Hinsdale Township High School District 86 officials will begin preparing a timeline to install synthetic turf after learning $4 million in bonds could be used for the project.

Throughout the past two months, the district delayed plans while waiting for clarification from district attorneys over whether the district could use funds now sitting in the district’s working cash fund.

During the School Board meeting Monday,, April 6, the board directed school staff to have architects prepare a timeline for getting the project back on track and to examine how soon work can start.

“We should proceed and research the plans now that we have the methods (to access the funds),” said board member Janet Plate.

In early February, the plan to install the artificial fields was put on hold following an Illinois Appellate Court decision that said school districts could not use funds in working cash on capital projects, and could only transfer funds from working cash to the education fund.

During Monday’s meeting, the district’s legal counsel told the School Board five options are available for accessing the funds generated in a November 2008 bond issue.

Among the options the district will consider is to transfer interest earned on the bonds from the working cash fund to the operations and maintenance fund, as well as loaning the funds from working cash to the operations and maintenance Fund.

“You could use option two, temporarily loaning the funds to the O & M fund in conjunction with option one, transferring interest to the O & M fund,” said attorney Lynn Himes.

A third option would be to abate the funds from working cash to the education fund, then transfer the funds from education fund to the operations and maintenance fund.

Board member Dianne Barrett questioned the legality of circumventing the state code that restricts the transfer of funds from working cash to any fund other than education fund.

“So what you are saying is that by state code we cannot transfer funds from working cash to an operating fund, but we can transfer funds that are in education to other funds. I am not comfortable with that,” Barrett said. “State code states funds in working cash can only be used to provide funds to meet ordinary and necessary disbursements for salaries and other school purposes.”

Himes said state code also stipulates working cash funds, in addition to meeting “ordinary and necessary disbursements,” can be loaned to other school funds “in anticipation of the collection of taxes”.

Barrett also questioned why legal counsel did not include abating the funds to taxpayers and starting the process over.

Board member George Kumis said abating the funds back to taxpayers “always is an option.”

“The purpose of the attorney’s options was to show the ways in which we could use the money. Abatement was always an option,” Kumis said.

The district would like to install synthetic turf fields at practice fields and competition fields at both Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South high schools.

Board member Michael Kuhn suggested the project could be done in stages so some fields could be finished this summer.

“Maybe we can look at ways to still get the project started, perhaps do just the practice fields, or perhaps do one school at a time,” Kuhn said.