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PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT
COMMITTEES
BE IT ORDAINED, by the Cook County Board of Commissioners, that Chapter 2, Administration, Article III, County Board, Division 2- Rules of Organization and Procedure, Section 2-109 of the Cook County Code is hereby amended as Follows:
Sec. 2-109. Committees, generally.
(a) Committees. The committees of the Board shall be comprised of the following, except that subcommittees may not create subcommittees:
(1) Standing committees and their standing subcommittees as created by resolution of the Board;
(2) Committees and subcommittees as created by resolution of the Board;
(3) Committees and subcommittees as created by ordinance of the Board;
(4) Special committees created by Board resolution;
(5) Special subcommittees created by standing committees or by special committees or by resolution;
(6) Special committees and subcommittees created by ordinance of the Board; and
(7) Joint committees as created by written consent between chairpersons of the comprising committees and/or subcommittees of the Board.
a. Comprising committee and/or subcommittee chairpersons shall consent to forming a joint committee relative to a specific item or item(s) on, or to appear on, the Cook County Board Agenda. Consenting chairpersons shall submit the written consent to the Secretary to the Board, President of the Board of Commissioners, and Commissioners of the Cook County Board, no later than two days prior to the County Board, committee, subcommittee, and/or special committee meeting, for which County Board, committee, subcommittee and/or special committee may call the item or items forming the basis of the joint committee's formation.
b. Submitted written consent shall include, but is not limited to:
(i) The item or items forming the basis for forming the joint committee;
(ii) The intention of all consenting committee chairpersons to refer the listed items to the formed joint committee;
(iii) The names of the comprising committees and comprising committee chairs;
(iv) Which comprising committee chair will preside over the joint committee meeting; and
(v) Other such information and details relevant to the efficient execution of the joint committee meeting.
c. The formation of a Joint Committee will not constitute a standing joint committee. Joint Committees will dissolve upon taking final action on items referred to the committee or at the conclusion of a term should the joint committee fail to take final actions on referred items, pursuant to Section 2-211 of this Code.
d. No joint committee shall form absent written consent from the chairpersons of the comprising committees pursuant to Subsection 2-109(a)(7).
(b) Meetings of committees, joint committees, and subcommittees.
(1) Committees and subcommittees shall hold meetings pursuant to a request of the Chairperson of the committee or subcommittee and notice and agenda prepared by the Secretary. Meetings shall be held at the County Seat, in the Board Room of the County Building, unless another place within the County shall be designated by the Chairperson.
(2) A committee or subcommittee meeting may be cancelled by the Chairperson by providing no less than 24 hours' advance written notice that said meeting has been cancelled to the Commissioners and to the public.
(3) On a day with a scheduled meeting of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board of Commissioners, no committee of the Cook County Board of Commissioners may be held until all meetings or committees of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board of Commissioners have adjourned.
(4) Committees and/or subcommittees, which form joint committees may hold joint committee meetings with consent and agreement, in writing, of the Chairpersons of the committees seeking to hold a joint meeting, at the call of the comprising committees and/or subcommittees Chairperson who will preside over the joint committee meeting, and notice and agenda prepared by the Secretary. Meetings shall be held at the County Seat, in the Board Room of the County Building, unless another place within the County shall be designated by the Chairperson. No action shall be taken at a joint meeting unless a quorum is present for all comprising committees and/or subcommittees.
(c) Notice and agendas. The notice and agenda shall briefly describe all items that will be considered at the meeting. Material pertinent to an item on a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee agenda shall be supplied, along with the agenda, to the President and to each of the Commissioners. With the exception of materials that are confidential as provided by law, such material shall also be available to the public in the office of the Secretary.
(1) Notwithstanding any other rules governing origination of items on the Board agenda, including subsection (o) of this Section, the following items types are permitted for origin with their respective committees: Litigation Pending; Recommendations of the Zoning Board of Appeals; Journals of Proceedings; Court Ordered Payments; Workers Compensations Claims; Subrogation Recoveries; Self-Insurance Claims; Proposed Settlements; Patient Arrestee Claims; Employee Injury Compensation Claims; Revenue Report; and the Cook County Health And Hospitals System Monthly Report.
