Legal Fees Mount For Algonquin Township

ALGONQUIN, IL – The cost for legal fees continue to add up for Algonquin Township. In the past year, the township has shelled out $478,892 in legal fees. For the highway department, officials started fiscal 2018 with a budget of $17,164, the Northwest Herald reports, but ended the year spending $284,771 in legal fees.

Officials are now reviewing tentative budgets for 2019 and are proposing to spend $250,000 for the highway department's legal fees, according to the Northwest Herald. Township Clerk Karen Lukasik took office last May and was responsible for a budget of $40,000. But after Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser sued her, she spent over $84,000 on lawyers.

Among the costliest of those fees comes from a law firm, hired by Gasser, to represent the township in a fight against Local 150 and the Illinois Labor Relations Board, according to a January article by the Northwest Herald. The fight relates to an administrative law judge's order in September, which required the highway department to rehire three employees Gasser fired on his first day in office. The department was also ordered to pay back pay and interest to the employees.

Between May and October, Robert T. Hanlon & Associates billed over $131,000 to the highway department for legal fees, according to the Northwest Herald, which obtained the department's billing records.

Algonquin Township is set to vote on its new budget in May.

More via the Northwest Herald

Photo caption: The Algonquin Township offices are located along Route 14 in Crystal Lake. Photo credit: GoogleMaps

More on Patch

• Algonquin Township Employee Fired