SSMMA Leaders Engage Legislators During End of Session Drive-Down

On May 22nd, SSMMA leaders traveled to Springfield for a focused advocacy trip to emphasize critical legislative priorities of Southland communities as the end of the Spring session approached. Led by SSMMA President-Elect and Lynwood Mayor Jada Curry and Legislative Chair Rick Reinbold, the delegation included SSMMA Treasurer and Country Club Hills Mayor James Ford, Public Safety Committee Chair and Markham Mayor Roger Agpawa, Cook County At-Large Representative and Park Forest Mayor Joseph Woods, and SSMMA Executive Director Kristi DeLaurentiis.

Throughout the day, meetings were held with key South Suburban legislators to address concerns about pending legislative initiatives that disproportionally impact Southland communities and taxpayers, needed infrastructure and resources to foster economic recovery, and other urgent regional priorities.

Central to the day’s advocacy agenda was fighting any proposal that would affect municipal Police and Fire, and IMRF pension levels. SSMMA mayors sought to ensure our Southland delegation and other leaders understood that municipal police (Article 3) and fire (Article 4) and IMRF (Article 7) pensions already meet Safe Harbor standards, thus, expanding Tier II pension benefits back towards Tier I levels is not only unnecessary but would immediately escalate costs that would result in higher property taxes on our residents.

We presented detailed cost projections for numerous communities, emphasizing to legislators the necessity of preserving current Tier II pension reforms to safeguard our municipalities’ fiscal stability and protect taxpayers.

We also highlighted additional key priorities, such as stabilizing property taxes and establishing a minimum property tax base to mitigate volatile assessments. Securing continued funding for infrastructure and capital improvement projects was underscored as critical to our region’s economic growth, competitiveness, and quality of life as was making progress on restoring Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) revenues to promised levels—vital to disadvantaged communities with limited tax base— to ensure municipalities can provide core municipal services to residents and businesses alike.

Despite the challenging fiscal climate at both the state and federal levels, SSMMA and its municipal leaders remain steadfast in their commitment to collaborate with legislators and regional partners to tackle hard problems and a shared agenda that stabilizes the Southland and advances solutions that rebuild and reenergize our region.

For more information, visit www.ssmma.org/legislation

View photos from this event here.

Requests for Qualifications

Environmental Remediation Contract Services

SSMMA is seeking environmental remediation contractors to conduct remediation services in support of our brownfields remediation program, which is funded by the Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability via the American Rescue Plan Act. SSMMA, leveraging existing relationships with south suburban communities, will conduct various cleanup activities of brownfields in support of development growth in the south suburbs. Respondents may respond to one or all of the following:

• Soil and Groundwater Remediation Services

• Soil Vapor Mitigation Services

• Building Demolition and Abatement Services

If your firm is qualified and experienced in conducting the described environmental remediation services, SSMMA would appreciate receiving your SOQ.

Review the complete RFQ here.

The deadline for submissions in response to this Request for Qualifications is 5:00pm CDT on Thursday, June 5, 2025.