(2) Amendments or substitutes to any item placed on an agenda of any meeting of a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee shall be submitted to the Secretary no later than 24 hours in advance of the meeting at which the item will be considered. Upon receipt of the amendment or substitute, the Secretary shall immediately provide the amendment or substitute to the President, all Commissioners and all news media that have requested notice of meetings and it shall be posted in the Office of the County Clerk and at the location where the meeting is to be held, and shall be made available to the public in the office of the Secretary. This rule may be waived for technical amendments or emergencies.
(3) Notwithstanding any action to be undertaken by committees, joint committees, or subcommittees pursuant to this Section, only the Board may take final action on any item referred to a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee. Any item contained on a committee or subcommittee agenda, as properly noticed pursuant to subsection (f) of this Section, shall also be referenced on the next regularly scheduled Board Meeting Agenda under the Committee Items Requiring Board Action for purposes of consideration and possible action by the Board. If a properly noticed item contained on a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee agenda is not included in the Committee Items Requiring Board Action section of a Board Meeting Agenda, the Secretary to the Board of Commissioners may include that item in an errata and the Board of Commissioners may consider the item as if it were properly noticed.
(d) Membership and officers of standing committees.
(1) At the commencement of each term, the members of each standing committee and standing subcommittee shall be appointed for the term by resolution adopted by a majority of those elected.
(2) At the commencement of each term, the Chair and Vice-Chair of each standing committee and standing subcommittee shall be appointed for the term by resolution of the Board adopted by a majority of those elected.
(3) The President shall be an ex officio member of all committees.
(4) Membership and officers of standing committees may be amended by a resolution of the Board adopted by a majority of those elected.
(e) Authority to call meetings. The Chair of a committee or subcommittee shall have the authority to call and preside at meetings of such committee or subcommittee. The Chair of a committee or subcommittee, who, according to the written consent of the comprising committees and/or subcommittees forming the joint committee, shall have the authority to call a joint committee meeting pursuant to Section 2-109 of this Code. In the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair shall perform the functions of the Chair.
(f) Vacancies, Committee Chairs and Committee Members.
(1) A vacancy on a committee, or in the Chair or Vice-Chair position on a committee, shall be created when a member resigns from such position or ceases to be a Commissioner. Resignations shall be made in writing to the Secretary, who shall promptly notify the President and all Commissioners.
(2) Vacancies on committees or in the positions of Chair or Vice-Chair shall be filled by appointment by the same appointing authority as the initial appointments to such committee. In the case of committee appointments made by the Board, the Board shall fill vacancies by resolution. In the case of vacancies on special subcommittees that were created by committees, the parent committee shall fill the vacancy by motion.
(g) Participation in debate. Any Commissioner, regardless of whether a Chair, Vice-Chair or member of the committee, and the President shall be afforded the courtesy of participating in debate on any item before a committee.
(h) Special committees and subcommittees. The resolution or motion creating a special committee or special subcommittee shall specify the subject matter of the special committee or subcommittee and the number of members to be appointed thereto, and may specify a reporting date during the term in which event the special committee or subcommittee shall be abolished as of such date. Unless an earlier date is specified by resolution or motion, special committees and subcommittees shall expire at the end of the term.
(i) Standing committees. The standing committees, the standing subcommittees and the number of members to be appointed to each (including Chair and Vice-Chair, but excluding ex officio members) are as follows:
(1) Audit, Committee of the Whole. (The County Auditor and Chief Financial Officer are ex officio, nonvoting members of the Audit Committee.)
(2) Asset Management, nine members.
(3) Business and Economic Development, nine members.
(4) Contract Compliance, nine eleven members.
(5) Criminal Justice, Committee of the Whole.
(6) Environment and Sustainability, seven members.
(7) Finance, Committee of the Whole, with the following subcommittees with the number of members indicated:
a. Litigation, seven members.
b. Tax Delinquency, five members.
c. Workers' Compensation, five members.
(8) Health and Hospitals, Committee of the Whole.
(9) Emergency Management and Regional Security, Committee of the Whole.
(10) Human Relations, seven members.
(11) Labor, nine members.
(12) Law Enforcement, nine members.
(13) Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations, Committee of the Whole.
(14) Pension, seven members.
(15) Transportation, Committee of the Whole.
(16) Rules and Administration, nine members.
(17) Technology and Innovation, nine members.
(18) Veterans, seven members.
(19) Workforce, Housing and Community Development, nine members.
