West Cook News

When Hillside Village Administrator Russ Wajda was informed there had been water main breaks on Forest and Madison, he was surprised.

“There was nothing in the area to indicate that we had any kind of a problem,” Wajda told West Cook News. “If there's no history of breaks and no history of leaks in the line, then you assume the line is good. Unfortunately, this is the time of year when water mains are subject to freeze and thaw, groundwater shifting them and they can break.”

The water main repair at 458 Forest Ave. cost an estimated $7,800 to repair compared to $2,300 for water main repair at 4406 Madison St. Street reparations, however, will not be completed until the spring when the asphalt plants reopen, according to Wajda.

“When the plants reopen, a crew will get out there and make all the patch repairs,” he said in an interview. “The repairs to the mains were completed with village labor and includes all parts and materials.”

But a neighborhood advocacy group, Hillside Neighbors, asked in a news release obtained by West Cook News whether the village of Hillside will now sue the water main inspection company since water mains are allegedly breaking exactly where recent street repairs occurred.

"If Mayor [Joseph] Tamburino failed to examine the water mains before street repairs occurred, this would be a total waste of Hillside taxes to fix the street, have water mains break, then fix the street, again and again, weeks later,” residents Roger Romanelli and Amy Woodrick said in a statement online.

Once a year the village of Hillside brings in an outside contractor who monitors the lines through town and looks to detect, by sound, any leakage from pipes underground, according to Wajda. He said there are no plans to sue.

“It would be the last resort but if we were to sue, we would burn our bridge with that company and there are not very many companies that do this type of work,” he said. 

Wajda confirmed that $1.3 million was paid in November 2020 to resurface several village streets.

“It was assessed by viewing the records we have, and there's been nothing there since 2002 until just recently when we've had two breaks," he said. “There is no history to indicate we had a problem underground. There was nothing. Unfortunately things underground are out of sight. They're out of mind and they are hard to inspect.”

As previously reported in West Cook News, Romanelli and Woodrick are campaigning for two of the six trustee positions.

“If ground detection equipment does not hear any water movement, then there's no movement," Wajda said. "That's not to say in six months or a year later, that something couldn’t happen with the ground moving. Then you have a problem. That's why we have an inspector come in on a regular basis to evaluate the town.”