second part to my question was um, you know, whether you've received any request um specifically for um the federal government, like uh uh Homeland Security for any information.

So we did uh as we're doing our fiscal year 26 uh again, state homeland security uh grants and um UASE funding, uh there was uh a request to certify um on our election security work uh part of that uh that are again our our funds are being used uh for what's uh being talked on in the national security priorities.

So we did work with state IEMA uh emergency management agency and the city of Chicago uh and specifically here for Cook County for our election security funds to certify that our funds are being used for again election security, um, and that's more in the IT world and the um uh IT uh to administration.

Not particular data, correct?

No, not data.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks, Alex.

That was my uh final question for you.

Um the next question I have is uh for our Bureau of Asset Management.

Um just an update on the uh boardroom renovations and where we're at with them.

Yeah, good afternoon, Commissioner Jamie Myers, Inter Bureau Chief for the Bureau of Asset Management.

Um we are getting very close uh to being able to turn over the AV system, uh, which is the final system that needs to be commissioned.

Um and so we'll be turning that over towards the end of next week, which will allow the secretary of the board to begin the training process.

Um and then at that point, it'll be a coordination between the secretary, the office of the president, and our bureau on when the first board meeting will be in the new space.

Um security measures are you all looking into um and what does that look like?

I I I you know I've heard a lot about the technology.

Um, you know, we're we're hoping to get fully ADA compliant, um, including you know, having uh multiple TVs and things where people can see.

I'm hoping uh caption is part of it as well, um, etc.

But I've heard of those conversations.

I haven't heard about security and whether what what the plan is there.

Um I have taken a walk um and I'm just a little concerned about the layout and whether we have had those conversations.

Um so we've had those conversations about security with um uh the secretary of the board and the layout of the uh commissioner seating uh is intended to um address some of those concerns that we have now, uh particularly with public speakers and not being able to see what is going on in the entire boardroom.

Um and so if there are additional concerns, I would address those to the secretary, and we can look at what else uh we may be able to do.

Okay.

So the point person for us will be the secretary's office.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um I guess the final question that I have is in regards, I I've done a lot of work regarding ADA.

So I'm just wondering, you know, if there's any major projects um that we're launching um and what you how we're keeping track of the expenditures for ADA adjustments from our buildings.

The example that I always like to use is the um the the pedway from one building to another, um, like for example, this building to the the daily center and and and those and how an an individual that may be wheelchair bound um instead in the winter when there's no would have to actually exit the building cross the street to enter into the other building, while others that may be um fully APL may just be able to take the underpass.

So just wondering, you know, in this fiscal budget that's coming up, FY27 particularly, you know, what are those projects look like?

Um, and then if we can just get a quick update from the ADA working group.

Okay.

Um so to address what are we doing around ADA?

Uh so we just recently um were able to procure contracts uh to begin assessments, large-scale assessments uh of all of our facilities uh to determine what else needs to be done.

You know, a lot of times when we do remodels of the space, um we try to address accessibility issues when we can as part of that remodel.

Um we're now taking a more holistic view and a big portion of our CIP over the next several years will actually be implementing uh those changes.

And one of the things that you you will see, we talked a little bit about the boardroom is that it it is fully accessible, uh whereas this one is not.

Um as far as the Pedway, uh we are working with the City of Chicago to uh address improvements within the Pedway uh to be able to also make those accessible.

And then do we have a um is a working group still meeting?

Yes, the working group is still meeting.

And how often?

Um I'll have to get back with you on that.

So Andrew Hav, who is in uh the Department of Capital Planning and Policy, um, is the person who is working uh with that group.

And so I can get back to you with how often they are meeting.

Okay.

And I would add to that um that work group uh is not just our physical uh locations, it's also uh making sure that we're being um accessible to residents and anyone else uh when we're talking about language access.

Um you were very instrumental in helping us with that, and I hope that you see that things have changed in terms of making sure that we have interpreters and um for those who um need uh bilingual support, things of that nature.

And so that work group uh not only includes just our Bureau of Asset Management, but our DEI uh diversity equity and inclusion team as well, really uh shoring up those resources to make sure that we're accessible physically, uh virtually and otherwise.

Uh that reminds me, captioning for our board meetings.

I know the city is able to do that.

Um have we looked at, you know, whether we're able or we have capacity to do that through Teams and whether that's gonna cost us any particular I don't know that level of detail, but uh we can always uh look into it and see if we can't.

I've gotten a few questions about that.

So I just want to just double check.

Commissioner and I can answer that question.

Thank you, Brandon.

So closed captioning is available on Teams is a function that the user must add.

But not when we live stream.

On our live stream as well, we actually have English closed captioning available now.

So they would have to select it?

Correct.

Um now we also are I think we're viewed also on uh TV channels.

Is it done as well?

The same means like a person he's just selected, and then they'll they'll be able to our KNCV.

Yes, it was is just the option on your own.

The same thing.

Okay, correct.

Okay, just wanted to verify.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Just to follow up on sorry, Commissioner, where you're finished.

Okay.

And the security part, have we worked with the sheriff at all?

Because it was the sheriff is part of almost every conversation that we're having uh regarding the board.

Of course, cybersecurity is there with technology, so we have um the sheriff, our individual offices within office under the president, making sure that we can deliver uh a board room that is uh accessible and safe.

And I know and I know the um the accessibility that she's referring to.

