Emergency action: Communities file lawsuit against KenCom dispatch

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Updated: October 29, 2011 12:43AM

Kendall County’s three biggest municipalities have filed a complaint in 16th Circuit Court, seeking to void a 2010 intergovernmental agreement between KenCom and the emergency dispatch agency’s member communities.

The complaint was filed Thursday afternoon in the 16th Circuit Court in Yorkville, on behalf of Oswego, Yorkville and Plano.

It seeks to establish the intergovernmental agreement signed between KenCom and its 12 members in 2007 as “a valid, binding contract,” and asks the court to declare that the KenCom Executive Board “must perform their obligations under the 2007 Intergovernmental Agreement.”

Filed with the complaint is a motion for a temporary restraining order against KenCom, which would, in effect, return the situation to where it was before the 2010 agreement was approved by the KenCom Board. It would keep the three communities as members of the KenCom Executive Board and assure KenCom would continue to offer services.

If granted, the restraining order could become a preliminary injunction and eventually a permanent injunction enforcing the 2007 pact.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Thomas G. Gardiner, of the Chicago law firm of Gardiner, Koch, Weisberg & Wrona.

Yorkville City Attorney Kathleen Field Orr submitted an affidavit in support of the complaint and motion, and agreed to be called as a witness if it comes to that. So did Yorkville Mayor Gary Golinski and Yorkville Police Chief Richard Hart.

Orr said Thursday the three cities had no choice but to file suit against the 2010 agreement, which she called “totally one-sided.”

“This is a last resort, as litigation is and always should be,” she said. “It was done because the cities have been stonewalled.”

The three cities have been members of KenCom since it was formed in 1992. Last year, for the first time in the 18-year history of the emergency dispatch system, Kendall County informed KenCom it would no longer continue to fund all the operating costs of the organization.

The county said it would cap its participation at about $1.63 million. The KenCom Executive Board adopted the 2010 intergovernmental agreement with a provision that the members would pay operating costs above the $1.63 million mark, pro-rated based on the number of calls each member has.

The three communities have declined to sign that new agreement, saying it is unfair because residents in their towns already pay most of the taxes toward KenCom. They also said they do not have the money to pay an unfair share.

The communities have maintained that while they pay most of the taxes, they only have three votes out of 13 on the KenCom board.

The communities pointed out that since 1990, KenCom has taken all of the money from a 5 percent telephone surcharge on cellular and landline calls made in Yorkville, Plano and Oswego, which is part of the original KenCom agreement.

In doing that, the communities agreed not to take any of that surcharge money, and allow KenCom to collect it all. The communities have maintained that the county should ask voters for a referendum to raise that surcharge before developing a cost-sharing agreement.

“At least have a vote to see if residents would agree to raise the surcharge,” Orr said.

The KenCom board has given the cities a deadline of July 28 to sign the 2010 agreement, or leave the system for good. That deadline is what prompted the lawsuit this week.

If the three communities had to leave KenCom, they would have to raise an estimated $1.7 million to get a site for a dispatch center, purchase equipment and hire and train the necessary staff. Providing the service would cost the three about $900,000 a year, according to the lawsuit.