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Water Reclamation District Lobbies for $34.7M Federal Grant for McCook Deep Tunnel Project

12/30/2017

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting - December 21, 2017

Decisions Made:

Agreed not to reconsider the 2018 budget of $1.15 billion or tax levy approved at its December 14, 2017 meeting.
Approved a $324,000 one-year final extension contract with O’Connell & Dempsey, LLC to perform Federal legislative consulting services in Washington, DC for Phase 2 of the McCook Deep Tunnel Project. The District is close to receiving a $34.7 million lump sum grant, and the E.D and most of the Board believe this extension is necessary to ensure the final steps of the grant process are executed. The current lobbying contract expires 12-31-17.
Approved a request to advertise for outside counsel legal services. Executive Director, David St. Pierre, noted that the District needs to build its data base of qualified firms. President Spyropoulos requested that the District set a limit on the hourly rate charged and noted that the Cook County Board has set a rate of $185 per hour for outside counsel.
Approved a purchase order and contract amendment with e-Builder, Inc. for $937,027 to furnish and deliver a project management system and technical support to track projects for diversity and affirmative action purposes. Commission Steele asked for a summer study session to take a deeper dive into the affirmative action and diversity initiatives of the District.

Items to Watch for at Upcoming Meetings:

Watch for a special session to create an office of an Independent Inspector General.
Watch for a decision to grant the Morton Grove Niles Water Commission an 18 month temporary and a 70 year 1,848 sq. ft. non-exclusive easement to construct, install, operate, maintain, repair and remove a pump station and a 30 inch water main on part of the North Shore Channel parcels in Evanston and Skokie. Fees will be charged. The Mayors of both Morton Grove and Niles asked for a decision at this Board Meeting. Executive Director, St. Pierre, removed the resolution from the agenda pending answers to questions raised. Morton Grove and Niles are currently getting their water from Chicago.
Commissioner Shore called for a clear definition of sexual harassment from the H.R. and Legal Departments, asked for feedback in early 2018, and called for the development of “Best Practices” for workplace sexual harassment.

Observer - Diane Edmundson Meeting Length - 90 minutes

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Water Reclamation Board Approves $1.15Billion Budget with Little Discussion

12/15/2017

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board - December 14, 2017
Special Meeting

The Board, without discussion except for one item, approved a number of items which result in a 2018 budget of $1.15 billion. The final numbers cannot be known until the 2% increase approved for all non-represented employees, which appears to be approximately $2.4 million, has been added to the totals.
It was this salary increase (Item 4, File # 17-1314) that involved the only discussion. Commissioner Walsh said that a memo from the Director of Human Resources had been provided to the Commissioners that morning which recommended that no increase be given. After the meeting, Commissioner Shore shared the memo with this observer. Among other factors the Director cited were the above-market starting and average salaries of MWRD employees and the salary increases over the past 10 years (20%) as compared to the Consumer Price Index (12.7%). It was noted that benefit packages should also be considered, but there was no comparison of the MWRD benefits to those benefits provided by others. The memo stated that for each percentage increase in salaries for non-represented employees, the additional cost would be $1.2 million.

However, the new collective bargaining agreements provide for a 2% salary increase in 2018, and this appeared to convince at least some of the Commissioners to approve the 2% increase for non-represented employees. The vote was 6 “yes” (with Commissioner Morita absent for this vote) and 1 “present” (Commissioner Walsh).
The only other item that was not procedural in nature was Item 2, File #17-1312, which contained a number of changes to the Tentative Budget. Among other things, this amendment increased the total appropriation by $10.5 million, which includes

$1.45 million more for the Corporate Fund, including $452,000 for an Inspector General (should one be approved)
$1.24 million more for the Construction Fund, and
$7.9 million more for the Capital Improvements Bond Fund

Under this Item 2, the total appropriation would be 0.5% higher than the 2017 budget; while the total tax levy would be 3.8% higher than in 2017.

Observer - Priscilla Mims Meeting Length - 35 minutes

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Water District Board Mourns Death of Commissioner Timothy Bradford

12/11/2017

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting - December 7, 2017

Reconvened Annual Meeting
Board Meeting
Public Hearing on the Tentative 2018 Budget

Commissioner Timothy Bradford, who died suddenly on December 1, was remembered fondly by his fellow Commissioners at the start of the Board meeting. His desk was draped in purple.

The MWRD Board holds an Annual Meeting each year at which the accomplishments of the past year are recounted. Today was a reconvening of the meeting that had been scheduled for December 5, that was not held due to lack of a quorum. President Spyropoulos’ written report is available HERE.

At the Board Meeting, topics of interest included:

