Special committee forms to review administrator's comments regarding county staff

A special committee was formed during a meeting of the Cook County Commissioners on Tuesday, Nov. 22, to determine if comments made during a public meeting by County Administrator Jeff Cadwell should result in disciplinary action.

The review committee will consist of Cook County Human Resources Director Judy Hill, County Attorney Molly Hicken and Commissioners Garry Gamble and Ginny Storlie.

The statements from Cadwell that are under question were made during a discussion between the board and representatives of the Cook County Employee Association in a regular commissioners' meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Cadwell made additional comments about the CCEA and county policies during a break of the Nov. 15 meeting that were recorded and are now public on Youtube, Good Measure Media and the Cook County website.

A motion to form a review committee was made by Commissioner Frank Moe. It passed on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Heidi Doo-Kirk and Jan Sivertson voting against reviewing the comments Cadwell made in a public setting and meeting.

Commissioner Moe said the comments were necessary to be reviewed by a specially-formed committee. Likewise, Commissioner Garry Gamble said reviewing the comments from Cadwell could be a healthy process.

There is no exact timeline for when the committee will review Cadwell’s comments, though the board did state it would like to move quickly on the matter. The board did not state specifically what potential outcomes could unfold with regard to the county administrator’s position and Cadwell’s comments. 

Listen below to hear audio from the Nov. 15 and Nov. 22 meetings of the Cook County Commissioners.