As you go into the daily center, I think that door has been closed for two or three years.

Maybe if they aren't gonna replace it, maybe that door could become accessible.

Maybe discussion with them.

I don't know, it's under you if uh if it's under you or yeah, it is.

We actually during this meeting sent you an email about it.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Thank you, Jamie.

Commissioner Aguilar.

Thank you, Chairman.

Um Mr.

Thank you for being here and thank you, everybody, for uh sharing this information.

Uh it was mentioned that the uh we had some promise money funds from the Federal government specifically for um well the does specifically talk about the disaster funds that were denied, uh denied.

Uh and it came from the executive office and it no well my understanding there was no specific reason why it was denied, just basically it was just denied.

So given that, is there any talk about maybe taking this up the court or a lawsuit pending or something we can find out why?

I mean my understanding is we weren't given an explanation or specific reasons why we were denied.

Um we have not been uh receiving uh real explanations from the federal government about any of the decisions that they're making.

Certainly we are doing our best to respond to them as proactively as we can once we find that out.

Um if you heard and I think um our emergency management did not um say enough, uh they're a little bit humble about how at every turn uh we have been proactive, even if the federal government is not receiving or given us those uh disaster recovery funds um to try to figure out how to do it.

Of course, in the background, our attorneys uh work very closely uh with the state's attorney's office to make sure that we are protected and that we advocate legally and otherwise.

So it is it it's in court right now.

No, nothing is in court right now, at least to my knowledge, at least from our vantage point.

But I'm I'm just saying that um for all litigation, uh, we're working very closely with our state's attorney's office.

What's the possibility of of bringing it to court?

Don't know.

And as an attorney, I couldn't answer that question, but well take it back to you.

Of course, our teams and our attorneys are constantly looking at ways and opportunities, um, whether it's legal, uh, whether it's our trips that we have uh on a regular basis to Washington DC and really advocating for our interest, not just for our interest, but for our interests of all of our residents, particularly the West and the Southwest and others who have not in that disaster recovery.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chairman, and um just want to thank uh President Proquinkle and Lynette for your leadership, you know, not just this last year, but for the last four years.

I think when you look at other levels of government, there is just a level of clarity um about who we are, what matters to us, and how we get things done that is unique um and really special.

And so thank you all for your work um over really an unprecedented four years um and a very difficult um last you know year and a half.

Um, and for you personally as well, Lynette.

So we're just glad to have you back.

Um, you know, as I finish up my first term, you know, I just look back and I just wanted to, you know, we don't get to thank people publicly very often, so I just wanted to go through my round of thank yous.

Um just because you know, we can't do this work without you all, and I just want to recognize that.

And so I'll start with thanking Felicia for getting my team up and running when I first joined the board um and and reforming over the last year the intern process.

I know a lot of us you know love having interns, and you've made the process so much easier.

So thank you for that.

Uh to Zara and uh Deb Kutzka, who's no longer with your bureau, but the work on the environmental justice policy um that engaged over 1,500 residents, our first environmental justice policy.

So thank you.

Um to Jamie and our previous BAM uh Bureau Chief Liz, um the Skokie Courthouse is the only facility that I have in my district, and the uh stormwater work, the largest solar project um in the county.

So thank you for that.

Um to Rafi for sitting through tedious meetings with us about how to you know get our interpreter and translation contracts uh to be more robust.

So thank you for that.

Uh to Zochi and the entire BED team.

I mean, the number of projects that you have stood up in my district to support our homeless populations from the Margarita Inn, the MAGA YMCA.

I know we're looking at an affordable senior living facility, so thank you.

Um to Tom, all the language access improvements on the website have really, you know, made a difference to sis for uh and to Nate for being an urban planning nerd out sessions with me a lot around our transportation and connectivity to the forest preserves.

Um I'm really excited about the work that we've been able to do together to Jim Thompson sitting through all of that work on reforming the 318 policy.

Um couldn't have done that without him.

Uh to EMRS Alex and the previous Ted Berger when the Skokie Water Main break happened, uh we had no water for 48 hours.

Laura Leckowitz personally came at like 6 a.m.

to help hand out water along with Tony, so thank you, Laura, as well for that.

Um to Sikmiki for just being kind of our ally and confidant and all of the counselor, um, all of that on an everyday basis.

Um and again, just it's been unprecedented times and um, you know, the leadership and the relationship that we've been able to have.

I think at a time where things are really difficult, the financial upgrades and and the results of actually helping the residents of Cook County is undeniable.

So thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that.

Uh thank you, Chair.

I'd also like to echo those uh uh same uh um thank yous.

Uh interestingly enough, in the elevator lobby when I arrived this morning, I came up to two uh two people who will be remained unnamed here and said, ooh, two of the my most favorite people, and then proceeded to ask a question of one of them.

So I'm very happy to be able to do that, and thank you all.

I do have a specific question on, and this is with respect to the Bureau of Economic Development.

Just looking through some of these numbers, there was a 22.3% variance in the building and zoning, and that was attributed to uh jump in the number of permits.

I'm just wondering if we could get some information around that because I know that for instance in my district, uh one of the townships kind of turned over their permitting to Cook County in the past year.

I'm just wondering whether or not that just represents some shifting of responsibilities within the county, or whether or not that's showing some kind of economic growth in unincorporated cook or you know what's behind that number.

Good morning, Commissioner.

