Retired justice named Kane ethics adviser

Retired Illinois Supreme Court Justice John Nickels was appointed Kane County's interim ethics adviser Tuesday.

Nickels, 76, replaces Gene Nottolini, who headed back to the bench last month to serve a one-year assignment as a probate judge in Kane County. Nottolini, a former 16th Judicial Circuit chief judge, spent the past year as the county's first ethics adviser and is expected to return to that position in 2008.

Nickels worked as an attorney in Geneva and Elburn for about 20 years and as a judge for 10 years before his 1992 election to the state's highest court. He retired in 1998.

Nickels was among several candidates recommended to Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay by 16th judicial circuit Chief Judge Donald Hudson.

"What can you say about hiring a former supreme court justice as your ethics adviser?" McConnaughay said shortly before the county board approved the appointment at Tuesday's regular meeting.

Raised on his family's Kane County dairy farm, Nickels now farms land near Maple Park on the Kane-DeKalb border.

The ethics adviser is charged with conducting ethics training programs and investigating ethical complaints against county officials and employees. The county board in 2005 approved an ethics ordinance in response to a state law requiring local governments to enact a policy governing ethics reforms and complaints.

The ethics adviser position pays $2,000 yearly for five hours of work per month, with an additional $50 per hour for work beyond that in any one month.