Jim Bolster was slapped with the five-day suspension “for assisting” his boss, former Deputy Commissioner Gilberto Quinones, in Quinones’ quest to “find employment for his son,” according to Transportation Department spokesman Brian Steele.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday that Quinones resigned his $122,940-a-year job, effective July 26, after the inspector general’s report accused him of clouting his son into “three successive” full-time jobs with three different engineering firms holding CDOT contracts.

In two of the cases, Quinones was accused of going to the city managers with direct oversight over those contractors and directing them to, “Find a place for my kid.” He allegedly approached the president of the third company directly, according to sources familiar with the inspector general’s report.

“These are allegations we take very seriously. City ethics rules prevent anyone from hiring a family member or having a family member hired by a contractor doing business with the city. This appears to be a clear violation,” Steele said.

Want more transparency in your local government? Check out our Local Transparency Project to see some of the ways you can help the Illinois Policy Institute improve transparency in local communities. To read the full Chicago Sun-Times article, click here.

To find this information on our IllinoisOpenGov website, click on “Payroll” and search “Day Care” in the “Position” field.

To find this information on our IllinoisOpenGov.org website, go to “Payroll” and search “Benefits Counselor” in the “Position” field.

Metra says that, while it’s hardly ideal to spend so much on overtime pay, there’s not much it can do about a lot of it.

Accidents, bad weather and other delay-causing problems also result in people working more than 40 hours, says Jeffrey L. Barton, Metra’s director of labor relations.

…A lot of work at Metra needs to be done when the trains aren’t running – on weekends and overnight, says Barton. That’s especially true for signal and track work, he says.

Interestingly, another key reason for the large portion of overtime pay comes from Metra’s compliance with the Federal Railroad Administration rules giving “the most senior employees preference for the best shifts – daytime on weekdays – and also to get overtime shifts.” The law that created Metra in 1983 by the Illinois Legislature required it to accept the FRA’s rules for operation.

Charles Lough, chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, claims the current overtime policy is actually a cheaper alternative, since paying two different employees would require paying twice as much in benefits.

It doesn’t look like changing the current system would be an easy task: “Trying to change the current rules could upset Metra’s relations with its labor unions and might just shift overtime from weekends to weekdays but not save any money, Barton says.”

To read the whole article, click here.

Contracts obtained by the Sun-Times reveal each contract is under the $25,000 mark — many by just a few dollars — which means they didn’t come before Cook County commissioners for approval.

They include a public relations contract given to a company by the name of Urban Rapport for $24,975 “to build awareness of the department’s (Department of Environmental Control) energy and conservation program,” according to a letter written by Stroger’s Deputy Chief of Staff Carla Oglesby to green light the contract.

But a check of state and county records shows that Urban Rapport, run by convicted felon and hip-hop promoter Terrell “Shorty Capone” Harris, isn’t a registered businesses in Illinois — a requirement of businesses doing contract work for Cook County.

Harris couldn’t be reached for comment. His phone number on the contract was disconnected and, as WFLD-Channel 32 first reported, the West Loop business address he gave is home to another firm that didn’t know of Harris or Urban Rapport.

A similar contract to spread the word about the county’s green initiative was given to Arrei Management Inc., once owned by Stroger’s beleaguered chief of staff Oglesby and dissolved in 2008, state records show. Stroger already suspended Oglesby for signing off on a $24,975 contract for her private public relations firm — CGC Communications — in recent months.

It was a CGC executive vice president, Tesa Anewishki, who prepared a written proposal to the county for Arrei, which eventually landed a $24,995 contract.

The full Chicago Sun-Times article is available here.

To find this grant on the DCEO grant tracker website, search for “Unytite Inc” in the “Name of Organization” field.

The Illinois Department of Transportation operates two free ferries across the Illinois State River.  These ferries operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week running separately from Grafton and Kampsville, Illinois across the river.

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org, clicking on “Payroll” and searching for “Ferry Operators” in the “Position” section.

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org, clicking on “Payroll” and searching for “Drivers Facility Managers” in the “Position” section.

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org,  clicking on “Payroll” and searching for “Power Shovel Operators” in the “Agency” section.

According to the DCEO’s Grant Tracker website, the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association has received two other tourism grants in recent years. The DCEO disbursed $64,500 to the association for grant #08-333020, which was a “special tourism grant.” The IGGVA has most recently received $83,255.76 of a $145,500 grant. That grant (grant #10-338001) will allow the association to “maintain the illinoiswine.com website; continue social networking; reprint the IL Wine Guide; design and produce IL Wine pull up displays; implement statewide advertising in major media markets for festivals and events; and host an annual educational conference for the industry.” The Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association received a total of $193,255.76 in recent years from these three grants. In addition to these grants, the IGGVA also mentions on their website that they were “granted $550,000 in 2005 by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to continue its effort to expand development and awareness of the state’s wine industry.”

To find the fiscal year 2009 grant on the Illinois OpenGov site, go to “Checks to Businesses & People” and search for “Illinois Grape Growers” in the “Vendor” field.