I am asking um Tim Bluer, a commissioner of building and zoning to provide a response.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Commissioner Bloor building and zoning.

Commissioner Degnan, uh, the department has a policy where we uh work with townships to review those permits within their township.

Uh some decline to do so.

Uh but if you get me the information on the township, I'll look into that and report right back to you.

Thank you.

Um, but still you given that um does that explain the 22.3 percent variance in and of itself.

Could you repeat the question, Commissioner?

Uh in our booklet here, it shows the 22.3 percent variance, an increase in the number of permit or the the revenue, and it's attributed to an increase in the number of permits.

Correct.

Does does that explain that?

No, that that wouldn't relate to the township declining to uh review permits within their jurisdiction.

Uh where is that increase coming from then?

It's coming from the permits that uh come through the department that generate that revenue.

Correct.

But I is it just what I mean, what is increasing there?

What types of permits?

It's just the number of permits and the scope of the permits.

So you could have someone submit for a backyard shed, or you could have someone submit for an office building.

So they're related to those specific permits, and luckily uh we continue to see an increase in uh permits coming through the department.

Okay.

Um can we get some data on on the types of permits and where they are uh within Cook County that you're seeing?

Yes, we can provide that to you.

Okay, thank you.

Uh and also just the second question I have is is for the second line in that um the 99.2 percent um negative variance on planning and development.

Uh how much of that is due to the modular home project?

I will as um our director Susan Campbell to provide a response to that.

And I know she is getting out right now.

And that is primarily the modular home, but she could provide a more detailed response.

Thank you.

We'll all watch while she strolls through the code.

Good morning, everyone.

Susan Campbell, director, department of planning and development.

And Commissioner Trevor, could you restate your question, please?

Um the planning and development other revenue line in our booklet shows a 99.2% negative variance, and the explanation had something to do with the modular homes.

I was just wondering if you could elaborate and so last year as we put together our budgets for this pilot program, we were very ambitious.

We thought, oh, we're gonna feed the the revenue stream back into the program so can build additional units.

Well, what we didn't know were a number of other environmental factors that were at play in the marketplace in the supply chain of the materials for these uh modular units, as well as the entitlement process length of time, and then the teams themselves that were being assembled to do this work in the three different areas of the county, taking longer for those agreements to come into place.

So the revenue that we thought we were gonna have by this point in time did not occur, although we did um it didn't occur at the level of seven million, I'll just say that.

We did, however, collect program income of about 3.3 million, I believe.

Let me just check my notes.

Um 3.3 million, sorry.

Um, 2.3 million, I stand corrected, uh, collected in 2025 and 2026.

Um I hope that answered the question regarding the 7 million for 2026 where we are now.

Will we see that money um hit in a positive way in the coming um either months or year, or is that going to be lost revenue?

We think it will be definitely positive in terms of whether we will reach the seven million will depend on the market, how much these units are going to sell for the uh response of the market in terms of the volume of demand for this.

Um these were all factors that we took into consideration at a certain level when we established this budget, but we will now go back and re revise those estimates as we've seen certain things play out in the marketplace.

Uh those are all my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you, Susan.

Commissioner Stamps.

All right.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

And um I echo um all of the high praise from the previous commissioners relative to the interactions with your office.

Um my calls are always taken, and um, I'm furnished with answers, whether I agree with them or not.

Usually it's in my favor, but you know, occasionally you know, but I do have a I I do have a few questions.

And first, it was this uh the bulk of these questions are are for HR.

So um if Ms.

Haddock's is available, or I can start.

You can just start okay.

Um your most recent job fair that was at the Palmer House.

I sent five young people.

Their overall experience was not good.

It said the event that was advertised as an opportunity for networking and on the spot interviews, but the experience did not reflect that.

It appeared to be overcapacity with the one line wrapping around the building, overcrowded conditions.

Um the recruiters once inside stated they could not accept resumes and they could only encourage candidates to apply online.

I'm sharing this because I've consistently um I've I've consistently voiced my concern about hiring and and and what the issues are um because usually when we have these briefings, there's a a vacancy.

There are there are the hundreds of vacancies, and it's not just in your department.

I had a experience with um the sheriff's department as well about the connection between the job fares, the recruiting, and actual people being hired.

Needless to say, um, none of my none of the young people that I sent were hired, and and it was really just a um overall disappointing experience for them.

Add to the fact that you know, these are young people, many of them just got out of college, did not have money for parking, and it was at the Palmer House.

And so I was even questioning the location.

And so my questions are as the county continues to my question is this I got several.

So my question is how many people at that particular thing, job fare were actually hired, and what are our current vacancy numbers?

So, Commissioner, again, Valicia Haddock's chief of human resources for the Bureau of Human Resources in OUP.

Um, we did host the hiring fair, and of course, all elected offices participated.

In total, we were we were actually able to hire on uh site this year and conduct interviews on site and actually hire shortly after.

So, in total for offices under the president, we interviewed maybe over 60 plus people, and we hired a total of five people into positions right away, and then shortly after that, I think we hired a couple more.

So that's the total number of hires.

And what is what is the current vacancy?

In office is under the president, yes, ma'am.

The total vacancy rate is about 13 percent, as Kanako mentioned earlier.

Okay, what is that in in numbers?

How many?

I'll have to defer to the budget office.

Yeah, we typically provide that information.

Go ahead.

