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Native Plant Nursery Project Remains on Hold

1/21/2017

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting - January 19, 2017

Highlights from the Meeting:

Most of the MWRD Board Meeting was spent discussing the report on the rejection of a bid by Industria, Inc. on an RFP to Design, Build, Operate and Maintain a Native Plant and Tree Nursery at the Hanover Park Water Reclamation Plant, Fischer Farm. (Agenda Item #9)

This contract had been previously discussed at the board meeting of 1/5/17 and had been deleted from that agenda without any action due to concerns with the contract.
During Public Comment at today's meeting three speakers presented information about the proposed contract - 2 of whom were participants in the sole bid for the project.
The sole bid for the project was for $3.6m whereas the estimated cost of the project previously determined by MWRD had been $2.5m and thus it had been decided to reject the bid.
Mr. St. Pierre, MWRD Ex. Dir., stated that after further analysis it was decided the project would be divided into 2 contracts - one for construction of the nursery and the other for maintenance and operation of the nursery, and new RFPs would be prepared.
Industria, Inc., the sole bidder on the project, was in attendance and stated that they had done 4 previous projects with MWRD and that their initial bid for this project had been $5m but after discussion with MWRD staff to more clearly define the scope of the project they had reduced their bid estimate to $3.6m.
Comm. Spyropoulos asked if there had been any consideration given to leasing the land to a commercial nursery and having them run the nursery at their own cost.
Comm. Shore was concerned that dividing the project into 2 contracts and rebidding would delay the project for another year.
Comm. Walsh had concerns about the accuracy of the initial estimated cost for the project.

Due to the continued concerns raised the Board wanted to defer this item for another 2 weeks so the staff could do further investigation. Since the item was presented on the agenda as a “report on rejection of a proposal” and by their rules a report cannot be deferred, the board approved a motion to give Mr. St. Pierre, the Ex. Dir., permission to delete the item from the agenda. Presumably it will come back to the Board at a subsequent meeting.

Other Item of Note:

During Public Comment - Mr. Smith, who has a bee keeping business, made a case for partnering with the MWRD to have bee hives on MWRD property. He has been working on projects throughout the city establishing bee hives. The Board expressed interest.

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky Length of Meeting - 2 hours

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MWRD Board Reelects Same Officers

1/13/2017

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting - January 5, 2017

Highlights from the Meeting:

The following Board Members were nominated and elected unanimously:

President of the Board - Mariyana T. Spyropoluous
Vice President - Barbara McGowan
Chairman of the Finance Committee - Frank Avila

This whole election process was not on the agenda and the people nominated/elected were already in those offices.

A contract for a native plant and tree nursery at the Hanover Park Water Reclamation Plant was not approved. Comm. Shore stated that she hoped that native plants would be central and that this project would include plans for "work force development." Concerns with the bid also included that there was no bid deposit required and the same firm has been at least 20% over bid. The Director said that MWRD is beginning to learn what the cost of green-infrastructure is and he will have another bid process prepared. (Agenda Item 27)

Commissioners also expressed concern with another project that had many change orders to the contract. Apparently there was additional cost due to a ruptured pipe but the subcontractor was not at fault since the pipe was not properly drained. (Agenda Item 32)

During Public Comment, Citizen Mr Blackmore gave comments saying he was here to “count the cows”and “drink the milk” – he wants good policy and services for black people of Chicago and Cook County. He said there is a little clique that all elected themselves – he said the president of the MWRD should be elected by the people. There was objection voiced by the Board to Mr. Blakemore saying the Board is corrupt.

To view meeting agenda

Observer - Cate Whitcomb

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Native Plant Nursery Project Remains on Hold

MWRD Board Reelects Same Officers

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