Kane County morgue expected to reopen soon

Kane County's morgue will reopen within the next two or three weeks, ending an eight-month arrangement with DuPage County that helped put Coroner Rob Russell over budget in 2014.

The decision to close the morgue came after an unexpected breakdown of a freezer at the end of 2013 and a subsequent mold outbreak. Russell and the county board spent much of 2014 debating when to buy a new freezer and how that might play into constructing a new morgue building. The new building proved to not be in the immediate budget plans as questions lingered about Russell's operational expenses. Now both the morgue and the budget appear to be falling in line.

The morgue would already have been open if not for an installation problem with the new freezer. A subcontractor hired by the freezer company to install the device walked off the job after damaging some panels on the freezer. County officials are now working with a new installer and trying to get the freezer company to cover the additional costs of keeping the morgue closed longer than planned.

Members of the county board's Judicial and Public Safety Committee told Russell last week it's time for both sides to give a little and move into 2015 on a positive note.

That new attitude will start by closing the books on Russell's $123,000 budget deficit for 2014. Credit some of that to the $50,000 in added expenses to run the morgue operations through DuPage County. Much of the remaining overage stems from conducting more autopsies than were budgeted, and contractual employees' per diem expenses the board didn't allow Russell to budget.

About $17,000 of the $123,000 relates to discretionary expenses, according to a report by county Auditor Terry Hunt.

“I understand you're over. You can't help a lot of this,” committee member Theresa Barreiro said. “My suggestion would be to amend your 2015 budget, minus that amount, in good faith to the committee and to the taxpayers.”

Russell will continue that discussion with the board's finance committee next week. On Monday, he said he's looking forward to a better relationship with the board.

“I believe in the pick-two method,” Russell said. “That's do you want it fast, do you want it right, do you want it cheap? If you want it cheap and fast, it probably isn't going to be done right. Budget numbers are important, but it's also important to do what's best in the long term as opposed to just plugging some holes. I think they are finally starting to see the truth of that.”