Mayor Rahm Emanuel today is expected to name business executives, a labor leader and a former City Hall watchdog to serve on a new board that aims to lure billions from private investors to help pay for public projects.
The first chairman of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust will be James Bell, who recently retired as executive vice president of Boeing Co.
Rounding out the panel will be Diana Ferguson, a former chief financial officer at Sara Lee Foodservice; David Hoffman, the former city inspector general; Jorge Ramirez, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor; and Ald. John Pope, 10th.
Bell said that for the trust to work, the city "clearly (was) going to need the credibility of an outside independent board." Trying something novel is necessary, Bell said, because although the city has financial constraints it still has to repair decaying infrastructure.
"We can't keep writing checks if we don't have money," said Bell, who also is a member of World Business Chicago, the private business group Emanuel has authorized to be the city's economic development arm.
"Getting the private sector to invest in municipal infrastructure is something that will have to be proved out. It will be looked at by people who are trying to see if this concept and innovative idea really works," Bell added.
The board will craft deals with private investors as members of a nonprofit trust not subject to all the same rules as city government. The trust will work directly with the city and its sister agencies to determine which big-ticket projects to undertake as it attempts to rebuild the city.
Ramirez was on hand when Emanuel introduced the concept and has touted the plan as a jobs program. It makes sense to have labor represented on the board, Ramirez said.
"It's smart and it's a call to collaboration that we've been looking for," Ramirez said. "I wasn't sure if he was going to put a labor person on it or not. Some of the boards are so heavily stacked with business and that doesn't always work. It's crucial for you to get the different perspectives available at table."
Ramirez has had a rocky relationship with the mayor. The Chicago Federation of Labor sat out the mayor's race, and one of Emanuel's early moves as mayor was threatening unions with layoffs if they didn't agree to work-rule changes.
Later, Ramirez worked with the administration to develop a wellness program for city workers. But last month, the mayor angered organized labor when he called for raising retirement ages for city workers and freezing cost-of-living increases for retired employees for 10 years as a way to fix the ailing pension system.
"The hope is that you use any opportunity to establish a meaningful dialogue," Ramirez said. "This is not a pro-mayor, pro-labor thing. It's about putting people back to work."
Union investment funds also are expected to put money behind some of the projects the trust will undertake.
Hoffman's nomination is meant to signal that the members will operate above board. Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, gained a reputation for challenging Mayor Richard Daley's administration. He left the post in 2009 to make an unsuccessful Democratic bid for the U.S. Senate. During the mayoral campaign Hoffman lent his name and credibility to Emanuel when he backed Emanuel's "ethics and good government agenda."
"This idea has great potential, but only if it is done the right way. Success will require at least four things: very strong transparency, oversight including from the IG, full public deliberation and decisions based on the merits, not connections or loyalties," said Hoffman, a partner at the law firm Sidley Austin.
During the contentious City Council debate on the infrastructure trust, aldermen insisted that one of their own be appointed to sit on the board. That's Pope, who represents a diverse Southeast Side ward.
To address council concerns, Emanuel ensured a council vote on every trust-financed project involving city money, assets or property. And the mayor issued an executive order requiring the trust board to pick analysts to evaluate each deal and to conduct annual financial reviews of the trust.
The mayor also added some ethics and sunshine provisions, but good-government groups and critical aldermen said they did not go far enough. Some aldermen said the board still has too much unchecked power to make deals that could affect city finances for decades.
The first undertaking of the trust is the relatively modest, noncontroversial example called Retrofit Chicago, in which private investors would lend the city up to $225 million to make energy efficiency improvements to city buildings.
"Our nominees are professionals of the highest magnitude who will operate in a transparent fashion, and will bring to the board the strictest fiduciary and ethical standards," Emanuel said in a statement.
Emanuel will formally nominate the board at the June 27 council meeting.
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