Home - 13th Cook County Board District Commissioner Larry Suffredin


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The Cook County Code of Ordinances are the current laws of Cook County.

Search current and proposed Cook County Legislation in Larry's exclusive legislative library.

Cook County is the second most populous county in the nation. It is the 19th largest government in the U.S.

Thank you for visiting my website. It is an honor and privilege to serve as the Cook County Board Commissioner and Forest Preserve District Board Commissioner for the 13th District which includes the following Cities and Villages: 49th & 50th Wards of the City of Chicago, the City of Evanston and the Villages of Glencoe, Glenview, Kenilworth, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Skokie, Wilmette and Winnetka.

Although our Cook County government has a low profile, it is a vast operation with many important responsibilities and an annual budget of $4.8 billion. It is responsible for operating our court system, jail, maintaining over 69,000 acres of forest preserves, and acting as a healthcare safety net through the operation of three hospitals and sixteen clinics.

The purpose of this site is to provide information on Cook County government and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County as well as links to other government resources. I regularly post news stories and information on County and Forest Preserve issues which may be of interest to you. Additionally, my legislative library contains up-to-date information on County and Forest Preserve legislation.

I encourage you to contact me with any questions or ideas you have regarding Cook County or the Forest Preserve District. I hope you find this site useful. Thank you for taking the time to visit.

Sincerely,

Larry Suffredin

May 2019

It is the 130th Anniversary of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD)

In Recognition of the MWRD’s 130^th Anniversary they will be celebrating with free tours and kid-friendly activities.

The open house and tour will be Saturday, May 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Visitors may take home a bag of high-quality compost for their yards and gardens, or an oak sapling to plant.

This will be a unique view into how the second-largest county in the country treats waste, recycles water, and recovers valuable resources.

Click here for a printable flyer

Attention Home Owners

New Trier Township residents

The deadline has passed for filing an appeal with the Cook County Assessor

On April 4, 2019 Commissioner Suffredin hosted a property tax seminar. Click to view the New Trier Slide Presentation

Evanston Residents

The deadline has passed for filing an appeal with the Assessor.

On March 21, Commissioner Suffredin hosted a property tax seminar. Click to review the Evanston slide presentation

Click here to watch the seminar.

Click here to see the Cook County Justice Advisory Council Grant Awardees.

Job Hunting? Click here

There will be a Job Fair on May 23, 2019 from 3-6 pm at the Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave Evanston. Additional information can be found here.

Job Fairs:

Printable Flyer for Evanston hiring event

Veterans get early admission Job Fair Flyer for regional job hiring event.

Thank You & Looking toward the New Term

On December 3rd, I will begin my fifth term as a Cook County Commissioner and a Cook County Forest Preserve Commissioner. I am humbled by the 91,000 plus votes I received last Tuesday. This vote affirms my belief that the 13th District wants independent and firm leadership. During the last four years, I have fought to ensure County services are provided to all uniformly; and that all County taxes are fair and reasonable.

Thank you for your confidence in me.

The new Board I will serve on will be very different. It will have seven new members from every area of the County. It is a group of talented people with diverse and independent ideas on how to improve the County and the Forest Preserves.

I am excited about our potential.

In order for Cook County and the Forest Preserve District to move forward, it is crucial that an independent Board works with the President of the Board and other elected officials to improve the quality of life for our residents.

As a Board, we must take responsibility to develop plans that respect the taxpayers; deal with violence in our neighborhoods; strengthen health care; improve our Forest Preserves; and treat fairly our employees. To accomplish this, I suggest the following:

1. Keep our residents truthfully informed about all aspects of the County and Forest Preserves. Cook County government is often described as "stealth government "because few really know what we do and how we spend Tax dollars. We must become better known and understood.

2. Take responsibility for the operating budgets of the County and Forest Preserve by explaining the actual cost of:

a. Running the largest local government public hospital and clinic system in Illinois with over 1 million patient appointments and visits a year;

b. Funding the largest court system in the United States with more cases filed and disposed of each year than most states;

c. Running the largest single site jail in Illinois with nearly 10,000 daily pre-trial detainees;

d. Funding the government for 5.25 million people in the second largest county in the United States;

e. Running fair elections in suburban Cook County for over 2.5 million people;

f. Recording birth and death certificates and property records;

g. Assessing the value for tax purposes of over 1.8 million parcels of real estate;

h. Collecting real estate taxes to fund all municipalities and local governments in Cook County;

i. Maintaining 1,474 miles of highway, 130 bridges and 332 traffic signals;

j. Paying our pension and salary obligations to over 21,000 employees and retirees; and

k. Maintaining 70,000 acres of Forest Preserves.