Approved the forfeiture of a contract with Atlas & Associates, which had failed to deliver 6 submersible grit pumps for the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant. The pumps were manufactured, but were not turned over to Atlas by the manufacturer because Atlas had not paid the manufacturer. At a meeting, later confirmed by an email, Atlas cancelled the contract. Atlas will remain on the District’s list of non-responsible vendors until Feb. 2, 2021. The District hopes to deal directly with the manufacturer to obtain delivery. So far, the costs to the District for this non-performance are the maintenance hours spent on keeping the existing pumps in operation. (Agenda Item 13, File # 17-1285)
After deferring from last month, the Board approved entering into a contract for up to $50,300 to pilot test for 12 months a product at the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant for the removal of certain products. The hope is that this product will prove better than traditional technologies. The cost is in the 2018 budget. (Agenda Item 17, File # 17-1164)
Approved an increase in the cost of a contract with Vulcan Construction by almost $3 million (for a total contract thus far of $97.7 million) for the McCook Excavation Agreement in order, for among other things, to subcontract for the plugging of an abandoned tunnel at 73rd Street. The Army Corps of Engineers was originally expected to take care of this, but it has notified the District that, due to budget limitations, the Corps will not be able to do this in a timely manner. Cost for this item is $1.9 million, which the Corps has said is reasonable, and which will be paid for by the $35 million getting from the Federal government as part of the cost share for Phase 2 work on the McCook project. (Agenda Item 35, File #17-1252)
Agreed to waive the late payment charges of almost $730,000 accrued by the City of Chicago on user charges at the Jardine and Sawyer Water Purification Plants. City is habitually late, but the Board did not want taxpayers to have to pay the late charges if not waived. (Agenda Item 38, File # 17-1287)
Approved an intergovernmental agreement for $100,000 with the Cook County Sheriff for collection of unused medicines. A prior agreement had expired in June 2017, and the parties have been negotiating this new contract since then in light of the Cook County Safe Disposal of Pharmaceuticals Ordinance. Commissioner Shore asked that the Sheriff be asked to reach out to those who don’t drive or who are homebound as there is a mail-in option under the ordinance. (Agenda Item 42, File # 17-1260)
Two items on the Board agenda were deferred:
- Amendment of an agreement with d-Builder for a project management system and technical support systems until Feb. 1, 2021. This was also deferred from the last meeting. (Agenda Item 18, File # 17-1175)
- Agreement with law firm to represent and provide the MWRD counsel in bankruptcy and collection matters. Asked that Legal look into a program that State has where MWRD may be able to get payments for costs.

At the Public Hearing on the 2018 Tentative Budget, there were 4 comments presented by:

The Friends of the Chicago River, commending the Distric’s infrastructure projects, touting the Friends’ “Our Liquid Asset” study from 2013 which found a 70% return on investment in green infrastructure projects, available HERE.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology which asked about the status of a pilot study for investigating basement back-up; told that it is in the 2018 budget.
The Better Government Association which urged that there be at least 0.1% (based on best practices) of the budget for 2018 be set aside for an Independent Inspector General; told that $600,000 is included in the 2018 budget should the Board decide to create an Inspector General.
The Civic Federation, which praised the MWRD budget for the financial safeguards, including reserves, the increased contributions to the Pension and Retirement Health Funds; but also raised concerns about the continued increase by the District, along with other taxing bodies, in property tax levies, along with pension concerns across the board; and asked that the District streamline its budget proposal by having a single book.

:Observer - Priscilla Mims

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Water District Board Approves New Management and Financial Plan for McCook Project

12/1/2017

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting - November 16, 2017

Significant Decisions Made:

Two options have been proposed and generally agreed upon to move forward with the management of funds for the final phase of the McCook project. These may direct the lump sum of money granted to the MWRD for completion responsibilities rather than to the escalating costs of the Army Corps of Engineers. Management would be taken over by the MWRD and their software.
Concern was voiced about the previous phase costing far over budget; $250,000.00/year was the proposed cost while the realized was $2,000,000.00/year. This last phase is proposed to cost $46,000,000.00 to be used to stabilize the walls of tunnels already created along with the two tunnels left to dig. The Board requested information about the percentage of cost overrides that might occur. This phase of the project will not likely have as many setbacks and will be managed more closely in house.

Other Items of Interest:

Discussion and questions were raised about using the Army Corps of Engineers instead of e-Builder Inc. for delivering a project management system and technical support services. The conclusion agreed upon found the Army Corps of Engineers to be less than satisfactory and timely on other projects and more costly. $937,017.21 is Requisitioned for continued service with e-Builder.
Authority to advertise contract 14-113-5F. This is a test case for storm water retrofits for Real Time Controls and a rainwater harvesting system for the Dearborn homes in Chicago. 300,000 gallons are expected to be harvested to reduce basement back up in that area. The cost is estimated to be between $855,000.00 and $1,035,000.00. Chicago currently has two billion gallons of storage.
The value of using Environmental Resource Associates, a water environment research service, over other similar organizations was raised by Commissioner Shore. It was explained that this is a priority technology not seen anywhere else as of yet holding a patent. The hope is for them to become self sustaining, stay in the Chicago area, and that they will find better ways to target specific pollutants. MWRD is requesting $19,000.00 for research and training.
$50,300.00 is requested to enter an agreement for a Biocatalyst technology research project study by Microvi Biotech Inc for at the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant.
A Resolution sponsored by the Board of Commissioners is given to congratulate the Shedd Aquarium and two organizations; “Washed Ashore” and “Art To Save the Sea” for creating sculptures of sea life made by Angeline Potsy using 38,000 lbs.of recycled materials found in or around waterways in Oregon.
500 million plastic straws are used daily in the United States. The hope is to spark changes in consumer habits. This Exhibition called “Shedding The Straw” is currently on display at the Shedd Aquarium.
In honor of Veterans Day Resolutions were given to Jesse White a former Army Paratrooper and Harry Sawyer a Navy Veteran and current Assistant Director of Veteran Affairs. Mr. Sawyer talked about help and opportunities offered to homeless veterans through the Heinz facility in Maywood, the Prince Home in Matino, and the Jesse Brown Home at Damon and Taylor in Chicago.

Observer - Pat Lind Meeting Length - 90 minutes

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Water Reclamation District Lobbies for $34.7M Federal Grant for McCook Deep Tunnel Project

Water Reclamation Board Approves $1.15Billion Budget with Little Discussion

Water District Board Mourns Death of Commissioner Timothy Bradford

Water District Board Approves New Management and Financial Plan for McCook Project

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