Elevator Operator Cost Lyons Township High $24K For 4 Days

LA GRANGE, IL – For a few days last month, Lyons Township High School superintendent Brian Waterman had to step aside as the building's highest-paid person.

That honor went to the elevator operator.

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Elevator operator?

You've seen such a person in the old movies. But that's not much of a thing anymore, right?

It was at the high school.

Over the summer, the school installed a new elevator at North Campus, replacing the aging one. But the contractor failed the first inspection.

That wouldn't have been a problem, but the school's staff needed the elevator to move furniture to the second floor before school started.

Because of the failed inspection, the school needed a certified elevator operator for four days to get the furniture into classrooms, officials said.

The school was billed $24,460 for the operator. That works out to $6,115 a day. By contrast, the superintendent makes just shy of $1,000 daily.

The money went through the school's contractor, All-Types Elevators. So it's not clear if all the dollars went to the operator.

So what did the operator actually do?

The image of the old movies may come to mind – a well-dressed person politely asking, "Which floor, sir?"

The reality is different.

"They're not really operating it themselves," the school's architect, Jon Murawski of DLA Architects, said at this week's school board meeting. "They have to be in the building. They're sitting in a room."

All-Types Elevators failed the inspection because of a fire alarm problem. Under its contract, the firm had until the first day of school to pass.

But officials said it was hard to find who was to blame.

Over the summer, the school had three separate projects, including the elevator, with fire alarm subcontractors.

It could have been any one of them, Murawski said.

So the school tried to find out which firm was to blame.

"We actually had to go to security cameras at one point to figure out whose sub(contractor) was at the panel at what time," Murawski said. "There's still a lot of finger-pointing going on."

Ultimately, All-Types passed the inspection just before school started.

School board member Elias Lopez said the school could seek reimbursement for the $24,000. But another member, Shawn Kennedy, said the issue was "on us" because All-Types complied with the contract.

Murawski said the school could require contractors to get work done earlier, with daily liquidated damages if they don't.

But he said the drawback would be that the companies would figure such possibilities into their bids, raising costs.

All-Types was the low bidder at $337,490. The project saw two change orders, including for the elevator operator, increasing the cost to $383,668.

That was less than the other two bids – $385,468 and $419,000.

Later this month, the board plans to vote on the elevator operator bill.

"No one at this table is feeling great about the decision we're having to make," the board's president, Tim Albores, said. "No one wants to spend more money than we expected to spend."