3. Making our responsibilities as Cook County Forest Preserve Commissioners a priority. We recently celebrated our 100th year as a Forest Preserve District by creating a Century Conservation Council of leading environmental volunteers. We must help implement their conservation priorities for today and the next 100 years. We have a responsibility to preserve and protect our land before passing it to future generations.

Finally, and most importantly, the fair and legal solution to our future budgets means working with the State to solve funding priorities for infrastructure and pension obligations. Solving our structural budget obligations will help us properly provide resources for all other operations.

This new Cook County Board has the talent to solve all our problems and to make our citizens proud. I am looking forward to starting the new term.

Thank you for re-electing me.

Larry Suffredin, 13th District

IN MEMORIAM:

KAREN R. CHAVERS

Remarks of Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin at Karen Chavers’ funeral on August 31, 2018 at St. Felicitas Church, Chicago, Illinois.

Karen Chavers, where do you start? Karen was the leader of our team and the moral compass for many social justice initiatives.

We met many years ago at St. Mary’s Church in Evanston. Karen was the women involved in everything worthwhile in town. She had a clear sense of justice and fairness and was always leading people to a better future.

She had the flair and excitement of New Orleans and the serious determination of the Chicago Southside’s struggle for justice. She knew everyone and all thought of her as their best friend.

To her mother, Thyra Clark and her family, thank you for helping to mold this fighter for justice and for sharing her with us.

After my election 16 years ago, I was fortunate to have her become my co-worker in the 13^th District Cook County Board Office. She established a standard of care for our constituents and an outstanding outreach effort on housing, healthcare, jobs, education and life issues. She helped thousands of people at the 820 Davis office deal with many hard and difficult life matters.

Her request for personal privacy during her illness was hard for many friends who wanted to embrace her and tell her how much she meant to them and how she changed their lives. I hope that the cards, videos and photos people sent helped her through this final struggle and let her know how much she was loved and how successful her life had been.

There are many people who want to be a source of Hope and Change to others but never achieve that goal.

Karen was the good and faithful servant who was both Hope and Change for those she met. I am privileged to have worked alongside her. Rest in the knowledge that your life was well lived.

To read a report from the Chicago Federation of Labor that contains suggestions for the upcoming budget click here. This report was  submitted on Tuesday October 11, 2016

To read the strategic plan of the Cook County Health and Hospital System click here

To read the CCHHS monthly report for August 2016 click here

To read the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report from 2013 click here
To read the Cook County Department of Public Health Quarterly Report click here

To read the 2014 Sexually Transmitted Infections Annual Surveillance Report click here

Meet the new Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board Members:
Mary B. Richardson-Lowry, Mary Driscoll, Sidney Thomas, Virginia Bishop, MD, MPH, Layla P. Suleiman Gonzalez, Ph.D., J.D To read their biographies click here

The Chicago History Museum held its 57th annual celebration of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2016 in Lincoln Park. Every year they invite a speaker to deliver a 4th of July oration. This year Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin was the speaker. Click here to read his remarks.

Tribute to Abner J. Mikva

Walking into the Mikva Challenge office this morning, I had a flashback to when I was ten years old in 1976 and walked into Ab Mikva’s campaign office in Evanston. Back then, as now, there were young people everywhere coming in to work, a place where young people are valued. Today I saw teens heading to their posts on the Mikva Challenge Mayoral Youth Commission, Chicago Housing Authority Youth Council, Teen Health Council, Juvenile Justice Council, and other Mikva Challenge youth councils and summer fellowships (part of a 208-strong youth cohort we hired this summer for public sector internships). The staff was buzzing around, the phone was ringing, journalists were waiting in the lobby, and there was a wonderful energy of controlled chaos. It felt like going back home, it felt like community -- that unique Mikva kind of community that is unapologetically working to improve the world and participating passionately in our civic life.

During Ab Mikva’s long public service career, he built community, he nurtured young people, he fought for equality and justice, and he valued the role of the regular citizen who participates in our democracy. As Senator Richard Durbin said today, Ab Mikva was our “North Star” and a role model for him and countless other public servants. Ab’s honesty and integrity were unassailable, and he inspired thousands of “Mikva disciples” to get involved in public service and activism. Through Mikva Challenge, he now has an even bigger army of tens of thousands of followers jumping into public service, eager to improve their country and world.

What a legacy, what a model of a life well lived. He is a guide for all of us on how to participate meaningfully in civic life. Please read the touching obituary that Ab’s dear friend and former staff member Sandy Horwitt wrote here. You may also share your memories of Ab with us here as well, on our Facebook page, or Twitter.

