Lake in the Hills sues over severed water main

The village of Lake in the Hills is suing a Wauconda-based excavation company for more than $44,000, claiming its workers negligently broke a village water main during a 2004 dig, sending large amounts of water streaming into a nearby residence.

The suit, filed this week in McHenry County circuit court, seeks $44,481 from Glenbrook Excavating and Concrete to cover the homeowners' repair costs and undisclosed damages to reimburse funds spent by the village to patch up an adjacent roadway.

Glenbrook President and owner Terry Barnett was unavailable Wednesday for comment.

Court documents state the village hired Glenbrook in May 2003 to complete a $930,000 water main improvement in the area of 300 Ramble Road. Several months after the work was complete, the suit states, a resident on that block called the village to report water leaking from a manhole cover in front of the home.

After village public works officials determined the leak was coming from a newly installed water main, Glenbrook work crews were called back to the village to repair the line. But, the suit claims, while digging into the street to reach the line three days later, workers struck a 4-inch water line, causing "a large volume" of water to flow down the homeowners' driveway and into their home.

The suit alleges workers did not check to determine if they were digging near buried utility lines and did not use proper digging methods to avoid breaking a water line.

The village paid the residents' repair costs after the incident and are now seeking to recover those costs as well as their own to fix to roadway. The suit is scheduled to appear before an arbitration officer in July.