County commissioners took a federal hiring monitor to task Wednesday for her assessment that little progress has been made toward eliminating patronage and political hiring.
Retired circuit court Judge Julia Nowicki, appointed 17 months ago by federal Judge Wayne Andersen to investigate allegations of patronage hiring at the county, defended her assessment of the county's efforts.
"There is a slowness here which makes it very difficult to get my job done," she said.
This week Nowicki
e-mailed a letter to the 17 commissioners reiterating that little
improvement has taken place since her appointment and
cautioning that if the county does not take steps to eliminate
illegal hiring her office will do so, at great expense to taxpayers.
Nowicki has called for Board President Todd Stroger to hire a new human resources chief,
disclose which county jobs are exempt from the 1969 Shakman decree, which bans political hiring, and devise
a strategy to stay abreast of illegal hiring practices in the
future.
In late February, Nowicki issued a 54-page report detailing rampant patronage throughout the county's hiring system and complaining of inaction by Stroger.
But at Wednesday's meeting, some commissioners bristled at the suggestion that they were dragging their feet.
"You think we're just sitting here not
doing anything," said Commissioner William M. Beavers, (D-Chicago). "Don't tell us how to run the
county."
Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy, (D-Country Square), criticized the February report and defended the county's efforts to crack down on illegal hiring practices.
"The tenor of your report was extremely negative to the
county," Murphy said. "I think that a supreme effort has been made."
Nowicki expressed her eagerness to end the conflict with Stroger's office but warned that she would not tolerate inaction.
"If I agree that the
county is in compliance we're gone; if not I refer it to Judge
Andersen," she said.
So far, she said, there has been little action on these steps.
Nowicki said county employees she has spoken to are not optimistic. "I've been trying to get out and talk to as many employees as I can. People come up to me and say, 'It's great that you're doing this. It's not going to work.' "
Human resources expert, Sherrie Travis, counsel to Nowicki's team on employment matters, told commissioners that a number of county human resources practices need to change.
She cited the so-called "Rule of Seven" in which the
first seven qualified candidates to apply for a county job are the
only ones considered. "If certain people have
advance notice of when the jobs are going to be posted, they're the
ones who are going to be in the
pool."
Travis also noted that the county does not conduct reference checks and little or no skills testing is conducted.
Applicants
for administrative posts don't even take a typing test, she said.
"In some cases people don't have the right skills for the job." She
also said that there are an insufficient number of human resources staff for the
number of employees.
"If you're saying
we need to hire about 35 people for human resources and we have a budget
problem, how do we come in compliance with your request?" countered
Stroger. "We don't have any
money."
The deadline
assigned by Judge Andersen for the county to show Shakman
compliance is December 31.
"If we're going
to reach substantial compliance by December 31 then you're going to
have to get the cooperation that you need," Commissioner Peter
N. Silvestri (R-Chicago) told Nowicki. "It's in the best interest of
the people of Cook County that this issue be
resolved."
"Clearly there is a process of stonewalling here," said Commisioner Tony Peraica (R-Westchester), who ran against Stroger in the last election.
