The opening of the Kane County clerk’s new satellite office in Elgin — a location that eliminates the need for area residents to trek to the county government center in Geneva for services — will be celebrated Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting event.
“We’re going to have full services there,” Kane County Clerk John “Jack” Cunningham said. “Elgin (residents) can get marriage licenses, passports and everything that’s in our office in Geneva.”
The clerk’s office is responsible for handling a variety services, including elections, tax extensions, passport applications, and vital records like birth, death, and marriage/civil union certificates.
Located at 2170 Point Blvd., the office’s hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays. The grand opening will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The accessibility of the office from Route 20, Randall Road and Interstate 90 makes the location ideal, Cunningham said.
“The location will not only be convenient for Elgin residents but for all of the county’s northwest municipalities and villages, including Del Webb communities for those 55 and older,” he said.
Kane County purchased the 46,093-square-foot building last year for $2.8 million. It will not only serve as a satellite office for the clerk’s office but for the Kane County Health Department and Kane County Court Services, which provides probation, pretrial and diagnostic services for the 16th Judicial Circuit Court.
Health department officials plan to offer behavioral health and clinical services for northern Kane County residents.
“It’s going to serve a lot of people,” Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain said. “I think it will provide better services for the northern part of the county.”
Cunningham credited Kaptain with being the driving force behind bringing the satellite location to Elgin. He and Kaptain have been discussing the idea for more than 10 years, he said.
“I talked to him about the fact that Elgin had one of the fastest-growing senior populations in the county at that time and how it was hard to get people down to Geneva,” Kaptain said.
The county agreed, but opted to open its first satellite office in Aurora instead.
“The city of Aurora argued it was the second-largest city in the state of Illinois,” Cunningham said. Since the clerk’s office was taking over the Aurora Election Commission, it made sense to have an office there, he said.
But Kaptain didn’t let the idea go, he said.
“I think the momentum shifted a little bit in the last year or so, and they decided to purchase property,” the mayor said. “I think some people saw that the northern part of Kane County has a lot of voters now. I think that was part of the mix. We have more people to serve.”
When the Kane County seat was created, Geneva was situated in the middle, Kaptain said. But the two largest population centers ended up being on either end of the county, he said.
Geneva is 12 miles from Elgin, and that can be a long driver for older residents, Kaptain said.
“I think it will provide better service for the northern part of the county,” he said.
Cunningham said his office had broad support from the Kane County Board when he broached the topic.
The Aurora satellite location costs about $178,000 a year to run, he said, and he expects the Elgin office to cost about the same. “It’s well worth it,” he said.
He added that he is hoping to persuade Kane County Treasurer Chris Lauzen to allow property owners to pay their taxes there at some point in the future.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
