Two Questions About The Cook County Board

Factual Questions
1

  1. Does the Chairman of the Cook County Board have to be otherwise a member of it, and

  2. How does the board operate if the Chairman is not otherwise a member of the Cook County Board?

2

Come now! This is a Chicago-based webpage! Cetainly someone out there must know what I’m talking about!

3

Come now! This is a Chicago-based webpage! Certainly someone out there must know what I’m talking about!

4

Come now! This is a Chicago-based webpage! Certainly someone out there must know what I’m talking about!

5

Well, here on Cook County’s website I don’t see any mention of a Chairman, just a President, Mr. Stroger, who appears to also be the Commissioner for district #4.

6

Sorry about the post in triplicate. I have a bad tendency to get those error messages after I submit a post but before I see the post.

Perhaps it might help if I explained it more. Cook County has a 17-member Board of Comissioneers, elected before 1994 by two at-large slates (Chicago and outside Chicago), and since 1994 by district. There is also a Chairman, elected at large. Traditionally, the Chairman also holds one of the Commission seats. My questions are 1) Does the Chairman have to hold another Commission seat, and 2) Are there any differences if the Chairman doesn’t hold another seat?

7

Well, Governor, I can tell you that out here in DuPage County, the Chairman does not hold one of the “ordinary” County Board seats (we have 18), so it doesn’t appear to be a requirement. In fact, I don’t know how it could be a requirement, since the board elections (by district) and the chairman election (at large) are separate. I believe our non-member Chairman votes only to break ties, but I’m not really up to speed on County Board protocol.