D-86 Legal Bills: Official Tries To Stop Debate

DARIEN, IL — The president of Hinsdale High School District 86's board last week tried to prevent a discussion about the district's increasing legal bills.

In so doing, President Terri Walker appeared to be out of line with the board's own procedures.

At Thursday's board meeting, member Debbie Levinthal asked for a separate vote on the district's legal bills. The item was part of the board's consent agenda, which is typically a package of noncontroversial, routine items. Like most public bodies, any member can ask for an item to be removed for a separate discussion.

But when Levinthal made her request, Walker asked for a reason. Levinthal responded she wanted to ask questions.

Walker asked Levinthal whether she could have asked the questions of the superintendent before the meeting. Levinthal said she would rather ask them at the board table.

Member Jeff Waters then asked board Vice President Kathleen Hirsman about the protocol for removing an item from the consent agenda.

Hirsman did not give an answer.

"I'm sorry, excuse me, but I am not running this meeting. The board president is running this meeting," Hirsman said. "When something is on the consent agenda, that information is provided in advance to all the members. The reason it's put on the board agenda is that it's anticipated that it's routine in nature. I'll defer to the board president."

Member Erik Held, however, said it was customary to allow a board member to get an item removed from the consent agenda.

"If you want to pull an item, that's fine," he told Levinthal.

Levinthal thanked him, and Walker proceeded to allow the separate discussion.

The legal bills in October and December were higher than usual — $47,148 and $60,823, respectively. This year's monthly average is $31,533.

In the discussion, Levinthal said the portion of the bill for public records and open meetings issues totaled about $24,000 for the last month. She questioned why Walker and Hirsman took part in meetings with attorneys on Freedom of Information Act issues when the board delegates such matters to the superintendent. She referred to two specific dates on invoices.

Hirsman, however, said the board should not discuss matters related to attorney-client privilege in an open meeting.

Levinthal then recommended the issue be a topic of discussion in a closed session.

Hirsman disagreed. She said a discussion about legal bills was not necessarily a proper topic for a closed meeting.

Board member Peggy James said the legal bills were out of line with past months.

Debra Kedrowski, the district's Freedom of Information Act officer, said the schools have seen an increase in the number of records requests. And more of them have involved emails, which involve redactions that require a lawyer's advice, she said.

The board voted 4-3 to approve the bills, with Walker, Hirsman, Held and Cynthia Hanson in favor and Levinthal, Waters and James against.

Nearly all the legal bills are for the Arlington Heights-based Hodges Loizzi law firm.

Here is the amount of District 86's legal bills approved monthly for the last year: