Cook County Public Defenders Association

At Wednesday’s nomination meeting we had several candidates be nominated for executive at large positions so there will be an election May 17th at all locations.

There was only nomination for each of the officer positions
President – Kevin Ochalla
Vice President – Mark Douglass
Secretary – Celeste Addyman
Treasurer – Brett Gallagher

Candidates for Executive at Large, you can vote for 3 (in alphabetical order)
Sarah Anderson
Sarah Fransene
William Murphy
Ashley Shambley
Radiance Ward

Candidate statements are below.

• Anderson Statement
• Fransene Statement
• Murphy Statement
• Shambley Statement
• Ward Statement

Save the Date.

Friday Night, September 10, 2021 

V.

Baseball Game Benefit for the Jack Carey Memorial Scholarship vs. 

Section 102, Guaranteed Rate Field, $75/ticket

Good Afternoon,

We would like to start off by saying thank you to everyone that has been sending in reports about their worksites and what is happening specifically with any progress on virtual hearings. As we stated our target date for virtual across the county is Monday. Obviously contact your assigned board member with the status of this on Monday. This weekends CBC should be all virtual so we will be monitoring how that goes.

If you are working CBC this weekend and need hand sanitizer, there is some on 7 in the break room. If you need a refill contact a board member for the location. There have been pirates about, I know not from our office, but they are about. If you need more in other locations please let us know and we will order more.

We have not heard back from the CJ’s office today as of this writing. That’s why we are asking about what you in the courtrooms were seeing with regard to the virtual set ups. Council 31 has been pressing them all day and we will continue to press them through the weekend for a Monday launch countywide.

Sidenote: The President just started talking as I’m writing this so I might be getting stupider as this email goes on. Sorry now.

We sent the letter for HIPPA release exemption last night to the Council and will be pressing the offices listed for that info as well.

Please send us info on how the suburbs and FTD are handling the cases outside of the expedited bond hearing criteria. We have heard many members concerns on this, many have provided incredible researched and insightful material on this and our responsibility as attorneys on this issue. We are working on it this weekend; we may not have an answer for you, but it is on our radar and we will be discussing in at our board meeting.

You should have received an email in your work email about extended sick time off policy for the county if you have COVID related issues. If this helps please feel free to obviously follow it, if you have questions contact your assigned board member for a work around if needed.

As we get more information, we will continue to send it out and as you get more information.

All of you have been remarkable during this crisis. You have been asked to do incredibly important work under difficult circumstances at best and straight up chaotic at just off best. We have been working as best we can to ensure that you are safe during this time and so many of you have reached out to us with support. You have been telling us how you are doing and feeling and asking how we are holding up.

The board’s last electronic board meeting, we had a bit of a happy hour. It was a two-martini late lunch as such. We are all holding up well, and we are all supporting each other, and our spirits are high. The issues you send us only feed our fire to pursue these issues for us all. Thank you for your wonderful emails, text and calls showing us your thanks and support. We all really appreciate them, and they really keep us going.

The person in the White House just went into freestyle mode and I can feel myself getting dumber by the second. I am signing off before I forget how to type.   

Stay Safe
—
Kevin OchallaPresidentLocal 3315

Good evening,

We have some more updates to relay on what happened today and what some of our next steps forward are.

Today every court site received at least one gallon of hand sanitizer from Koval. This is a refill for smaller dispensers. Check the grocery stores on your next supply run for universal dispensers. Or in a pinch an old rinsed out shampoo bottle might work. We do ask that you use these refill jugs for work purposes. We can always order more and can probably have it within 24 hours. Even when we go virtual, we will still have staff in the offices and we should be taking as much precautionary steps with co-workers and other staff as we are with clients. So, we will keep it coming just let us know when you need it.

Today we learned that several locations were in the process of setting up Zoom virtual hearings. 555 W Harrison, Maywood and behind the scenes in JJ. As stated last night CBC and Holiday bond court were already virtual. Some Judges at 26^th Street are using it. You should have all gotten instructions how to access it and tutorials on how to use it. Please become familiar with this program. We are continuing our pressure on the Chief Judge to have all courtrooms virtual by Monday. That is the GOAL, and the board will  be discussing what action we take if the goal is not met. We believe the Chief Judge is making a good faith effort to comply with our request. We should know more about this tomorrow.

Two divisions that we are particularly concerned with are the Police Station Unit and Child Protection. With CP we are pressing the Chief Judge for the virtual hearings for T.Cs. The Police Station Unit is difficult as these members are in and out of police stations that have been closed to public, the offices are not practicing social distancing, there needs to be direct contact with the client, no if any supplies provided and we all know how “honest” the police are in reporting numbers. For these members I can’t stress enough, if you don’t feel safe leave. I know its hard as you have a client  there but you can’t help them if you are sick. We will keep pushing management for protection for your unit.

