Kane Co. Looks at Site For New Coroner's Facility

KANE COUNTY, IL -- After discussing the possibility for the past decade, Kane County officials will take a harder look at constructing a new and much-needed coroner’s facility. In a meeting on Feb. 13, officials will talk about the pros and cons of building the facility on a 25-acre proposed site, which is on the north side of Route 38 across the street from the county’s judicial center in St. Charles, the Daily Herald reports. Those living in the area of the facility received a letter from county board chairman Chris Lauzen who is looking for their feedback on the location.

"I think it's a great idea to build a new facility, but we should do it right," Lauzen told the newspaper. "When are we going to let the neighbors know? When it's over? Or the old trick of we've done all this work already so it's too late to do anything else? No. Let's be open about this process. Let's do it right, as inexpensively as possible, and let's put it in the proper place."

The addition of a new facility is well past due, Kane County Coroner Rob Russell said. Equipment failures, ventilation and storage space problems, no locker rooms for employees to shower in after handling bodies and no dedicated and proper place to bring people coming to view their loved ones’ remains are among the many issues that make the current facility an “embarrassment,” Russell told the newspaper.

Last summer, an overwhelming stench overtook the facility and wafted into neighboring buildings after nine dead bodies in advanced stages of decomposition were brought to the morgue. The current location, at 719 S. Batavia Avenue in Geneva, did not have enough space to properly store the bodies. Two of the bodies were put in the freezer and Coroner Rob Russell set up a deal with DuPage County to store some of the bodies but the rest went into coolers, according to a June 2018 Daily Herald article.

"The smells are unbelievable," Don Biggs, Kane County's executive director of facilities, told the newspaper at that time. "I can tell you from experiencing what I only experienced for 10 minutes over there that I wouldn't want to work in that building.

"If the coroner's employees were working for me, I would not let them in that building. That's how bad it is. It's disgusting."

In 2014, the facility shut down for eight months so officials could remedy a mold problem. Russell said that technicians were fixing the freezer that broke down, causing two decomposing bodies to leak out, when the mold was found, according to media reports.

The proposed new coroner’s facility will be discussed during a meeting on Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. at the county government center.

More via the Daily Herald

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