Kane forges ahead with $12.6M tech upgrade for courts

There are big reasons why Kane County might want to delay a massive technology upgrade for the local court system. The biggest reason is the projected $12.6 million price tag.

But the factor with the most uncertainty is the November election that will bring in at least nine new county board members, a new circuit court clerk and a new county board chairman. There's no telling if those newly elected officials will see the pending technology upgrade as a burning necessity, as the current crop exploring the issue does.

But following a delay to adjust to the results of the March primary, members of a task force decided Thursday to forge ahead with the technology upgrade process.

Task force members, including Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon and Chief Judge Robert Spence, gave the green light for each department in the judiciary to seek individual requests for proposals. The plan is for each department to tailor its proposal to its specific needs, and then fuse them together in one big project price tag.

Initially, the task force had been eyeing one overall request for proposal process. But Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller consistently maintained her authority to do her own request for proposal independent of the other offices. The other members of that task force essentially decided to follow that lead.

“It's been very difficult to even determine what (Seyller's) position is,” Spence said. “We can all proceed independently as long as we comply with all the various national standards. I think we should move ahead with this. It all has to be done anyway.”

Former Chief Judge F. Keith Brown said it's Seyller's right to control the functions of her own office, as recently clarified in the settlement that sprang from the lawsuit between Seyller and the county board. Seyller is on the task force but was absent for the Thursday meeting.

“We do not wish to exclude the circuit clerk from anything she has the right to do,” Brown said. He added that once there is a true price tag attached to the full technology upgrade it'll be time for the county board to decide what it is actually capable and prepared to spend on the project.

Departments are aiming to get their requests for proposals out by late July.