Candidate for Kane County Board calls for night court

Kane County Board member and judicial candidate John Noverini announced Thursday he will push for evening hours at area branch courts.

In a news release, Noverini, D-Carpentersville, said he will petition the board's Judicial and Public Safety Committee for a resolution asking 16th Circuit Chief Judge Donald Hudson to look at the feasibility of starting night court in Carpentersville, Elgin, Geneva and Aurora for misdemeanor and traffic cases.

Noverini said it is an undue burden on working people to miss hours of work to attend a hearing on a minor case.

"When I'm in court and I see people sitting around ... when you're working hourly, this is money out of your pocket," Noverini, a private attorney, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "They're frustrated. They wait, they wait, they wait. It's usually a half a day for them."

It doesn't have to be an all-night affair, Noverini said; 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. would go a long way toward lightening the daytime caseload.

Noverini, chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, said he recognizes there will be additional costs and inconvenience for court personnel but believes those burdens are better shouldered by the courts than by working people. The cost of doing an evening court call would be "nothing" compared to the daily loss of productivity and wages, he said.

Noverini has not yet gotten Hudson's input on the idea, but he said his fellow lawyers heavily favor the idea. Court administrators would have the final say.

Noverini is running for the newly opened 2nd Judicial Subcircuit against Judge Patricia Piper Golden.