What many might not know about Abner Mikva is that he was an even better husband and father than he was a public servant. Executive Director Michelle Morales and the entire staff at Mikva Challenge extend our deepest condolences to his wife, Zoe, and their children – Judge Mary Mikva (Steve Cohen), Laurie Mikva (James Pfander), Rabbi Rachel Mikva (Mark Rosenberg), and their seven grandchildren –Rebecca, Jordan, Sarah, Samantha, Benjamin, Jacob, and Keren. Information about a public memorial for Ab will be available on the Mikva Challenge website (www.mikvachallenge.org) later this month.

We salute you, Ab. You walked the walk, and you showed us how we could, too. May you rest in peace.

-Brian Brady, National Director, Mikva Challenge

To read more about Mikva click here

Moody's Investors Service Rating Update:

Downgraded to A2 from A1 the rating on Cook County general obligation debt. To read the full report click here

COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONER LARRY SUFFREDIN'S STATEMENT ON THE 2014-2018 TERM

On December 1^st, I will begin my fourth term as a Cook County Commissioner and a Cook County Forest Preserve Commissioner. Along with the other 16 Commissioners, we will be the legislative authority of the largest County in Illinois. The new Board is a group of talented people with diverse and independent ideas to improve the County and I am excited about our potential.

However, in order for Cook County to move forward, it is crucial that we have an independent Board that cooperates with the President of the County Board and other elected County officials.

As a Board we must take responsibility to develop plans that respect the taxpayers of the County; deal with violence in our neighborhoods; strengthen health care; and treat fairly our Cook County employees’ pensions. To accomplish this I suggest the following:

Stop blaming Todd Stroger for every Cook County problem. He has been gone for four years and the problems of criminal justice reform, healthcare delivery and proper funding of employees pensions are ours to solve.

Keep our residents truthfully informed about all aspects of the County, especially the need for additional revenues in the coming months to stabilize pensions, healthcare and criminal justice. Cook County government is often described as “stealth government “because few really know what we do and how we spend Tax dollars. We must become better known and understood.

Take responsibility for the operating budget of over $ 3 Billion by explaining the actual cost of:

running the largest local government public hospital and clinic system in Illinois with over 1 million patient appointments and visits a year;

funding the largest court system in the United States with more cases filed and disposed of each year than most states;

running the largest single site jail in Illinois with nearly 10,000 daily pre-trial detainees;

funding the government for 5.25 million people in the second largest county in the United States;

running fair elections in suburban Cook County for over 2.5 million people;

recording birth and death certificates and property records;

assessing the value for tax purposes of over 1.8 million parcels of real estate;

collecting real estate taxes to fund all municipalities and local governments in Cook County;

Maintaining 1,474 miles of highway, 130 bridges and 332 traffic signals; and

Paying our pension and salary obligations to over 22,000 employees and retirees.

Making our responsibilities as Cook County Forest Preserve Commissioners a priority. We are celebrating 100 years of the Forest Preserve District’s protection of 69,000 plus acres of remarkable sites. We must set the priorities for the next 100 years that focus on conservation.

Finally, and most importantly, the fair and legal solution to our pension obligation needs to be our top priority. The anticipated retirement of hundreds of County workers upon passage of a pension plan will drastically effect how the County operates. Solving our pension obligations will help us properly fund all other operations of the County.

This new Cook County Board has the talent to solve all our problems and to make our citizens proud. I am looking forward to starting the new term.

Regional Transportation Authority Audit: A Forensic Analysis of Mr. Clifford's Claims Against Metra
To read the Audit, please click HERE

COOK COUNTY MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE MEDIATION PROGRAM REPORT

The June 2013 progress report of the Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program prepared by the Honorable Timothy C. Evans, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and the Honorable Moshe Jacobius, Presiding Judge of the Chancery Division can be accessed here

Cook County Board President Appoints Dr. Stephen J. Cina Chief Medical Examiner

Please find announcement and C.V. below:

read announcement (Adobe acrobat .pdf)

Report of the Justice Advisory Council

read the report (Adobe acrobat .pdf)

Report on the Office of Tax Administrator

Commissioner Suffredin sponsored a resolution requesting close cooperation between offices that oversee property taxes in Cook County. This resolution has done much. Please see the following report for more details.

read report (Adobe acrobat .pdf)

Cook County Completes 2010 Census Redistricting

click here to view map (Adobe Acrobat .pdf)

click here to view Report of the Committee on 2010 Census Redistricting (Adobe Acrobat .pdf)