Deer Park considers suing Vehe Barn contractor

Deer Park officials have hired an attorney to explore legal action against a contractor who worked rehabbing the historic Vehe Barn into the new village hall, a project that is years behind schedule and whose cost has more than doubled.

At a special meeting Monday night, the village board voted unanimously to hire attorney Eric Stubenvoll of the Chicago-based law firm of Fisher Kanaris, P.C., for $5,000 to study the basis of a lawsuit against the contractor.

Deer Park Village President Bob Kellermann said the village entered into a fixed price contract with R & W Clark Construction Inc. of Orland Park in May 2004 for $1 million of work with change orders of up to $100,000.

The rehab project to the old barn on the Vehe Farm which the village had bought to be its first dedicated village hall was expected to be complete in 2005.

But the village board ultimately fired the contractor in early June 2007 with what then appeared to be $29,000 in work left undone, Kellermann said.

Concern about the long-lingering project and its escalating costs was one of Kellermann's driving reasons for running for village trustee in the spring of 2007, he said.

The board later hired Pepper Construction of Barrington to finish the project.

Though officials have been satisfied with the work Pepper Construction has done, the process of that work gradually revealed how inadequate the original contractor's efforts were - requiring an expensive redoing of much of it, Kellerman said.

The village has already invested yet another $1 million into the barn, and there appears to be about $250,000 to go, he added.

"It's like a money pit!" Kellermann said.

Representatives of R & W Construction could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The inadequacies of the original contractor's work are continuing to be discovered, Kellerman said.

The Vehe Barn recently began experiencing flooding on its first floor from water that was rising up from under the foundation. When the sump pump was examined, it was discovered that there were no holes cut for water to drain, he said.

Village officials have remained busy just staying on top of the work that still needs to be done, but they began exploring litigation at this time to stay ahead of the statute of limitations, Kellermann said.

The board will likely hear back from Stubenvoll at or before its next regular meeting on April 19, he said.