Governmental & municipal consulting, Chicago
20+ years in governmental and municipal consulting and lobbying, from Chicago.
GOTB Consulting is a governmental and municipal consulting firm based in Chicago. We help firms understand and work with City of Chicago agencies, public procurement, certification and City Council approval steps, with a focus on infrastructure and aviation.
Dollar figures are the size of the programs, not GOTB fees.
Pick your lane
City Council updatesDebriefs, committees, linked sources
Procurement watchCTA canine security: contract, forecast, dates
Water mains & lead pipesThe underground rebuild, explained
Airport concessionsO’Hare and Midway: who gets to sell the coffee?
SagasIllustrated video series, about a minute eachClient HubTopic trackers and the private client portalHow GOTB helps
Procurement & certification
Know how public contracts and certification really work before you decide where to compete.
See how we help →Aviation & O’Hare
Make sense of the O’Hare program and the airport business around it.
See how we help →Water & infrastructure
Follow Chicago’s water mains and lead pipe rebuild, and the contracts behind it.
See how we help →City Council strategy
Know what happened in the room, and what comes next.
See how we help →Explainers
O’Hare 21: How Chicago Is Rebuilding the Middle of O’Hare
Read more →Chicago’s Water Mains and Lead Pipes: The Underground Rebuild
Read more →Airport Concessions at O’Hare and Midway: Who Gets to Sell the Coffee?
Read more →Infrastructure Guard Comics: Undertow and the Hidden Pipes (comics for kids and classrooms)
Read more →Gold Standard Briefs
Short, fully sourced briefs on a news item or a public-spending question. Each one has a one-page graphic, plain-language explanations and a link to every source.
The Next Wave Is Coming
Announced factory jobs are up while factory construction is down. What the numbers say, and Chicago's South Works opening.
Read the brief →
Shovel-Ready
A $21 billion chip-fab deal, and the quieter lesson: ready sites, power, water and procurement set the schedule.
Read the brief →
Robots Meet the Job Site
Robots could do 74% of physical tasks but are cost-competitive for 0.3%. What that means for skilled crews and training.
Read the brief →
Dark GPUs?
Idle chips or stalled projects? A check of the AI glut claim against power, water and local opposition.
Read the brief →
Token Flip?
Open models ran 71.5% of tokens but 23% of spend. What that means for public AI buyers and the new GSA clause.
Read the brief →
Peak Prices, Runways and Rockford
Record parcel prices, the Rockford cargo hub and what airports and certified small firms should watch.
Read the brief →City Council
I’m Commons. A hearing only works when people show up, so here is the plain-language version of what happened in the room.
Updates on Chicago City Council and committee meetings: City Council updates.
Sagas
0:55Four Rings
The White House AI accord, its four layers of checks, and why power and water stay local.
0:44Baseload: Who Gets the Megawatts First?
A fictional plant finds 890 more megawatts. One dry question: who gets them first?
0:50Pay for the Pipe, or Pay for the Flood
A fictional catch basin truck, a real Chicago drain program, and the numbers behind it.
Short illustrated video explainers on how public decisions reach your neighborhood: Sagas (latest: Four Rings, Episode 1).
Watch the Sagas →
Latest posts
A wide, empty frame can set the rules of a whole world before anyone says a word. Finch Post-Review #01: The Last Orange Suit. An original homage and review: all characters and art are original, with no film footage or likeness.…
A wide, empty frame can set the rules of a whole world before anyone says a word. Finch Post-Review #01: The Last Orange Suit. An original homage and review: all characters and art are original, with no film footage or likeness.…
A wide, empty frame sets the rules of a world before anyone speaks. Finch Post-Review #01: The Last Orange Suit. Original homage, no film footage or likeness. More clips here + the full story:
A wide, empty frame can set the rules of a whole world before anyone says a word. Finch Post-Review #01: The Last Orange Suit. An original homage and review: all characters and art are original, no film footage or likeness. Watch…
The Infrastructure Guard: Ledgermain on how a city pays. Council fell one vote short of clipping the mayor's borrowing power, 33-17. Debt still needs 26 votes, not 30. That shapes every big bond. Pairs with today's post on City…
Deadly CTA attacks Sept. 7 and Oct. 8 (Sun-Times, CBS). Chicago approved a $260.8M police settlement Oct. 14 (Sun-Times). Prevention costs less than liability. Trained K-9 teams belong on trains. What standards?
Chicago infrastructure we follow
Around town with GOTB
About
Meet Michael E. Brown
President and Managing Partner, GOTB Consulting, LLC · Chicago
Michael E. Brown has 20+ years of governmental and municipal consulting and lobbying experience. He was lead contract negotiator on the $8.5B O’Hare 21 program and the $800M O’Hare rail extension, and lead lobbyist and contract negotiator on the $400M Chicago Department of Water Management lateral redevelopment. (Dollar figures are program sizes, not GOTB fees.)
He has worked with the Illinois legislature and public officials on public-private partnership (P3) policy, and has consulted to the Cook County Commission on reducing duplicative administrative offices. He is a frequent speaker at governmental and municipal functions, focuses on good government and healthier social and economic solutions for safe, successful neighborhoods, lives in Chicago, and serves on the Board of the March of Dimes.
- M.S., Psychology (1997), University of Iowa
- B.S., Psychology (1995), University of Iowa
About
Meet Richard Butler
Partner, GOTB Consulting, LLC · Chicago
Richard (Rich) Butler is a partner at GOTB Consulting and a 38-year veteran of Chicago city government. From August 2019 to February 2020 he served as First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), responsible for day-to-day administration and operations of O’Hare and Midway, including finance, contracts, operations, legal, human resources, workforce development, concessions, real estate and vehicle services. CDA manages the two airports with a federally funded budget of $8.5 billion. (Dollar figures are budget and program sizes, not GOTB fees.)
Before that, Rich was First Deputy Procurement Officer at the City’s Department of Procurement Services and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Park District, where he oversaw procurement, audit, finance, warehousing and general administrative services on an estimated annual budget of $385 million and established district-wide policies and procedures. His City career began at the Department of Aviation as Director of Contracts Administration, and he also served as General Superintendent of the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
He completed the Chicago Accounting and Purchasing System Training Program and the City of Chicago Executive Management Program, was a key team member on the design and implementation plan for the City’s new eProcurement system, and is a member of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing and the Purchasing Management Association of Chicago. He has served on the board of the Chicago Municipal Employees Credit Union and on the US Communities board, representing the City of Chicago, and traveled to South Korea to represent Chicago in the Kotra Alliance to bridge contracting opportunities. A native of Englewood, he attended De La Salle High School.
- B.S., Northern Illinois University
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Fictional characters from GOTB’s original stories. Real-world facts always link to public sources.