Dixmoor village president says questionable recordkeeping by previous administration is keeping water woes from being fixed
DIXMOOR, Ill. (CBS) -- Schools in south suburban Dixmoor are expected to be open Thursday – despite broken water main problems that shut down two schools this week.
The water main problems go back years.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported Wednesday night, some say the current problems with the water in Dixmoor have a direct link to what the village failed to do for many years.
Wednesday marked the fifth consecutive night of work to repair broken water mains in Dixmoor. Crews were digging underground to unearth rusty water pipes and fix all the broken mains, as CBS 2 dig into why Dixmoor can't get money to resolve the problem.
It turns out questionable recordkeeping could be behind all the boil water orders and advisories going back months.
"I don't know if they were afraid to open up the books, but I'm not," said Dixmoor Village President Fitzgerald Roberts.
Those books, or city records, are key in getting any federal funding into the south suburban village – not to mention fixing the deteriorating water pipes.
"Only reason I would think that the books weren't open and the audits weren't done is because someone was hiding something," Roberts said.
When the past administration left office, Roberts said there was no transfer of information. In fact, buildings were locked.
Roberts claims even financial documents went missing.
"The past administration, when they left, they shredded all documents. They took hard drives. They took keys," Roberts said. "I had to break into the building when I got in office."
Without those records, an audit, or any explanation of the spending in Dixmoor going back years. It's nearly impossible to get any federal money to fix what keeps breaking underground.
Terry: "You do understand the optics do not look good when you know you had some infrastructure issue that was going to happen at some point - the only way to get federal money is by showing the records."
Roberts: "Well, if you have people who didn't care, that's the problem. You had people in place that didn't care."
Dixmoor did secure $2 million from the state and county through emergency funds this year.
"Right now, it's a Band-Aid," Roberts said.
Roberts predicts the total cost is $25 million to prevent anymore underground leaks. As crews work to repair the leaks, Roberts is not only asking for federal funds.
Terry: "You're asking for the feds to look into what happened here?"
Roberts: "Exactly."
The feds need records and annual financial audits from at least the past five years in Dixmoor. Right now, those records and audits simply don't exist.
That is why the village president is insisting an investigation is needed.
Before the latest water main breaks CBS 2 reported on at least three others Dixmoor since October 21 of last year, which have caused significant issues for the community.
Last month, two water main breaks in Dixmoor shut off water service to the entire village for much of the day on July 21.
In early March, water also was shut off for several hours after another water main break.
Last October and November, water was shut off there for more than two weeks after a leak caused low water pressure – meaning people living there couldn't shower, cook, or wash dishes or laundry. The crisis also led to school cancellations.
Roberts said there have been many more than that.
