Marion County Circuit Clerk Tiffany Schicker announced to the county board’s Building and Historical Committee meeting Monday night that she has received a $362,068 technology grant from the Illinois Supreme Court.
Schicker says the largest part of the grant, $276,000, would pay for a large part of a generator and UPS units at the courthouse. With a current estimated cost of around $325,000, that would leave the county’s share of the cost at around $50,000. The county board had placed the proposal on hold when they would have been responsible for the entire cost.
She reports the grant will require the county to move quickly on the project as all bills paid for the grant have to be paid by the end of June when the state’s fiscal year ends.
Schicker feels the project is important to complete.
“What we were encountering a lot, certainly with thunderstorms and rainstorms, we were seeing flickers of power,” Schicker said. “When that power was shutting down, it was taking a lot of time to find what issues it left behind when it shut off, and those hard resets are hard on equipment.”
Schicker also noted problems encountered when the courthouse was left without power on the day of a scheduled jury trial and the final day to pay property taxes.
TOP Electric that made the proposal for the project will be invited to the full county board meeting on January 28th to further discuss the project.
The grant will also pay for sound dampening panels in each courtroom and the vestibule, a self serve check-in kiosk, and the cost of maintaining the circuit clerk app and case management program. Schicker noted the maintenance cost of around $27,000 a year was to be paid by the county and that money could potentially be used to pay for part of the remaining cost of the generator and UPS system.
