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Proposed Amendment to Affirmative Action Ordinance Deferred; Call for Study Session on Disparity Study

4/24/2022

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
April 21, 2022

At the prior meeting, Commissioners said a study session on a comprehensive study on the MWRD’s land use is needed in order to evaluate some proposals for leasing MWRD parcels. At this meeting, the need for a study session on and a supplement to the Disparity Study was highlighted, and a proposed amendment to the Affirmative Action Ordinance was deferred. President Steele ended the meeting urging Commissioners to coordinate their calendars so separate study sessions on each could be held very soon.

Proposed amendment to the Affirmative Action Ordinance to revise Appendix D to prohibit a prime contractor from utilizing its status as a Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE), Woman-owned Business Enterprise (WBE), or Small Business Enterprise (SBE) toward fulfillment of participation goals. (Item 1, O22-006)

Many of the MWRD’s contracts call for stated percentages of MBE/WBE/SBE participation in the work done under the contract. Currently, if the winner of the contract as the prime contractor is also one or more of these entities, that prime contractor’s status can be counted toward fulfillment of the required percentages.
4 speakers, 3 of whom represented associations of MBE/WBE/SBE entities, all expressed grave concerns and/or outright opposition to the proposed change. As they explained, if an MBE, WBE, or SBE wins the contract as a prime contractor, there may not be other such entities which can perform part of the work. One of the woman speakers owns a trucking firm, and said that she would not be able to find another woman-owned trucking firm to fulfill the WBE goal that would be set under the contract, so she needs to be able to count her business as meeting the goal. 3 of the speakers asked that the item be held until the Disparity Study was completed and made public.
Comm. Garcia asked whether Collette Holt, the outside consultant who took the lead on the Disparity Study, has reviewed the proposed amendment. Dr. Regina Berry, the Diversity Officer, said that Ms. Holt had reviewed this and did opine there were alternatives to achieving the goals of this amendment, though no specifics were given.
Comm. Garcia asked for a report from Ms. Holt based on Dr. Berry’s answer, and also asked for a supplement to the Disparity Study, which has obviously been circulated to the Commissioners, regarding LGBTQ and people with disabilities, as well as reviewing whether to expand the Affirmative Action goals to include furnish and deliver contracts (currently exempt).
While there was discussion about deleting the item so it could potentially be revised and resubmitted at a future meeting, Comm. Morita requested deferral instead, which means it would come back to the Board without any changes.

Deferred or deleted items:

Comm. Corral Sepulveda questioned the proposal to seek bids for two contracts of $8 million each to provide services as needed for construction or repair of District infrastructure for 3 years starting on Sept. 1, 2022. A similar proposal for a single contract of $8 million for 2 years had come before the Board on Feb. 17, when the Commissioners asked that it be revised so more vendors could be involved. Under this proposal, the contract was split between District property on the north and south side, allowing two different vendors to win the prime contract. However, Comm. Corral Sepulveda said that she would like the contract to be further divided in order to be able to attract MBE/WBE/SBE entities, which often find access to capital to be one of their greatest barriers. Comm. Garcia’s motion to delete this item passed. (Item 11, 22-0378)
Comm. Spyropoulos questioned why a bidding process to furnish and deliver sodium hypochlorite, a disinfectant, had a contract term of only 6 months. Exec.Dir. Perkovich explained that vendors had told the MWRD that the price for such product is so volatile now that vendors would not be willing to lock in a price for a longer term. This item was deferred. (Item 15, 22-0397)
Also deferred at the request of Comm. Spyropoulos was a proposal to seek bids to provide legal services for bankruptcy and collection matters for 2 years starting on Jan. 1, 2023.

