New Kane coroner building takes shape at judicial complex
As the heavy earthmovers kicked up dust at the Kane County Judicial Center complex Thursday, the vision of a project years in the making started to take form.
When the dust settles on the site preparation in about a month, the precast walls will go for the new home of the coroner and county building management staff.
The project is on track to see building occupancy in the spring of 2021. And with it, county officials believe, will come the end of equipment mishaps.
In recent years, the coroner's facility slogged through obstacles that saw everything from accidentally flipped light switches turning off evidence coolers to a lack of storage capacity causing the odor of corpses to permeate the county complex.
Political grudges between county board Chairman Chris Lauzen and Coroner Rob Russell delayed agreement on a new building as well as slowed its progress. But a bond sale earlier this month, paired with some reserve funds, locked in $13.25 million to move the coroner out of a converted laundry space and into a modern facility.
Board member Drew Frasz was a key figure in breaking through the political tug-of-war between his fellow Republicans. He toured the construction project Thursday.
"To be this far along with a record wet May is a great place to be," Frasz said as the existing juvenile justice center and county jail loomed in the background of the project site. "This whole thing, from the outside, will look like it's done by the end of the year."
County taxpayers got a better-than-expected deal on the bond sale. They sold with a 1.54% interest rate and a total cost of $77,000 to issue the bonds. That's $125,000 less than expected.
The plan for repayment will see the county paying only the interest on the bonds through 2024. At that point, the county will have paid off some preexisting bonds sold in 2013. It will begin payments on the principle of multiuse facility bonds through 2029.
Lauzen said the county got such a great deal on the bonds because of a long history of fiscal diligence and self-control.
Russell said completion of the building is the realization of a goal he set when he first became coroner in 2012.
"This is way overdue," Russell said.