Kane forest preserve cop may get new headquarters

Not being able to answer the phone, or conduct taped interviews, or have a secure location to store evidence can make police work a tough job.

That's why the Kane County Forest Preserve District police may soon get a new headquarters.

The five full-time officers of the department work today out of a roughly 800-square-foot space on the second floor of the Campbell House building near Elfstrom Stadium.

The building has other tenants, including a church, two businesses and a space rented out for art shows and weddings.

When police must bring in a suspect, they must walk right through the art shows or whatever other event is occurring at the time. The phone system doesn't ring incoming calls in the police office, and there is no dedicated interviewing room with a recording system as required by law.

"Security is compromised," said the district's Executive Director Monica Meyers.

The only secure doors at the facility are the evidence vault in the basement, where weapons also are stored. But the basement is plagued by persistent flooding and mold which, just a couple years ago, cost the district $20,000 to remediate.

Now the mold is back, and getting rid of it and renovating Campbell House to work for all its tenants will cost about $94,000, according to an estimate by district staff. Instead, district staff wants to demolish the building and move the police into a 1,500 square-foot facility at the Fox Valley Ice Arena, which recently became headquarters for the forest preserve district. The move would cost about $80,000.

"I think everything should be in one spot," said Forest Preserve District Commissioner Mike Kenyon. "We don't need to be spread out all throughout the county. And to not be able to call (the police department), that's pretty bad."

Finance Committee Chairman John Fahy agreed the Campbell House property may be more trouble than it's worth.

"The stormwater problem is not going away," Fahy said. "It's a nice area back there, but the house, it may be too tough to maintain.

If demolished, it's likely the Campbell House property would become additional parking for the Kane County Cougars.