North Cook News

The Lincolnwood village board recently discussed a contract with GovTemps to hire an interim parks and recreation management analyst.

During the Nov. 15 village board meeting, the board pulled an item from its consent agenda regarding a contract with GovTemps to discuss further with the trustees and village attorney. The contract was for an interim parks and recreation management analyst. Village Attorney Steven Elrod praised the GovTemps organization and has worked with the organization many times without issues.

Elrod had shown hesitation about the contract based on a liability concern. He felt that the ten-page agreement that the village would sign with GovTemps has a clause that would make the village liable if their vetted employee were to cause issues within the village. GovTemps says that the clause has nothing to do with that, however Elrod has witnessed at least one occasion where the liability was put on the village rather than GovTemps.

"...as your attorney, I have to advise you to be aware of the position that this company is taking. I think the language is clear. They're saying that there is - it's joined by the word 'and.' And there are several other provisions that need to be in place before that indemnity kicks in. I think it's an unreasonable interpretation. We've asked them, by the way, to change this provision in June, and they refused," Elrod said. 

The board went into an executive session to discuss the contract, and decided to proceed with the contract because they saw little risk in the temporary employee causing liability issues in the position they would be given. They also discussed the possibility of joining with other municipalities to strongly request that GovTemps change this clause, and work in the future to find other temporary contracts and organizations.