Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
February 18, 2021
​         The meeting was held virtually.  All 9 Commissioners were in attendance.

Agenda Items
Several items were pulled from the Agenda for discussion.  After the discussions, all items were returned to the consent agenda and all passed unanimously.

• Items #9  21-0007, authority to advertise a contract for furnishing, delivering and administration of rain barrels, and #32  21-0103, authority to subsidize the cost of rain barrels provoked questions, comments, and suggestions from all Commissioners.   (Both items had had been deferred from the previous board meeting.)  Commissioner Sepulveda questioned whether the program was meant to be for public education or for storm water management.   Commissioner Shore asked if staff had considered subsidizing other types of installations for capturing storm water, such as water gardens.  Commissioner Spyropoulos was interested in discussing other kinds of price reductions by age or by impact.  Commissioner Davis pointed out that there is urgency to the matter because of the increasingly wet springs this region has recently experienced.   All commissioners  support the rain barrel program and the items were sent back to the Agenda to be passed in its current form with tracking information on distribution and installation to be gathered and available in the 4th quarter this year. 
• Item #21  21-0158, authority to increase purchase order with AT&T for point to point communications:  Commissioner Davis noted that the Board receives frequent requests for AT&T services, and because they see these requests only incrementally they don’t know what the total annual cost is for AT&T, even though it is a “big ticket” item.  Executive Director Perkovich stated that the cost for AT&T services is approximately $2.3m annually.  He further explained that the staff is in the process of negotiating two RFPs with AT&T:  Agenda item #7 for mobile data and cellular communications, which will replace item #22, and #8 for point to point and internet services, which will replace items #21, #23, and #24, all of which authorize increased payments to AT&T.  When the new RFPs go into effect, the Board will see requests for a 3-year period instead of the frequent incremental items like those on today’s Agenda.  Requests for services will be bundled into the RFPs, increasing the District’s leverage in negotiating for possible price reductions; the budget will be stabilized and there will be fewer unplanned costs.  

Stormwater Management

• #29-21-0153    Authority to approve, execute and make payment to the owner of 2001 W. Cermak Rd. in Broadview for permanent and temporary easements in connection with the Addison Creek Channel for $124,370.40.
• #30-21-0154    Authority to pay final just compensation of $1,114 through summary judgement in an eminent domain lawsuit, from the Stormwater Management Fund.
• #33-21-0168    Authority to enter into an intergovernmental agreement and payment not to exceed $165,000 to the Village of Elmwood Park for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Elmwood Park Stormwater Treatment Train [also known as Treatment Practices].

Commissioner Requests (by Agenda Item)

• #21 Commissioners Davis and Spyropoulos requested a  summary report of the services the District utilizes under the AT&T contract and the associated costs to the District.
• #9 Commissioner Shore requested staff look into the possibility of incorporating installation to the furnish and deliver contract in order to ensure the implementation of the District’s rain barrel program as intended by the Consent Decree.  Commissioner DuBuclet requested including community engagement as part of the Strategic Plan.
• #32 Several Board members requested data collection and analysis of the amount of rain captured through the District’s rain barrel program. The analysis should also be used to make the necessary changes to the implementation of the program in the Strategic Plan.  Commissioner Morita requested to see the survey questions before the updated program is posted on the website.  President Steele requested all information used in the past rain barrel program be provided for the new Commissioners.  Commissioner McGowan requested a memo on the past Consent Decree.

Ann Bolan, Observer                                            Length of Meeting:  2 hours, 30 min. 

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting  
February 4, 2021

The meeting was held virtually.  All 9 Commissioners were in attendance.

Board Action:
The following items were passed unanimously without discussion:

• Agenda Item #3 21-0126 and #4 21-0127, resolutions recognizing February as Black History Month and honoring Dr. Elizabeth Lockhart.
• Agenda Item #2 021-001, an ordinance directing the County Clerk to reduce the levy of taxes on Capital Improvement Bonds for the levy year 2020, had been deferred from the January 21 meeting.
• Agenda Item #22 21-0118, authority to award a contract for small streams maintenance in Cook County, Illinois, (in two parts) in amounts  not to exceed $2,800,000.00 and $1,750,000.00, respectively.    
• Agenda Item #23 21-0081, authority to increase a contract for modifications to TARP control structures & drop shafts,  in an amount of $321,566.44, from an amount of $3,226,745.33, to an amount not to exceed $3,548,311.77.  This item also had been  deferred  from the January 21, 2021 meeting.
• All other items on the Consent Agenda were also passed unanimously and without discussion.

