Report: Cook County ‘disguised’ truck problems to pass safety checks

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The Cook County highway department routinely swapped tires on trucks so they could pass state safety inspections, the county's inspector general says. The IG said workers routinely put good tires on trucks before they were inspected, then removed them and put poor-quality tires on those trucks — and put the good ones on other trucks headed for inspection. This truck was in the process of getting its tires swapped when inspectors visited the highway department site.

Updated: January 23, 2012 10:51AM

In what the Cook County watchdog called a “fraudulent practice,” the county’s highway department has been “disguising” problems with its fleet of trucks in order to pass state safety inspections — potentially putting workers and the public at risk.

The watchdog, Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, also said other vehicles haven’t passed safety inspections in years but are still in use; some were repaired with parts from other vehicles, making for “crummy” vehicles, the watchdog said.

The department has also been dumping road salt, gasoline, oil and other chemicals that piled up during road projects at two work yards, posing a “potential environmental hazard,” Blanchard said.

Blanchard issued his findings in a report released Wednesday and submitted to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

It comes after site inspections in October and November at the five highway maintenance facilities.

The most troubling findings involved the maintenance of the 320 trucks in its fleet, responsible for snow removal and upkeep of 1,474 miles of county roads outside Chicago.

The inspector general’s office found questionable practices taken so trucks could pass the Secretary of State’s safety checks.

For example, employees put good tires on trucks before they were inspected, then removed them and put poor-quality tires on those trucks — and put the good ones on other trucks headed for inspection.

“You’re trying to disguise the condition of a vehicle in order to pass inspection,” Blanchard told the Sun-Times. “It’s a fraudulent practice.”

The county doesn’t even have enough fire extinguishers to have one on every vehicle, as required, the report states. One department worker told investigators that “fire extinguishers are frequently removed from other vehicles and placed in the vehicles to be inspected so that they can pass the inspections and get the required windshield safety stickers.”

The inspections also revealed many vehicles used to plow snow and fill potholes have expired state safety inspection stickers, including one that expired in September of 2008 that was still on the road.

Workers said they used vehicles with expired stickers because there simply wasnt enough vehicles in good working condition. As one worker told inspectors, “ ‘I had to take parts from two junky trucks to make one crummy truck,’ ” the report states.

Maintenance staff also reported that several trucks were operating with “split rim wheels” that can no longer be sold — making them tricky and potentially dangerous to repair. “A District mechanic was severely injured in an accident involving a split rim wheel,” the report stated.

Meanwhile, crews routinely piled up debris at county maintenance facilities in Riverdale and Palatine. The practice “concentrates these compounds and allows runoff from the mounds to potentially contaminate the surrounding soils and ground water,” Blanchard wrote.

“I don’t believe the practice in place is compliant with the law and other regulations,” Blanchard said, referring to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules and other laws.

Asked Wednesday about the report’s findings, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said: “I think historically the department has been a problem in the county.”

She added: “The person in charge when we got here clearly wasn’t addressing the issues — he’s gone now.”

Rupert Graham, the highway superintendent appointed to the job under former board president Todd Stroger, stepped down in August — several months after Preckwinkle took office last December.

Graham’s successor will be announced next year. He could not be reached for comment.