Also discussed:

Proposed contract with ComPsych Behavioral Health Corp to provide telephonic counseling, tele-behavioral health services, and up to 8 face-to-face counseling sessions per employee for a 5-year period starting July 1, 2022. Comm Davis thanked the staff for negotiating this because after the last several years, this service for employees was particularly needed. A similar service has been provided, and data shows significant usage by employees over the first 3 quarters of 2021. (Item 19, 22-0373)

Stormwater Management Items passed:

Authority to award a contract for a diversion channel for a flood control project on Midlothian Creek in Robbin for an amount up to $10 million (including a 5% allowance for change orders). (Item 25, 22-0381)
Authority to negotiate an agreement with Lyons Township and the Illinois Department of Transportation in connection with a flood control project along the Plainfield Road Corridor. (Item 33, 22-0395)
Authority to amend an agreement with the Village of Western Springs for storm sewers and outfall to Flagg Creek in Western Springs. (Item 34, 22-0394)
Authority to negotiate an agreement with Maine Township, Maine Township Road District, and City of Park Ridge for a flood control project on Farmers and Prairie Creeks. (Item 35, 22-0395)

Observer: Priscilla Mims

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MWRD Board to hold Study Session on Comprehensive Land Use Policy

4/16/2022

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
April 7, 2022

Land Use Policy:

There were two local village representatives who spoke at the public comment period, one from Stickney, one from Forest View, both in support of proposed leases in their villages.
Com. Davis asked to discuss the merits of leasing individual parcels especially for long periods of time, (30 to 40 years) without having a comprehensive land use policy. The nominal items that triggered the long discussion were 9, 10, 37, 40, 41 (22-0331, 22-0333, 22-0317, 22-0344, and 22-0345). Com Davis argued that leasing parcels on a piecemeal basis was a bad idea before having a policy in place.
Coms. Garcia, Morita, and Corral-Sepulveda have been on the Land Use Committee gathering input from various commissioners and constituents. Com. Garcia said that each lease had to consider the village zoning and surrounding land use of MWRD property, and that already 80% of MWRD real estate was set aside for preservation and natural space.
Com. Perry voiced alarm about 30 to 40 year leases that would tie the hands of the MWRD for years to come.
Com. Garcia and Coms. Morita and Corral-Sepulveda did not take issue with the first parcel (22-0331) in Forest View, because it was surrounded by industrial lands, but all three agreed, after much prompting from Com. Davis, that they would hold a study session before mid-June on comprehensive land use of MWRD real estate. All commissioners gave verbal assent they would commit to attending a study session.

Other Board Discussion and Action:

There was once again abundant discussion about a contract forfeit for a small contractor because it could not deliver the material at its quoted contract price, brought up by Com. Davis. Commissioners were indignant that the MWRD must forfeit contracts and have to go out for bid to spend larger amounts, with seemingly no consequence to the forfeited contractor other than they could not bid again for one year. Dir. Perkovich had investigated since the last meeting, and said that the MWRD could pursue legal remedies even after forfeiting the contract, so in the end, commissioners agreed to the item, as long as the staff presents best practices regarding contracts from other public agencies to revise the consequences for breach of contract. (Item 11, 22-0351)
Com. Morita expressed interest in the very large labor contract for $12 million, wondering the particulars. Staff explained that the contract was for seasonal and vacation union labor so the MWRD would not need to hire full time employees. Com. McGowan asked that perhaps the contract could be broken down into three parts and Dir. Perkovich said he would work on this for the next meeting, the only advantage in one contract being the ease of administration by staff. (Item 13, 22-0306). The item was deleted.
Com. Spyropoulos asked to delete the knowledge exchange programs with Dubai and Singapore that were deferred from the last meeting. She took issue with both countries’ treatment of labor, women and LGBTQ. MWRD has some of the best sewage treatment and stormwater practices in the world, and there should be a consequence for countries which do not adhere to US human rights standards. The items were deleted unanimously. (Items 31 and 32, 22-0291 and 22-0294)
Chicago River Day is May 14. Com. Spyropoulos and Com. Davis wanted to remind the board of the importance of volunteers to a public agency, speaking highly of Friends of the Chicago River as a great example.

All commissioners were in attendance in-person.

Observed by Amy Little

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Proposed Amendment to Affirmative Action Ordinance Deferred; Call for Study Session on Disparity Study

MWRD Board to hold Study Session on Comprehensive Land Use Policy

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