With the amount of street resurfacng they had planned, I think they could have gone out to bid in February or March. This is an an example of poor planning. K-Five may still have won the contract but at a lower amount. Competitive bidding is more work for everyone but in the end it's better for the village imo.

I agree with OL Gal. What were the trustees doing 3 months ago when they should have planning? Oh I remember; they were too busy hammering the mayor over no-bid legal fees. We have a bunch of hypocrites running the Village.

Lorraine, do you know how I can find a list or plan of the streets that will be resurfaced, and when?

go to the Village and file a freedom of Infomation act form and request the Info
Or possible check the Villages web site and see if they are posted

"Deetjen said that communications have been flowing about the street resurfacing since February."
So a bid contract could have been put out by now. I agree that is poor planning on our Public Works Dept or whoever put out contracts. Summer resurfacing work HAS to be bid and approved earlier in the year. Folks, this is nothing new.

They have had the work the last three years, have done a good job, and its natural for OL to have build a good relationship with good contractor. BUT, in these tough fiscal times, the taxpayers need competitive bidding. If K-Five is already mobilized, then no problem these savings would show in their good bid. But Deetjen can't say we will save 150K without it being bid! There are also other contractors holding down costs so they can get work. There is no way you can guarantee we are saving 150K without seeing K-Five bid at $5M and Contractor X at $5.15+M. Who knows, maybe someone comes in at $4.9M and we save $250K.

I totally agree with Trustee Quinlan that it should have been bid. I also agree with the Ol Gal and the contractor who commented above.

Talk about beating a dead horse..Anyone arguing this bid problem now should have been watching for it before construction season.. It's been going on for years now and it's your fault and yours alone..Did it only bother you now so you could get some media coverage and start another fight within your board?? The time for action was back in the beginning of the year! Let's see if you're smart enough to bring it up next year..Early in the year, or will you be squabbling about some other stupid issue??

It should have gone out to bid AND they are not doing a great job. They are doing a terrible job. Nothing is smooth, the curbs look like crap and they leave a mess while doing it and after they are done. I have footprints on my other concrete because of them. The people you had before K-five did a fabulous job. You should have kept them. Just because something costs a little less doesn't mean it's better. I don't think the quality of the material they use is as good as you would get elsewhere. I don't know who did it before and I don't know why they are no longer doing it, but they should and not K-five. Does someone in the Village know someone who works for K-five and is getting a kickback or free labor somewhere??????????????

What is the schedule of street resurfacing. That should be online for all to see so they can plan accordingly.

I find it interesting that people who would never consider using the cheapest contractor for a project on their own home always demand competitive bidding for government projects. My experience is that generally YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! Cheapest is not always best, but once you have the bid you are pretty much stuck with using the lowest one or your opponents will scream about backroom deals. When I was on the Village board and when I was a municipal attorney I saw first hand the results when the lowest bidder was used. These decisions frequently resulted in problems and sometimes litigation over bad work, cost overruns and missed deadlines.

K-Five Construction has successfully bid and constructed numerous projects for the people of Illinois. Our clients include the Illinois Department of Transportation; Illinois State Toll Highway Authority; O'Hare International Airport; City of Chicago; Counties of Cook, DuPage, Will, and Kane; various municipalities; and railroads. Some of our recent projects are O'Hare, Midway, and Stevenson Expressway. (K5 WEBSITE)

If you need any information on the road construction industry, please feel free to visit any of the above sites that K-Five is proud to do business with and/or are members of

Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT): www.dot.state.il.us

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA): www.illinoistollway.com

Illinois Road Builders Association (IRBA): www.irba.org

Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association (IAPA): www.il-asphalt.org

ACPA American Concrete Pavement Association www.pavement.com

Someone is connected to someone.

I have no problem with K-Five getting a heads up - for their past work and the loyalty BUT, instead of all the nasty infighting, this should have gone out for bids... Is there other work that is planned for the fall or the winter (you know - those decorations along 95th street) that should already be out there for bidding? And here we go again, with the Village Manager OK'ing spending and Ok'ing projects and TALKING the Village Board into approving something again (aka: Lawyers??? Odelson???)... And he's not even elected...

