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

Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board (MWRD) Meeting - December 3, 2020

All 8 current Board members in attendance. Eira L. Corral Sepulveda will be sworn in as the 9th Commissioner at the MWRD’s Annual Meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 1 pm.

A common theme running through all the discussions of designated items was the importance of engaging the communities involved.  In some cases, the Commissioners verified that the communities had been involved prior to approving items.  In other cases, the Commissioners encouraged the staff to be sure the communities knew what was being done for them by the MWRD.

All items on the agenda were approved unanimously.  Following are some of the items discussed:

Stormwater Management:

• Item 33, 20-1079:  Authorization to negotiate intergovernmental agreements to assist with green infrastructure projects.  This is a revised version of Item 53, 20-1022, which was deleted from the Nov. 19 meeting agenda and was the focus of the Observer Report for that meeting.  In contrast to the Nov. 19 meeting, there was no discussion about what communities within the MWRD’s stormwater management area were contacted and asked to submit proposals.  In fact, the list of projects that were approved is identical to what was on the Nov. 19 agenda:  14 municipal projects plus 2 with the Cook County Forest Preserve District.  The only difference is in the description in the cover memo of what will be included in the agreement.  The agreements will require that the MWRD’s participation goals for Minority-owned Business Enterprises, Women-owned Business Enterprises, Small Business Enterprises, and Veteran-owned Business Enterprises be met for that portion of the project funded by the MWRD and will encourage that such goals be applied to the entire project.  Comm. Garcia said how pleased he was with the redrafted cover submission, but asked that these agreements also require the entities to purchase any needed bio-solids from the MWRD.  Once each agreement is negotiated, it will come before the Board for approval.
• Item 15, 20-1068:  Purchase order for professional engineering services for final design of a Flood Control Project in Robbins involving the Midlothian Creek.  This involves both grey infrastructure (that is adding pipes to carry stormwater runoff) and green infrastructure.  Staff assured Comm. Du Blucet that residents had been heavily involved at meetings and helped define the parameters of the project.
• Item 32, 20-1038:  Intergovernmental agreement with DesPlaines for acquisition of flood-prone properties.  Comm. Davis said he’d like to have staff develop a means to determine whether the MWRD’s acquisitions of land, such as this, are as effective as possible, especially taking into account disproportionately affected areas.

Prescription Drug Take-back Program:

• Item 26, 20-1073:  The existing agreement which provides for the Cook County Sheriff to collect excess prescription drugs which have been dropped off in MWRD-sponsored collection boxes, was extended through 2021.  Comm. Shore, who was acknowledged as the key Commissioner who got this program going with the County, said she hoped this would be the last year that the MWRD would be paying for this collection (about $6,000/month).  This is because the County ordinance setting up this program provides for the County to go back to the manufacturer of the drugs to obtain payment, rather than taxpayers who fund the MWRD.  The Sheriff is now able to determine who the manufacturer was.  Comm. Shore said the Sheriff has reported that about 20 to 25% of the drugs collected are opioids.  Collection of all these drugs means that they do not enter the waste water causing harm to living things.  Commissioners complained that when “googled” locations of these collection boxes, the MWRD’s do not come up.  Public Affairs has been trying to rectify for well over a year.  President Steele said she had a contact at Google, and Public Affairs will follow-up with her.

Installation of odor-control equipment at the Stickney Plant

• Item 11, 20-1049:  Purchase order for installation and maintenance.  Comm. Garcia wants to make sure Staff will be informing the communities with whom they previously met that the MWRD is being responsive to their complaints.  President Steele informed the Commissioners that the MWRD has just created a brochure on reporting odors, which is in both English and Spanish, which should be distributed in this area.  Comm. Shore asked that the information be summarized for use in a text message Commissioners and staff could send out, and Comm. Du Blucet mentioned there are a lot of neighborhood groups that could help get the word out.

New Business:

• Executive Director Perkovich gave an updated report on Covid’s impact on MWRD employees:  57 have tested positive, but 30 of these have recovered and returned to work.  Commissioners expressed concern for the workers and wanted to make sure there was ongoing review of the need for PPE, including face shields, and whether more can and should work from home given the current surge of cases in the area.  
• MWRD Annual Meeting:  Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 1 pm.  In addition to the President’s report, the 3 Commissioners who were elected on Nov. 3 for 6-year terms will be sworn in:  present Commissioners Davis and Du Blucet, and new Commissioner Selpuveda.

Length of meeting:  2 hours, 10 minutes (including a 25-minute pause for an Executive Session)
Observer:  Priscilla Mims