Joliet Township – Supervisor Vera failure to bid – Part IV

Will Co. (ECWd)-

For those new to the series on Joliet Township, we encourage you to start reading from the beginning to grasp the magnitude of malfeasance taking place in the Joliet Township government.   CBS coverage, Carefully chosen words, Part II, Part III.

This article is dedicated to the attorney for his comments regarding bidding during our first meeting.  That question stemmed from our first FOIA request regarding landscape services and bidding for those services.

For those not familiar with bidding requirements for townships, the following law applies.

60 ILCS 1/85-30)
Sec. 85-30. Purchases; bids. Any purchase by a township for services, materials, equipment, or supplies in excess of $20,000 (other than professional services) shall be contracted for in one of the following ways:
(1) By a contract let to the lowest responsible bidder after advertising for bids at least once (i) in a newspaper published within the township, or (ii) if no newspaper is published within the township, then in one published within the county, or (iii) if no newspaper is published within the county, then in a newspaper having general circulation within the township.
(2) By a contract let without advertising for bids in the case of an emergency if authorized by the township board. This Section does not apply to contracts by a township with the federal government.(Source: P.A. 94-435, eff. 8-2-05.)

The only legal way they could not bid out the mowing in question is if it was an emergency.  Clearly there was no emergency because their minutes prove that, as does their own attorney in his attempt to justify no bidding.

From the minutes:

“He added, they have worked hard to get the grass under control and are now at a point where they can maintain the cutting.”

If they mowing is under control, what reasoning justifies not bidding as clearly there is no emergency?

The attorney also confirms they had been cutting the grass and did so to prevent the grass from growing into hay, in his opinion.  He confirms that it was, in fact, cut and by all indications under control prior to the no-bid decision.

All emergencies aside, it would appear from the public records we have obtained that not only was there no bidding for the mowing services, but the actual contract was also signed in advance of any board action.

The contract which has signatures of the lawn mowing operation and the Supervisor is dated 6-10-19, which is the day before the Township meeting where a vote was to be taken on the contract according to the agenda.  While the text in the contract says it was entered into on the 11th of June, clearly that is not the date written when it was signed.  Is it customary to sign contracts before they are ever presented to the board for a vote?  Sorry, rhetorical question, the answer is no.

Stay tuned for more no-bid contracts being given out for numerous services, which appear to be a pattern with this Township.

And as a teaser, how many of the $107,000.00 dollars given away this year were done so in compliance with the law and all applicable obligations for such donations?  Here is the list provided in one of our FOIA’s and you can rest assured, there are numerous problems we have identified already. This one may even fall into the category of Misapplication of Funds.

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