Rialto Gets $700 Per Day To Be Will County Traffic Court

JOLIET, IL — Beginning Monday and possibly lasting the next four months, downtown Joliet's Rialto Square Theatre will take on a role that no one would have ever expected prior to the new coronavirus pandemic. The Rialto will serve as Will County Traffic Court for cases from Joliet, Channahon, Crest Hill, Elwood, Lockport, Manhattan, Rockdale and Shorewood.

About 65 chairs are arranged throughout the lobby and rotunda for people coming to the Rialto next week for traffic cases before Will County Associate Judge Chrystal Gavlin.

According to Schoenstedt, the Rialto will be paid $700 per day, which is the same rate Will County pays to lease other buildings for other branch courts, including Bolingbrook, Plainfield, Wilmington and Frankfort.

At 30 days, theoretically, the Rialto could generate $21,000. If the lease lasts for 120 days, for example, the Rialto could be make $84,000 from Will County's judiciary.

"We'll be paying on a per diem basis," Will County Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt said. "It was a win-win for both sides. I needed to find space in order to relieve the volume" inside the courthouse. The arrangement allows for Rialto to generate revenue at a time when they are unable to book national acts and hold wedding receptions at their facility, the judge added.

Joliet Patch's editor interviewed Judge Gavlin on Thursday afternoon as she was visiting the Rialto in preparation for next week's major changes.

(Joliet Patch article continues below this John Ferak photo.)

Gavlin told Patch she knew of only two dates in June that had a huge load of cases on her docket. One day has more than 120 cases on the docket and the other has 85.

"June is a pretty light month," she said. "July and August, those will be the telltale signs."

In May, Will County Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt worked out a lease agreement to use the Rialto Square Theatre, one block north of the courthouse, as a temporary branch court. The move is intended to relieve the hallways on the first floor of Will County Courthouse from becoming overcrowded amid efforts to maintain social distancing.

How long will the Rialto serve as Will County's primary traffic courtroom?

"I anticipate at least two months, if not three or four months," Schoenstedt told Patch on Thursday.

In October, Will County hopes to move into its new $215 million courthouse being built across the street from the existing building on Jefferson Street that opened in 1969.

As Patch visited the Rialto Thursday to check out the lobby and rotunda, Judge Gavlin said she is excited for her assignment to begin.

(Joliet Patch article continues below this John Ferak photo.)

When Patch asked what she will use as her bench, Gavlin pointed to the long counter in the rotunda. It normally serves as the drink bar for theater guests coming to see comedians and music concerts.

"It's a beautiful place," Gavlin remarked Thursday. "It's going to operate like a branch courtroom. In here, we can have a lot more people than in Courtroom 121 with social distancing."

The Rialto has been regarded as one of the top 10 most magnificent performing arts theaters in North America. It was built in 1926. The Rialto is managed by VenuWorks, an Iowa-based company that manages theaters and performing arts facilities throughout the Midwest.

"I'm hoping that being in this environment will make them less frustrated because it's pretty to look at and a lot of them have not been in the Rialto," Gavlin said.

Rialto executive director Val Devine told Patch she is grateful to the county for the arrangement to use her facility for traffic court. The Rialto has not been able to hold any national performing acts since the pandemic caused a shutdown for concert venues in mid-March.

Devine said that Will County will provide security inside the Rialto for people going to traffic court. There will be signs directing people where to go and how to leave the Rialto. Under no circumstances will people coming for traffic court be able to wander all over the theater or go into the balcony, court officials told Patch.