Terrence O'Brien is one of four contenders in the race for Cook County Board President.O'Brien has been president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for more than a decade. His top priorities include repealing the sales tax increase passed under President Todd Stroger, creating jobs by attracting businesses to Cook County, improving collections at the county's hospitals and creating more transparency in county hiring processes.
Windy City Times: Tell us about your professional background, and a few of the accomplishments you are most proud of?
Terrence O'Brien: I've been at the Water Reclamation District for 21 years, the last 13 as president. I'm proud of fact that we have been fiscally responsible in the management of that agency. Going back to 1991, we have abated over $247 million, and in 2008, in tough economic times, we abated or refunded $56 million back to residents. ... The other thing I'm proud of is the fact that we've been able to maintain a Triple-A bond rating for the last 10 years. And that's not just one bond rating agency, that's from all threeFitch, Moody's, and Standard & Poors. Standard & Poor's made us only the fourth waste waster treatment facility in the United States to receive that honor. One of other things we've done is streamlined our operations. When I was first elected, each department had a different IT platform. ... So we went to Springfield to get statutes changed to include a director of information technology and an assistant director of information technology ... and once we implemented that, we were able to get the agency up and running on one platform. Dating back to 1988, when I was first elected, there were 3,000 employees at the agency ... and now we're around 2,056 employees, and this is all while we've taken on an added responsibility of being the storm water management for the region.
WCT: You've said repealing the sales tax increase would be your first order of business? How you would generate new revenue or reduce expenses to balance the budget?
O'Brien: One of the things we would look at doing is looking at the hospital systembetter collection in relationship to revenue for services. The county did their own study back in 2005-2006 at Provident Hospital, which said they had $51 million of uncollected receivables for healthcare services provided. ... A lot of that money could come from Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance. There needs to be a review of what is out there and hasn't been collected. Many [ surrounding counties ] don't have a public healthcare system, and they send their people into Cook County's healthcare system. There has to be some kind of reciprocal agreement in place for us to be able to charge those counties for people who are using our system. Another thing I'd like to do is centralize purchasing; that would save greatly on any potential for sweetheart deals that might be going on out there.
WCT: You are seeking an office that has been held by an African American for many years, and you're currently the only white candidate in the race. How can you assure African American voters you will address issues specific to their community?
O'Brien: I think they just have to look at history of Terrence J. O'Brien and his work at the Water Reclamation District. We have never, ever neglected any community across this county in relationship to providing services to them and listening to their concerns. I will continue, as an elected officer of this county, to listen to everybody's needs and concerns as to what they want to see with county government. I've been getting support from all areas of the county, in relationship to race, ethnicity, religion. We've had balanced support across the county and we're continuing to pick up more of that support. I would hope in this day and age that we are past the issue. We elected an African American president a couple years ago and I would hope people would select the person they feel is most qualified to move county government in the right direction.
WCT: You said at the recent Affinity candidate forum that you support civil unions for same-sex couples. Do you support gay marriage? Why or why not?
O'Brien: I just feel that civil unions are a similar deal to what gay marriage is. That is just my belief. The civil unions, I can support. At the Water Reclamation District, under my tenure, we're allowing same-sex partners to have benefits, which has never been done before. We're looking now at potentially on the pension side of things, if something happens to a same-sex partner, those benefits would carry over to their partner. I think that is a legislative thing that needs to be taken on in Springfield.
WCT: How would you create more jobs and stimulate the local economy?
O'Brien: I think first of all, we need to roll back the other half percent of this sales tax. It is just chasing businesses and industry out of the county. I've worked in the private sector and a lot of businesses say they are leaving the county because of the tax issue. Simple fees add up and it hits their bottom line, and I think we have to be more proactive in bringing industry in. One of cabinet positions I'd like to develop would be economic development director to deal with the retail industry and the manufacturing industry because these are main tax bases for Cook County.
Everybody is going across the county boundaries. You can go 50 miles from downtown Chicago; there is a small community called Pleasant Prairie, Wis., and they have nothing but Chicago and Cook County companies in two brand new industrial parks ... and their sales tax is only 5.5 percent. If you go to some of outlet malls up there on the weekend, you'll see a lot of Illinois plates. We have to be a little friendlier and listen to commercial entities and their needs. I think for too long it's been neglected and we can't continue to tax our way out of this.
WCT: Other than the sales tax, what do you believe has been the biggest mistake of the Stroger administration and how would you have handled it differently?
O'Brien: What I see just from looking in at the outside, and some of the decisions he's made, is there is a lack of communication taking place. The board, when they meet, there is no dialog between leadership and the board members. I'm also hearing there is no communication between the leadership and the other 11 elected officials in the county, and that needs to take place. You see nothing but personal attacks at some of these board meetingsuncalled forthat resonates across cable TV and the homeowners see that. That doesn't bode well for running an efficient government. He's lacked in that and he's lacked in listening to taxpayers of the region, especially from the standpoint of wanting to keep the sales the tax in place. And the whole time, while keeping the sales tax in place, he promised that he would put a freeze on hiring, but he continues to hire people, and hire people in positions that have been vacant for six years. So what's going on? Do we really need the sales tax? Or are there other needs and means for the sales tax?
WCT: Is there anything else you'd like to let voters know about you?
O'Brien: I just want to say, if you look at all four of the candidates, Terrence J. O'Brien runs the second largest government in Cook County, and that's the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Cook County. We have a budget of $1.6 billion, we have infrastructure of $30 billion that we are responsible for, and we have run it in a very business-like manner. And I think from the standpoint of ethics ... there needs to be a change of how they are going to hire people. It has to be done through what people know and not who people know. That's got to stop. People have the impression now that Cook County is a social club and not a business, and that's got to change. Leadership has to want to put in the time to work day in and day out. When people see that taking place, subordinates follow the example. And that is not happening now. There are a lot of good employees at the county now, but the employees are disenchanted with leadership. When you see that the leadership doesn't care, why should you care? That attitude and thinking has to change, and I want to bring that change.
See www.obrienforcookcounty.com .