Under Preckwinkle, Cook board all business

Talk about making good on your promises.

On the eve of her first regularly scheduled meeting of the Cook County Board, President Toni Preckwinkle said, “We hope to run efficient and civil meetings.”

On Tuesday she did just that, ushering the board through a brisk morning session that produced a couple of immediate steps toward reform.

The board moved to probe recent raises in the Health & Hospitals System and to begin consolidating the county's approach to buying new vehicles.

Yet the most unexpected development might have been that this oftentimes rancorous political body focused on the business at hand and moved briskly through a year-end agenda. A meeting that typically extended into midafternoon under Todd Stroger was over in about 100 minutes.

“We managed to have a pretty quick and efficient meeting here this morning,” Preckwinkle said afterward, adding, “I was pleased that the meeting went fairly well.”

Asked if it reflected a genuine shift in tone or just a lack of hot-button issues and a honeymoon period as she takes office, Preckwinkle said she was “hopeful” it was the former explanation and called it “a good beginning.”

The test will come next month with the new year, as the board sent both an extensive audit of the hospital-system raises and a number of vehicle purchases to the finance committee for consideration before a meeting on Jan. 4. Preckwinkle's office will oversee the hospital-system audit, and the vehicle purchases will be combined to improve cost and efficiency as Preckwinkle moves to consolidate the county's fleet management.

Chicago Democratic Commissioner Robert Steele called the HHS audit “the right thing for us to be doing and the right time to do it.”

Elmwood Park Republican Commissioner Peter Silvestri added, “It's important for the public to know whether these raises were justified.”

Preckwinkle said the raises would be “carefully considered,” especially in light of the estimated $487 million budget deficit the county faces in 2011.

The board also will have to increase work next month on hammering out a balanced budget before February, as Preckwinkle continues to fill her top positions. She said she hoped to have most key positions filled by early January.

She presented former state treasurer candidate Robin Kelly to the board as her new chief administrative officer. The board also approved a few shifts in committee chairmanships, with Chicago Democratic Commissioner Deborah Sims taking over roads and bridges.

Steele also was elected president pro tem, after being selected by Preckwinkle.

“He's somebody who I've known for some time and in whom I have confidence,” Preckwinkle said, “and I think he's an even-tempered and levelheaded person and he'll do well.”

Those have not been qualities that have distinguished the Cook County Board in the recent past, but Tuesday its members produced an efficient meeting. As Silvestri said on adjournment, “It's before noon, and we haven't seen that in many years.”