A fuel supplier has agreed to pay over $330,000 for causing damage to two dozen Village of Lake in the Hills Public Works trucks by filling a storage tank with the wrong type of fuel.
Staff with the Village of Lake in the Hills were forced to seek spending approval in February from the village board for $320,647.07 in unexpected repairs to 24 public works trucks.
A delivery of 850 gallons of unleaded fuel to the Lake in the Hills Public Works Department in November was mistakenly pumped into the wrong tank by the contracted fuel supplier, Avalon Petroleum, village officials said in documents.
24 trucks were shortly after filled or topped off with the contaminated fuel in preparation for a major winter storm.
The trucks began operating inefficiently and created error codes.
Officials credited fleet maintenance staff with identifying the mistake and beginning the process of draining and replacing the fuel in the fleet, averting a “catastrophic failure” to the village’s snow removal fleet.
Avalon Petroleum was notified of the error and Bull Valley Ford and Rush Truck Centers were contacted for quotes to perform their repair protocols for contaminated fuel on each of the affected vehicles.
The Lake in the Hills Village Board unanimously approved the request to pay $312,799.57 to Bull Valley Ford and $7,847.50 to Rush Truck Centers for the unbudgeted expenses during the Board of Trustees meeting in February.
The trucks had to be rotated out of service for repairs a couple at a time until all of them were repaired.
The village has since worked with Avalon Petroleum and its insurance carrier, Federated Mutual Insurance Company, for a release of all claims. They agreed to a $334,602.79 settlement.
The amount includes the expenses paid to the two auto repair shops, as well as an additional $13,955.72 for staff time, equipment and labor initially provided to service the vehicles.
All vehicles have now cycled through the manufacturer’s recommended contamination protocols and are not currently showing signs that would indicate possible future damage related to the incident.
“That said, it is possible, and perhaps probable, that a few vehicles may experience issues with the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) system,” village officials said, adding that they could pursue additional damages against Avalon Petroleum later on.
The village board at its meeting this month authorized the village administrator to sign the release of all claims with the insurance company and the fuel supplier in exchange for the settlement.