Construction of a jail at the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles was granted “top priority” status by the County Board Tuesday.
The vote was 17-7, with critics declaring that locating a jail on the 120-acre judicial center campus was ill-conceived and premised on “voodoo economics.”
The 608-bed jail is expected to cost $47 million. Kane’s decades-old, 400-bed jail on Fabyan Parkway in Geneva would be abandoned eventually.
A $12 million plan to expand the existing overcrowded county jail by 200 beds was halted by the County Board in December 2002 after two years of planning and more than $500,000 in preparatory work.
Board member Doug Weigand (R-Batavia), who shepherded that abandoned jail plan, criticized nearly every aspect of the new proposal, with the exception of the “ideal” location.
But Weigand and board member Paul Gresviskes (D-Aurora), who also voted against the jail resolution, said funding for the building is too uncertain.
“We still have other capital projects that are outstanding,” Weigand said. “You have to accept the harsh reality of financial constraints.” He called the siting resolution “the illusion of action.”
Board member Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) said she and other proponents of the latest jail plan, which has been 18 months in the making, did not feel compelled to defend the proposal.
“We held an awful lot of meetings and encouraged all County Board members to attend, and many did.
“Those who questioned the [new plan’s] validity did not,” she said.
