Schaumburg Township road commissioner questions predecessor’s contract for new website from political ally
The new Schaumburg Township highway commissioner is questioning the value and appropriateness of an interactive website his defeated predecessor contracted from a political ally three weeks after Election Day.
Timothy Buelow, a Democrat, said former Highway Commissioner Scott Kegarise approved a $27,500 contract for the creation of a new website from USynergetics, Inc. of Hoffman Estates April 25. The business is led by the wife of Daniel Lee. Lee ran unsuccessfully for township clerk April 1 on the same Republican slate as Kegarise.
Kegarise said plans for the website were in the works well before the election based on resident requests to track road construction progress and snow plowing.
Kegarise defended his decision to go with Lee, which he based on Lee’s campaign work.
“This is a decision I made during my term,” Kegarise said. “You choose the people you know. I’ve always been very open about how I did business. (Lee) did all of our website generation during the campaign and I liked what I saw. He’s a guy who knows something about township government, and I knew him.”
Kegarise also signed a $16,950 contract with Valexity Technologies, Inc. of Hanover Park to perform monthly maintenance of the website for a year.
Contracts under $30,000 don’t require a bidding process, according to state law.
Buelow said it was inappropriate for Kegarise to approve the contracts 23 days after losing the election, and 11 days after they met to discuss the upcoming transition of power.
“This is not how I would choose to do business,” Buelow said. “To me, it has an air of impropriety to it. From my standpoint, it is not right. It’s not in the best interests of taxpayers or this department. It wasn’t needed.”
The township maintains just 10 centerline miles of road.
Lee was surprised by the conflict. He believes the website will immediately demonstrate its value upon delivery next month.
“My understanding is that this project wasn’t the only project Mr. Kegarise was working on in his final weeks in the office,” Lee said. “He worked all the way to the end of his term. He’s been known for his fiscal responsibility. I’m appreciative that Mr. Kegarise feels I’m the right person for the job.”
Buelow is awaiting a legal opinion on the contracts. He would cancel them if he could, but doesn’t believe he has the ability.
Lee wants the public to be the judge.
“If residents like it as much as I think they will, (Buelow will) take the credit,” he added. “I hope he will let residents use it for a while before he judges. From my perspective, it would be a shame if this didn’t see the light.”
Lee said he wants to update the website with Buelow’s photo and welcoming remarks, but Buelow said he’s received no such request. All he’s heard directly from Lee, he added, is the promise of links to the website which have yet to arrive.
Kegarise suggested the uproar was merely political theater.
“If I didn’t think it had value, we wouldn’t have gone forward with it,” he said. “Did I assume that there would be pushback? Not at all. If (Buelow) wants to start his term on a negative, that’s up to him. He’s taking issue with it as a political thing and I didn’t do it as a political thing. My hope is that the public finds benefit in this.”