Hinsdale On Hook For Car Wash Engineering Costs: Emails

HINSDALE, IL – An engineering firm is asking Hinsdale to pay more than $20,000 for its design work for bollards at a local car wash where a boy died in 2023.

In January, a village official told the New York-based Thornton Tomasetti firm that Hinsdale would pay the money soon. But that did not happen, according to the village's accounts payable.

Last spring, the village agreed to spend money on engineering for the bollards at Fuller's Car Wash. The goal was to design bollards that would withstand the impact of a car coming out of the wash. The idea was for the business to reimburse the village.

On July 17, 2023, Sean Patrick Richards, a Hinsdale 14-year-old, was walking on the sidewalk in front of Fuller's on Chicago Avenue when an employee driving a car hit him, crossed the street and crashed into Fontano's restaurant, injuring customers. The boy died days later.

His family has pushed for safety measures at the car wash. Shortly after the crash, Fuller's put up bollards, but they were considered insufficiently strong.

The engineering firm sent invoices to the village last August totaling $20,194.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained emails from the village about paying the debt.

In early February, a collections supervisor for the firm asked when the village would issue payment for the invoices.

In response, Carrie Dittman, the village's chief financial officer, said Hinsdale would process the payments at the next Village Board meeting.

"Thank you for your patience with this process!" Dittman wrote.

At the board's Feb. 18 meeting, trustees approved the accounts payable, but that list did not include a payment to Thornton Tomasetti. The same was the case at the board's two meetings since then.

On March 14, Kevin Mueller, a Chicago-based senior associate at the firm, asked Dittman about any updates on the board approving the outstanding invoices.

Dittman then forwarded the email to her boss, Village Manager Kathleen Gargano, asking how the village should respond. The village provided no emails that may have been exchanged after that, indicating Gargano may have responded by phone or spoken to Dittman in person.

In January, Fuller's Car Wash filed for bankruptcy. That was days before its owners were set to appear at depositions in a lawsuit that Richards' parents filed against the business, the family said.

In the bankruptcy documents, Fuller's indicates that its debt with the village is "disputed."

At a Village Board meeting last month, Richards' mother, Kristine Richards, noted Fuller's debt.

"The installation of safety measures at a private business should not be funded by our tax dollars," Richards said. "The fact that this debt is disputed by Mr. (Doug) Fuller is extremely frustrating."

She praised Gargano and the village staff for pursuing the debt. She asked whether the board could do anything to ensure the debt's collection.

In response, Village President Tom Cauley said Hinsdale has lawyers who help collect money owed to the village.

According to the bankruptcy filing, the business, which consists of the car wash and auto repair shop in Hinsdale, owns 18 cars, many of them luxury models, including a Mercedes and a Cadillac Escalade.

The information showed that Fuller's owes a total of $452,000 for 14 of the cars.

For tax and bankruptcy purposes, those cars must be for business, not personal use.

In the 13 months before January's bankruptcy filing, the five co-owners received nearly $1.2 million in compensation and dividends from the Hinsdale business. The co-owners are Doug Fuller, Susan Groenwold, Ethan Fuller, Colin Fuller and Paula Fuller.

Fuller's and its lawyer have not returned numerous messages for comment.