The Kane County Board on Wednesday approved the purchase of a building in Elgin and the paperwork needed to start buying a building in Aurora.
The paperwork includes a purchase and sale agreement along with other corresponding documents that need to be completed before the County Board can take a final vote on the purchase of property in Aurora at 131 W. Illinois Ave. and 708 Orchard Ave., which a county spokesperson said was the same building.
Similar paperwork was approved by the board in July to purchase the building in Elgin at 2170 Point Blvd., which is near the Interstate 90 and Randall Road interchange, to expand Kane County Health Department services in the area. The $2.8 million purchase got final approval from the County Board at Wednesday’s special meeting.
The building at 131 W. Illinois Ave. in Aurora would be used for a new transitional housing program for former inmates previously proposed for that location by Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain.
In August, the Kane County Board voted to use $800,000 of the federal pandemic-era relief funds given to the county through the American Rescue Plan Act, also called ARPA, to fund the program. Hain said the funds would be used to purchase the building and renovate it.
Other than the funds to purchase and renovate the building, the transitional housing program will be self-sufficient, according to Hain. He previously said that the funds generated by the residents, expected to be around $72,000 each year, would go toward maintenance for the building and support the reentry program’s other services.
The program would allow former male inmates, except those with violence- or sex-related convictions, who otherwise would be homeless coming out of the Kane County Jail or an Illinois Department of Corrections prison, to have a place to live for up to six months, according to previous reporting.
Residents would get their first month in the program free so Kane County Sheriff’s Office staff can work with them to get a job, Hain previously said. After that, residents would be charged $750 a month, he said.
Additional space in the building could be used for other county services, including a Sheriff’s Office substation, job training rooms and addiction treatment or drug testing rooms, according to previous reporting.
Kane County Board member Jarett Sanchez said there has been a lot of discussion about the housing program, but board members should vote to allow the paperwork to be completed just to give the board “the option to see what happens.”
The vote passed with five board members voting against: Deborah Allan, Mavis Bates, Myrna Molina, Monica Silva and David Young.
Kane County’s new building in Elgin will help the Kane County Health Department expand its services beyond what it offers at its current Elgin location at 1750 Grandstand Place, Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog told The Beacon-News when the County Board approved $3 million to purchase the building in August.
The current Health Department satellite office in Elgin is housed in a building that is leased, not owned, by the county.
The new building at 2170 Point Blvd. cost the county $2.8 million, which Pierog previously said will be paid from Health Department reserve funds built up after it used federal pandemic-era relief funds to pay for some of the department’s salaries and programs over the last few years.
The 45,000-square-foot building will also be shared with extension offices of the Kane County clerk and Court Services, Pierog said at the time.
The building’s purchase is part of the county’s long-term plan to consolidate health services at a single campus but offer satellite locations in the county’s major population centers of Aurora and Elgin, according to previous reporting.
Board members did not discuss the purchase before the vote, which passed with four board members voting against: Michelle Gumz, Leslie Juby, Rick Williams and David Young.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
