Village, county go round on Glennshire water issue
Hawthorn Woods and Lake County are no closer to reaching an agreement on providing safe drinking water for 224 Glennshire homeowners.
The village this week approved a three-party agreement that would allow the county to buy bulk water from Aqua Illinois Inc. to serve Glennshire subdivision residents.
Yet, county officials say that agreement is unacceptable. They are threatening to walk away entirely from the Glennshire project unless Hawthorn Woods adopts their agreement, without changes, by Monday.
A deal between the parties is necessary to resolve a state lawsuit and for the county to get the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's nod to install a new water system within village boundaries.
The IEPA ordered Lake County in 2006 to build a new water system to replace Glennshire's 20 shallow wells after repeated violations. The county would own and operate the new system as it did the previous one.
County Administrator Barry Burton said Wednesday the county cannot sign the village's agreement because of certain provisions in it.
Hawthorn Woods is requiring the county pay recapture and connection fees to link to the Aqua Illinois' system, which the village partly owns. The village added a proviso that the county cannot allow residents to connect to the system unless fees are paid upfront.
"They want us to collect that on their behalf from every resident out there," Burton said. "We agreed we will do everything that we can to collect that fee, but they want us to withhold water. We are not going to do that."
Hawthorn Woods Mayor Keith Hunt said the recapture and connection fees are nonnegotiable. He added if the county doesn't like the fees it should build its own well.
The real issue is the county doesn't want to get stuck with the bill because it is embroiled in a lawsuit with Glennshire residents to determine who ultimately pays for the system.
The 672 Glennshire residents want the county to pay the entire $6 million cost to replace their "failed" system. The county agreed to pay only $1 million. That lawsuit is pending in federal court.
Glennshire resident Christopher Donovan said the village's agreement is a "a step in the right direction for us to clean up the mess the county has made."
Burton claims if Hawthorn Woods doesn't accept the county's bulk water agreement, it will be in breach of a 1975 contract that states the village must grant the necessary permits for the county to run the Glennshire system.
"Then we will declare the contract null and void, rescind the agreement and give the system back to them," he said. "We have done everything we can to resolve this."
Hunt said the village has no interest in operating the Glennshire system.
"They created the problem through 30 years of neglect and I'll be damned if they are going to walk away from their responsibilities toward these residents and try to hand the system back over to us," he said. "We've given them the permits. We've given them a bulk water agreement. They are running out of excuses. It's time for them to build the system."