The Cook County assessor’s office will be getting some new office equipment and furniture. On April 16, 2013, the county board authorized Assessor Betty Schultz to spend about $1,000 for a computer and monitor and to order office furniture and remodeling at a cost of about $3,400. The equipment and furniture will be used by the new assessor’s technical clerk that Schultz hoped to have in place by May.
Ordering furniture and equipment for a new clerk is part of a process that began months ago. The county board originally approved a new computer software program that would track multiple types of information for each parcel of land. County Assessor Betty Schultz then asked for the addition of a full-time clerk to work in the office while the other staff went out gathering all the data that the new clerk would put into the new software program. The board approved this as well as the addition of a county fleet vehicle so the two assessors working under Assessor Schultz could go out and gather data separately.
Before approving the office equipment and furniture, Commissioner Garry Gamble asked if the county had anything sitting around that could be used by the new clerk in order to avoid the requested purchases. The assessor said she had consulted with Information Systems Director Danna MacKenzie and Maintenance Director Brian Silence, who had nothing available.
Commissioner Sue Hakes asked Assessor Schultz to try to negotiate with the office furniture company, Hermann Miller, on price. She said she had already done so. Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he thought they should get another bid from another company, and Schultz said Herman Miller tends to be the least expensive and have the best quality.
Commissioner Gamble said he formerly dealt with a business that used the same insurance company for 30 years but went out for bids every year just to make sure they got the best price.
The assessor’s office will be reduced in size as part of a reconfiguration of courthouse departmental offices to make better use of space. Assessor Schultz said her department will reuse the furniture it has now when that work is done.
Board oversight
As the board reviewed claims—bills submitted to the county for payment—at the same meeting, Commissioner Garry Gamble asked if they could get this information earlier so they could have some time to review it before approving it.
In light of a special meeting the day before to gather information about the possibility of hiring a county administrator, Board Secretary Janet Simonen said that if they had an administrator, the board could focus on work “at a higher level—such as policy-making—and trust the administrator to take care of details such as checking claims that came in.”
Commissioners have a responsibility to know what they are approving, Commissioner Jan Hall said.
The county already has people scrutinizing these types of things at numerous levels, County Attorney Tim Scannell said. “Unless if you think you need 12 layers of redundancy,” he said, “you’re already overdoing the review at this point.”
“I don’t think this board needs to scrutinize every $12 bill that comes across our table,” Commissioner Sue Hakes said. She said that department heads work within budgets that the county board has already approved.
“I’m not scrutinizing it or not trusting in anybody that’s doing it, said Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk. “I’m giving it the respect that it deserves by having our attention.”
That evening, Commissioner Gamble addressed the issue of commissioners questioning department heads about expenditures at a town hall meeting he held at the Cook County Senior Center. He said the staff thinks, “Why are you questioning me?” They feel commissioners don’t trust them when they question their recommendations, thinking they were hired to make those decisions.
“This isn’t about personality,” Gamble said. “This is about responsibility.”
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