Deferred Agenda Items

• Agenda Item #11 21-0007, authority to advertise a contract for furnishing and delivering rain barrels and #28 21-0103, authority to subsidize the cost of rain barrels, prompted questions and  suggestions by several Commissioners.  Ultimately they agreed that they would like to have much more information about how well the program has worked in the past and what changes would make sense and be fair going forward.  Both items were deferred by Comm. McGowan.     
• Agenda Item #15 21-0106, a purchase order to Equipment Depot of Illinois, Inc., to furnish and deliver a new 2021 Mitsubishi electric forklift,  Comm. Garcia questioned whether this equipment was made in the US with American labor.  The item was deferred until Exec. Director Perkovich can make that determination.
• Agenda Item #20 21-0120, authority to issue a purchase order for several kinds of new vehicles.  Comm. Shore asked if it would be possible to lease instead of purchase these gas-powered vehicles in light of the fact that the nation and the MWRD district are moving toward an all-electric fleet.  Comm. Spyropoulos requested an analysis of the MWRD fleet and staff recommendations.  The item was deferred by Comm. Davis pending the delivery that information.   

Ann Bolan - Observer                                                    Length of Meeting:  I hour, 55 min.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
January 21, 2021

The meeting was to begin at 10:30 but was delayed for 15 minutes due to Com. McGowan’s having technical issues with her zoom software’s ability to mute and unmute.  The meeting began in earnest shortly before 11 am.  

Public Comment

• Jen Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Council, was the only public comment speaker.  Her comments addressed the Ethics ordinance that MWRD has been working on for almost a year.  She worried that $150 lobbying fees were still quite high for non-profit organizations like the Friends of the Chicago River to afford.  She pointed out that technical assistance offered to the MWRD should not be considered “lobbying”, and she worried that legal requests to the MWRD would now be considered “lobbying”.  She indicated that other Cook County governments have a more streamlined lobbying definition.

Board Discussion/Action
Commissioners asked for a number of items to be discussed, but in the end, there were three significant discussions:

• Item 34-21-0081 was singled out by Debra Shore for discussion.  This contract had to do with drop shafts for TARP (Tunnel and Reservoir Plan) control in prairie restoration areas.   According to an environmental group doing restoration work there was heavy damage from gravel surges out of the drop shafts that damaged deer control fences and prairie plantings.  Com. Shore requested closer supervision from MWRD personnel for remediation by the contractor.  She also requested that plainer English be used so that the public understands what a “hydraulic transient surge event” might mean.  Habitat restoration is important and she requested the contract increase be deferred until staff could investigate.  Unanimous approval to defer.
• ​Item 39-21-0037:   Authority was being sought once again to lease 21+ acres of Cal-Sag Channel Parcel in Alsip to be used to construct a parking lot for semi-trucks.  (This item had been deferred from January 7 meeting.)    Coms. Shore, Davis, and Sepulveda had singled out this item for discussion.  The concern from Com. Shore was why in this time of climate change would the MWRD consider a 39 year lease for a diesel truck parking lot.  Instead, she suggested that the MWRD should either seek a shorter lease or plan ahead for a better use regarding land for future climate change.  Coms. Morita, Davis, and Sepulveda agreed that long term strategic planning was important in dealing with future climate change.  Diesel truck traffic pollution is often located in areas where issues of environmental justice have long existed, like Alsip.  Com. McGowan strongly urged that this was a local issue for Alsip to deal with, to decide what kinds of business they would allow, and what kind of environmental rules they would institute.   Com. Garcia suggested that there needed to be a study session and the issue needed to be viewed as part of the MWRD strategic plan.  The item was deferred to be discussed in a study session, unanimously. 
• The third discussion was about the ethics ordinance, Item 48-021-002.  Inspector General Blanchard reminded the board of commissioners that the State of IL required a lobbying fee even for non-profits.  Blanchard told them it would be easy to automatically remind lobbying groups that they needed to update their monthly reports and pay fees.  It can be made user-friendly so as to allay fears of penalties imposed for forgetting to report contact.  This was a fear brought up during public comment.  The ordinance was finally passed by unanimous consent.  Commissioners agreed to revisit the ordinance as necessary to make it friendly to the public.
• Frank Avila, a retired MWRD commissioner, was appointed as a trustee to the MWRD retirement fund.

