City Clerk Anna Valencia’s Opening Budget Remarks as Prepared

Good morning, and thank you, Chairman for having me here today.

Our city has seen its share of ups and downs and these past two years have truly been a testament to our resilience. It is because of the determination and dedication of all of you, our elected leaders, and our courageous city workers that we have been able to pull through and transition back to a sense of normalcy.

Throughout these challenging times, our team at the Office of the City Clerk has continued to adapt, adjust and develop innovative solutions to navigate the ever-changing future.

Last year, we were one of the few offices that remained open and ready to safely and efficiently serve our residents. Building on top of our experiences, mistakes and successes we have been able to find a path forward which has allowed for a pivotal year for our office.

Rooted in the principles of equity, accessibility, openness and collaboration we were able to resume and expand some of our most impactful initiatives and programs. Our office continued to prioritize government accessibility by safely restarting our Mobile City Hall initiative. This initiative, which we launched in 2019, is a collaborative effort that brings all that City Hall has to offer directly to our residents’ backyards. Government services shouldn’t be so hard to access and understand especially during the times where our residents need us most. Mobile City Hall allows Chicagoans to not only purchase the products they need but gives them an understanding of what services our local government provides all while bringing in revenue to keep our city running.

We took the same approach with our e-commerce platform. After going online overnight and seeing a stark increase in our online sales we took your feedback, combined with resident feedback, and continued our internal efforts to improve our e-commerce platform, ensuring residents have the most seamless purchasing experience possible.

Providing Chicagoans more options for how they choose to interact with government has been one of the greatest shifts of the pandemic. Our office continues to be forward thinking, always asking what we can do to improve the customer service and online user experience for our constituents.

Our office is also continuing to prioritize our Council Modernization initiative working to streamline our legislative management system bringing Chicago’s City Council into the 21st century.

We have also continued our efforts to provide affordable options for residents still reeling from the financial impacts of the pandemic. Our office expanded our Reduced Term Sticker Program a program that lowers the barrier to entry all while simultaneously working to meet our revenue goals. 

As we look to the future and continue bettering our governing approach, accessibility, equity, collaboration along with and innovation remain our office’s core principles. It means moving forward with our Council Modernization, continuing our efforts to get CityKeys into the hands of all Chicagoans, and always adjusting to a fluid, ever-changing situation as we navigate our ongoing global health crisis. 

At this time, I’d be happy to take any further questions you may have. Thank you.