Western Springs Backs Off On Secrecy

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs on Friday decided to reverse its decision to keep secret from the public its correspondence with a railroad company.

It released letters between the village's lawyer and BNSF Railway over a payment dispute for the railroad's underpass project near Clausen Avenue.

Earlier last week, village attorney Mallory Milluzzi of Chicago-based Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins advised the village to keep the letters secret. It was in response to a public records request from Patch.

Milluzzi cited two exceptions to the state Freedom of Information Act that did not seem to apply.

One was that the state law exempted communications between a public body and its attorney. In this case, the attorney, Michael Jurusik, also of Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, wrote letters to BNSF, not the public body.

Milluzzi also cited the exception for preliminary notes and communications. But the messages between BNSF and the village were official communications between the parties and thus not preliminary in nature.

The Edgar County Watchdogs, a Paris, Illinois-based group, said the law required the village to release the documents. Patch asked the village to reconsider.

In the spring, the village objected to BNSF charging a third more for the underpass project than the originally expected price of $2.1 million. Most of the increase was because of overtime pay.

In a June 7 letter to BNSF, Jurusik said the "continued escalation" of costs was not "reasonable or sustainable."

He pushed for an "amicable resolution." Otherwise, he said the village would follow the appeal process to challenge the cost overruns.

Jurusik said a letter from a BNSF executive admitted overtime pay was not factored in for the original cost estimate. And he said the company had not provided a detailed accounting about why so much of the work was performed during overtime hours.

On June 15, Jacob Rzewnicki, manager of public projects, offered to waive the finance charges assessed to any unpaid sums.

He pointed to a provision in the contract that allowed BNSF to change the work windows because of train operations or service obligations. With that provision, he said, the railroad would not be responsible for any additional costs because of the changes.

Rzewnicki said his company had provided the village with detailed invoices throughout the project. The invoices detailed the employees' names, dates, hours charged, pay codes, task names and the dollar amounts charged, he said.

A couple of days later, the village resolved the matter by paying the final $409,569. The finance charges were waived.

"The Village appreciates the cooperation of the BNSF in constructing the Project and desires to maintain a good working relationship," Jurusik said in a follow-up letter.