We within OUP uh current vacancies 404, uh including this disincluded public defenders and secretary over the board as well.

Oh sorry, I didn't hear the the last part of your after 400, you said something else.

404 vacancies, including public defender and a secretary with a board, which is OEP.

How much how many if you exclude the public defender, how many is it?

Because the public defenders office, I I just spoke with um, I just had my briefing with Sharon, so I understand some of the the nuances in in their hiring and who they need.

So I'm curious for people that's not in that specialized area of law, whatever the case is.

Without public defender OUB has 308 vacancies.

38.

So Commissioner, I'd like to provide a bit of context based on your comments.

Um you recall that every office within the county uh is under a hiring plan because we had many years of litigation around patronage hiring, and so every office is under a hiring plan now or an employment plan that we have to abide by.

We cannot simply take resumes on site and hire people on the spot.

There certainly is a process, and it's my understanding that each office communicated that process clearly in terms of preparing for the um job fair.

So of course we had you know lines around the block both years, which was great because we had over four to five thousand people register for the job fair.

The first year we weren't able to conduct as many on site interviews, but we increased that opportunity in the second year with the selection of a new venue that would allow us to have those confidential interviews.

So we had two floors of the Palmer House, um, and that allowed us to interview people on site, and we had long lines for those interviews as well.

Um and it's great because we don't have an issue with our talent pool, but of course, at the end of the day, if there's one vacancy or two vacancies, of course, where departments are limited in the number of hires that they can make, but we certainly had a great turnout.

We had a good number of uh interested applicants in those positions, and the departments did a great job hiring into those positions that they were ready to hire for at that time.

Okay, so you said you you have a hiring plan and you can hire on site, but there was hiring on site, and then there was hiring shortly thereafter.

There were interviews conducted on site, and then of course, when we got back to the office, the team processed those um those hires according to our employment plan.

And you know, I can't speak for other offices, but the only positions that we can hire for more directly are those SHACMAN exempt positions and each each yeah, each office has a number of those.

Um yeah, I understand that.

I understand that, and I understand the complexity of what I wanted to do is share with you the experience of the young people that attended.

I don't I don't know what the hundreds may have experienced, but I specifically and directly sent them because these are young people fresh out of college who are looking for work.

And it's important to me, the county is important to me, and it's important to me the experience that they are having when we say and when we advertise to our constituents to the people of Cook County um the kind of employer we are and what that experience is.

So that's simply what I was relaying to you.

I am I am aware um of SHACMAN, I'm aware.

Well, I'm I I think I understand better now the whole hiring plan.

But let me go on into some questions that may or don't necessarily tie into that, but I think they're important.

It says, so there have been studies and concerns that AI-powered applicant tracking systems include platforms such as Teleo can disproportionately screen out black and brown candidates.

A, do we use the AI component of Teleo?

And B, if we do, what due diligence is the county conducting to ensure our hiring technology promotes equity rather than reinforcing existing disparities?

We don't use AI screening right now in our process.

No, we are looking to automate the validation process moving forward, and certainly we are talking to vendors about equity in the process as we move that forward.

Okay, does it teléo have that component?

I because I know when we were talking about talent before, that's that's the apparatus or something we use for the talent pool, correct?

Talo is our applicant tracking system.

And no, we don't have the ability to use AI in the telelo system right now, not with the version we have.

Okay.

And well, actually, that was all related to AI.

So that's if you say we're not using it.

So what to what degree is the time that it's taking to go from applicant to employee can be positively impacted by AI?

So I think to the extent we can use AI integration to help our validation and screening process to facilitate that process.

I think there may be uh a timeline impact, and so we're exploring that integration now in partnership with Bureau of Technology.

Is there a timeline or um something that you're looking at that says okay, we're ready to implement, or this is the company that we're leaning toward, or anything like that?

So we're moving in that direction, but we haven't defined a timeline yet because we haven't found a vendor that can really meet our needs at this point.

So we continue to explore, and we hope to continue that exploration through the end of this fiscal year.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you for your feedback.

No, I appreciate it.

Um there is um for you, uh Lynette, that but this speaks to litigation, so I'm just you can direct me.

Um to what extent are our current litigation?

Because I think in um canako or in the overview, I heard litigation, I heard uh pending litigation costs.

So to what extent are our current litigation and pending litigation costs preventable, and what specific operational challenges, changes, changes could reduce future legal exposure.

That's a pretty broad question.

So can you kind of narrow it down what you're looking for?

I would say that um we are always looking at our litigation costs, um, how to prevent that, and oftentimes it's with our supply elected offices that we're doing that work.

And of course, as you know, um, over the last year, year and a half, we have been on high alert because of all of the litigation related to the changes of Trump.

So is there a specific question?

I guess what I'm thinking about is um are there reoccurring lawsuits?

Are we seeing things that's impacting us that might be or might indicate a systemic issue and that might require a policy change?

Are we seeing some things over and over again that might point to something a little bit more specific?

I would say generally speaking related.

There are always um some changes that we uh need to make as it relates to that.

I'm not quite sure that there's anything that I would say off uh offhand about uh what those recurrent changes are.

But if you look across our systems, we are always looking at what those impacts might be.

Um but certainly if you have um some very specific changes or things of that nature that you're seeing, please do share with us.

We'll do.

Um, I think there was one more.

Um, I'm sorry, because I was looking at two different sets of questions.

