Morton Grove Library Board hires firm for website redesign, at last

• Reprints

Updated: March 17, 2012 8:13AM

The Morton Grove Public Library’s website will sport a new look, most likely by the end of summer.

Trustees Feb. 9 voted 6-1 to authorize a $21,500 contract with Americaneagle.com,, of Chicago, to redesign the site, which is more than a decade old.

Board Treasurer Catherine Peters said a lack of time to review the information put together by library staff was her reason for voting against the motion.

“It has nothing to do with Americaneagle,” she said.

During discussion, Peters had championed taking a second look at the proposal submitted by Weblinxinc, of Oswego. Also submitting a proposal was LiQuiprint, of Lincolnwood.

A committee of library staff that included co-directors Kevin Justie and Natalya Fishman sifted through the three proposals and had eliminated Weblinxinc from consideration due to the “magnitude of difference” in its proposal compared with the other two, Justie said at the board meeting.

The board’s action puts back into play one of its first decision, following the April election, to award the redesign contract to Americaneagle.com.

On May 13, a day after that meeting, Justie notified Americaneagle.com and the other two bidders, LiQuiprint and Weblinxinc, of the board’s decision, according to information provided by the library.

On May 20, Albers emailed then-Library Director Ben Schapiro that Peters was “uncomfortable” with the board’s decision to use Americaneagle.

In his report to the board Schapiro expressed concern that the board was “entering an ethically or legally questionable area” if it decided to consider a new bid submitted by one of the three original vendors after the board at its May 12 meeting approved letting the contract with Americaneagle.

Peters requested a second bid, dated May 27, from Weblinxinc.

The board at its June 9 meeting voted 4-3 to rescind the contract awarded to the Chicago-based company and to rebid the contract.

Board President Mark Albers’ vote broke the tie.