When Lake County government was founded long ago, the majority of the county’s population was in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago.
At the time it made sense to have satellite county buildings — particularly for the courts — in the northern cities.
County government, by law, had to be headquartered in the county seat, Crown Point. And Lake Circuit Court also had to be in the county seat.
That was then. This is now.
The majority of the county’s population now is outside Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. Gary, in fact, has barely half the population it did at its high-water mark.
Because of the change in demographics, coupled with the county’s financial pinch, it is time to begin moving ahead with closing the county’s three satellite offices.
While it has been talked about in recent years, it wasn’t until recently that an agency of county government took a definitive stand.
The County Council passed a resolution suggesting that the county hire a consultant to look at the possibility of closing the satellite courthouses and moving the courts to a new facility in Crown Point.
Unfortunately, two of the three commissioners — Roosevelt Allen and Frances DuPey — killed the resolution. We suspect those were politically charged votes, in that DuPey (Hammond) and Allen (Gary and East Chicago) represent cities with satellite courthouses. We suspect the two are trying to protect jobs and not upset constituents.
Council President Larry Blanchard said the council members expected commissioners to stop the resolution. Yet, Blanchard said, the day is coming when the satellite courthouses must be closed.
“We are going to have to do something,” Blanchard said.
Hiring a consultant is a good move, bringing in an unprejudiced third party to make tough recommendations. It’s better to do it sooner than later.