La Grange Official Upset With Storm Sewer Agency

LA GRANGE, IL — Officials from a regional storm sewer agency attended the La Grange Village Board meeting this week. Village Trustee Lou Gale took this opportunity to express his frustrations with the agency.

He said the village was close to getting an agreement to start the 50th Street storm sewer project, which officials say would take care of much of the flooding problem in south La Grange. But he said the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District placed conditions that were too expensive for the village in a short time.

If the district had not stood in the way, he said, the village could be well on its way to solving flooding problems.

"I wanted to express my frustration with that," Gale said at Monday's board meeting. "We have every reason to build those things. MWRD was forcing us to do it in a certain period of time. We need the flexibility to spend money where it is needed for the whole village."

Catherine O'Connor, the district's engineering director, defended the agency.

"We were very loath to spend upward of $35 million to capture water that wasn't going to protect homes," she said. "Here we would have the construction project, the interruption and all the work to construct this and would still have homes flooding without the laterals. We need to make sure we are protecting everybody."

O'Connor said she believed the district approached the issue in a "very fair fashion."

"This would be the most expensive project that we have partnered on for a cost-per-structure basis," she said.

Gale disagreed with the district's approach.

"The 50th sewer on its own will protect houses and protect people," he said. "Residents of the village of La Grange pay taxes through MWRD just like everyone else. I think that needs to be a part of the equation. Some of the frustration — I'll just speak for myself — is that we were right there, and we couldn't get it done."

In 2018, La Grange reached an agreement with the Hanson Aggregates quarry in McCook on issues involving litigation between the village and the company, according to the village's website. But the village was unsuccessful in its negotiations for an agreement with the district for construction of a reservoir in McCook as part of the overall project, the website says.

The village's attorney said Monday that he hoped to get a trial with Hanson early next year.