The Will County Board plans a special meeting Tuesday to again attempt a vote on halting demolition of the vacant county courthouse for 90 days, after a meeting Thursday was canceled due to a lack of quorum.
Some county members want to stop demolition of the building, 14 W. Jefferson St., Joliet, in an attempt to preserve the Brutalist-style building. Interior demolition has been ongoing for more than a week after the county received all necessary permits and state approval to proceed, and exterior demolition is expected to begin in January.
Thursday’s special board meeting was canceled after too few members showed up. Some board members in attendance expressed frustration fellow board members who were in the county building did not attend and other board members who promised to be there didn’t show up.
Mica Freeman, a Democrat from Plainfield, said she attended the special board meeting to ensure her constituents were represented but left because her being there would have created a quorum.
“The courthouse is being demolished as I speak,” she said. “When I realized my presence made quorum and the group wanting to stall the demolition would then have their meeting, I left. My decision to leave protects taxpayers, ensuring that the county does not irresponsibly accrue fines and fees from Joliet for having a nuisance property.”
The meeting was attended by board Chair Judy Ogalla, a Republican from Monee, leaders of the Democratic and Republican caucuses, members of the board’s ad hoc courthouse committee and others, but did not reach the 12 members required to take action.
The board will try again to vote on issuing a stay of further demolition at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at the County Office Building, 302 N. Chicago St., Joliet.
Board member Janet Diaz, a Democrat from Joliet, said she hopes Tuesday’s meeting will have a quorum because board members are already in attendance for other meetings, including Public Works and Transportation, Capital Improvements and Finance committee meetings.
Some members want to stop the demolition so they can review the demolition contract and permits.
Board member Dan Butler, a Republican from Frankfort, said he is concerned whether the board received all information to review. He wants to ensure the contract addresses how allowances and change orders are handled and whether the county will be on the hook financially if unforeseen circumstances with demolition occur. He said he is concerned the demolition will exceed the $1.5 million price tag and wants to know more about the contingency plan if more loads of concrete need to be hauled away.
Butler said he plans to keep up the fight to save the building, ensure transparency and save the county money.
“Deep down, I’m not satisfied,” Butler said. “The irony is that the architecture of Brutalism symbolized simplicity and functionality. Imagine a government that was simple and functional.”
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Board member Sherry Williams, a Democrat from Crest Hill, said the ad hoc courthouse committee wants more information about the condition of the former courthouse. In 2010, an assessment stated the courthouse needed a new air conditioning system and a new roof, but in 2019 an assessment said the building was not worth renovating, Williams said.
She said board members are interested in what happened to the courthouse during that time frame.
Diaz said several board members toured the building earlier this year and found it in good shape.
“We toured the building with gym shoes on and no hard hats,” Diaz said, adding she could have likely worn flip-flops.
County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant said in a statement the courthouse is no longer structurally sound. She said the meeting was financially irresponsible and a public safety risk.
“The decision to demolish the courthouse was voted on by the county board and the demolition has started,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “At this stage of the process, I will not put the county in a position to be sued and leave a public safety hazard in downtown Joliet. Frankly, it is quite frustrating to be having this meeting, especially since the building is no longer structurally sound.”
Mike Theodore, a spokesman for the executive’s office, said they have responded to every request from board members regarding bid documents, which are publicly available and posted on Will County’s website. The contract has been sent to the ad hoc courthouse committee for review by its members and fully vetted by the state’s attorney’s office, he said.
“Nothing has been withheld and our office does not know what else we can provide at this time to alleviate concerns,” Theodore said.
The county has not conducted a large-scale facilities needs assessment since 2010, he said.
Board members in favor of saving the building say they believe that most of the work has been interior and the building can still be salvaged. But time is of the essence.
But Theodore said interior demolition has been completed to a point where the building is no longer structurally sound, and that work is expected to be completed by the end of January.
The contractor believes the courthouse will be fully demolished by mid-March with site restoration occurring in April, he said.
The former courthouse, built in 1969, has been vacant since November 2020 when the newly built Will County Judicial Center opened a block away. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in May.
The county board has allocated $2.5 million in its fiscal year 2023 budget for demolition, which was approved by a county board vote in 2019.
In October, a $1.5 million contract was awarded to American Demolition Corporation of Carol Stream.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter.