VILLAGE GOING $4.8 MILLION MORE IN DEBT

By Joseph Wiszowaty

SAUK VILLAGE |  The Village will soon be getting a $4.8 million loan from the State of Illinois to install air strippers to treat the contaminated drinking water.

Well # 3 on the village’s north side of town adjacent to the YRC (Roadway) property has been shut down since 2009 when a known carcinogen vinyl chloride was detected in the village’s drinking water at well #3.  This prompted action by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and litigation brought by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office to force the village to take action to clean up the drinking water and get well #3 back up and running or connect to another source.

Mayor David Hanks announced during his report Tuesday night that the village “signed all the paperwork Friday” for a loan of $4.868,900 in the form of a loan from the State of Illinois at a fixed rate of 1.9%.  The Village will proceed with the contract which has already been awarded for $4.1 million within 60 days according to Village Engineer Jim Czarnik of Robinson Engineering.  

Village Trustee Lynda Washington, who was once an advocate for Lake Michigan water,  was so excited about the $4.1 million dollar loan she began clapping stating “when I borrow money from people I want what I want right there” prompting Trustee Derrick Burgess to remind Washington “you’ve got to pay the money back though” eliciting some chuckles. 

After well #3 is complete the village will complete the installation of the permanent air stripping towers and new iron removal system for wells #1 and #2 at the location on Sauk Trail according to Czarnik.

In other business the residents learned there has been more money moving around village hall after Burgess questioned Hanks on the matter.  Residents discovered that Hanks authorized borrowing  borrowed an additional $140,000-$150,000 from either the “water fund or other funds” so that the Village could make payroll according to Hanks.  There was no action by the Village Board on the transferring and borrowing of the funds and Hanks was not clear on the exact amount or which funds these were borrowed.   According to Hanks the Village will repay these funds in addition to the $449,000 previously borrowed when tax revenues come in sometime in March.

Burgess also advised the Village Board that he had spoken with United State Senator Dick Durbin during his visit that the Village needed some financial assistance with the water situation.  Burgess reminded Durbin that former Congressman Jesse Jackson obtained federal funds funds for neighboring Ford Heights to obtain Lake Michigan water and they were not facing a contamination threat to their drinking water.  Durbin remained noncommittal according to Burgess but was well aware of the Village’s water plight because of news media reports.

EDITORIAL NOTE:  This would be the village’s largest water improvement project since 1988 when the Village installed the Iron Removal System and issued bonds for a total of $1.2 million (about $2.3 million in today's dollars when adjusted for inflation) following a referendum which passed November 4,  1986, by  1010 yes to 470 no.

In March, 2012 the residents of Sauk Village went to the polls and voted to abandon the 55 year old wells in favor of bringing Lake Michigan Water to the Village by 740 yes and 670 no.  In fact 1410 voters came out to the polls that day, only 50 more voted in the 2013 mayoral race in Sauk Village.

The residents of Sauk Village did not approve any referendum on Hanks’ water improvement plan and whether it should have included a upgrade to the iron removal system.  The plan was presented to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office who agreed with it but stated that the Village needs to find a long-term alternative to their well water in the Consent Decree.

According to Robinson Engineering’s leak detection study,  the water loss has decreased from nearly 50% to some 20% according to Czarnik during a previous village board meeting.

Some residents have privately filed a class action lawsuit against YRC(Roadway) for contaminating the Village’s water supply.  A similar lawsuit filed against the Village of Sauk Village was dismissed in 2013.


Original material copyright 2014 Sauk Villager News; all rights reserved.

Village Receives Bids for Air Strippers, but still No Money

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  Bids were open on Tuesday night for the permanent Air Strippers at all three wells.  Well #3 has been shut down since 2009 since the levels of vinyl chloride continued to rise higher than what the IEPA thought was safe.

The air strippers will remove the vinyl chloride from the water by an aeration process of blowing air into the water and the vinyl chloride is released from the water into a gas form and released.  The process thus far has been successful since the Village was forced to install the temporary air strippers on Wells #1 and #2 on Sauk Trail last summer.

Alan Mack and Sons, Inc. of Orland Park, Illinois was the lowest overall bidder at $4.1 million, Boller Construction out of Waukegan, Illinois was the next highest bidder at $4.40 million and Theineman Construction, an environmental contractor out of Westfield, Indiana was the highest of the three at $4.44 million.

The Village will award the bids following review by the Village's Engineer Jim Czarnik of Robinson Engineering and his recommendation.  The bids will be awarded "subject to the village obtaining the funds from the low interest loan from the IEPA" Czarnik said.

The village has not received the funds for the $5.5 million low interst loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency according to Czarnik.  The project was expected to be underway according to the village's plan submitted to the IEPA earlier this year.  Czarnik did not elaborate why the village had not received the funds.

The Village is under a Consent Decree with the Illinois Attorney General to get Well #3 back online as soon as possible and install "permanent air strippers" to provide safe drinking water.  If either Wells #1 or #2 go down the village could be facing a very serious water crisis since there is no emergency water connection planned.

"I would like to know how the village went from nearly 50% water loss in March, 2013 to about 20% water loss today and the village has not spent a dime on infrastructure improvements" former mayoral candidate Bernice Brewer-Houston said following the meeting.  Czarnik informed the Village Board two weeks ago that the Village's water loss is about 20% today.

Brewer-Houston has been a vocal advocate for clean drinking water for a number of years now.  "The water is contaminated and we're going to spend $5.5 million dollars on treating contaminated water from 56 year old wells when we could spend that money on obtaining contaminant free water from another source" Brewer-Houston said.

The Village still does not have a Lake Michigan water allocation nor does it meet the Illinois Department of Natural Resources requirement of less than 8% water loss to qualify for an allocation according to Czarnik.

Typical Air Stripper Tower