Oak Brook district still hasn't paid for plans

A bill for more than $24,000 will remain unpaid in Oak Brook's Butler School District 53.

For the second time, school board members this week postponed paying for architectural designs created by Naperville-based Healy Bender & Associates.

The work, originally billed at $72,804, was authorized in anticipation of voters approving of a $12.8 million tax increase request. But after voters rejected the request in April, the district was left with designs for structures it had no money to build.

Superintendent Sandra Martin said recent negotiations with Healy Bender reduced the charges to $24,268.

"They are a firm with an outstanding reputation, and they want to continue to work with us in the future," she said. "It was very generous on their part."

A clause in the payment contract concerns board members Joseph Mondschean and Stephen Haszto, though. Both fear the contract's language binds the district to work with Healy Bender in the future.

"They said, 'Here, we will give you a reduced rate, but we'll have you on the hook,'" Mondschean said.

Martin said District 53 would owe more than $48,000 to Healy Bender in the future if the district uses designs the firm already has developed for both Brook Forest and Butler junior high schools.

But, Martin said, that could only happen if the board puts a referendum on a future ballot and voters approve the measure.

"If we were to go forward and use those materials, we would be obligated to pay them for it," Martin said.

The board is expected to discuss the issue again Friday after the district's attorney clarifies the contract's language.

"The goal is that I want to pay the $24,000 and be done with it," Haszto said.