Farmers Weekly Review

By Nick Reiher
After seeing what he perceived was misinformation shared in a local newspaper, a former assistant state’s attorney took to writing an opinion attempting to refute some claims made by proponents of saving the former Will County courthouse.
But in explaining his opinion during the March 16 Will County Board meeting, Phil Mock apparently left open the door just enough for proponents in the community and on the board to keep hopes alive for not demolishing the 54-year-old structure.
That disturbed County Board Chairman Judy Ogalla, R-Monee, who had hoped Mock’s opinion would seal the matter once and for all. After workers remove asbestos from the former courthouse, the county is set to begin demolition late this summer or early fall.
The land, she said, would be filled in and remain open space until the county is ready to use it. Mostly likely, that would be for a new Will County Office Building.
She said Mock asked to render the opinion, addressing claims by the local group trying to save the courthouse.
County Board officials already have had an opinion repeated several times by Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Tatroe, who works with the board and its committees seeking legal interpretations.
That has not slowed the local courthouse preservation group’s efforts to save the courthouse, which they say is an example of the “brutalism” architectural design that also yielded Marina Towers in Chicago.
They say the building should be saved, and with a private partner, developed into a multi-use facility, with offices and shops. Perhaps even a hotel. They believe it will be listed as an Illinois historic landmark.
Landmark or not, Mock said the land on which the former courthouse sits, as well as the adjacent land, is held in a public trust set up in the 1830s for a town square by the Legislature for the people of Will County.
A 60-year-old circuit court decision reaffirmed that, he said, adding Will County Government is only the trustee of the former courthouse land; not the owner.
Still, Landmarks Illinois & Courthouse Preservation Partnership issued an exploratory Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) and presented some of the results at the County Board meeting.
They received responses from six firms, which include developers, architects and engineers that specialize in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. They are:
• Alexander Company
• Gorman and Company
• JLK Architects
• Klein & Hoffman
• Metropolitan Properties of Chicago
• Studio GWA
Suggested reuse possibilities include various types of housing, an office building, hotel, educational, arts and entertainment, and cultural.
None of this is possible because the land is in a public trust to be used for all the public only, Mock said. Housing would not qualify; nor would any endeavor by an entity making a profit on the use.
The only way any public private or solely private development on that land would be possible is if the state Legislature took the land out of trust, declared it surplus and put it up for auction.
If that were successful, he said, the issue still would have to go before the Circuit Court, which has to approve any transfers of land for the trust. That has happened only a couple times, he said, as when the county transferred jurisdiction for part of the land for utility work in conjunction with construction of the new courthouse.
So, it is possible, said Board Member Jackie Traynere, D-Bolingbrook, during the recent County Board meeting. Since voting for demolition of the former courthouse in 2019, she has become a supporter of preserving it, at least until the county shows concrete plans for an entirely new building.
State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, a former County Board member, sent a letter to Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant saying she would be happy to introduce a bill taking the land out of trust.
Contacted after the meeting, Bertino-Tarrant said she could not comment one way or another on a prospective bill without seeing the language.
In any event, she added, even if there were a bill, it could not be introduced until the next legislative session next year. And if passed, it still would have to go through the courts.
Bertino-Tarrant and Ogalla said the county has been paying for continued heating, cooling, electrical and other utilities for the former courthouse.
They don’t see continuing that for at least another year in what they believe is the unlikely event the land trust could be dissolved. County Board Member Sherry Newquist, D-Steger.
Ogalla after the meeting said she was frustrated by continued discussion of the former courthouse. She said the board researched the possibilities before voting on the resolution to demolish in 2019, and is seeking bids from companies that would help the county find a suitable firm to demolish the building and level off the grounds.
“And I don’t like the idea of violating a public trust,” she said. “I take the public trust seriously.”
Dave Tkac, Director of Facilities and Capital Programming, has said if all goes well, the bid for demolition, estimated at $1.3 million, could be awarded this summer, with work beginning in August and completion by the end of the year.
Ogalla is considering putting the issue once again on the board’s Capital Improvements Committee agenda. Part of the discussion, she added, will be how much maintaining the former courthouse is costing the county.
Bertino-Tarrant said she is going to continue to abide by the County Board’s direction to demolish the building in preparation for a new one for county government. One that would replace an often-renovated former Sears store on the north side of Downtown Joliet.
That way, she said, the county could bring in other departments that now have the county renting space, including Land Use and the Regional Office of Education.
“We need a new building,” she said. “We’re out of space here.”