One of the more interesting functions of Committee on Budget and Government Operations hearings is to compel each department to share specific statistics or other data on the record. However, since Alders only have approximately 10 minutes on the clock for most hearings, data requests can eat up a disproportionate amount of time and data are often returned “through the Chair” (TTC) when a department does not have a specific answer at the hearing. Therefore, Alderman La Spata sends TTC letters in advance of each Committee hearing, to give departments a chance to procure the data; to save time on his hearing clock for other substantive matters; and to place data requests in specific, written format to be as clear as possible.

TTC letters would be searchable due to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws because the City Council is a public body, and Budget hearings are a matter of specific business for the body, so 1st Ward staff are publishing the Alderman’s letters here for transparency and accessibility. To the extent that we can publish responses, we will strive to do so.