Kane Co. likes $5.7 million solution to crammed courthouse

Kane County will likely pursue a $5.7 million answer to overcrowding problems at the judicial center while deferring for a few years a nearly $100 million long-term solution.

The task force assigned to solving the issue of how to accommodate new judges and courtrooms to reduce a case backlog decided on a two-part solution Thursday. The plan would move traffic court to the old Montgomery Ward building on Randall Road in St. Charles. In addition, juvenile court cases involving abuse and neglect shift over the Third Street Courthouse in Geneva. The plan should take about eight months to complete if approved by the Kane County Board.

The county already has just about enough money, $5,425,000, available to complete the construction side of the project. The cash is a mix of leftover capital bond money that must be spent on construction, and surplus money from the county's general fund that was placed in a capital projects account during more robust economic times.

The ability of the county to pursue the $5.7 million solution is still questionable as the additional cost of hiring new attorneys, public defenders, clerks and court security officers has not been discussed. That price tag will likely be a major topic of debate toward the end of the year when the county discusses its 2011 budget.

Even with a solution to the overcrowding, the county's legal officials made it clear the planning for a long-term solution must continue. Right now, that long-term solution is the addition of a new wing to the judicial center and the construction of a parking deck. The new wing would add about 200,000 square feet to the judicial center, more than doubling its current size.

"Within another five years, because of the census, we're going to have even more judges coming in," Chief Judge F. Keith Brown said. "These are going to be hard challenges. We need to realize this is the right thing to do, to take steps to build this big building as a reasonable time. If we take it off the table and say, 'Aww, it's just too expensive,' it's just going to be more expensive four or five years down the road."

Both Public Defender David Kliment and State's Attorney John Barsanti said they could accept the short-term solution with the idea that the county will continue working on ways to build the new wing. Barsanti even suggested traffic court should stay at the Montgomery Ward building "forever" as traffic court is largely responsible for the long lines that sometimes stretch outside the judicial center. The Ward building, currently the office space for the Kane County Circuit Court Clerk, has more than 200,000 square feet of parking already available.

"Everybody would love to have that (new wing) today," Barsanti said. "But $100 million doesn't seem like something we're going to be able to do this afternoon."