State fines Kendall County $1,200 for labor violation
By Steve Lord slord@stmedianetwork.com August 10, 2012 6:48PM
Updated: September 14, 2012 6:10AM
YORKVILLE — Kendall County has been fined by the state because a contractor it hired without the competitive bid process paid workers less than the prevailing wage.
The county was fined $1,200 by the Illinois Department of Labor after a complaint by the area Laborer District Council.
The project was for replacing concrete curb along Orchard Road. Because it was less than $30,000, county officials decided not to bid it competitively.
Highway Department Director Fran Klaas suggested local contractor Pessina Construction for the project, and Robert Davidson, the County Board member who chairs the Highway Committee, signed off on it.
The Laborer District Council filed its complaint because Pessina did not pay its workers the appropriate prevailing wage.
Pessina already paid $5,858 to the workers, the difference between what they were paid and what they should have been paid, according to the Department of Labor.
The county fine was based on 20 percent of those back wages.
Davidson has referred to the pay situation as an oversight by Pessina Construction, which has done work before and since for the county without a problem.
Davidson said officials gave the work to a small contractor because they could get it done before the end of the construction season.
But county resident Todd Milliron, at the most recent County Board meeting, suggested the deal involved favoritism, because Robert Pessina, owner of Pessina Construction, lives near Davidson.
He suggested Davidson and Klaas personally pay the $1,200 fine.
“I, as a taxpayer, do not think I should have to pay this,” Milliron said.
