Announcements from the District Compliance Administrator
IMPORTANT NOTICE
All claimants must meet with me or one of my Investigators before their claims are adjudicated. Most claimants have done so already but there are a few that have not. If you are one of those who have not yet done so, please contact Anthony Drew of my office to schedule a meeting no later than July 24, 2010 . He may be reached Monday through Friday during standard business hours at (312) 603-8852. As the investigations are nearly complete, I will not be in a position to consider or adjudicate claims filed by any claimants who have not met with me or one of my Investigators by the stated deadline.
To those who have filed Claims:
To keep you informed on the status of claims filed with my office, please be advised that the District has experienced difficulties locating the documents that we need to review in order to evaluate your claims. For this reason, our investigations remain open. (See: Report No. 2) The flow of documents has recently begun to increase and I am cautiously optimistic that, if the District continues to produce documents at the current rate, we will be in a position to conclude our investigations by July 30th. Once we have evaluated the claims and given the District an opportunity to respond to my findings, I will provide written notification to each claimant regarding my determination of their claim and the dollar amount of the damages awarded, if any. The District is required to mail award checks within sixty (60) days thereafter.
News About Claims
All claims are currently in the investigation phase of our process. With the District’s cooperation in terms of providing prompt and complete access to documents and witnesses, the District Compliance Administrator’s office will be in a postion to adjudicate the claims by June 1, 2010. Please check the website for general status updates. You may contact the Investigator assigned to your claim for updates specific to your claim.
Please note below the typical office hours of each investigator:
Kimberly Craft
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(312) 603-8834
Anthony Drew
Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(312) 603-8852
Julie Hutchinson
Wednesday, Friday
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Thursday
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
(312) 603-8891
Andrew Jester
Monday through Thursday
9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
(312) 603-8849
Information for Claimants
The deadline for filing a claim was August 7, 2009.
The District Compliance Administrator will attempt to contact claimants for the purpose of interviewing and obtaining supplemental information. If you have not been contacted by the DCA’s office by October 15th, 2009, please call us at 312-603-8908.
Announcement
We often prove that we are human beings by making a mistake. An error was made in the claim forms which transposed our room number. The proper room number, up to now, has been room 1416 at 69 W. Washington.
We recently moved our offices to the 8th floor. Effective June 30th our office will be located in room 840 in the same building.
The deadline for filing claims was July 6th. However, post cards are being sent to those people who applied for employment with the Cook County Forest Preserve District between June 1, 2005 and March 5, 2009 and the Court has extended the deadline for filing a claim for this group of people to August 7th. Any applicant who believes that she or he was not hired for the applied for position because of unlawful political discrimination on the part of the Forest Preserve District may be eligible to file a claim with the Forest Preserve Shakman Compliance Administrator.
Please refer to the left panel of the home page and click on the button marked “Filing a Claim” for information regarding your rights, how to file a claim and the claim forms. Mail the claim forms to the Compliance Administrator, 69 W. Washington, Suite 840, Chicago, IL 60202.
There has been some confusion about our web site address. Soon you will be able to reach us at both cookfpshakman.com and countyfpshakman.com, which is the web address that appears in our brochure. Thank you for your patience.
Jan Carlson, Compliance Administrator
Welcome to the Shakman DCA for the Forest Preserve site
Welcome to the Official Website of the Shakman Compliance Administrator for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Please consider our Website to be an on-line resource for current and past employees of the district, persons who applied for positions but were not hired by the district since June 1 of 2005, and any other citizen, voter or taxpayer who may be interested in the on-going work of the District Compliance Administrator.
In January of 2009 the Court appointed Mr. Jan Carlson as the District Compliance Administrator. Mr. Carlson served for 12 years as a Forest Preserve Commissioner in Kane County, was a member of the Executive Committee and of the committee that managed the district’s golf courses and their minor league baseball stadium. He was chairman of the committee that had oversight of the day to day operations of the district. He served Kane County for 32 years as its Clerk of the Circuit Court, and in 1996 was named as a defendant in the original Shakman complaint.
The Court has given him the duty to (1) adjudicate claims of political discrimination, (2) investigate unlawful employment actions, (3) study the existing employment practices, policies and procedures of the district in terms of non-political hiring and discrimination, (4) train supervisors and employees as to unlawful practices regarding hiring, promotion, discharge, assignment of overtime and transfers, (5) collaborate with the district to develop a mechanism to ensure that future employment actions by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County are free from unlawful political considerations, and (6) through training to develop an organizational culture that is free from political considerations.
Our website is here to provide an opportunity for input from the public concerning ways to ensure the satisfactory completion of our mission. To that end we have provided for secure email and phone lines so that individuals may confidentially report past, current or on-going violations or suspected hiring or promotion improprieties within the Forest Preserve District. We welcome your suggestions, concerns and comments. We particularly seek the input of district job applicants, current employees, former employees, elected officials and any other person interested is sharing their experiences and/or opinions.
To Provide Information to the DCA
I welcome any individual with information concerning possible illegal political considerations in employment at the Forest Preserve District to contact my office at 312-603-8908. If you would prefer to meet with a member of my staff in person, attorneys will be available Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 9:30 and 1:30. In order to assure an attorney will be available to meet with you, please call and make an appointment in advance.
To provide anonymous information by email, please see "Hot Line to DCA" on the panel to the left.