New training facility for McHenry County law enforcement to open in October
As the new McHenry County Regional Training Center and an accompanying firing range get closer to opening, the county and other agencies are finalizing an agreement on how to run the facility.
That agreement will lay out things such as how the facilities will be governed, and in what capacity, as well as how much it will cost other agencies to use the facility.
The facility will be at what was formally Cary's village hall, which the village moved out of in late 2021. The firing range will be roughly two miles away at a new structure near the Cary Public Works Department.
Work to transform the old village hall into a training facility began in late January. A ceremonial ground-breaking was held at new firing range in April, but construction has not yet started, McHenry County sheriff's office spokesperson Emilly Matusek said Tuesday.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the training facility is expected in October, while the firing range will open its doors in 2024, Matusek said.
The five initial agencies involved are Cary, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, McHenry and the McHenry County sheriff's office. All parties except the county have approved the agreement within the past few weeks.
The plan calls for each municipality to pay an initial $5,000, as well as a proportional share of the operational costs for each building.
The total operational cost for the training facility is expected to be just under $150,000, while the firing range will come in at nearly $174,000, according to the agreement approved by Lake in the Hills.
The agreement also will create a governing board to oversee the facility, which will be made up of representatives from each participating entity, according to the agreement on the village of Cary's website.
If approved in its current form, the facility will be staffed by McHenry County, which is paying for the facility's $9.3 million construction cost. Cary sold the property to the sheriff's office for $1 in 2022.
The agreement is expected to go in front of the McHenry County Board at its next meeting in June, Matusek said.