Cook County Commissioner Sue Hakes wants members of the public to feel welcome at county board meetings, and she wants to hear what they have to say. On Tuesday, July 10 the board adopted guidelines for the public comment period, held near the beginning of the meeting, after some discussion of what those guidelines would be.
At a previous meeting Commissioner Hakes had volunteered to draft wording for the guidelines. She said she used the word “welcome” intentionally. Her proposal addressed how long a speaker could speak and how long the comment period would last as well as how the board would respond to issues put before them.
The commissioners discussed the wording of the policy, including how much dialogue they wanted to allow between the public and the board during this portion of the meeting. County Attorney Tim Scannell said the public comment period had been created to give the public opportunity to bring issues to the board that the board could put on its agenda for later discussion. Lance Johnson of Lutsen suggested that a policy like this could have a “chilling effect” on people wanting to speak to the board. “I think it runs counter to open and transparent proceedings,” he said. “I think this is a bad idea and I think you should throw it out the window.”
“Lance, I think you have some good points there,” said Commissioner Fritz Sobanja. He pointed out that citizens can contact their commissioners to express concerns as well. “Give them a call to see how they can help you,” he said. He stated that sometimes people come to county board meetings to make disparaging remarks about the commissioners during the public comment period, and then the newspaper puts it in the paper so they can “sell more papers.”
With some adjustments to Commissioner Hakes’ proposal, the board passed the public comment period guidelines, although Sobanja said he would rather see a committee, with members of the public on it, deal with the issue first.
Map printer
The board approved the purchase of a new Hewlett Packard large format plotter for printing maps in the county’s GIS office at a cost of $4,600. The purchase was budgeted and will be paid out of two funds: $3,100 from the unallocated land records improvement fund in the Recorder’s Office and $1,500 from Emergency Management.
The current GIS map printer is 11 years old and is having difficulty printing the size and volume of maps that are being printed by the county. It sometimes prints very slowly, sometimes requires removing details considered important before printing, and sometimes will not print a file at all. It will be kept as a backup.
According to a capital purchase request from Emergency Management Director Jim Wiinanen, “The large format plotter is an important tool in developing situational awareness of developing emergency events by providing maps and documents for emergency response, training, and education.”
According to Information Technology Director Danna MacKenzie, “The new printer will also use inks that don’t fade as quickly in the sunlight, which is something many of our users and customers have asked for.”
One commissioner thinking about a need to set capital purchase priorities spoke up at the Schroeder Township Board meeting that evening. West End Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he regretted voting yes this spring on the purchase of aerial photographs of private and county-owned land throughout Cook County at a cost of up to $174,000. The photos will be used to generate maps. In a phone conversation with the Cook County News-Herald, Martinson said the board will need to look carefully at departmental requests when they start working on next year’s budget later this summer.
Coroner contract
The board approved a contract with Sawtooth Mountain Clinic for coroner’s services. Dr. Sandra Stover will be the county’s coroner and will assign coroner duties to preauthorized assistant coroners as needed.
The county’s cost will be $644 for off-site services and $269 for services in the North Shore Hospital emergency room.
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic has been providing coroner services all along but an old contract had expired some time ago.
Department head salaries
Commissioner Sue Hakes has been negotiating with department heads on salaries and benefits. In a “close vote,” she said, the department heads agreed they would accept a 2.5 percent cost of living increase for two years and pay $25/month for either individual or family health insurance. In addition, they agreed they would accept an increase from Step 9 to Step 10 of 3 percent rather than 2.3 percent.
Personnel Director Janet Simonen said the county has had difficulty filling some of its upper level positions because candidates can get paid more in more populated areas.
Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers and Personnel Director Simonen will bring the board information on how much these increases would cost the county given current salary and benefit levels. The board will discuss this further at its July 17 meeting.
Cook County Board of Commissioners Public Comment Period Guidelines:
At this time, the public is welcome to address the county board on any matter of county concern. When invited to speak, please state your name, address, and the topic you are addressing. Members of the public may speak respectfully for up to five minutes. The public comment period is limited to a total of 30 minutes.
County board members may ask or answer questions of the speaker, but issues shall not be debated during the public comment period. At the board’s discretion, the board may agree to schedule matters addressed during the public comment period on the current board agenda or on a future board agenda.
All discussions must be civil in nature and must be directed at the board, not at other members of the public.
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