MWRD Board Observer Reports

Procurement Process Under Question

9/17/2024

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
September 5, 2024

Items Discussed:
During the public comment period, the vice president for sales of Insituform Technologies USA LLC spoke against the proposed awarding of a bid for the 39th Street conduit rehabilitation –phase II to Michels Trenchless Inc, (Agenda Item #53, File # 24-0786).

Michels bid was for $42.3 M, while Insituform’s was for $40.4 M. According to the material with the agenda, Insituform’s bid was rejected for failure to meet the MBE, WBE, and VBE goals. Insituform had requested a waiver of those goals, but, according to the agenda materials, the MWRD staff determined that the company did not substantiate a good faith effort to comply with the goals.
Insituform’s vice president said the company felt it had made a good faith effort and has a subcontractor that does not have a WBE certification from Chicago or the MWRD, but does have other national certification. The vice president also asked whether the MWRD had ever granted a waiver.
This item was pulled from the Consent Agenda and deferred by Vice-President Flynn.

The only other item discussed was the proposed purchase order for EMS PRISM Compliance Management Software renewal (Agenda Item 27, File #24-0690).

This item was deferred at the last meeting by Commissioner Davis (see the observer report for the August 8 meeting).
Commissioner Garcia asked for a second deferral because he had not had all his questions answered.
Because this was a second deferral, a vote had to be held, and the motion to defer was passed 8 to 0.

New Business: Commissioner Davis asked for a status report by the next Board meeting concerning the Environmental Justice Grant received by the MWRD from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Total meeting time: 50 minutes, plus an Executive Session which Vice-President Flynn said was to discuss labor negotiations.
All Commissioners present except Commissioner Spyropolous.

Observer: Priscilla Mims

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MWRD Board Continues to Discuss Procurement Process Requirements

8/14/2024

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
August 8, 2024

Public Comments

Tessa Murray from the Friends of the Chicago River listed their concerns with the elimination of some of the requirements and regulations concerning watersheds and flood control.

Board Action - Agenda Items:

All items passed except Item #41 which was deferred
Item #45 Landscape maintenance at various service areas. This item was deferred at the July meeting. Commissioner Davis said that the procurement process in regard to diversity is flawed. A vendor was not considered because they did not include the required letter of intent from a subcontractor that is needed to fulfill the diversity goals. One of the vendors did not need a sub-contractor to meet the goals, the company itself met it. But the rules require that they should still have included a letter of intent. Commissioner Garcia recommended that a workgroup of departments be convened to address the issues. President Steele directed Executive Director Perkovich to organize the workgroup and address the process requirements and propose changes to make it more efficient. The contract was approved, Commissioner Davis abstained. (24-0604)
Item #62 Report on change orders authorized and time extensions. Commissioner Corral Sepulveda questioned why the project is 244 calendar days behind schedule. Catherine O’Connor from Engineering said that there are significant delays in getting electrical components. (24-0652)
Item #69 Report on the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund. The retirement fund for the MWRD is better funded than many other municipal funds in the state, but not nationally. It faces challenges. Like all mature plans there is a gap between the number of employees currently working and the number of retirees. This year, 80 people retired from the MWRD but there were only 40 new hires. The MWRD has been contributing supplemental money to the retirement fund. Commissioner Corral Sepulveda stated they would need to keep monitoring this and how it affects the overall budget. (24-0669)

Deferred Items

Item #41 Commissioner Davis asked that the license renewal of EMS PRISM Compliance Management Software be deferred. Other municipalities are using different software. President Steele asked Executive Director Perkovich to send the Commissioners all the information on PRISM. (24-0690)

The meeting began at 10:30 am and ended at 12:30 pm. There was no Executive Session.
All Commissioners present except Commissioner Brady-Davis and Commissioner Brown

Observer - Kathi Graffam

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Procurement Issues Dominate MWRD Board Discussion

7/17/2024

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
July 15, 2024

Procurement Issues Raised:

