Cost To West Dundee Estimated At $10,000 After Crews Hit Gas Main Three Times In One Week
WEST DUNDEE, Ill. (CBS) -- Construction crews hit a gas main three times in one week, and now, residents of West Dundee are paying a pretty penny – to the tune of thousands of dollars.
CBS 2's Tara Molina looked Wednesday night into whether the village could get any of that money back.
Closed roads, nasty smells and for some, cold water – it's what folks in West Dundee dealt with when a subcontractor on the Huntley Road construction project hit the gas main three times in three places last week.
"I just want this to be done already," a resident said.
On Wednesday night, we learned what that mistake cost taxpayers.
"There was probably, I counted at least 15 police officers. Squad cars; there was fire trucks – that's all our taxpayer money!" said concerned resident Tom Chuchman.
The village tallied up the bill, which for their part in cleaning up the mess was $10,000.
"There is a cost with everything," said West Dundee Village President Christopher Nelson.
We asked Nelson to break down how they got to $10,000.
"Really, towards the end of the three-day period, we were dipping into kind of the overtime territory, and that's where things get fairly expensive," he said.
That figure includes police and firefighter hours spent on the scenes of gas breaks, traffic control and safety with the gas leaks for hours, and public works employees monitoring leaks overnight.
Nelson says the village send the bill to the subcontractor behind the breaks, Montemayor.
"I think they'll accept it. To this point, they've understood that there are certain costs that come with the accident, so they've been cooperative," Nelson said.
We're told the village is also looking at NICOR's costs too, and with investigators determining the cause of the breaks and the responsibility, the Illinois Commerce Commission could fine them.
Nelson said the village called a mandatory meeting on Friday for all the parties involved with the main breaks – including the contractor, the subcontractor, and Nicor.
He said Nicor is conducting an investigation and attempting to determine fault and responsibility. Nicor will report to the ICC any digging safety violations that might have been to blame for the breaks.
Meanwhile, the subcontractor completed an excavation for storm sewer work on Saturday without incidents, and had one final excavation to complete this past Tuesday, Nelson said.
Molina first reached out to Montemayor, the subcontractor behind the gas main breaks, for a comment last week. She did not hear back.
She followed-up on Wednesday and still had not heard back as of the 10 p.m. hour.
