County administrator shares update during busy week for local government

A busy week for local government continued Thursday (Feb. 11) with the swearing in of a new commissioner and continued discussion of the housing crunch facing the community.

New Cook County Commissioner Bob Svaleson was sworn in during a special meeting early Thursday. Svaleson defeated candidate Paula Marie Powell 212-166 during a special election Feb. 9.

A virtual meeting of community leaders to discuss housing was scheduled for later in the day, including additional talks about a proposed Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA) in Cook County. The HRA would have levy authority as it seeks to address a housing shortage in Cook County.

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Cook County Administrator James Joerke about these topics during an interview Feb. 10. Other topics covered include the new public information coordinator hired by the county and North Shore Health and the discussion items for next week’s committee of the whole meeting. The audio below is the full interview.