Commissioners Brady, Davis and Brown were highly critical of procurement ordinance requirements for what they termed as “technical reasons” for rejection. Items #34-35 were specifically pulled from the agenda to be discussed. Both Commissioners stated the board has every right to raise concerns on why certain bids are rejected as they are charged with being “good stewards” of taxpayer money. Item #34 is for a Landscape Maintenance contract to be awarded to Lizzetta Medina & Company. Brady-Davis asked for this item to be deferred and said that she feels like problems with contract rejections are more systemic than just ordinance requirements. #34-0604
Commissioner Brown deferred #35 for a $19.9 million dollar flood control contract. She asked Executive Director for guidelines by the next board meeting on what constitutes “good faith” in meeting the district’s LGBTQ requirements. After a break, Item #35 was put back on the agenda and received unanimous support. Prior to the break, staff had noted that payment outlays from a large government grant must be started by September. In addition, Item #52 called for the board to approve a contract with a law firm to conduct a comprehensive review and assessment of the District’s procurement policies and procedures. The staff was publicly thanked for listening to the board’s concerns and getting this contract approval on the agenda. Staff noted that the timeline for completion is the end of the year [November 1]. #35 24-0609 and #52 24-0612

Public Speakers

Friends of the Chicago River spoke in support of extending through 2026 the Stormwater Trading Ordinance pilot projects due to sunset in January of 2025; spoke against proposed Article #103 to increase acreage covered under the Watershed Ordinance from ½ acres to 1 acre; and strongly supports Watershed Article #106. The ordinance update language was not included in the board agenda. The Nature Conservancy said it supports all of the proposed updates.
James Black of Michael’s Construction asked why his company’s bid for Item #35, which was the lowest, was rejected. Ans: he did not meet all of the WMB requirements while, according to procurement staff, all other bidders did.
Mike Archey had to leave the meeting but provided a written request asking the District, “when will the past due Energy Neutrality Study be published for public Review.” He went on to elaborate his concerns about the District’s energy and carbon management, its project delivery process, and its procurement process.

Board Action

With the exception of Item #34, all agenda items were approved.
Comm. Spyropoulos asked why staff rejected proposals to develop a small business program. E.D. Perkovich said the project will go back out to bid with the removal of the 10-year experience requirement. Garcia asked for a report to all commissioners on sister agency requirements. He noted that the board wants to ensure success but also has been waiting for this program to get off the ground. #07 24-0565
Comm. Davis noted that the contract for the Stickney Plant biosolids management strategy was to manage only biosolids “output”. He asked if “input” can also be managed. Answer: Can do so in-house by looking at emerging technologies which are very energy intensive. When asked by Davis for a timeline, the answer was ASAP. Garcia stated he hoped that this contract will revisit using output for residential use as he has received many requests. Item 25 #24-0572
Approved a contract for Analysis of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances in wastewater samples to Eurofins Environment Testing North Central Company for $96,250. #33 24-0592

Items Deferred

Items #34 and #35 discussed above. Item #35 deferral was lifted later in the meeting. Item #34 remained deferred.

Executive Session: YES. called by Commissioner Spyropoulos, Chair Budget & Employment. 60 minutes

The meeting began at 10:30 and ended at 1:00 p.m. All but Commissioner Sepulveda were present.

Observer: Diane Edmundson

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Board Extends Collective Bargaining Agreements With Unions Until August 31

6/26/2024

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting –
June 20, 2024

Agenda Items

All 44 agenda items were accepted and brought to the regular agenda. There was no public comment.

Stormwater Management

Item 24-0519 will be advertised for Assessment of Local Sewers (estimated cost $1,645,900) and Item 24-0539 will be advertised to Furnish and Install Odor Control System at Thornton Reservoir (estimated cost $4,471,074).

Deferred or Deleted Agenda Items

No agenda items were deferred or deleted.

New Business

The Board went into Executive Session at 10:59am to discuss Collective Bargaining Negotiation Matters. It reconvened at Noon with no further new business brought forth.

Commissioner Requests

No reports or requests by commissioners.

