Kane County hires firm in defense of circuit clerk's lawsuit
A judge appointed a law firm Wednesday to defend the Kane County Board in a lawsuit brought by Kane County Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller, who is seeking an additional $550,000 for her office to meet expenses.
Kane County Chief Judge F. Keith Brown appointed the Chicago-based law firm Ungaretti and Harris to represent the board in the suit because Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti removed himself from consideration because he works for both sides.
For months, Seyller and the board have been at odds because she hired 11 new employees to help staff her office.
County board members on Tuesday denied Seyller's request for additional funding beyond the $4.5 million allocated to her for the budget year, which ends Nov. 30.
Seyller, in turn, filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the expenses paid until a verdict is reached and hired the Aurora firm of Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi and Andersson.
Seyller has argued the additional staff is needed to fulfill state mandated duties and the board is abusing its discretionary power. County board members say the caseload in Seyller's' office has decreased, that she has automated many of the clerk's office's functions and never asked permission to move forward with new hires.
"Her fundamental argument is she is entitled to as much tax dollars as she sees fit," Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said. "Ms. Seyller thinks she's above the laws of economics."
As of Wednesday, the case still had an initial court date of Jan. 4, but Seyller's office is expected to exhaust its funding before then.
McConnaughay expects the court date to be changed.
"The urgency of the end of the budget year will necessitate some discussion in court before January," she said.
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<li><a href="/story/?id=408034">Seyller files suit to get money for Kane Co. circuit court clerk's office <span class="date">[09/14/10]</span></a></li>
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