Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
December 12, 2024

This meeting was for the sole purpose of approving the Adopted Budget for 2025.  This was approved unanimously with no discussion.  However, there is one more step in the budget process before the 2025 budget will be finalized:  on December 19, the Board will consider any final amendments which could impact the numbers given below.

Beth McElroy Kirkwood was appointed by Governor J.B. Pritzker to fill the empty Commissioner position as a result of former Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos’ election as Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court on Nov. 5.  Ms. McElory Kirkwood will serve as a Commissioner until November 2026 when someone will be elected to serve the remaining two years of Comm. Spyropoulos’ 6-year term.

The Adopted Budget of $1.695 Billion:

• Is slightly up from the Tentative Budget approved by the Commissioners in November, and slightly down from the $1.7 Billion proposed budget presented initially in October by the Executive Director.  It is also $266 Million more than the adjusted 2024 budget, or an increase of 18.6%.
• Includes an estimated total tax levy of just under $710 Million, a 2.6% increase over 2024 (or $18 Million more).
• Has an estimated total tax rate slightly less than 2024.  Applying the total tax levy to the anticipated Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) of properties within the MWRD District, the total tax rate is expected to be 33.85 cents per $100 of  EAV in 2025 vs. 34.17 cents in 2024.
• Has the largest increases (10% increase or more) over 2024 for General Administration, and for the Construction Fund and Capital Improvements Bond Fund (for a total Capital Budget that is 64.7% higher than 2024).
• Has a proposed reduction in Full Time Equivalent positions by 14 to 1,952.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims                             Length of meeting:  30 minutes

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meetings
December 14 and December 21, 2023 

MWRD APPROVES FINAL 2024 BUDGET
2024 Appropriation vs  (2023)                             2024  FTEs  vs  (2023)
   $1,428 Billion                 $1,432 B    (- .2%)                                    1,967                  1,957     (+10)
    $131.5 Million                      $  129 M            Stormwater          100                     99      (-1)
2024 Tax Levy:  $693.7 M (2.1%)

Board Action      

• The December 14, 2023 meeting lasted 20 minutes.  All commissioners were present to approve the recommended 2024 budget.  A motion to revise the 2024 budget to approve a 3% salary increase for non-union employees was approved without discussion - #4 23-1192.  The Board also approved the motion to increase the Reserve Claim Fund by .005%.  23-1194.  All members were present and there was no Executive Session.
• The December 21, 2023 meeting lasted 50 minutes and all Commissioners were present.  There was no Executive Session.  The board was asked to adopt the amended budget which it did unanimously without discussion along with all other budget ordinances.    Also approved was a $7.1 million dollar contract for a Westchester pumping relief sewer with no discussion and an amendment to an Intergovernmental Agreement with the CC Sheriff’s office to continue supporting the prescription Drug Take-Back Program for another year for an amount not to exceed $80,000.   #35 23-1218 and #50 23-1242 respectively.

Items Deferred  

• Commissioner Garcia deferred the request to participate in the Suburban Purchasing Cooperative-Joint Purchasing Program as he noted that the MWRD and the program are not for profit, and he wants to see if participation goals can be applied to big purchase items.  The staff responded that goals are not used for services under this program.  He wants more details on the program.   #19 23-1220
• Commissioner Sepulveda deferred the $14.5 million purchase order request to enter into an agreement for change orders dealing with its huge Biogas Combined Heat and Power System that it is developing for the MWRD.   There was no discussion by any of the Commissioners including Sepulveda.  #28   23-1203
• Commissioner Sepulveda also deferred a request to increase a Janitorial Services contract by almost $100,000 to $776,191.  She wants information on whether the contractor pays “prevailing wage and provides health benefits.  #41 23-1209

Observer:  Diane Edmundson

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
December 15, 2022

Board Action

• The 2023 budget of $1,624 Billion with 1957 FTEs was approved with no discussion.  The number of FTEs was a reduction from 1972 FTEs in the 2022 Budget with most of those reductions at the Stickney plant.  
• Also approved without discussion were amendments to the Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance. The primary changes were to replace the term Standard Methods with US-EPA Approved Methods; and to increase and simplify the Noncompliance Enforcement Charges Table which has not been changed since 2012.    (Agenda Item #IW22-001A)
• Resolutions calling for the payment of 2023 dues to the U.S. Water Alliance and the Water Research Foundation were approved after twice being deferred by Commissioner Davis over his concern that these two organizations were not being sufficiently pro-active in lobbying for legislation and regulation holding PFAS chemical manufacturers responsible for cleanup and removal.  (Agenda Items #22-1190 & 1191).   Note:  The 3M Corporation recently announced that they will eliminate the production of PFAS chemicals by 2025.

Stormwater Management

• Blue Island Washington Street Flood Control purchase order previously approved was rescinded.  The staff expects to resubmit with Blue Island and MWRD sharing the costs.  #22-1129.
• Additionally, ten other inter-government projects were approved without discussion most for either green alley or permeable pavement contracts.
• Two end of year reports were accepted:  Prioritized Projects covering 2022 and into 2023; Future projects to be considered; and a map showing the locations.  #22-1148.

Commissioner Requests

• Commissioner Sepulveda asked for a list of projects that were not accepted for consideration under #22-1148.
• Commissioner Davis asked that the recent PSAS Board Directions be transmitted to both the U.S. Water Alliance and the Water Research Foundation and the “Polluter Pay Principle” applied to these two and any other Water organization membership that the MWRD has.  Commissioner Sepulveda asked for quarterly reports on these requests; a list of MWRD activities on this issue, and a list of the organizations’ activities.  She also requested a list of committees with whom our staff is in conversation.
• Commissioner Garcia asked if there is an increase in participation goals when change orders increase by significant dollars including those contracts where change orders take them from under to over the $100,000 floor.
• Commissioner Garcia asked for a Study Session on Procurement.  He listed several issues to explore.  The League will monitor this request.
• Commissioner Sepulveda attended an EPA meeting on the Robbins water problems and suggested that when projects are considered for water main replacements, the MWRD also look at whether the sewers should be replaced at the same time so as to perhaps qualify for some state and federal monies.

