Glen Ellyn park board OK's Ackerman settlement
The Glen Ellyn Park District board has approved a $250,000 settlement with contractors that resolves a lengthy legal battle over a leaky roof at the Ackerman Sports & Fitness Center, despite the protests of one commissioner.
Five firms will split the $250,000 payment to the park district, with Ackerman's builder owing the most.
The district also will be released from paying $190,000 it withheld from several firms after the leaks were discovered, and $10,000 of its legal fees from mediation proceedings that led to the settlement will be waived.
One commissioner, Jay Kinzler, opposed the agreement, noting the park district will recoup only a fraction of the money it spent on repairs, a roofing expert and legal costs. Board Vice President Melissa Creech was absent.
Commissioner Kathy Cornell said she was disappointed, but called the settlement the "best result that we are going to get."
The agreement will allow the district to avoid additional costs from what could be several more years of litigation and an unpredictable outcome of a jury trial, Executive Director Dave Harris said.
"Anytime you get involved with litigation, it's always painful and ugly and messy and all that," Commissioner Gary Mayo said. "So yeah, it's been going on a long time. It could have gone on a lot longer, and I'm glad that this is finally resolved."
The Ackerman roof began leaking shortly before the $11.2 million building opened in January 2010. Buckets, tarps and piping temporarily held water springing from at least 20 leaks throughout the 80,000-square-foot building near St. Charles Road.
The park district paid roughly $100,000 to Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates to find the source of the leaks, design permanent fixes and oversee the project. An additional $715,000 was spent on hiring Solaris Roofing Solutions to install an insulated, "single-ply" membrane on the existing roof.
Legal costs have cost close to $250,000, Harris said.
"We went out and hired the international experts of the world, Wiss Janney, who went up and looked at it and ... verified that it was a lousy job," Kinzler said. "And basically based on that, I thought we had a good case for getting a full, brand new roof."
Through their insurers, five firms must pay the park district $250,000 within 10 business days of the agreement. After that, any amount owed would incur a 9 percent interest rate for every 30 days of delay.
T.A. Bowman Constructors must pay $80,000. The firm hired to build Ackerman first filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the park district in July 2011. Bowman was "willing and able to finish its work," the suit states, but accused the district of denying crews the opportunity to correct the issues, a claim district officials contested.
The rest of the settlement would be paid by Professional Building Services Inc., the project's construction manager; Ollmann Ernest Architects, the building's designer; and two subcontractors, Whited Brothers and Imperial Construction Associates Inc.