Kane County gets $4.5 million in roof, lead contamination lawsuit

A lawsuit that began six years ago and involved the contamination of a retention pond with lead 10 times the safe level is finally over. And Kane County taxpayers are the beneficiaries.

Construction of the Kane County Judicial Center back in the early 1990s involved the use of a roof that contained lead-coated copper materials. The idea was to have a roof that lasted for 30 years that maintained a watertight seal and a uniform look the entire time. Instead, by September of 2003, the roof was uneven and had a rainbow of colors in patches and streaks. It also leaked.

Kane County sued everyone from the architects to the general contractors and the manufacturer of the roofing materials when they determined the discoloration stemmed from a lack of uniform lead coating on the roofing panels. Not only that, the lead from the roof was washing off into an internal stormwater collection system that fed into a retention pond on the judicial center property.

Testing of the pond showed it was teeming with lead as high as 10 times the level allowed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The final defendants in the lawsuit settled this week. All told the county will reap about $4.5 million - part of it will defray pond cleanup and legal fees. Separate from that, the judicial center will get a new roof that is expected to last 50 years. Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said this week that the $4.5 million will go back into the same capital fund used to build the judicial center in the first place. As such, that money is not available to help the county with its budget problems.