One down, two to go.

Last week Riverside-Brookfield High School District 208 trustees unanimously approved the contract for Pat Sumrow to act as the owner’s representative for District 208 during its $63-million renovation and expansion of Riverside-Brookfield High School. However work is still continuing on final contract details for the project’s construction manager, McHugh Construction Company of Chicago, and for the district’s architects, Wight and Company of Darien.

Sumrow said she will be paid $90 an hour to represent RB’s interests in the project. She works as a liaison between the construction contractors and the school and community. Her job is to keep all the parties aware of what is going on and to coordinate the work being done. She said she’ll strive to minimize the impact the construction work will have on the life of the school.

Sumrow, who has been working without a contract since last May, previously worked on the renovation and expansion at York High School in Elmhurst, where she also worked with McHugh. After a career as a teacher, principal and administrator, Sumrow is now a self-employed consultant working with schools to help manage construction projects. She has an office in Room 123 at RB during the project, but will not necessarily work 40 hours a week at RB.

Work on the contracts with McHugh and Wight is close to being finished as final details are being ironed out, according to District 208 school board President Larry Herbst. Negotiations, which have been going on since June, have focused on laying out in minute detail the specific responsibilities of the various parties in the project.

Herbst said that he hopes to be able present the contracts for McHugh and Wight to the board for approval to at the Oct. 10 school board meeting or at a special meeting soon after that.

“I want to get it done in early October,” said Herbst.

Both McHugh and Wight have been working since last spring on the plans for the project without having contracts in place.

Architects from Wight have recently completed a schematic design for the project and are currently gathering comments from RB staff on their design.

A new artificial field has been installed in the football stadium and already is getting heavy use from physical education classes, the football and soccer teams, and the band, according to Sumrow.

Installation of the new running track should be completed by mid-October, according to Sumrow.