But the it um went back to HR, I believe, one more point.

Um which vacant positions um are are critical, and where can vacancy management or organizational restructuring improve efficiency without reducing services?

Okay.

Um so I I will answer that.

Um I think overall with our uh for offices under the president, we always look at the core operations, and so that really depends on which department in terms of what those positions are that are vacant.

Um certainly uh we believe that all of our positions that we have under offices under the president are critical.

Um they help perform all of the work that you all have heard us do, and we are have a footprint not just for offices under the president, our footprint is um extended to our separate elected offices and in working uh from a regional perspective, and so um we certainly will give some general information, but uh if you had the particular department, then of course that department would tell you what their core services are and what those positions are that are tied to that.

Okay.

I was talking to um I was being briefed actually um by Sharon, and he was he was sharing with me just the vacancies, and and I was just because I was struggling with with um how do we ask for positions when we still have vacancies?

What how does that work?

Well, it really depends on the operations uh of uh the PD's office and any other office.

Um I think that that is a very nuanced uh um process that they have to do in order to determine what positions are there, what are the vacancies often time, and of course, given where we are financially, um, we are telling folks to repurpose the positions that they have if the to the extent that they can.

There are some operational concerns that would require them to request new FTEs.

We review those um in our budget uh with our budget director and our CFO.

To what degree Commissioner, I just want to because we're keep keeping the I'm gonna come back.

Oh, I can.

Okay, I'll come back.

Okay.

Okay, that's right.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Uh, Commissioner Scott and Commissioner McCain.

Just wanted to kind of echo what everyone had already stated, but also wanted to commend the group on the very intentional efforts that have been made to make sure we're directing funding and resources and expanding our outreach in the South Suburban area.

We are beginning to see an uptick.

We are going to continue to work diligently with you in our office to make sure our mayors are responsive because I know you all have sent out some funding opportunities that we have not capitalized on.

So we will be working on that as well.

But thank you for the efforts that all both teams have put forward towards that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, and I am very grateful to the staff under OUP who has been very helpful, especially when I first started at the board.

So thank you so much to all of the team.

Um my first question is for the Department of Revenue.

Um, so on page 30 of the mid-year budget review, there is a statement on the debt collection planning initiative and how there have been some challenges there.

Um there is uh one issue, which is the slower than anticipated progress by the state's attorney's office on large dollar cases.

I wonder if there's any specifics or details that can be provided around that, as it does impact our revenue.

Do you want the department of running over?

Good afternoon, uh Angela Manny Hardeman, CFO.

Um Tina's I here.

I guess I could just uh I know she's working very closely with the state attorney's office uh to uh look at some of our highest uh debtors, I guess is the best way to describe it, um, to see if we could collect those funds.

Uh I know it's something she's been working on, at least for the the last 30 days I've been here.

Um I think she's getting some support, but they have a capacity issue as well in terms of supporting her, but we we continue to work with them to try to collect at least I know we're working on the top ten highest debtors right now.

Could you um for the sake of public record just mention uh one or two of these debtors?

Oh, that's a great question.

Uh I don't know if we have a list.

No, we don't have a list, but we can certainly put that on the list to send back to all of the commissioners as a response.

Oh, Tina, is Tina on?

Okay, great.

Awesome.

I am on I can get a list to the commissioners of Tina Consola, Director of Revenue.

Um, and I can provide a list of the top debtors.

Um the top debtors are actually comprised of um tax judgments that we received um or had issued it as a result of tax audits, and so the state's attorney's office is bringing those to circuit court to try to um facilitate collection, and then we do have some outstanding violations through the Department of Administrative Hearings that we are working with the State's Attorney's Office to try to collect.

Thank you.

I am interested in that first group that you mentioned, obviously with administrative hearings.

You know, that's a very different type of pool of people that we're looking at.

There's people who are uh struggling to pay some of the costs within our court system.

But I am curious to see sort of that list of um uh top debtors that we have through that audit.

Um second question is for the Justice Advisory Council.

Okay.

Um, if Ovik is here.

Okay, great.

Um, so earlier this year there was an agreement approved between the Justice Advisory Council and the State's Attorney's Office for funding of the juvenile detention alternative program.

I think that it is uh uh very paramount that we take young people under our wing and educate them about what we do and give them an opportunity to learn this career.

I had a young man that I worked with for two years.

Two years.

I brought him right here to this boardroom every single day.

He sat right over there in that corner.

Most people didn't even know he was with us.

But he had a lot of trouble.

He uh was kicked out of school.

He uh his parents had given up on him, they didn't know what to do with him, but I made him keep coming with me each and every day because of the rules and regulations that were in place.

I could not hire him.

I couldn't put him on as an intern, but he came for free.

So he stuck with me for two years in a row.

Well, I'm excited to say that he recently just took his oath of office and was sworn in as a Cook County Correctional Officer.

So I'm very proud of that young man.

Thank you.

And so today, uh I wanted to give you know people their their roses.

We fought for years on trying to put together uh an internship that followed all the rules.

She's very stickler for the rules.

And so uh every suggestion I came up with, she was like, Commissioner, I love it, but we can't do that.

I'm gonna love it or can't do that.

So for the last two years 14, no, 10 years, 10 years, Felicia.

We argued about this program, right?

Well, today I want to tell her thank you, because now we've been able to uh overcome some of those obstacles, and we've been able to bring some young people on.

