The Village of Cary has improved the roadway on East Main Street but now has to foot the bill.

Algonquin Township completed road work on East Main Street in early September 2011, in which portions of the street just passed Decker Road includes Cary, according to Chris Clark, village administrator.

However, once the township completed the work, they submitted a bill for $30,020 to the village.

After meeting with Robert Miller, the Algonquin Township highway commissioner and researching old files, Clark did not find a formal approval or agreement brought to the Cary Village Board.

“There had been discussions with staff for a number of years about the section of roadway,” Clark said. "Miller had been upfront with me about the project, which took place over the summer while the village was in transition."  

Cam Davis, who was the previous village administrator had made an agreement with Miller about doing work on the East Main Street but according to village officials, no such work had been agreed upon.

“I think as it stands, I think it’s inappropriate for whatever my opinion is worth, I think there should have been some intergovernmental agreement,” Mayor Tom Kierna said.

“I’ve been around here a long time, I haven’t heard any discussions about it in my term as mayor beginning in 2009, the administrator, which we talk on a regular basis, he did not mention this to me at anytime.”

The Public Works Committee has discussed the payment matter at their December and January meetings and voted 3-0 in favor of the village board to pay the full invoice amount.

Cary Trustee Karen Lukasik, who’s a member on the committee said she supported paying the full amount because she only can vote on information that she has to work with and it was clear that the township was not told no that Cary will not participate in this project.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the person who made this agreement --supposedly with Mr. Miller-- and we only have Mr. Miller saying the agreement was made,” she said.

According to Kierna, the pavement work took place in front of the Miller family home, which was the first time the mayor spoke publicly about the specific location. 

"We here that there has been discussions for two to three years, but no one seems to remember anything and there’s no documentation in regards to this project," Cary Trustee Jeff Kraus said. 

"I understand that Trustee Lukasik said we have other intergovernmental agreements and other contracts with things we’ve done in the past but I think there have been people being able to talk about it at least and say yes, this is what happen."

Kraus said the silence has been "deafening" surrounding the pavement project. 

It appears the work had been completed because of cosmetic and aesthetic reasons, as oppose to repairing the road, Kraus said.

"The village is a part of the township, one way or another; we will be paying this bill, whether it comes out the village coffers or out of the township coffers," said Kraus, who cast the dissenting vote.  

“I’m always happy when one of the village roads is improved, I’m even happier when someone does it for us,” Cary Trustee Bruce Kaplan said. However, "the manner of which this project was done was not very “business-like” on either our part or the township’s part."

In a phone interview with Patch, Mr. Miller said East Main Street had not been resurfaced for 13 years and according to township standards, they aim to resurface the roads at least every 10 years.

Miller said he did have an agreement with the previous administrator and contacted Cris Papierniak, director of Public Works about the project about two years ago and was told the resurface program would end at Montana Street but eventually would extend to Decker Drive. 

If the road surface project had stopped at Decker, our constituents and Cary constituents would have looked at the project as "iffy" and incomplete, Miller said. "It wouldn't be continuity will the rest of the road," he said. 

As far the project being completed on the same road as Miller's residence is incidental. 

"It had nothing to do with the scope of the project," Miller said. "I’m surprised as anyone else."

Miller explain the invoice price was fair, it only asked for any fees and materials associated with Cary corporate limits.

Instead of paying the full amount, the board voted 5-1 to pay 50 percent of the invoice, which totals to $15,110.