Grayslake D46 board postpones vote on controversial contract
A potential vote on a former Grayslake Elementary District 46 board member’s controversial consulting contract with the schools was postponed two weeks Wednesday night after an occasionally contentious debate by the trustees.
School board President Ray Millington opened the session at Grayslake Middle School by asking the panel to table a planned discussion on ex-Trustee Michael Linder’s $75,000 contract as a facilities engineering consultant and to similarly delay voting on whether it should be voided or ratified.
The move was opposed by board members Shannon Smigielski, Kip Evans and Michael Carbone, but the other four trustees had them outnumbered.
Before the vote to table the agenda items, however, the board members argued about the 2011 deal to hire Linder and whether the delay was an effort to, as Evans put it, sweep the matter “under the rug.”
“We need to discuss this freely and openly among ourselves,” Evans said.
In February 2011, the school board voted 4-2 to hire Linder for what appeared to be a one-year deal. While meeting minutes and the board’s motion didn’t indicate the contract’s length, officials mentioned “one year” as the term of the deal during the discussion.
When Linder signed the contract a month later, however, it was a two-year deal.
Smigielski discovered the apparent discrepancy about a month ago. At a Feb. 29 board meeting, District 46 attorney Kevin Gordon said the contract was “irregularly entered into” and is “arguably voidable.”
On Wednesday, Smigielski and Carbone said their concerns had nothing to do with Linder’s performance, which board Vice President Keith Surroz said has saved the district $3 million.
It’s the process, they said. And they didn’t want a delay.
“We’ve had ample opportunity to get this under control,” Smigielski said.
Evans has said he’s listened to recordings of closed-door discussions of the proposed contract, and he is unhappy.
“I am really shocked at what I heard,” he said without elaborating.
But Millington pushed for the delay to allow Gordon and staffers to develop a new contract “that really captures” Linder’s responsibilities.
The board now is set to discuss Linder’s contract at its March 21 meeting.