Joint Committee on City-County Collaboration

In October 2011, the Joint Committee on City County Collaboration issued their first quarterly report on the status of collaboration between the City of Chicago and Cook County.

After three months of dedicated collaboration efforts, this committee has reached three conclusions:

1. Substantial effort and planning have gone into collaboration, resulting in a preliminary estimate of $11 million in projected savings for the 2012 budgets of both governments. The full range of savings estimated by the committee will take years to realize; however, the committee is eager to see savings in the $66 million - $140 million range and will actively monitor the efforts of both governments in pursuit of this goal.
    


2. While dollar savings is an important measure of success, improved services are also a key measure. The City and County have and will continue to devote considerable attention to service improvements throughout the collaboration process.
    


3. Collaboration fosters more collaboration. As teams work together on collaboration areas, further opportunities to collaborate will be discovered. One example is the emergence of a twentieth collaboration area: Anti-Violence Strategies and Community Stabilization.
    

The Joint Committee, a seven-member group of non-profit, community, and business leaders, was established in March 2011 by County President Toni Preckwinkle and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The Committee was tasked with identifying ways the City of Chicago and Cook County could reduce costs, streamline services, and improve residents’ interactions with the City and County.

In June 2011, the Committee issued a report recommending 19 areas in which the City and County should work together. The report projected potential savings in the range of $66 million – $140 million by 2014. Schiff Hardin LLP, Alvarez & Marsal, and Civic Consulting Alliance worked pro bono with the committee and City and County staff to develop threport. Accenture and Mayer Brown provided pro bono research support.

In late September and early October 2011, the City and County both passed ordinances to make it easier for both governments to jointly pursue procurements and revenue collection.  The next quarterly report on collaboration progress will be issued in January 2012.