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Kane County waste-to-fuel facility idea likely waiting

A new, hands-off approach by Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen saw one of his income generation ideas take root Wednesday while another seemed to wither from lack of a clear path to success.

County board committees provided progress updates on bringing a waste-to-fuel facility to the county as well as monetizing the county's fiber optic network. Of the two, the waste-to-fuel facility has, perhaps, the biggest potential for filling the county's coffers with new, non-property tax income. Barb Wojnicki, chairman of the board's energy and environmental committee, said it also faces the most obstacles.

"Currently, there is no state statute that allows us to pursue the waste-to-fuel facility," Wojnicki told her colleagues. "And the estimated cost of the plant itself is so expensive I don't know how many years it would take to pay for that."

Bringing such a facility to the county may involve building costs of as much as $20 million. It would also involve the opening of a waste transfer station somewhere in Kane County. County officials pursued such a station several years ago at a site in South Elgin, but they met with fierce public opposition.

With no state law allowing the county to purse a waste-to-fuel facility, Wojnicki said she would wait until January to restart the discussion. Lauzen will have put in place any reshuffling of committee assignments by then. That includes selecting a new leader for the board's legislative committee, the primary body the board uses to lobby state lawmakers.

Lauzen shook his head when told about the legislative approach the county board plans to take with the waste-to-fuel idea.

"How do they know that it's a legislative solution and that there's no other path?" Lauzen said.

He referred back to information he collected during his hiring of an outside law firm to work on the projects that suggested some regulatory massaging might be an easier path to a waste-to-fuel operation. Lauzen cut ties with the law firm after the Kane County state's attorney's office ruled the relationship and use of tax dollars to pay the firm to be illegal. Lauzen said he'll let county board members find their own answers now.

"You saw the results of what I tried to do, but that's OK," Lauzen said. "There are more chapters to come. For now, work hard and be nice. That's my answer to all questions."

County board members did learn the information technology department and state's attorney's office are making good progress on appropriate contract language for monetizing the county's fiber optic network. The county already has about eight agreements in place with organizations including Elgin Community College, Kaneland Unit District 302 and Judson University. Each agreement nets the county about $2,400 a year.

"That's not enough money to make a serious impact to the county, but these organizations we contract with will never see their demand for the internet diminish," Chief Information Officer Roger Fahnestock said. "So take that amount over five years and it becomes about $125,000."

Fahnestock told the board it may have to add more staff members to the county if they are interested in having people market and sell the fiber optic network to new users.

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