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IN THIS ISSUE

Former Kane County Board member and long-time Forest Preserve Commission president Jack E. Cook will have a preserve named in his honor later this year. << read more >>

Touch-a-Tractor is this Weekend: April 8 - 10

Touch-A-Tractor - a farm community �Open House�. The Kane County Farm Bureau  Foundation welcomes our urban and suburban neighbors to learn more about food and fiber production by �bringing the farm to the city�. Bring the whole family! Admission is free.You'll get all the details here.

There's always a lot more to see and read in the Focus on the County section of our website. Just click below...

KANE COUNTY BOARD
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Kane County Government Center
719 So. Batavia Avenue
Geneva, IL 60134
(630)232-5930
www.countyofkane.org
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A Message from the Chairman

Keeping our children and our families healthy and fit is a challenge. But it is a challenge that we in Kane County have joined together to take on. By incorporating health planning into our long-term land-use and transportation plans, unprecedented in Illinois, we recognize the need for a broad-based, community-wide strategy to reverse an epidemic of childhood obesity.

Sincerely,

Karen McConnaughay
Kane County Board Chair

CONSOLIDATED ELECTION APRIL 5

Polls in all voting precincts within Kane County and the Aurora Election Commission will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5 for the 2011 Consolidated Election. For a complete list of municipal, school, park, library and other candidates on the ballot, please go here on the County Clerk's website.

Voters in eight Kane County municipalities - Elgin, Big Rock, Campton Hills, Kaneville, Lily Lake, Pingree Grove, Virgil and Wayne will be electing mayors or village presidents. Nine jurisdictions, including the Kane County Forest Preserve District, have referendums on the ballot and, according to Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham's office, eight people have filed declarations of intent to write-in candidates in six different jurisdictions.

The Forest Preserve District referendum, seeking voter approval to issue $30 million in bonds for land acquisition and forest preserve improvements, is the only countywide referendum on the April 5 ballot. Voter turnout in Kane County for the April, 2009 Consolidated Election was about 20 percent.

NEW COURT FACILITY OPENS MAY 2

Part of plan for 16th Judicial Circuit

Traffic and misdemeanor cases that routinely would have been heard at the Kane County Judicial Center, 37W777 Route 38, in St. Charles, will be shifted beginning May 2 to 540 Randall Road, the county's newest judicial facility, just east and north of the center.

The move is part of the first phase of a broader plan to better accommodate the space needs of the 16th Judicial Circuit. Renovation and remodeling work at the former Montgomery Ward building, on Randall Road, is scheduled to be completed April 25, according to Tim Harbaugh, Kane County director of Facilities, Subdivision and Environmental Resources.

The traffic and misdemeanor court call for central Kane County, which the new Randall Road facility is designed to accommodate, averages about 1,000 cases per week, according to Harbaugh. The south side of the 109,000-square-foot, former department store has been home to the Kane County Circuit Clerk's office and used as a county storage facility for several years.

The court relocation to Randall Road does not affect the existing traffic and misdemeanor court calls in Elgin, Aurora and Carpentersville.

The roughly $4 million Randall Road project is part of a roughly $5.4 million judicial space allocation plan that has involved changes at both the Judicial Center and the historic Third Street Courthouse, in downtown Geneva. << read more >>

REDISTRICTING PROCESS UNDERWAY

A public hearing on the proposed redistricting of the 26-member Kane County Board is expected to be held during the last week of May, according to county board member Catherine Hurlbut, chairman of a special task force appointed last month to make recommendations to the County Board relative to the decennial redistricting.

The seven-member task force, appointed by county board Chairman Karen McConnaughay, held its first meeting March 15. By state statute, a redistricting plan must be approved by the county board no later than July 1 (55 ILCS 5/2-3002). Among other things, with redistricting the population of each district must be apportioned as equally as possible.

