Kane doesn't need to buy new system

Do Kane County taxpayers really need to spend $10 million on a new court system?

Because I'm in the computer system business, this caught my attention.

I asked a friend on the county board what was going on and he really couldn't answer, so I decided to dig into it. A founder of Jano Justice Systems provided some background.

Two facts came to light. DeKalb, Kendall, Madison, Sangamon, Will, Champaign and LaSalle counties use the same Jano system as Kane and all are satisfied with the software.

Secondly, Kane County has taken the unusual path of not subscribing to the maintenance and support services of the software provider and consequently is not getting software updates or support. This always leads to dissatisfied users and an out-of-date system

In about 2002 the 16th Circuit Court licensed an integrated court system from Jano. The 16th Circuit includes Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties. The proposal was for the entire system to run on one server. But that changed immediately to three separate computers. Kendall and DeKalb are satisfied with the system. What happened here?

From the articles published by the Herald I discovered several functional issues causing the perception of a need to change systems: probation, prosecution, courts and public defender all need the system to do their bidding. There are apps for that.

There could be a substantial savings for Kane County if we stick with the system we have now and provide it with proper updates and maintenance. Yes, that will cost some money. But not as much as buying a new one.

I see large computer systems that are very capable being replaced for the same reasons all the time. It keeps people employed but I don't think we should be funding an employment initiative in Kane County. I say if the counties around us are happy with it we can be, too.

Chuck Carroll

Geneva