Oswego, Yorkville, Kendall County Still at Odds Over KenCom Agreement

Update at 8:50 p.m.: Yorkville's City Council voted, 5-4, against signing the agreement from KenCom. Voting against the agreement were: Aldermen Arden Joe Plocher, Diane Teeling, Robyn Sutcliff and Marty Munns and Mayor Valerie Burd. Burd said she plans to meet with the Oswego and Plano mayors, as well as an attorney, to discuss the next steps.

Approving a new cost-sharing agreement proposed by , the 911 emergency dispatch system operated by Kendall County, would be a fiscally irresponsible move, Yorkville Mayor Valerie Burd said.

And it's one she says that she isn't willing to support in these tough economic times.

Oswego Village President Brian LeClercq agrees. And the members of his village board have already voted -- in early March -- to not sign a new intergovernmental agreement proposed by the .

The city council of Plano also voted earlier this month not to approve the cost-sharing agreement. This leaves the arrangement between KenCom and the three biggest municipalities that it serves in doubt.

Matters might become even more muddled during this evening's meeting of the . Council members have their own vote scheduled on the agreement. Burd said she expects that the council, during the 7 p.m. meeting, will vote against signing the cost-sharing agreement.

Burd, before the meeting, said that the 911 service that KenCom provides is critical to Yorkville. But the city is already living up to the emergency dispatch system contract it signed with Kendall County in 2007, Burd said.

Handing over more money to the county now, when the city of Yorkville is going through its own economic problems -- its police officers are currently operating under a salary freeze -- would be a fiscally unwise move, Burd said.

"Our police department has not increased its budget in several years," Burd said. "The sheriff's department budget is going up. It's not fair that money will come out of our budget when our police department needs money. We can't give away our money. I think our residents would rightly question us if we approved this agreement."

The history

Kendall County board members have approved a new cost-sharing agreement for KenCom that mandates that all eight members of the system will have to kick in funds to pay for any operating expenses that run higher than $1.67 million.

This new cost-sharing agreement doesn't take effect until December, the end of the county's 2011 fiscal year.

Burd, LeClercq and Plano Mayor Bob Hausler have been critical of this new agreement, saying that their municipalities already provide a significant amount of funding to KenCom each year through taxes.

The three mayors had proposed their own cost-sharing agreement. Under their proposal, the county would contribute $1.84 million for operating KenCom for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. That number would jump by 1 percent each year.

The mayor's proposal would also call for the county board to seek an increase in the monthly 911 surcharge on wireless phones and landlines in a referendum, one that would, if succesful, boost this surcharge from 75 cents to $1.25. If voters voted against the referendum twice, KenCom members, including Yorkville, Oswego and Plano, would then contribute funding above the $1.84 million limit.

The mayors also requested two votes for each city on the KenCom board instead of their current one apiece. This, they said, would give them more control over how their municipalities' money is spent.

Members of the Kendall County Board did discuss the cities' proposal at a committee of the whole meeting. They did not support it, though. And John Purcell, chairman of the county board, said that the other members of KenCom with whom he discussed the proposal were also not in favor of it.

“We haven’t taken the position that any other entity should be in or out,” Purcell said during a phone interview. “But we do understand KenCom’s concerns. They have to move forward. They need to purchase some new technology. For them to get that rolling, they need to know who’s in and who’s out.”

Purcell also said he’s spoken to the leaders of Plano, Oswego and Yorkville, and none of them want to break away from KenCom.

“None of them have expressed any desire to me to leave the system,” Purcell said. “For any of them to provide dispatch services on their own would be extremely expensive. I don’t think anyone wants to cross that bridge yet.”

What happens next?

LeClercq said none of the three municipalities opposed to the new cost-sharing agreement want to leave KenCom and start its own 911 dispatch systems. He expressed hope that the county board and the municipalities can still reach a compromise agreement.

"I don't think we're at the point yet where we have to leave the system," LeClercq said. "I still think there's room for discussion."

LeClercq said that Oswego is willing to do its part to reduce the expenses involved with operating KenCom. As an example, LeClercq said, Oswego officials have discussed the possibility of taking non-emergency calls at its own police department from 9 a.m. until midnight before routing those calls back to the KenCom system after that time.

When it comes to the new cost-sharing agreement, though, LeClercq said that he stands behind the vote of his village board.

"There was already a contract in place spelling out how KenCom is to work," LeClercq said. "Our position is that this contract needs to be honored."