The Village of Riverside earlier this month settled a long-standing feud with a contractor regarding soil removal costs at the site of the Public Works Department building in Riverside Lawn. Village trustees voted unanimously to approve a resolution allowing Riverside to walk away from $41,000 in outstanding bills from Legat Architects Inc. In addition, the settlement calls for both the village and Legat to forego any further litigation in relation to soil removal at the site.
Riverside hired Legat in 2002 to design and oversee construction of the village’s new Public Works building, an undertaking costing the village some $3.7 million. The new facility was completed in 2004.
The new facility sits on the site of an old village landfill, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ordered the village to remove some 10,000 cubic yards of soil it deemed “special waste.” In 2003, the village paid nearly $240,000 for soil removal, an unanticipated expense based on what village officials called inaccurate estimates from its architect, Legat. Originally, Legat estimated that only 3,000 cubic yards of soil would need removal.
By spring of 2004, the village had an additional 3,000 cubic yards of old landfill waste heaped at the Public Works site, awaiting removal. Removal of that soil cost the village another $120,000. At the time, Michael Hullihan, Riverside’s Public Works director said he would look to Legat to bear some of that cost, since it was Riverside’s contention that Legat had failed to perform its due diligence regarding soil removal.
As a result, Riverside withheld money it had been billed for architectural services by Legat in order to compensate the village for the architectural firm’s alleged oversight. The matter lay dormant for almost a year before the village heard anything from the architectural firm about clearing up the billing dispute.
“We finally got a call, saying ‘Let’s clean this matter up,'” said Village Manager Kathleen Rush.
According to the settlement agreement Riverside trustees approved on Oct. 2, the “architect or its consultants has not properly performed some of its services and that negligent performance of the services have resulted in financial damage to [the village].”
While Legat denies the charge, the architect has agreed to waive any pending invoices and will not sue to recover those costs, in exchange for Riverside agreeing not to pursue its own litigation to recoup any of the $360,000 the village spent on soil removal.