Although at least one public hearing on a recommended redistricting proposal will be scheduled and another could be called at the request of task force members, said Hurlbut. All task force meetings are open to the public and participation in the redistricting process is encouraged, she said.   << read more > >

CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER EARNS RE- ACCREDITATION

The Kane County Child Advocacy Center has been awarded re-accreditation by the National Children�s Alliance following an extensive application and site review process, Kane County State�s Attorney Joe McMahon announced March 1.

As the accrediting agency for children�s advocacy centers across the country, National Children�s Alliance awards various levels of accreditation and membership to centers responding to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and efficient, and put the needs of child victims of abuse first. Accreditation is the highest level of membership with National Children�s Alliance and denotes excellence in service provision.

Accredited CACs must undergo a review process every five years to ensure that the best practices are continually applied. With accreditation standards being updated in 2010, re-accreditation this year reflects the Kane County Child Advocacy Center�s commitment to providing evidence-based methods practice.
<< read more > >

BOARD MEMBER PROFILE
GETTING TO KNOW TOM VAN CLEAVE

(This is the first in a series of e-newsletter profiles featuring members of the Kane County Board.)

In addition to being a member of the Kane County Board since 2004, Thomas R. "Tom" Van Cleave has worn many hats, at work and in his community, and has taken lead roles in efforts to improve local education, municipal planning and business development.

Tom was elected by his county board peers in December to be their vice chairman. His term runs through November, 2012. A long-time resident of Batavia, he currently is a member of the board's Riverboat Grant, Public Service, Public Health, Administration, Human Services and Executive Committees. He serves as vice chair of the last two.   << read more >>

RECYCLING - A CHANGING, CONTINUING CHALLENGE

When he was hired more than 20 years ago, the notion of diverting aluminum cans, glass bottles, newsprint and yard waste from the county landfill was just taking hold. Mounting opposition in the 1980's to new landfills, in general, had begun to "really galvanize public interest," according to Gary Mielke, Kane County's first-ever recycling coordinator. Curbside pickup was being tried in just a few Kane communities and only about 9 percent of the solid waste being generated in the county was being recycled, he said. By 1993 the figure had jumped to 26 percent. Kane County currently recycles roughly 40 percent of its solid waste, or about 600 pounds per person each year. http://www.co.kane.il.us/Environment/recycle/index.htm.

Mielke is scheduled to retire in July. When he does, responsibility for, among other things, the development, coordination and implementation of recycling and conservation programs in Kane County will be vested in a part-time recycling and resource conservation program coordinator. A second, part-time position of resource conservation program educator is expected to be filled later in the year.

Recycling has been and will continue to be an evolutionary process, he said.  << read more >>

COST SHARE RESIDENTIAL DRAINAGE PROGRAM

This year will continue to bring large gains in relief to Kane County residents plagued with drainage and flooding problems. According to County Water Resource Division Director Paul Schuch, 2010 was a big year for the Division�s cost-share program as 13 out of 40 budgeted projects, were either completed or were well underway in their final construction phase. The Division has participated in nearly 100 cost-share residential drainage projects since the program began in 1994.

Some High Priority Cost-Share Drainage Projects in 2010 were:

• Red Gate Ridge Subdivision in St. Charles Township
• Ogden Gardens Subdivision in Aurora Township
• Shirewood Farm Subdivision in Hampshire Township
• Wildwood West Subdivision in Plato, Rutland and Elgin Townships

Some, like Ogden Gardens, which lacked its own urban storm water system, had experienced flooding problems for decades. This subdivision had many of the conditions which would elevate a project to a high priority for the Water Division.    << read more >>

COUNTY GENEALOGY
CLIMBING YOUR FAMILY TREE

Real history is often lost in the mere chronicling of past events when what really captivates us is learning about the characters involved. Otherwise, how would you ever know that the man Kane County is named for actually never lived here?

As Kane County celebrates its 175th birthday this year, the ability to trace family lineage in its towns and cities was never more important.

One needs only recall the poignant final scenes of Citizen Kane or Raiders of the Lost Ark to realize just how easily but irrevocably historical relics can be warehoused out of existence or carelessly tossed on a fire�
<< read more >>