Amy Little, Observer            

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
January 7, 2021

Board Action: 

• #1-3- 21-0018-0020  Election of 2021 Board officers: President, Commissioner Steel - Vice President, Commissioner McGowan and Finance Chair, Commissioner Garcia.
• #4-  21-0021  Board suspended the Rules of the Board and moved the appointment of the Chair & Vice Chair of standing committees to the next regular board meeting.

The following contracts were withdrawn from the consent agenda for further discussion. Many of the questions centered on resource recovery and on verifying that all green options were being actively pursued.

• #21-  21-0030- This contract involved collection, shipment and analysis of water samples at Thornton and McCook reservoirs. Commissioner Spryopoulos questioned why this was not done in-house. Staff said that MWRD does not currently have the special equipment required. 
• #22- 21-008 - Commissioner Davis pressed to broaden and expand the resource recovery in scavenger service contracts. Traditionally, much of the refuse has gone to landfill. Glass is one product that can be recovered.
• #28- 21-0036- The Board granted authority to enter an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Village of Chicago Ridge for construction of a Permeable Paver-Parking Lot. Commissioner Davis asked how early in the process they could put green infrastructure on the map. Can it be built in at the conceptual stage? Staff agreed that this was possible.

Deferral Of Agenda Item #27- 21-0037

• Authority was being sought to lease 21+ acres of Cal-Sag Channel Parcel in Alsip. It would  be used to construct a parking lot for semi-trucks. One public comment asked that this not be granted, or at least deferred. Several commissioners questioned whether environmental impact studies had been done. Staff assured them that all tenants are expected to follow requirements. Legal stated that there is no current MWRD need for the property. Commissioners Davis, Sepulveda, Shore and Spryopoulos all urged for deferral. Roll Call vote: Ayes  9   Item deferred.

New Business:

• Commissioners made remarks in reference to the January 6 assault on the U. S. Capitol. 
• Commissioner Shore asked for Board support in two areas: 1) Joining the Strategic Plan working group. 2) Joining the ethics study session where many administrative items need to be completed. 
• Commissioner Spryopoulos asked staff to look into the Water Resource & Development Act to ascertain what grants the MWRD might be qualified for. 

Observer - Georgia Gebhardt                                             Length of Meeting: 110 minutes

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
December 17, 2020 
​All Board members in attendance at various times

After amending the budget passed on December 10 to include a small salary increase for non-union employees, the Board approved a $1.2 billion budget for 2021 - an increase of $52,812 million over 2020.  FTE’s are budgeted at 1,941 which is a decrease of 12 employees.

All agenda items were passed. 

Items of Interest:

• Agenda Item #23 20-1141  Granted authority to advertise for bids for the McCook and Thornton Reservoirs Rock Wall Stabilization and Geotechnical instrumentation.  Estimated cost between $8.4 and $10,250 million.  No discussion.
• #43 20-1143  Agreed to a sublease between Skokie Motor Sales and Amazon.com Services for an initial consideration of $5,000 per year.  No discussion of how Amazon will use.  Parcel could have been considered for green space which is of interest to the Skokie Park District.  
• #45 20-1158  Granted authority to amend a long-term lease dating back to 1996 with the Village of Worth to allow for video gaming on the golf course which occupies the leased land.  Apparently, the golf course has never turned a profit and is hoping the video games will help. In addition, the rent was reduced from $25,000 to $5,000 per year.  In return, the District wants 25% of any gaming gross revenues.  It was mentioned that the new Strategic Plan for the District should look at large parcels of land such as this property for its highest and best purpose. 
• #49 20-1144 Granted an Intergovernmental Agreement with and payment to the CC Forest Preserve in the amount of $257,124 for a Flood Control Project from Roosevelt to Cermac Roads.

