County Code

MuniCode

Municipal Code Corporation (MuniCode) in Tallahassee, Florida is the company responsible for maintaining and codifying the Cook County Codes and Ordinances.  One of the additional services they provide is online access to our ordinances.

Be aware that these online ordinances are NOT updated after every ordinance change approved by the Cook County Board and the Cook County Forest Preserve District.  When you access the online ordinances, the first webpage of either set of ordinances will list the date of the last update.

The MuniCode web server is generally accessible.  Since they provide this online service to various communities and governments, they do frequent updates in the late night and early morning, and online service is unavailable while this is occurring.  If you are unable to connect with MuniCode, try again a few hours later.

Comments or questions about the online Cook County Code of Ordinances at MuniCode should be directed to the Cook County Law Library, 2900 Daley Center 50 W. Washington St., 29th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60602. Telephone: (312) 603-5423.

To search the Cook County’s Ordinances, click here.

About Cook County Government

Cook County is a home rule county and is governed by a seventeen-member Board of Commissioners and a Chief Executive Officer, who is elected to the Office of the President of the Board.  The Commissioners and the President of the Cook County Board are elected to serve four-year terms.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners is the governing policy board and legislative body of the county. The Rules of the Board are approved at the beginning of each four-year term.

There are 17 Commissioners elected by districts who have authority over – and final approval of – the County’s fiscal year budget and appropriations.  The County Board’s oversight of each county office’s budgeted dollars is done through its Finance Committee, where all county proposed contracts and expenditures over $10,000 are discussed and considered for the Board’s approval.

The Board of Commissioners conducts its business at regularly held bi-monthly County Board meetings.  Business items not approved by the Board at these regularly held bi-monthly meetings are referred to one of the Board’s eighteen standing legislative committees and thirteen subcommittees for further discussion, public comment and development of recommendations to be relayed to the full Board.  These committees meet at the discretion and call of the committee’s and subcommittee’s respective Chairmen.  In addition to meetings called by the Chairmen, the Board’s Finance, Roads and Bridges, and Zoning and Building Committees also conduct business at regularly held bi-monthly meetings that coincide with the County Board meetings.

The seventeen Commissioners also serve as the Board of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, a special purpose taxing district established pursuant to state law (70 ILCS 810.).  As Commissioners of the Forest Preserve District, the Board also has jurisdiction over the forest preserve areas of the County.  Brookfield Zoo and Chicago Botanic Gardens properties are owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

The unincorporated areas of the County are also under the jurisdiction of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

In addition to a 17-member Board of Commissioners, Cook County’s government organization falls under eleven elected offices: the Assessor, 3 Commissioners of the Board of Review, County Clerk, Clerk of the Circuit Court, President of the County, Recorder of Deeds, Sheriff, State’s Attorney, and Treasurer. The President directs the administrative services of county government that fall under six county bureaus containing 35 departments, as well as 6 independent offices that report directly to the President.  With the consent of the Cook County Board, the President appoints the bureau chiefs of the county bureaus and directors of the departments.

Cook County government also includes the largest unified court and criminal justice system in the nation – the Circuit Court of Cook County, the largest single-site jail in the United States – the Cook County Department of Corrections, the first and one of the largest juvenile justice systems and facility – the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, and the third largest public health system in the nation.