Kane Co. circuit clerk, chairman battle over computer system

The blame game surrounding Kane County’s quest for a new, $12.6 million computer system to run its court system now has two players as Circuit Court Clerk Deborah Seyller is pushing back against critical statements made by County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay.

Last week, McConnaughay told executive committee members that Seyller selected the faulty system the county now has and the process that allowed Seyller to ensure that selection can’t be repeated.

To be saddled with any of the blame for the current system’s flaws means wearing a scarlet letter for wasting taxpayer money and creating public safety gaps. Court officials have said the current Case Management System causes risky delays in circulating orders of protection to law enforcement and wastes thousands of dollars in duplicative data entry and lost state reimbursements.

Seyller has decided she won’t wear that label.

She sent county board members a scathing letter Monday in response to McConnaughay’s statements. The letter says McConnaughay has deliberately created fabrications about Seyller and her office for two years now “for the sake of control and manipulation.”

Seyller said McConnaughay’s attempts to pin blame on Seyller and the process in the late 1990s that selected the current computer system are “malicious with absolutely no accurate facts from history. It serves no purpose other than slander.”

Seyller said she merely co-chaired a committee with 28 other members, including several then-current county board members, that reported back to the county board.

“As a board member, McConnaughay received copies of the committee minutes and was publicly quoted in newspapers,” Seyller wrote. “She is blatantly aware of the truth, as are those board members with longevity.”

Seyller said there is no way she will turn over maintenance of whatever new system is purchased to the county’s information technology department. Seyller has her own staff that manages the current system.

She said she also won’t work with the $90,000 consultant the county board hired Tuesday to get price quotes on a new system and review vendors. Seyller said she’ll use authority given to her in the recently settled lawsuit with the county to make a request for proposals for her portion of the new system on her own.

“The Case Management System was negotiated into the settlement agreement to establish a binding business process because, frankly, I do not trust McConnaughay and those board members that blindly do her bidding and spit out her sound bites,” Seyller wrote.

McConnaughay said she received a copy of Seyller’s letter but has not read it. When told of its contents, she rolled her eyes and said Seyller should remember the county board won the lawsuit with Seyller. McConnaughay said the focus now must be on choosing a new system wisely, not a back-and-forth with Seyller.

“Judicial and public safety costs represent about 70 percent of your county budget,” McConnaughay said. “The important thing is, more than ever, all of the components of the judicial and public safety system need to integrate with one another.”