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.