Observer - Peggy Kell Executive Session - Yes

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Annual Financial Reports of the MWRD & MWRD Retiree Health Care Trust Receive Excellent Report

6/12/2024

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
June 6, 2024

Board Action:

#7 24-0472 Michael Malatt, CPA, gave the MWRD a clean bill after the annual audit. He stated that the audit results were free from misstatement and that the firm was able to issue a “clean opinion” which is the highest rating possible. No weaknesses and deficiencies were found. He described the report as “boring” because nothing of concern was found.
#1 0490 The MWRD Commissioners voted unanimously to appoint Steven J. Lux as Treasurer of the MWRD of Greater Chicago.
#10 24-0474 Commissioner Davis questioned this item related to the rejection of bids. This particular agenda item was not the issue, but rather Davis was concerned about the ongoing history of rejecting bids because of such things as missing signatures and other minor omissions. He stated that this type of rejection discourages bidders. Bidders spend a good deal of time preparing their bids, and taxpayers lose when there are delays for months. Commissioner Davis said that this has been an ongoing issue, for which the department has not yet found a solution.
Commissioner Garcia echoed Davis’ comment. He said procurement processes still need attention. It is not happening and is taking too long. Commissioner Corral-Sepulveda asked when the software contract expires. Perhaps a different software might help. What has the department done to respond? Commissioner Garcia asked if the MWRD was moving toward a consultant. He suggested that this would be a good move. Commissioner Davis agreed, emphasizing that the consultant should be independent of the MWRD and its related associations. Commissioner Flynn stated that she would expect bidders to be professional and to meet all the requirements without having missing signatures and other details. President Steele directed ED Perkovich to provide the commissioners with necessary information and follow up on this issue.

Deferred Agenda Item:

#27 24-0464 Commissioner Garcia requested that this item be deferred. It is authority to award a contract to furnish and deliver electrical supplies for a one-year period.

Commissioner Request:

#35 24-0469 Commissioner Spryropoulos requested an update on the agenda item which requests the authority to decrease the contract to design and build a biosolids processing facility at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant.

Executive Session: A 20-minutes session was held to discuss minutes of the Open Meetings Act.

Observer: Georgia Gebhardt Meeting length: 1 hr. 20 min.

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MWRD Board Approves 13 Stormwater Management Projects across the County

5/29/2024

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
May 16, 2024

Board Action:

The Board, with no discussion on the merits, approved all items on the Consent agenda, except for #13 which was withdrawn by the Executive Director (authority to advertise a contract to remove and replace pavement at various locations, Item 24-0396). The items approved included authorizing the staff to negotiate and enter into intergovernmental agreements for 13 projects dealing with stormwater management in different areas across the County: Broadview, Brookfield, Forest Park, Franklin Park, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Markham, North Riverside, Northlake, Willow Springs, Hillside, Chicago, and the Cook County Forest Preserve District. (Agenda items 47 through 59)
The intergovernmental agreement with the Forest Preserve District is for land acquisition, concept planning, and preliminary engineering for a flood control project near the confluence of Deer Creek and Third Creek that is expected to provide increased flood protection for Ford Heights, Glenwood, Thornton, South Hollland, Calumet City, and Lansing. Friends of the Chicago River expressed its support for this item during Public Comments. (Item 24-0415)
While not directly related to the merits of the rejection of bids for another proposed flood control project on Midlothian Creek in Robbins, Commissioner Davis did raise questions which he said would further his understanding of the effectiveness of the MWRD’s procurement process. Commissioner Davis asked what factors lead to a determination that a bid is incomplete. The response was failing to properly address diversity requirements, failing to provide signatures, and failure to provide the required bond. (Agenda Item 5.)
The Board then went into Executive Session and took a lunch break before returning to open session to complete the meeting with New Business. Because of the expected length of the break (well over an hour), this Observer left and watched the remaining few minutes via video.

Time of meeting (without break and executive session): 1 hour and 15 minutes

Observer: Priscilla Mims

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Procurement Process Under Question

MWRD Board Continues to Discuss Procurement Process Requirements

Procurement Issues Dominate MWRD Board Discussion

Board Extends Collective Bargaining Agreements With Unions Until August 31

Annual Financial Reports of the MWRD & MWRD Retiree Health Care Trust Receive Excellent Report

MWRD Board Approves 13 Stormwater Management Projects across the County

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