Board Attendees:  Davis, DuBuclet, Flynn, Garcia, Pogorzelski, Sepulveda, Steele, Spyropoulos
Absent:   Yumeka Brown                                                                 

​Observer:  Diane Edmundson                                Length of Bd meeting: 75 min.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
December 16, 2021

Budget:  

• The Board amended the Adopted 2022 Budget that had been approved on December 9 by increasing the Corporate Fund by $834,900.  Much of this increase is due to an increase in the Maintenance & Operations budget to accommodate the carry forward of a building services contract and to cover higher planned costs for parts and chemicals.
• In addition, the Capital Improvements Bond Fund was increased by $65 M from the 2022 Adopted Budget, due to changes in the schedules for several capital projects.
• With these changes, the 2022 Budget is final at $1.294 B. (Agenda Item 1, File #21-1219)
• The Tax Rate for 2022 is $0.3747 per $100 of Equalized Assessed Valuation, unchanged from the 2022 Adopted Budget.  This is slightly less than the $0.3765 rate for 2021.  However, the total tax levy for 2022 is $678.9 M, a 2.5% increase over 2021. 
• Also unchanged from the 2022 Adopted Budget is the number of employees at 1,971, an increase of 31 as compared to the 2021 Adjusted Budget. 
• An amendment which created an Environmental Justice Section reporting to the Executive Director (but which added no costs) passed unanimously.  This new Section will be staffed by an Assistant Civil Engineer (a currently vacant position to be transferred from the Engineering Department) and the Human Relations Manager for diversity, equity, and inclusion. This new Section is to coordinate activities outlined in Strategic Goal 5 in conjunction with the Climate Action Plan. (Agenda Item 3, File # 21-1221)
• A proposed additional amendment to the budget, which would have had no impact on the totals, was pulled for discussion and later voted down.  Under this amendment, $50,000 would have been moved from one line item to provide funding for legal services for the Board of Directors.  Commissioners Davis, Garcia, Morita, and Corral Sepulveda voted for the amendment.  President Steele, Vice President McGowan, and Commissioners Du Buclet and Spyropoulos voted “no.”  Those voting against cited the fact that the MWRD has a Legal Department, and Comm. Du Buclet said she could find no other body that had its own lawyers on staff apart from that government’s legal department.  With the 4-4 tie, the motion to approve this amendment failed. (Agenda Item 2, File # 21-1220)
• Apart from the discussion of Agenda Item 2 above, there was no other discussion concerning the specifics of the budget.

Other Board Action:

• The Board approved, by separate vote but no discussion, an ordinance establishing the right-of-way for the construction, operation and maintenance of the Flood Control Project in the Worth Woods Subdivision in Worth, Illinois.  (Agenda Item 12, File # R21-004)
• All items on the rest of the agenda were approved, including the item under Stormwater Management, the authority to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with and make a payment to the Village of Willow Springs for the acquisition of a flood-prone property in an amount not to exceed $465,000.  (Agenda Item 51, File # 21-1171)

New Business:

• Comm. Garcia pointed to the upcoming review of new policies for 2022 concerning Land Use and Environmental Justice, as well as the review of the existing Affirmative Action policy.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting
March 4, 2021
                           All Commissioners present

Board Action:
All agenda items were approved, except for Agenda Item #19 (21-0181), authority to advertise a contract for testing and repairing underground storage tanks, which was deleted by the Executive Director.  

​Only a few items were pulled out for discussion, and most of the discussion related to remembering former MWRD Commissioner and President Terrence J. O’Brien who recently died and celebrating 14-year old Dorothy Jean Tillman from the Chicago south side who received her Masters degree in environmental science in 2020.  Ms. Tillman has created the Dorothy Jeanius STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) Educational Leadership Institute to create an environment where adolescents can pair arts with technology.  During the pandemic she has created at home STEAM kits for adolescents, and has also reached out to South African youth.

​Following are a few items noted from the agenda and meeting:

• Executive Director Brian Perkovich announced that the district is making plans to “go back to ‘normal’” with the roll-out of the vaccine.   However, he expects that there will be changes in how the district does things based on what they have learned over the past year.  Management is now reviewing a draft of a new remote working policy.
• Finance:  Agenda Item 9 was a report to the Board on comparison of investment income in 2020 vs. 2019:  down by $10 M, from almost $18 M in 2019 to not quite $8 M in 2020.  Item 10 showed a continuation of that trend for January 2021 vs. 2020:  down 60% from $1 M in Jan. 2020 vs. $0.47 M in 2021.  Given the Federal Reserve Board’s announced plans to maintain low interest rates, the forecast is for the district to continue to have low returns.  However, Agenda Item 11 reported that the district’s investments are out-performing the benchmark 90-day Treasury bill:  0.43% vs. 0.10% in the 4th quarter of 2020.
• Web site:  Agenda Item 23 was a request to advertise a contract for enhancements to the new web site, particularly with regard to video content.  Commissioner Garcia asked what languages would be included (vs. translation capability), which the Executive Director was still being looked at.
• Commissioner McGowan and others expressed their gratitude to the employees for all that they have done during the past year of the pandemic.  Commissioner Shore suggested that consideration be given to allowing employees to take time off to get vaccinated since a number of vaccination sites are not open on the weekend.

Observer -  Priscilla Mims                     Length of meeting:  1 hour and 20 minutes

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.