(20) Zoning and Building, Committee of the Whole.
(j) Referrals to committees.
(1) The Board may by motion refer any item before the Board to a Committee or to a subcommittee. The Board may by motion refer any item before the Board to a joint committee, provided the joint committee's comprising committee chairs written consent, prior to the Board's motion to refer the item or items, stated the joint committee's intention to receive the item or items by referral. The Chair of a committee may refer an item pending in that committee to a subcommittee of that committee. An item referred by the Board to any committee, joint committee, or subcommittee, or by a committee chair to a subcommittee, shall not be jointly referred to any other committee or subcommittee. Only upon the return of the item to the Board, either by report of the committee or by the Board's discharge of the item from the committee or subcommittee, may the Board refer the item to another committee or subcommittee.
(2) Any item that creates a new Ordinance or amends an existing section or sections of the Code shall be referred to a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee upon its initial introduction to the Board. Upon referral, the committee shall hold a hearing on the item. Following the hearing, the item shall be reported to the Board or discharged by the committee, joint committee, or subcommittee.
(3) The Board may vote for immediate consideration of the item by a majority vote.
(4) No committee, joint committee, or subcommittee shall meet for any purpose other than to consider one or more items referred by the Board.
(k) Committee deliberation and reporting. Upon the completion of deliberations by a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee on an item referred to it, a committee, joint committee, or subcommittee in conjunction with the Secretary to the Board shall inform the members of the actions of the committee, joint committee, or subcommittee on the item to their parent committee or to the Board.
Specifically, action is defined as motions, duly seconded and carried, to adopt one of the seven following statements of intent with respect to an item:
(1) Approve;
(2) Approve as Amended;
(3) Not Approve;
(4) Not Approve as Amended;
(5) Receive and File;
(6) Returned With No Recommendation; and
(7) For Report Only, No Action Taken.
The committee's adoption of any one of the above seven statements of intent shall constitute conclusive action by the committee on an item, and shall automatically discharge the committee from further jurisdiction of the item. Absent the attachment of one of these six statements of intent to the Communication Numbered item, such item will remain in committee unless discharged by the Board, or until the item is received and filed.
A committee, joint committee, or subcommittee may also inform the members that action by the committee, joint committee, or subcommittee, was deferred, referred to a subcommittee, or special subcommittee or otherwise inconclusive.
(l) Committee meeting minutes. Prior to the next scheduled meeting of the committee or subcommittee, the Secretary shall prepare the minutes of the meeting. The minutes shall contain: a list of the attendees; an account of the items considered; a summary of the deliberations, including motions and amendments proposed and/or adopted; all votes taken; the result of said votes; and, any attachments to the record as ordered by the Chair. The minutes of a meeting may be created and preserved in an electronic format on a publicly available County owned website as maintained by the Secretary.
(m) Joint committee meeting actions incorporated into comprising committees and/or subcommittees' minutes. Prior to the next scheduled meeting of the comprising committees and/or subcommittees, the Secretary shall prepare descriptions of the joint committees' meeting actions to incorporate into the committee and/or subcommittee minutes of all comprising committees of the joint committee. The joint committee's meeting actions description shall include: the date and time of the joint committee meeting; a list of the attendees; which comprising committee or subcommittee chair presided over the meeting; an account of the items considered; a summary of the deliberations, including motions and amendments proposed and/or adopted; all votes taken; the results of said votes; and any attachments to the record as ordered by the presiding comprising committee or subcommittee chair. The minutes of a meeting may be created and preserved in an electronic format on a publicly available County owned website as maintained by the Secretary.
(n) Public hearings of committees. Any committee meeting may, at the discretion of the Chair, be designated as a public hearing; provided that the following requirements are satisfied:
(1) A paid notice containing the time, place, subject matter of the hearing, and solicitation of pertinent public testimony shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Cook County;
(2) A like notice shall be posted on the County owned website maintained by the Secretary;
(3) A court reporter is present and reporting all written and oral testimony by members of the public;
(4) All oral testimony by members of the public shall be the first order of business after the committee is called to order; and
(5) Any other meeting notification requirements found elsewhere in this Section.
(o) Discharge of committee item by the Board. The Board may discharge any item from committee by a majority vote.
Effective date: This ordinance shall be in effect immediately upon adoption.
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