The Crestwood Village Board was set to vote Thursday night on a settlement with the state over accusations of tainted drinking water, officials said.
Both Crestwood Mayor Lou Presta and a representative for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan confirmed an agreement has been reached. Presta said the village will pay a $50,000 fine but admit no guilt.
Madigan's office sued the village in 2009, saying it provided contaminated well water to residents for about two decades. Crestwood's drinking water supply was a mix of the contaminated well water with water from Lake Michigan, despite an order from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency not to use the well water for that purpose, the Southtown Star reported.
The state department ordered the shutdown of the well in 2007 after it discovered the village had been filing fraudulent paperwork to hide its use of the bad well. Two former Crestwood village officials were charged in the case.
Longtime water department supervisor Theresa Neubauer was convicted of making false statements to environmental regulators. Frank Scaccia was Crestwood's certified water operator. He pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements. A federal judge sentenced them both to probation and gave Neubauer community service and put Scaccia under home confinement.
"I'm very happy we're starting to put that part of our history behind us so we can move forward," Presta said.
Village officials plan to meet with lawyers early next month to discuss terms of a possible settlement regarding dozens of lawsuits filed by current and former residents who say they were injured by drinking the polluted water, according to Presta.
