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Cook County Asset Management Committee approves amendment to energy benchmarking ordinance
Summary
The Cook County Asset Management Committee approved an amendment to the county's 2014 energy benchmarking ordinance to update job titles, definitions and expired deadlines; a commissioner urged staff to study expanding benchmarking to buildings above a size threshold over the next year.
The Cook County Asset Management Committee approved an amendment to the county's energy benchmarking ordinance, updating outdated job titles, definitions and year-specific deadlines in the law that was enacted in 2014. Jamie Myers, Interbureau Chief for the Bureau of Asset Management, presented the changes and said the amendments aim to "make the ordinance a living breathing ordinance" rather than one that had effectively sunset.
The changes were approved after a short presentation and discussion. Commissioner Degnan thanked Myers for the update and urged the county to consider expanding benchmarking to a broader set of buildings in future work, suggesting thresholds such as "10,000 or 15 or 20,000 square feet" as potential triggers for reporting. Myers told commissioners she welcomed that follow-up conversation and suggested including Suzanne from DES on the effort.
Commissioner Naya moved to approve the ordinance amendment (item 26-0597); the motion was seconded by Commissioner Britton and the chair called the ayes, which carried. Earlier in the meeting the committee also approved the minutes from its January 2026 meeting (item 260728); the minutes record an initial second by Commissioner Stamps, a participant whom another commissioner noted is not on this particular committee, and Commissioner Britton ultimately seconded the motion to approve the minutes.
Jamie Myers summarized the purpose of the amendment: the original ordinance has not been updated since 2014 and contains outdated references and deadlines that have passed. "The original benchmarking ordinance has not been amended since it was originally enacted in 2014 and currently has outdated job titles, definitions, milestones and year specific deadlines that have long passed," Myers said during the presentation.
Degnan argued that expanding which buildings must report would help the county understand energy consumption and grid needs and would let the county set long-term energy goals. "Maybe buildings over 10,000 or 15 or 20,000 square feet can look at what their energy goals are long term and what their energy consumption is and submit that to the county," Degnan said.
The committee recorded no roll-call tallies in the transcript; the chair announced the ayes and declared both the minutes and the energy benchmarking amendment approved. The meeting adjourned shortly after the vote.