The board believes that we have a right to be notified of who tested positive that we may have been in contact with in the last three weeks. To that end we drafted a letter, well drafted and researched by Chris Anderson, to be submitted to the Sheriff, County and Chief Judge requesting that information. We also had a call with Council 31 today where this issue was discussed, and the Council agreed to reach out immediately to the Sheriff’s labor council to inform them of what we will be asking for formally. We will keep you up to date as we receive more information. We have attached the letter.

The next item is a little tricky and we expect to get questions on an individual basis as we go forward. You received an email from management today regarding personal use time during this crisis. If you are concerned about coming into court due to what’s happening, and you yourself have an underlying risk factor condition, your first response is to not be on the schedule at all. If you still are contact your Union board member contact. If someone you live with has an underlying risk factor condition and you are on the court schedule and don’t want to come in take a day.  If you are sick and are not working from home, you can take a day. If you take a day during this crisis, we will attempt to get the days back based on President’s Preckwinkle’s past orders and National and State Emergency Declarations.

Under the Governor’s orders the largest number of people allowed to “congregate” is 10. The board insists that this is also true of the courtrooms. So, if there are 10 people in the courtroom you are requested to leave, contact your supervisor and the Union, and state that the current courtroom is operating in a dangerous fashion under the Governor’s orders. Refuse to go back into court until the situation is corrected. Again, our goal is to have all virtual courtrooms by Monday. But this job action will help us keep up the pressure to get this done.

Stay Safe, Wash Your Hands and Have a Restful Night
—
Kevin OchallaPresidentLocal 3315

Good evening,

First some good news.

1)      We received our first supply of hand sanitizer from Koval today. Koval was willing to donate what they gave us, but since they are operating on only a go-fund me page during this crisis, we paid for the product. It was added to their donations. The following is the process for distribution tomorrow. the protocol for drop off is as follows.

Someone that is on the court schedule tomorrow from each court site should contact (texts are fine) the respective board member to be available for drop off outside the courthouse. Koval is looking for a photo of the drop off as well. The sanitizer comes in gallon jugs, so keep any old smaller bottles to re-fill.

For members at:

Skokie; Rolling Meadows; Grand and Central contact Mark at 847-921-1083 to schedule drop off.

Markham; Bridgeview; Maywood; and 111^th and Ellis contact Theresa at 773-495-7760

Harrison and Kedzie; 555 W Harrison and 26^th Street contact Kevin at 312-501-1144

2245 W Ogden will have two bottles delivered early in the morning, One for JJ and one for CP. Contact Mark for their location in the office.

2)      Virtual bond court for CBC and Weekend Bond court started today.

3)      Virtual interview for CBC and Weekend Bond court started yesterday.

4)      Additional PPEs were donated to the Union by Chris Anderson. Thank you for that. I know everybody needs supplies we will try and ration as best we can. If you are at 26^th St and need them they are in my office. Please only take what you need for the day!!!!!! There are other sites that need some too and we want to get some out to others as well.

5)      The board had a productive meeting with the President’s office and the office of the Chief Judge. The precautionary measures that were sent to you on Monday were delivered to those offices yesterday afternoon and we discussed them this morning.

6)      AFSCME Local 3315 Cook County Public Defender’s Association was added as a signatory to the Chicago Appleseed’s Open Letter for the Release of Inmates due to this crisis. http://www.chicagoappleseed.org/our-blog/letter-illinois-supreme-court-covid-19/

Bad news:

At 8:30 am today there were 3 confirmed cases of inmates in CCDOC. By our conference call at 10:00 am there were 6 confirmed cases of inmates in CCDOC. As of this writing there were 17 in CCDOC and 2 in the Chief Judges office; one in probation and one at the Daley Center. Hopefully now they will get the damn point about our concerns!

That brings me to something else that we need to express. The board knows that you are all dedicated to your jobs and your clients. We know that you would rather take on hardships for the betterment of your clients. We will gladly get abused and disrespected by the judge, the state, the sheriff, the prisons even our own clients if we can get a positive outcome for our clients.

Over the last two weeks the board has spent hours and hours crafting a strategy, constantly changing to events that we see and that you relay to us through the great emails you’ve been sending to us. One aspect of that strategy is the development of demands that we put forth, our precautionary measures that we sent out Monday, the other is what we asked the members to do when confronted with the dangerous conditions in court.

We asked that everyone not participate in court proceedings that you deem unsafe. To go back to your office, to contact your supervisor and the Union and don’t go back until the situation is fixed. Also to get from you the stats of those courtrooms and what happened in court that day. What we got from you on stats and in response to our questions was wonderful and are having a huge impact on moving the parties in our favor. But from what we received very few refused to go into court if it was undafe.

