Kane County clerk to open satellite office in Elgin’s Schock Center as part of agreement

An agreement is being drafted that would see the Kane County Clerk’s Office open a satellite office in the Edward Schock Center city of Elgin, providing residents a way to avoid traveling to Geneva when clerk’s services are needed.

Both Mayor Dave Kaptain and County Clerk Jack Cunningham have been looking to establish a satellite office in Elgin for the past decade, and Cunningham said “we’re closer now than ever.”

If approved, it would join a satellite office already open at 5 E. Downer Place in Aurora.

Cunningham’s office handles elections, tax records and vital records, including birth, marriage and death certificates and passports. Since marriage certificates can only be issued in person, couples must travel to Geneva or Aurora to obtain one.

When the clerk’s office first considered opening a satellite office, the Captain pushed for it to be in Elgin, arguing that the city had one of the largest growing elderly populations in Kane County. He said it is difficult for older residents to drive all the way to Geneva to register or pay their taxes.

But Aurora won because it had a larger population.

Kaptain and Cunningham continued to entertain the idea of ​​a second satellite office in Elgin as a boon for north Kane residents, and when Advocate Sherman Hospital did not renew its lease for a physical therapy office at the Schock Center, space suddenly became available, they said.

The mayor said the 10,000-square-foot first-floor location is large enough to house the city’s early learning programs, which are part of the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the satellite clerk’s office.

Elgin hired Berna Architects & Design to prepare the design plan for the space at a cost of $160,000.

“It’s perfect,” Cunningham said of the location. “There is a bus service and sufficient parking space. An ideal place. It’s superior to the one in Aurora.

“We are also trying to bring other county offices there. “I know some have a presence there (want to have a presence), but we’ll have to see where this goes.”

Cunningham’s team is working on the agreement with city staff. Both the Elgin City Council and the Kane County Board will need to approve the agreement before it can go into effect.

“I’m optimistic at this point” that the deal will move forward, Cunningham said.

The mayor is even more optimistic; He says that once an agreement is reached, the new office could be opened in November, coinciding with the general elections.

He acknowledged that getting to this point has been a long process.

“I think this looks like someone who ran a marathon. “You are happy when you reach the finish line,” said the Captain.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.