This Letter to the Editor can be found in the Journal & Topics Newspaper: https://www.journal-topics.com/articles/letter-to-our-editor-work-continues-at-board-of-review/
As one of three commissioners at the Cook County Board of Review, I would like to take a moment to provide a brief update on operations at the Board amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without the advanced technology now in use by the Board of Review, most state, county and local government offices have severely scaled back their operations while the Board of Review has offered a stark contrast by diligently continuing its work for the people of Cook County. Board services have operated uninterrupted, and thanks to the work ethic of our staff, the hardworking people of Cook County have continued to receive results of their 2019 tax year property tax appeals in a timely manner.
On Monday, March 16 during a morning conference call with heads of every county office and department, President Toni Preckwinkle announced that due to the coronavirus, the county building would be closed. Commissioners Larry Rogers Jr., Mike Cabonargi and myself anticipated a week earlier that this might be the eventual decision and put in place a contingency plan to ensure the continuity of the work of the Board. That same afternoon, each commissioner’s staff of analysts met with their supervisors and received instructions that they were to take home their laptop computers, docking stations and monitors. Pre-packaged kits of tech supplies were made available to those who needed them. Instructions on how to connect with the county VPN were given as well, along with information about who to contact if they had any difficulties getting set-up.
By Tuesday morning, 90% of Board analysts were up adjudicating appeal files in their homes and by Wednesday morning every analyst was working at full capacity. That week, the Board as a whole completed over 14,000 appeal files, an amount at the high end of production in the best of circumstances. That production has only increased in the weeks following. While technological difficulties did crop up for individual analysts from time to time, they were quickly addressed by Board management and tech staff.
The fact that the Board of Review has continued operating at full capacity during the shut-down is testament to the implementation of our award-winning Digital Appeals Processing System (DAPS) five years earlier and subsequent upgrades made to it each year thereafter. Not only did the DAPS make it possible to process a record number of appeals, it also provided the flexibility to Board management to allow our employees to work from home. This has included not only analysts but also human resources, payroll, scheduling, IT, balancing personnel and taxpayer services returning phone calls and e-mails from appellants.
As things stand today, the Board of Review is on schedule to finish adjudicating its record 253,000 appeals on or before our originally anticipated date of May 10.
Dan Patlak
Commissioner
Board of Review