We didn’t ask this to be difficult, we asked this to apply pressure to the agencies that need to modify their behavior and strengthen our position.  When we aren’t in solidarity, we give up bargaining power. Solidarity is our strongest weapon in this, but we ALL have to act in the same way for it to work.  I know its hard, I know there is fear of retaliation, I know that we have dedication to our clients, but when we stick together, all together, there is strength and courage in numbers, retaliation becomes impossible and we put our clients in a better position in the long run when they are safer with less contact and we are safer with less contact.

We can’t always outline in detail what our plan is as these emails tend to leak to those that we are bargaining with.  Rest assured that the actions that we asked you to do are asked for a purpose. The goal was to seriously hinder this extended schedule so that the judges, sheriff, clerks and state’s would fall in line with safe practices. We achieved some goals but not enough considering the circumstances.

As things developed tonight, specifically with the increase of cases in CCDOC I had a conversation with the Council to expedite compliance with our precautionary measures. We had contact with management and will call the CJ first thing in the morning.

Our request for member action outlined above still stands.

Stay safe!

“ I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” Rosa Parks
—
Kevin OchallaPresidentLocal 3315

I have attached for you a list of precautionary measures the Council is sending to management, The Board President and the Chief Judge. These are what we insist on happening to ensure the safety of our membership. These are not hard and should be easily implemented.

Today the Executive Board with Council 31 participated in a conference call with management.  We argued that we have been doing what has been asked of us during this crisis. We have put our health and the health of our families on the line because we know that what we do is important and necessary.  We indicated that the level of our exposure to Covid 19 to our members attempting to follow the protocols put in place by management in the last week are no longer acceptable.  We put forth our demands on behalf of our members for our work conditions going forward during this crisis.

We are now at time for solidarity. Read our list of precautionary measures.  We started pushing for these at 4:00pm today. It is the board’s position that this is no longer optional, these need to be in place now.  Tomorrow, if you feel that the situation is not safe; example too many people in the courtroom, no safe distance place to interview etc., walk away and contact your supervisor and contact us. As always, we will support whatever decision you make.

We are still working from home and following those protocols, but we are advising you to not put yourself in a dangerous work environment. Contact you supervisor and contact us.

Read the attachment.

Since we may still have to have some contact in the courthouses, we have ordered some supplies that will hopefully help. Member Lakshmi Jha’s friend is the owner of Koval Distillery. Koval is transferring its production to hand sanitizer. While Koval offering their products for free to first responders and those in need and operating on a go-fund me account to obtain supplies, we placed a purchase order and hope to have some of their product at all court sites very soon. They come in refill type amounts so keep any old dispenser bottles you may have. Also visit their go fund me and on your next supply run consider a bottle of Koval to ride out this crisis.

Finally, we are aware of the arguments that were made today in the presiding judge’s courtroom. Now is a time to get results and secure the safety of the members of this local. This issue will be addressed, just not today. This board knows how hard you have been working, how stressful this has been on you and your families. This board knows the dedication and commitment that you feel to this work and those that you serve. This board is grateful for the information that you give to us each and every day and for the courage you have all shown as we deal with this crisis. This board will continue, in solidarity with you, to fight for your safety and wellbeing.

While not on point, I think this quote can be modified to fit this crisis.

Climate change does not respect border; it does not respect who you are – rich and poor, small and big. Therefore, this is what we call ‘global challenges,’ which require global solidarity. Ban Ki-moon; Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 2007 to December 2016- 
Kevin OchallaPresidentLocal 3315

Good Evening,
I have attached the following press  release from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office regarding a positive test for Covid 19. The CO in question was in the Cermak Hospital section of the jail. I just got off the phone with Helen from Council and she calling The President’s Office tonight to move our Wednesday meeting up to tomorrow. I also requested a conference call with office management for tomorrow.. 
The board will be pushing for solutions, including but not limited to, some of the provisions outlined in the ISC order, such as phone appearances and video appearances.  Use you best judgment and we will support your decision what ever that is. 
A question was posted on Facebook today about visiting the jail. It is our advice that you do not visit clients in person. Use the phone call forwarding or mail them a response to their questions from voicemail. 
We wish we had more information to give you and we are working on getting it. What I call tell you now is use your common sense. The number of clients we are seeing in court is coming down in most places. Practice extreme social distancing, even from sheriffs and ASAs. We have been pushing management since the start to reduce staff as the numbers dictate. Some have already, we think there is still room to go down in most places right now. No need for 3 attorneys to be in court just sitting around. 
The board’s only dedication at this point is to the safety of our members.  
We hope to have more for you tomorrow morning. 
—
Kevin OchallaPresidentLocal 3315

Good Afternoon,
Anyone that has worked a court schedule in the last 4 days please communicate with the respective board member for your worksite the following information:
1.) How many court staff from all agencies were assigned to your courtroom. ASAs, Clerks, sheriff’ etc.s2) How many clients approximately came in. Off the street and custody3) Didi the you feel that there were too many PDs assigned to cover the clients that came in4) Where there any protective products available for your use if you needed them5) If you worked weekend bond court was the video interviewing up and running.
And as always if there were any incidents with contact with sick or suspected sick people. The more we know the better we can argue for the necessary action. 

