Kane County looks to beef up public safety; jail expansion will wait
Kane County is on track to see about $6.3 million in public safety improvements designed to make emergency operations faster, more efficient and more accessible.
Two subcommittees of Kane County Board members recently approved three years worth of projects that now await a vote by the full county board on Sept. 9.
The projects will be funded by pulling out a $2.1 million sliver of cash from the $14 million a year in new money the county expects to receive from the state sales tax increase put in place to help fund the Regional Transportation Authority.
The bulk of the $6.3 million will go to relocate the 911 emergency dispatch center and the office of emergency management to the new Kane County Government Center, streamlining operations.
The move represents an ongoing plan to move as many of the county's agencies to the government center as possible, creating a central hub for the work of its key agencies.
With the new jail already in place, county staff has the old jail on track to be demolished in 2009, clearing the way for the sale of the land it currently sits on.
The second biggest chunk of the sales tax money will buy about 54 new vehicles for the sheriff's department, replacing nearly the entire fleet during the next three years. There have been no vehicle replacements the past two years, and Sheriff Pat Perez told the subcommittee maintenance costs are getting out of control.
The county also will beef up computer systems that will allow for better sharing of police and court records between all the law enforcement agencies in the county.
The county also is considering adding 122 parking spaces next to the judicial center to ease parking problems that already exist primarily on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. The new spaces also would allow for secure parking for judges. The judges currently park in full view of the general public even as the defendants they'll preside over park in nearby spaces.
Those new parking spaces may be deferred as some county board members expressed concern about adding more spaces in an area that will eventually have a new parking garage. However, that garage is probably at least 10 years away from being built, county staffers said.
Missing from the three-year plan is any funding to build out shell space in the new jail. So far, it appears the jail will open with more inmates than it has beds. Converting the shell space could add 127 more beds.
"I think it's something we need to look at," said Jim Mitchell, chairman of the judicial and public safety committee. "Staffing that is the big concern. The real key is controlling the jail population."