Crestwood votes to pay water operator’s legal fees

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Scaccia

Updated: February 7, 2012 8:26AM

Taxpayers in Crestwood might be footing the bill for legal expenses incurred by both former water department employees indicted in the village’s drinking water scandal.

The village board on Thursday night approved paying up to $150,000 in legal fees for Frank Scaccia, the village’s former certified water operator. He and Crestwood Police Chief Theresa Neubauer, who previously worked in the water department, are accused of lying to regulators about the village using water from a tainted well to supplement its drinking water supply.

Federal prosecutors announced the indictments in August, and the village agreed late last year to pay up to $200,000 of Neubauer’s legal costs. Scaccia’s agreement with the village is similar to Neubauer’s in that he must repay the village if he is convicted of any of the charges.

Trustees Patricia Theresa Flynn and John Toscas voted against the measure, which passed by a 3-to-2 vote with one abstention.

“It sickens me,” Toscas said after the meeting. “This wasn’t about if you like or dislike the two people; I know you can’t use public funds for private purposes. We’re borrowing money to fix our parks and buy trucks, and here we are spending money, $200,000 and $150,000. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Residents’ reactions ranged from outrage to praise, with some referring to trustees as “clueless” while one resident said, “I think they’re doing the right thing.”

The village told residents and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency it was using only Lake Michigan water as drinking water after it was discovered in 1985 that a village well had been tainted by vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. But regulators later discovered the village continued to use the well for as much as 20 percent of its drinking water from 1985 to 2007.

Several class-action lawsuits have been filed by hundreds of current and former Crestwood residents who contend that their health was adversely affected by drinking the water.