Commissioner comes up with compromise on Cook County courthouse closures

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Updated: February 20, 2012 8:10AM

Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri last week announced plans to introduce a resolution to the Cook County Board calling for some suburban courthouses to remain open on weekends.

The resolution comes in response to an announcement by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle that suburban courthouses in Skokie, Rolling Meadows, Maywood, Bridgeview and Markham will be closed on Saturdays in an effort to reduce spending.

The closures will require suburban police departments to transport arrestees to the Criminal Courts Building at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago for all weekend bond hearings.

Silvestri’s proposed resolution calls for the Office of the Chief Judge to review several possible alternatives. They include: keeping the Maywood courthouse open for bond hearings on weekends; keeping one courthouse in each geographic area of the county open on weekends (in the north, that would be either Skokie or Rolling Meadows); opening one courthouse in each geographic area on alternate weekends; and opening the suburban courthouses for bond hearings only, without any other services offered.

The financial impact of each of these alternatives is also requested in the resolution.

Silvestri initially told Pioneer Press that he supported the decision to close each of the county’s suburban courthouses, but his proposed resolution states that requiring police officers to travel to the Chicago Criminal Courts Building for bond hearings will “reduce the number of police officers on suburban streets or add overtime costs to such cash strapped communities.”