—
Kevin OchallaPresidentLocal 3315

Good Evening
The executive board had a meeting directly after the Governor’s press conference today. Also earlier in the day the Illinois Supreme Court issued an order for court procedures during this shutdown. I have attached it to this email. TO make a long story short, neither of these two directives really changes much of what we are already doing. 
What we have been hearing from the various worksites is that the numbers of people coming in off the streets and in custody, in most places, seems to be diminishing. Also in most places cases are being dismissed, pleas of out of custody are being relayed, I-bonds are being issued and people are being released. As the numbers of clients in the courtrooms goes down we are pushing management to modify the schedule to remove as many of the attorneys out of the court as possible. Some locations have already modified the schedule this week. So keep sending us the numbers you get each day.
We will be having a conference call with the County and Council 31 this week Tuesday or Wednesday and there are three issues that rise to the top of many. One, there are still too many people in the courtrooms from other agencies that don’t need to be there, 2 there is still no effective protective products available and we want to press on the county on clearing of the courtrooms, 3 getting in place the video conference equipment in place right away. 
Use your best judgment to keep yourself safe and healthy. the Union will back you up in your decisions. We can’t represent out clients if we’re sick.
If you got an accommodation email from Asia Cobb and you are still on a court rotation schedule contact the assigned board member . IF you got one and are not on a court schedule you can file it away.
THe support staff wishes to express their appreciation for members of this local that advocated for them to be on a duty schedule. They are now on a duty schedule and working at home as much as they can.

To start, support staff have received laptops and a duty schedule that should take effect tomorrow. So they will not all be in the office. We advocated for them, and will continue to do so as we go forward and we relayed that to them. They all send their thanks to every member of this local for your support. 
We are on day 2 of a 30 day shut down, that could very well get longer and more restrictive. Oak Park just announced a shelter in place order and I am sure that other municipalities will soon follow. People’s normal methods of socializing have been turned completely upside down.  
People walking around my neighborhood, when we meet up on the sidewalk,  would chat for a couple of minutes before going our separate ways. If you saw your neighbor on their porch we would go up and chat for a minute. Happens in everyone’s neighborhood everywhere. Now we are shouting our conversation across the street, we are staying on our own porches and shouting down the block. Same goes for our members. Those conversations we normally have in the corner of the hallway when we meet, or when we stop by a friend’s office or when we go out for lunch. We are now having these conversations through social media.
This connection is important especially right now during this crisis, but we need to have some control. There are going to be issues that come up from this shutdown. The Union is in constant communication with management and we are working through those issues. I spoke with Amy, Lester and Parle today about issues in the branch courts that a member brought to my attention. We made a plan to deal with it and will put it in place for tomorrow. If it doesn’t work, we will talk again and try something else. Josh addressed an issue in Rolling Meadows and Maywood yesterday that a member brought to his attention. He made some phone calls, reached an agreement and the issues were resolved. If it comes up again, we will address it again. Mark is dealing with issues in Skokie. He made calls and it will be resolved. All of the board members have been answering members questions everyday. The board texts, calls and communicates several times a day to discuss issues and coordinate responses. We have video meeting tomorrow at 11:15. 
I speak at least once a day Helen or Anne from Council 31 for their meetings with the county, sheriff, hospital etc. I relay our issues to the Council and they call for our input. So we need to know what you know. 
Please help us do what you elected us to do. We need to be in Solidarity now more than ever. When issues come up tell us and let us work on it. 
Social media can be an excellent tool during this time of isolation. We can stay connected and not feel so alone. But please be smart about it. Please be polite during conversations. Let’s talk about kids, pets, hobbies, cooking experiments (that in may case have gone horribly wrong at times), who delivers the best wine, home improvement projects you finally have time to get done, what our relatives are doing, who still has toilet paper and what arguments will work to convince 5.0. that, yes going for Scotch is considered an essential trip (Chris Anderson I’m counting on you for this one!). Talk about issues on the cases you are working on at home. 
Let’s please leave the complaints about work/management to informing your Union representative in private so we can work the problem constructively.

Skokie and 69 W.Washington worksite please contact Mark Douglass

Rolling Meadows and Maywood worksites please contact Joshua Nathan

Bridgeview and Markham worksites please contact Colleen Gorman

555 W Harrison and City Branch Courts please contact Brett Gallagher

Juvenile court please contact Kyan Keenan

Civil and Police Station Unit please contact Theresa Nelson

26^th Street please contact Takenya Nixon or Kevin Ochalla

I am always available in an emergency situation from any site.