Chicago City Council puts off final votes on police arbitration ruling, new restrictions on dollar stores
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago City Council opted to punt on a few key items on the agenda on Wednesday, including controversial changes to police disciplinary procedures, and new restrictions on dollar stores.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies had been expected to vote a second time to reject a contract measure that would allow police officers to have the most serious disciplinary cases decided behind closed doors.
Instead, they opted to first move that vote through committee.
During contract negotiations with the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police last year, arbitrator Edwin Benn ruled that officers facing a suspension of at least a year or termination have the right to have their cases decided by an arbitrator rather than the Chicago Police Board.
The City Council voted 33-16 last month to reject that ruling, but Benn reaffirmed his decision earlier this week, putting the ball back in the council's court.
Johnson's allies originally scheduled that second vote for Wednesday, but during the meeting, Workforce Development Committee Chair Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) decided to first move the matter through his committee.
Bypassing his committee and going directly to a full City Council vote would have required a two-thirds vote to suspend the council's normal rules, or 34 votes. By going through committee instead, once it comes back to the full City Council, 30 votes will be needed to again reject Benn's ruling.
Should the mayor's allies reject the ruling again, the FOP is already prepared to take the fight to court, and Benn has warned that the city has "no possibility of prevailing" in court.
Benn has noted state law requires police officers to have the option of having disciplinary cases decided through arbitration, in part because they don't have the right to strike.
"Adherence to the Rule of Law is not a request or a cafeteria selection process for the City to choose which State of Illinois laws should apply and which should not. Compliance with the Rule of Law is an obligation," Benn wrote in a letter reaffirming his original ruling.
"Taking the City Council's reasons for rejection to it's logical extent ... individuals could opt not to pay taxes, fees, fines, comply with City ordinances, state and federal laws, etc. which they similarly believe are not 'just' or 'right,'" Benn added. "In a democracy, that is not how it works."
At a committee meeting last month, city attorneys told aldermen a fight in court would be an uphill battle the city is likely to lose.
But the mayor and his allies have defended the move to reject Benn's ruling, arguing police officers facing serious misconduct allegations shouldn't be allowed to have their fates deiced behind closed doors by a single arbitrator, rather than in public by the Chicago Police Board, a nine-member panel whose members are confirmed by the City Council.
Meantime, the City Council on Wednesday also put off a final vote on an ordinance that would create new regulations for dollar stores in Chicago.
The ordinance would prohibit so-called "small-box retailers" from opening within one mile of another such store owned by the same company.
The restrictions would apply to any store between 4,000 and 17,500 square feet that "continuously offers or advertises a majority of the items in their inventory for sale at a price less than $5.00 per item," but would exempt gas stations, pharmacies, pawn shops, flea markets, thrift shops, and other various specialty shops. The rules also would provide exemptions for so-called "small-box retailers" that set aside at least 10% off their floor space to fresh produce, meat, seafood, and dairy products.
Dollar stores also would be required to display signs listing the name and emergency contact information for both the store's owner and license holder, and stores must carry an insurance policy of at least $1 million.
There are 23 licensed Dollar General stores in Chicago, and about 60 Dollar Tree locations and 66 Family Dollar locations, according to an analysis of active business license data from the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar in 2015, so the firm collectively owns more than 120 in the city, mostly on the city's southwest and northwest sides.
More than 90 of those stores are within a mile of each other, or about 75% of all Dollar Tree-owned stores in Chicago, according to a CBS data analysis of store locations. Only 2 of the 23 Dollar General stores are within a mile of each other.
Those stores would not be affected by the ordinance as it only targets the creation of new stores from the same owner.
Since 2018, there were more than a thousand 311 complaints to addresses of dollar store locations, according to an analysis of 311 data. That includes more than 200 sanitation complaints, nearly 70 rat complaints, and more than 300 business complaints, including 13 for outdated merchandise. There were also more than 100 complaints alleging building violations.
One Family Dollar on the 800 block of 103rd street racked up 27 building code violations since 2008, according to data from the Department of Administrative hearings.