Uh and I don't think that uh people know that she's worked hard to to make this happen.

So, Belicia, I want to thank you publicly in front of everyone.

And not only do I want to thank you, but I'd like to ask all my interns to stand up.

Great.

Don't be shy.

And not only do I want to ask them to stand up, but I'd like uh Dr.

McQuil Lewis to stand up.

Dr.

McQuil Lewis, who is taking his personal time to meet with these young people each and every day, and he has taken them around to each and every county office, county building, county uh program, and has shown them what we do for a living.

And while you all are standing, stand back up.

I know they sat back down.

I have to look back.

Stand back up.

Introduce yourself and tell them what university you go to.

How loud?

Um hello, my name is Maya, and I go to my software at Illinois State Correct, right?

A little louder, please.

Hi, my name is Matt Sand, and I'm right in the call.

Oh, my name is the only one right more.

One that's hiding in his mind.

I heard over the So you're responsible.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Moore.

And for all of the emerging leaders.

Thank you guys.

Commissioner, are you finished?

Commissioner.

I'm sorry, you know, I I I I've I'm getting trouble.

It's not just all mine.

Senator LG Sims is working with me.

Some of the interns are working in his office, and uh, we're doing excellent things with them on the state level as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Dunn.

Thank you, Chair.

I have a question for DES, please.

Good afternoon, Suzanne Malik McKenna, Director of Environment and Sustainability.

Thank you, Suzanne for being here.

Um, and for all the work you do on the environment.

I have a question about data centers.

So there's been a lot of discussion in the news.

The state was looking to maybe pass a law on this.

Um, I know other states have passed laws about it.

So are you in any of those conversations about how those laws would affect Cook County?

And the second part of that is do you have a protocols in mind or ideas about how to address those within Cook County?

Um, they are a drain on energy and water.

There's infrastructure.

Um, resulting infrastructure issues.

You know, there is a benefit for a small amount of jobs, and we do need data centers to the to the extent that you know we continue to use um them for all of our tech needs.

But how how is the county working on this?

You may not be doing it alone, but I thought this question would be well directed at you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh and of course, it's there's great energy and excitement and worry about data centers.

Um I can tell you the state does have legislation that didn't make it out of committee.

Um, and it's a high level of legislation just for the the absolute biggest of data centers.

Um, and that is to hold them accountable for the infrastructure they need to put in place for energy, which is of course a very big deal, and also dealing with uh rate payers as we know that the rates have gone up higher as a result of data centers.

Uh, as far as what we're doing, we're working with a very large coalition of both groups like Illinois Environmental Council, um, Alliance for Great Lakes, and many others to look at both the two major issues, which are energy and water usage.

There's a lot of technology now that allows for way less use of both, including a closed loop system on water use, so it isn't reused at all, isn't taken in.

Um it's a large coalition, and I think what we're looking at are number one, both state and local laws and ordinances that potentially could be altered.

Uh number two, the relationship between zoning and our municipalities and and the types of decision making that's made.

Um, and and number three, I think it's important to note with the great concern for data centers, there's also many less data centers that are being put forth for permits.

Um we had 14 through last year, it's 54 right now in Cook County, most of which won't go forward.

Um, my understanding from the business world is that people put in to try and get some money for it, but then they don't move forward.

Not saying that data centers aren't important and of concern, but there are actually quite a few less than we all understand there to be based on this kind of this business approach to to go after data centers since it's I guess it's an exciting opportunity in the economic development world.

All right.

Well, you know, there's a certain amount of unpredictability around this.

And so I would just like to know that you are continuing to communicate the needs of the county and as we move forward with more data centers that will seek those permits.

Um coordinate with the forest preserve.

I know that there is a water line that's being um potentially negotiated from here to Peoria and some other further away from Chicago cities and municipalities.

Those cities and municipalities will also be prime areas for data centers.

So if they're using county property or even, you know, I know that this is not the forest preserve um committee, but even you know, lands that are central to what we do, then we'd want to make sure we have some sort of policy or protocol so that we are at the front end of this and kind of not at the back end where we wish we would have done something a little bit sooner.

So I would encourage and advocate for that.

So thank you for your work in that space.

I do have two other quick questions.

Um during our budget hearings and FY26, we had a talk about or there was a discussion from DES about going line by line through the environmental control ordinance to see where updates would be necessary or where we could uh or appropriate.

So what work have you done and where are we with that?

Um there's quite a bit of work underway, Commissioner, and we've been working with our legal team within the Bureau as well.

Um we went through and developed a draft uh of the ordinance changes that might happen.

Um and in addition, as a result of our strategic planning currently and our resiliency work, uh, we're looking at other opportunities where there could be either a regulatory or just a policy orientation around um variety of issues, including climate resilience.

So the hope is that that um round of edits and additions would be done by um end of or the sorry, the beginning of the first quarter of 27.

Okay, great.

I know um that the county has a projected clean energy goal by 2030, which is just four short years from now, and that was committed to many years ago, so including that somehow and the update to those code changes would be imperative.

I'd love to coordinate with you on that.

The last question I have is about your solid waste division.

Are there plans to increase the staff there and the work that you do?

I think that is one area where you could increase both and get more money from the state.

Absolutely.

As a matter of fact, as part of our strategic plan, we're doing some reorganization to move some staff actually over to the solid waste division because we see not only the opportunities, but the need to really increase our diversion rate.

