Ogle County is not taking the recent vote by the Oregon City Council against closing a portion of Sixth Street for a proposed new jail as the final word on the matter.
At it’s meeting July 18, the county board agreed to send a formal letter to the City o
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OREGON – Ogle County is not taking the recent vote by the Oregon City Council against closing a portion of Sixth Street for a proposed new jail as the final word on the matter.
At it’s meeting July 18, the county board agreed to send a formal letter to the City of Oregon seeking negotiations on closing the street.
Also, following a closed session, the board agreed to hire Montana & Welch, LLC, a Palos Heights law firm that specializes in local government law. In a press release, the county said the firm was contacted a couple weeks ago to review possible legal remedies after several options were viewed to construct the new county jail without vacating Sixth Street, and it was determined that all options were more costly and provided less public safety than the original plan developed by the Ogle County Long Range Planning Committee.
In a separate interview, Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker said the county does not want this to end up in court.
“That’s why we’re doing it the way we’re doing it,” he said, adding that the hope is both sides can get together and come to an agreement.
But the county will take legal action if the city won’t negotiate, he said.
“We have very strong legal standing,” Gouker said, adding that the firm the city hired specializes in local government law. “We could end up going through an expensive litigation and still getting there.”