Green Alley Projects - Intergovernmental Agreements:

• #47 20-1142 Granted authority for an Intergovernmental Agreement [IGA] with and payment to the City of Chicago, via its Department of Transportation, for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the South Laflin Green Alley Project in the amount of $101.5 million. 
• ​#48 20-111143 Granted authority for another Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Chicago via its Department of Transportation for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Addison Green Alley Project in the amount of $150 million.
• Discussion covering both agreements centered on cost sharing and confirmation that the City is responsible for the inspection and maintenance of the two green alley projects.  In addition the District annually inspects to ensure compliance.  When asked about these locations versus others with large condo buildings that incur alley flooding, the Director of Engineering said that the District prioritizes home flooding over highrises.   Commissioner Spyropoulos requested a copy of the “standards of review” that were and are used for these projects and how they are prioritized.  [Several Commissioners have stated that they want to go beyond “shovel ready” projects and look at the disparity that exists for communities that do not have the resources to participate]   Davis requested social media be used to promote the projects, and he asked the Public Affairs Department to provide the board with a consistent message to use on social media. 

Intergovernmental Agreement with Chicago

• #50 20-1172 Granted an extension to an Intergovernmental Agreement with Chicago to share in the cost of a research pilot study in the Chatham Neighborhood to gain insights into the effectiveness of various technologies aimed at reducing basement backups and flooding – In other words “what would it take to arm a house against flooding”.
• This Agreement was to run from June 2017 to June 2019 but will now be extended to the end of 2022.  Sixty properties are to be identified in a desktop evaluation to then be reduced to forty at which point the Center for Neighborhood Technologies [CNT] will attempt to visit the homes to identify specific problems and possible solutions.  The District is not allowed to work on private properties which is why the CNT was hired.  The District’s share of the cost is $400,000 – the City’s is $210,000.
• Commissioner made the following requests:

1. Spyropoulos requested a chronology of the project progress, and Davis asked staff to include the reason for the delay. 
2. Morita and Spyropoulos asked that the IGA be extended to include full access to the data in the agreement.
3. Steele requested the updated criteria list that was used to select the homes and also a list of 311 calls.
4. Garcia requested the amount the Center for Neighborhood Technology is charging.
5. Spyropoulos requested the board receive the green handbook that has been developed out of the experience with recent Stormwater IGA’s.
6. Sepulveda requested information on CNT’s role in providing opportunities within the agreement to hire locally.

New Business

• Executive Director Perkovich announced that the MWRD is one of the water treatment utilities that was selected for a study sponsored by the U.S. Health and Human Services to determine if wastewater can detect COVID-19 prior to a mass outbreak.  Five of the seven plants were selected to participate in the study.  Lamont and Hanover Park are excluded.  Perkovich said that the details of the study are still fluid.

Biosolids Request

• After hearing that MWRD biosolids were used by the Worth golf course during its construction, Commissioner Garcia asked for a report on the volume used and an historical list and analysis of projects that have used the District’s biosolids.

Observer:   Diane Edmundson                                           Length of Meeting 3 hrs.      

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District  
Public Hearing on 2021 Tentative Budget
December 2, 2020

7 Commissioners present, with Comm. Garcia absent. 

There were 3 comments.  
Both Ryan Wilson of the Metropolitan Planning Council and John Legg of the Nature Conservancy separately urged that the MWRD appoint one person to head-up and be the point person for the MWRD’s Stormwater Trading Pilot that was adopted earlier this year.  While the failure of any developer to take advantage of this program may be due to COVID, both entities feel that having one dedicated person to head this pilot is crucial for its success.  Both also pointed to the Washington, D.C. project as an example of all that needs to be done to successfully launch the program.  The duties of this point person would include conveying consistent messaging to municipalities and developers and identifying barriers to getting the program launched, including any legislative barriers.  

• The Executive Director and Dr. Katherine O’Connor, the head of Stormwater Management, believe that they have sufficient people to implement the program and were reluctant to place a single person as a point person, though they were still willing to talk about this.  Comm. Morita suggested that even if a single person would not be working on this full-time, maybe a single person could be identified for communications with municipalities and developers.

Chelsey Grassfield of the Friends of the Chicago River urged that the MWRD reassess its real estate holdings of 6,000 some acres for use as stormwater management, as opposed to being looked upon as development opportunities.  Comm. Morita said that the MWRD has begun a land-use audit to look at best use for the land:  lease-out vs. leaving vacant for stormwater management.  Ms. Grassfield also stated that Friends had observed some instances at meeting where the attorneys representing the MWRD stated things that appeared to be inconsistent with MWRD policy.  The Commissioners and Executive Director wanted more details, which Ms. Grassfield said she would provide.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims                                         Length of meeting:  1 hour, 10 minutes