JOSEPH M. FERGUSON INSPECTOR GENERAL
CITY OF CHICAGO OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 740 NORTH SEDGWICK STREET, SUITE 200 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60654 TELEPHONE: (773) 478-7799 FAX: (773) 478-3949
JULY 29, 2021
TO THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, CITY CLERK, CITY TREASURER, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO:
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has completed a follow-up to its July 2020 audit ofthe Department of Streets and Sanitation's (DSS) weed-cutting program. Based on the Department's responses, OIG concludes that DSS has fully implemented one corrective action, partially implemented one, and has not implemented five.
The purpose ofthe July 2020 audit was to determine if DSS met its goals of mowing all City-owned vacant land at least 4 times during the growing season, and addressed all overgrown weed complaints within 42 days. DSS is responsible for cutting weeds that have grown higher than ten inches on the public way, as well as City-owned and private vacant land. DSS ward superintendents manage this process by visually surveying their wards, responding to complaints, and providing direction to weed-cutting contractors. Because the problem of overgrown weeds disproportionately impacts the West and South Sides of Chicago, DSS' effectiveness in delivering this service substantially impacts efforts to combat blight in these neighborhoods.
OIG found that although DSS staff were responsible for identifying City-owned vacant lots that require weed cutting, the City did not have a complete or accurate list of such properties. As a result, the Department could not ensure that City-owned vacant lots were cut at least four times per year. Without an accurate list, ward superintendents often entered citations into the Mobile Electronic Ticketing System (METS) for City-owned properties, leaving it up to the Department of Law (DOL) to review and reject these erroneous charges. We also found that DSS staff resolved complaints in a variety of ways, but that ...
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