Um, that's also including things like business opportunities, working with partners who are taking in more compost waste as an example, and the opening of our household hazardous waste facility and more charm unreals operations, which are going to really increase the amount of waste we can divert.

So our solid waste plan is being analyzed in a strategic plan, is putting being put forward to that, including um budget and new staffing to help us get there.

Yeah, I'd love to see benchmarking be part of that so that we are capturing what's going on in you know in Cook County to see which buildings are using the most energy over time so that we can kind of strategically look at how to reduce that over time, but we can't do that without that data.

Um I'm not you know sure how super easy that would be, but we do have some regulatory authority and we can coordinate with the city on that.

So thank you.

All right, thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you, Suzanne.

Thank you, Suzanne.

Um, I have one question for EMRS and then for BED and BOT.

And those are my last three.

What's that question?

Good afternoon, Commissioner Alex Jove's EMRS.

Hi, Alex, thank you for being here.

I have um a kind of a two-part question about our federal partners.

The first is do we know how much the operation midway blitz cost the county in emergency responses, including like our physical and staffing costs?

Um, and the second part of that is given the federal enforcement presence at polling places, how is that going to affect the November elections with your office?

Yeah, so I think for the first question, again, what I can tell you is at least from the EMRS side uh here, and I would have to again work with our other partners uh specifically again, whether it was the village of Broadview or Cook County Sheriffs to estimate those costs.

But again, for EMRS, again, our are really uh to support, we were able to do that within our personnel costs and supporting the unified command that was set up in Broadview, and obviously for the federal situational awareness and monitoring uh group that we have, we're able to do that within the costs of our personnel and our operating costs.

Uh on the second question you had on the election um security question.

Um, EMRS again um you know supports our election um authorities, uh this uh specifically here Cook County Clerk's office.

Um so we would provide again the emergency services side, whether they needed again equipment, generators, um, situational awareness, incident command support.

So we are in contact with Clerk Gordon and her office, but I would defer those questions specifically to her.

Sounds good.

All right.

Well, I've just seen more and more communication coming out of DC and kind of nationally around concern for that November election.

It seems to kind of be welling up.

So I'd like to talk more about that in the future.

But thank you for the work you do.

Thank you.

Um I have a question for BED next.

Thank you, Alex.

Good afternoon, Commissioner.

Thank you for being here.

Um this is about the stormwater grant grant.

The county received a couple hundred millions of dot well, received hundreds of millions of dollars through a CDBG grant from HUD related to storms from a few years back.

And I know that we recently hired a consultant to help spend the money.

So I was um going to ask about the update on where that money is.

I know that the city of Chicago also received funding uh their portion of funding from this grant.

So I was uh gonna ask about the communication with the city to kind of keep them updated and share information.

I've gotten a lot of because I'm a city person with 14 aldermanic wards in my district.

I've gotten a lot of updates about the city part um and a lot of questions about the county.

So while I may not be the best person to answer all of those questions, I was hoping there was some cross-sharing of information.

I know the money spent in two different types of ways and two different tranches, but it's really the communication sharing that I'm after.

Excuse me.

Absolutely, Commissioner, and um I'll have Susan join to provide some additional information.

But um this time around, it's been encouraging to have the regional HUD office that has been doing convenings with the city, the county, and Cicero, the other entity that received the funding.

The county received 244 million dollars, and we are in the planning phase and building out the back end infrastructure that includes policies and procedures that adhere to the HUD requirements.

Um that's in terms of where we are, and Susan will provide more information, but it is encouraging that there are coordinating um meetings with the three entities that are receiving this funding because the regional office would like us to uh be able to leverage the funding in a way that will support one another and and the regional impact that we have.

But I'll um defer to Susan Campbell to provide some additional information since her and her team are overseeing the administration of it.

Thank you, Soshi.

Good afternoon again, Susan Campbell, Director, Department of Planning and Development.

Um we have been working with the City of Chicago and the village of Cicero since we all were identified as to uh grant recipients from HUD.

So those conversations have been casual, they've been in the form of a training workshop, they've been in the form of an update.

We usually talk with them every month or so.

Um the plans for the grant are available on our website.

It's called a CDBG disaster recovery action plan.

And that plan is about two inches thick.

It actually details the uh body of work that that grant will cover based on the data provided by the federal government of what the needs remaining are after the after FEMA and the SBA came through with their waves of assistance.

So we are now currently taking that plan and breaking it down into greater detail in the form of designing specific programs, identifying projects, reaching out to potential partners to learn what their interests are as it relates to flooding and mitigation work that the grant will help pay for.

Thank you.

My last question for um you Sochi is we talked about the guaranteed income program and the report that would be performed.

I was wondering when that report would be published.

Fantastic.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh, the advisory committee, the guaranteed income advisory committee continues to meet across um the last couple of months to look not just at information with regards to our program, but national um data in terms of what other programs have seen.

So uh we are continuing to meet and we'll hopefully have something to the board um later this summer with our proposal on the next iteration of the guaranteed income work.

We will also have um more data that we will be sharing that it will be available later on this summer.

Thank you, Sochi.

Um, and then I have two questions for Tom Lynch.

All right.

Hi, Tom.

Tom Lynch, Chief Investment Officer.

Thank you.

So I know that uh Tyler is kind of a full-time job for everybody at this point.

