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The Ogle County Board reached an out-of-court settlement Tuesday with an Aurora construction company which sued the board last week.

County Administrator Meggon McKinley said that after negotiations between attorneys, EVS Construction officials agreed to drop their lawsuit for $50,000, the amount of bid costs and attorney fees.

Judge Michael Mallon signed an order to dismiss the case after the settlement was reached.

The case had been scheduled for a trial on July 10.

An attorney for EVS filed the lawsuit after the county board awarded the contract for renovating the Ogle County Courthouse to another bidder, Ringland-Johnson Construction, Cherry Valley.

“No one on the county board is excited about settling with EVS,” McKinley said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “The settlement decision was made to eliminate the risk of additional costs that would likely come if the court’s July 10 ruling resulted in an appeal and a construction delay. We can now move forward with the contractor the board believes will do the best job for the county at the lowest price possible given the circumstances.

At a special meeting Monday evening, the county board voted 11-8 to pursue the settlement.

The board met in closed session for 90 minutes to discuss the issue before voting to authorize county board chairman Ed Rice and Ogle County State’s Attorney Ben Roe to “compromise and settle the lawsuit” with EVS officials.

The Ogle County Board admits to no wrongdoing,” said the motion, which was read by board member Jason Bauer, Byron.

Board member Jim Barnes, Oregon, voiced his opposition to the settlement.

“This is like a bully saying ‘give me your lunch money’,” Barnes said. “I have trouble giving away $50,000 of taxpayer dollars.”

Roe said after the meeting that the settlement will end the lawsuit. 

“If we’re able to reach a settlement, part of the agreement will be that the lawsuit will be dismissed with prejudice,” he said Monday night.

“With prejudice” means that EVS officials cannot bring further action against the county on the same matter.

Roe said negotiations with EVS had been going on since the lawsuit was filed June 22 against the county board and Ringland Johnson.

At a June 22 hearing, Mallon issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the county board from entering into a contract with Ringland Johnson for renovations to the courthouse.

County officials had planned to sign the contract that morning.

The lawsuit asked the court to award the general contract for the project to EVS, the lowest bidder, reversing the county board’s 16-8 decision June 16 to hire Ringland Johnson, the second lowest bidder.

The vote went against the recommendation of the Long Range Planning Committee, which favored EVS Construction.

The two bids were less than $100,000 apart. EVS Construction’s bid was $5,427,600 while Ringland Johnson’s estimate was $5,505,967.

Because the bids on the project are good only until July 11, a hearing on the lawsuit had been set for July 10, and county officials had expected Mallon to make a ruling then.

But Roe said that the judge’s decision under those circumstances might not have ended the dispute.

“If it went to trial on the 10^th, any decision could have been appealed,” he said.

The total cost of the courthouse project is estimated at $7.5 million.

The courthouse was built in 1891 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Once renovated, it will house the offices of the county clerk and recorder, treasurer and collector, supervisor of assessments, coroner, animal control, and geographic information system (GIS) partnership.

How they voted

Yes – Jason Bauer, Bobbie Colbert, Ben Diehl, Rich Gronewold, Lyle Hopkins, Fred Horner, Don Huntley, Maggie Nye, Pat Saunders, Paul White, Ed Rice

No-Jim Barnes, Ron Colson, Bob DeArvil, Kim Gouker, Marcia Heuer, Dan Janes, Lynne Kilker, Dennis Williams

Absent-Larry Boes, Dorothy Bowers, John Kenney, Mel Messer, Kim Stahl