Hey Oak Lawn gal were you one of Dave's buddies that worked with Myrna to forge signatures to get that phony referendum on the ballot?? You know the one with over 1,000 forged signatures and is know under investigations?? Dave loved village manager form of government until a real village manager came in and told him no once in a while. Check back in Dave's 2005 literature where he states A village manager form of government is the best form for Oak Lawn besides we had it for 55 years!!

Read his literature it's all there in fact I think the patch has that piece on it's site from back in april. I'm only pointing out Dave's usual hypocrisy on issues. He stated he was 1,000 percent behind the failed referendum.. His words not mine.. Do you remember Joe Faber?? He was the worst manager we ever had. I don't recall a big effort to change the form of government from 93-05 when Joe ran this village into the ground. I just waited fora new board majority to get in and fire him. That's how you do it

I think asking the contractors to support Fall on the Green is a great idea. $25,000 is only one-half of one percent of the contract - that seems like a good number to me.

Andy, I would urge you to consider not posting attacks on Mayor Heilmann and other posters on every Patch article. Its counter-productive, it detracts from the issues in the Patch articles (for example, this article was about no-bid street repair contracts, not the village's legal counsel or the referendum regarding the form of government), and it makes the comments section of Patch nearly unreadable.

Jim who left you the boss of patch?? What about all the loony comments by all of the Phelan- haters out there??
The wild conspiracy bloggers on this site?? The attacking of people's families and spouses?? You protest too much

This forum has gone in a lot of directions but I had to address Andy's comment on Joe Faber. He obviously or conveniently forgot the Bob Streit crew's appointment of the infamous Mike Feeley as Village Manager when the town truly was run to the brink of bankruptcy.

Didn't Bob win by just 11 votes against Sodaro as a write in?

These examples of bad village managers hired by trustees doesn't inspire confidence.

I didn't forget Feeley. You really think we were better off with Faber and Kolb?? Now you guys have to bring up the coalition party's infamous reign to refute my statements??? Your really digging fossils to make Dave look good??? Harold Mozwecz has died,Kolb has died. Guess what Faber got in less than a year after Feeley by guess what?? Kolb got re-elected and won the majority back that's how you remove a manager not by a referendum. How did we do with Faber guys?? No one was worse than Faber period....By the way I think Sodaro was a sophmore in High School when that stuff went down now that's a long memory

Andy apparently has forgotten that two years of Streit, Barron, Mozewicz, Hefka, and Feeley control of the Village. Burt Odelson was the Village Attorney. Favors were given and reciprocated on a daily basis and government service was available to the highest bidder or benefactor. Streit ran for Mayor with the blind hope of continuing the sham and got trounced by Kolb whose party retook control of the Board and brought stability back to local government. Hefka fled town. Barron and Mozewicz became non-descript Feeley subsequently went to prison and Bob was left by himself. What a legacy.

DUM DA DUM DUM.

The Reporter On-Line May 12, 2011 By Bob Jaderberg
Oak Lawn awards roadwork contract worth $5.2 million Construction co. gets no-bid deal, will contribute to Fall on the Green Burke Engineering has agreed to reduce its fees by $8,000, village engineer Jack Gallagher said.
FEDS RAID CRESTWOOD'S ENGINEERING FIRM According to a June 25, 2009 report by Chicago's WGN radio: Federal agents raided the offices of CRESTWOOD'S ENGINEERING FIRM, the latest step in a criminal investigation into the Cook County suburb's secret use of a community well contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals. Randy Chastain, president of BURKE ENGINEERING, 18330 Distinctive Dr., Orland Park, confirmed that investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency served a search warrant obtained by U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office. The agents left with boxes of engineering diagrams and other records related to the firm's work for Crestwood. "We're cooperating," Chastain said. "We offered them everything we have on record."

whos the concrete subcontractor