So I just received an update from the treasurer's office about their 23C report, which then gives them the ability to run the report and see how much everybody is owed, like SSAs and otherwise.

So can you talk about how you personally talk to the treasurer's office and what that cross collaboration looks like?

Sure, absolutely.

Uh so we have uh daily meetings with the uh executive staff.

This is primarily Justin Kervan, but occasionally also David Burns from the Treasurer's Office.

Uh so that's five times a week and frequently weekends as well.

Um in addition, there's daily working meetings that are focused on their production.

Those generally are with uh uh Dimitri Paul, there's a few folks within the treasurer's office, as well as uh Tyler Guidehouse and some of uh my employees.

Um frequently many of us may join others, but those are the both of those happen.

So you can essentially say we're meeting at a minimum 10 times a week, uh, and then additionally as needed on one-off basis.

Um, in terms of the communications, uh the treasurer's office along with the assessor's office are self-directing Tyler's support staff because they are now in production.

So Tyler is working on their priorities as defined by those offices as distinct from the project tasks uh which are managed uh by my team.

So the project team right now is uh focused on going live with the county clerk's office uh for its uh redemptions functionality as well as the uh tax sale functionality.

So the treasurer continues to test tax sale once they finish, they'll hand it to the clerk who will then do their testing.

Um I'm expecting that all of those would be done by August, uh ideally this month, but certainly by August.

So I don't know that I've seen something come to the board for a Tyler extension.

How how when does that contract end?

September of 26.

Uh I think the intention is to uh uh request uh to exercise the the uh uh options, renewal options available in the contract.

You know what those are?

I'm sorry?

Do you know what those are?

Are they like one year?

Yeah, there's uh two and a half years remaining in the contract as options.

Okay.

We have all have a lot of thoughts about Tyler, but you know, at this point it's just getting across the finish line and in particular getting the treasurer set up so that they can make the disbursements that they need to make.

One of the um most of the SSAs, at least in my district, haven't received the amount of money they need to um operate, even to right now that they should be uh in a predictable financial state where they can execute contracts for the holidays, so buy Christmas trees, do whatever they need to do, and they are not there.

So getting at least the SSAs and those reports done so the disbursements can be made is the top priority along with making sure that the folks that need to get their money back um for disbursements for uh more onesie two zies, I understand are going out, but more kind of the global thing.

So that's a priority.

I'm glad to know that you are working on it.

The second question I have for you is the status of the AI policies across the county.

So we got a briefing from the sheriff's office about their benchmark performance item that uses machine learning.

They mentioned it's not generative AI, but it goes through the county's risk assessment review by your office.

So how does that work?

Do you do do you choose every single project that might use generative AI or AI?

Does that slow things down?

Is there a formal protocol for it?

And then what if you find that it is a risk or danger and it's a separately elected, maybe not the the sheriff, that's just the one that came up last month, a clerk or anybody else.

Would you formally say we don't recommend moving forward with that?

Or because BOT is really the you know, having one central BOT is really important for efficiencies of the county.

Would you say it's just our recommendation?

Um so the uh policies are in place at this point, and as you noted, they are countywide.

Um when we were uh putting those policies together, we did it with in conjunction with each elected office.

So we had representative of every elected office, including the sheriff and others in those conversations.

Um every policy is not something that happened unilaterally out of offices under the president.

It was done collaboratively with all of the separately elected.

And you are correct uh that how you define artificial intelligence uh gets tricky because while generally when people talk about AI, they are typically talking about generative AI in at least in 2026.

There's lots of other flavors of AI that are actually not generative AI.

So the policy addresses all of that, but the bigger risk I I think uh would be with generative AI solutions.

Um in terms of the process.

Put a pin in that though.

Is that something you can turn on and turn off with these systems?

Because that's something that I've received a lot of constituent inquiry about is if you say it's AI and it's not generative, is that and then it becomes generative and that the contract is already passed, we've said yes, but now a year or two or three later, we're saying yes to something that we didn't consider when we first approved that contract.

Yeah, you're you're absolutely right.

And actually, at least in one of the three sheriff's contracts, that was the situation where it it had biometric capability, even though the sheriff intended not to use it.

Um so you're right.

There's a bit of a question mark.

I'm not sure I can answer.

If the product allows something to happen, but the using department says they won't use it.

I I don't know that I can answer, but you're right that it's an important question to clarify.

In addition, I think you said this, Commissioner, and you're also right, that technology is constantly evolving.

So even if it doesn't have generative AI functionality today, perhaps a future upgrade will add that functionality.

And then there's a question well, did the board know what you were approving at the time?

I mean, that's so my questions to you are like it would be helpful to have that information going forward from the analysis that you guys perform.

And and if it is a risk or a danger, having you be able to say that up front would be really helpful when you you sit in these seats and have all that information.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's really we I mean, we could talk about AI all day, and I don't want to take up any more time of the board, but I think that's a discussion worth having to continue.

Thank you, Tom.

Sure, happy to.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

Um commissioners, as you know, the president's office is all department heads are always available for any ideas, suggestions, and um thank you all.

And thank you to the staff who were here today answering all of the questions.

As you all know, they are constantly during the day to day all of the crises, all of the things, all of the requests, and they do that with grace.

Um, they do it every single day of the week and on weekends and on the evenings.

So special shout out to our team within offices under the president.

Thank you all.

Thank you very much.