Proviso Township Residents Sue School Board President Over Legal Fees

January 21, 2009 by CookReformer
Filed under: Proviso Township, Reform

A group of township residents alleging that District 209 has inappropriately spent taxpayer money is mounting a legal challenge, said one of the participants, arguing the right of school board President Chris Welch to be reimbursed for attorneys fees.

Westchester resident Kevin McDermott said he is one of the plaintiffs in the potential lawsuit, which is yet to be filed. Likely, said McDermott, there would be several plaintiffs in the case.

“Certainly, I was pretty outraged by this,” McDermott said.

Dating back to June 2008, school board members at the Proviso Township high schools have approved paying more than $57,880 to Travis Richardson and Myron Mackoff, two Chicago attorneys representing Welch in a defamation suit. The claim against Welch was filed in Cook County Circuit Court in 2007. Neither the school board nor the school district are defendants.

Each time that school board members have been asked to pay these bills, Welch has voted in favor of doing so, but his vote has not been a tie-breaker. Two board members, Theresa Kelly and Sue Henry, have consistently voted against the appropriation. A third board member, Brian Cross, has abstained.