E. Dundee trustee to ask for vote delay

East Dundee Trustee Allen Skillicorn will ask his fellow trustees to postpone a vote Monday for $3 million in police station renovations until after he meets with Elgin to discuss the merits of his alternate plan.

Skillicorn is opposed to the renovations, saying they’re unnecessary and costly. He contacted Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda this week to discuss whether Elgin could house East Dundee’s overnight prisoners.

East Dundee’s board is due to vote on hiring the architecture firm and on the renovation project’s financing Monday, and Skillicorn wants the board to hold off until September. He’ll ask them to do so at the same board meeting.

“I think it would be appropriate,” Skillicorn said of waiting. “I mean, what if this changed our needs, working with Elgin?”

Swoboda confirmed he told Skillicorn to call him about the possibility of meeting next week. At this point, he’s only interested in listening to Skillicorn’s proposal and cautioned that Elgin would not be able to accept prisoners from another town without hiring at least one more person for the jail.

There’s only one person who works in the jail at the moment. That employee is responsible for feeding the prisoners, releasing them once they bond out, dealing with them when they’re sick, and more, Swoboda said.

“Prisoners don’t just come in and go to sleep and then in the morning walk out the front door,” Swoboda said. “Bringing in any outside agency’s prisoners, at this point, would cause us to hire more people. Whatever outside agency wants to do this would have to bear the costs of additional personnel.”