Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
January 5, 2023

MWRD Commissioners elected

• Kari K. Steele for another term as President of the Board
• Kimberly Neely Du Buclet as Vice President, and
• Marcelino Garcia for another term as Finance Chair

They also postponed until the next meeting on January 19 the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs of the standing Committees.

Other Board Action:

• Passed a resolution to acknowledge and review studies regarding disparities affecting Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) people.  Currently MENA people are not a protected class under affirmative action or otherwise recognized as a category by the U.S. Census Board.  During discussion it came out that the City of Chicago is doing such a study and, once it was finished, the MWRD would review it and consider whether it should take any action to deal with any identified disparities of this group.  (Agenda #5, File # 23-0043).  One of the public speakers of the Arab American Association on behalf of the MENA Community thanked the MWRD for this resolution.
• Passed all other items on the agenda except for one item deferred and the other item deleted as described below.
• With regard to one Stormwater Management item (Agenda #35, File # 23-0015), the authority to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Chicago Board of Education to install green infrastructure at 24 schools, Comm. Spyropoulos asked where the staff was with creating a similar program for the suburban schools.  Executive Director Perkovich stated that the memo was being finished and should be brought to the Board soon.

Item Deferred:

• A purchase order for EMS PRISM Compliance Softward License Renewal.  Comm. Garcia said he had questions about whether PRISM was the right program to use.  He asked for deferral to allow the Executive Director time to provide a memo answering the Commissioner’s questions.  (Agenda #17, File # 23-0017)

Item Deleted by the Executive Director:

• Purchase orders to enter into agreements with 4 different entities for State Legislative Consulting Services.  (Agenda #22, File #23-0038)

Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting
June 16, 2022

All items on the agenda were approved. Items of note are as follows:

• Jodi Dobson, Partner at Tilly Baker gave a positive presentation to the Board on the Report on the 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and the Metropolitan Reclamation District Retiree Healthcare Trust. (Agenda Item #6, 22-0572)
• Authority to award a contract to Joel Kennedy Constructing Corp for the north side sludge pipeline replacement not to exceed $27.1 million. (Agenda Item #25, 22-0539). This item was deferred from the June 2, 2022, Board Meeting. Discussion follows.

Procurement Item Discussed:
 The Commissioners spent most of the meeting discussing this item. (Agenda Item#25, 22-0539) Commissioner Cam Davis stated that he had questions about responsible bidders.   Commissioner Davis is concerned as to whether this company can be a responsible bidder after the accusations from the City of Chicago of fraudulent billing and other issues. Commissioner Davis questioned Inspector General Patrick Blanchard on responsible bidders and whether there was justification for finding the contractor not a responsible bidder. Inspector General Blanchard stated that they did a thorough investigation, and it was determined that the Contractor was not a responsible bidder for City of Chicago. Commissioner Davis wanted to know if the Contractor could be a responsible bidder for MWRD but was told MWRD would have to determine this. Blanchard recognized that this was a difficult task. Commissioner Garcia as did other commissioners, wanted to be reassured that the bidding process was a fair and good process. He asked the Dir. Of Procurement, Legal Counsel and Dir. Of Engineering to answer. They stated that there are criteria that needs to be followed to procure a contract. They also reassured the Board that with all contracts they carefully follow the procedure before awarding contracts. Kennedy Contractors were the lowest bidder, and it was a fair and legitimate bid. The following were suggestions by Commissioners:

• Commissioner Garcia requested staff to consider expanding on the monitoring of contracts
• Commissioner Davis requested estimates on staff time to monitor contracts
• Commissioner McGowen requested the Lowest Responsible Bidder section (11.11) of the district’s code to be distributed to the Board.

There was no mention at this meeting of a study session planned to review the Procurement Policy. After much discussion Commissioner Davis asked for a roll count vote for this item. The vote was taken and there were 5 yes, 3 no and 1 present. This item was approved. 

Miscellaneous and New Business:

• Commissioner Eira Corral-Sepulveda joined the meeting by remote as she is representing the MWRD in Thailand at the Water and Waste Management Conference.
• On July 14 there will be a study session on Affirmative Action Policy/Disparity.
• Land Use and Climate Change Study session has not been scheduled but the Commissioners believe it will be held in August or September.

Observer: Nancy Marcus

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting
June 2, 2022

MWRD Commissioners had questions on several procurement items on the agenda which led Commissioner Morita to opine that a study session needed to be held on Procurement, adding to the study sessions already identified as being needed for Affirmative Action Policy/Disparity Study (scheduled for July 14), Land Use Policy, and Climate Change.  Commissioner Morita and President Steel again urged that the Commissioners find times on their calendars for these study sessions.

All items on the agenda, including the extension of the existing MWRD Affirmative Action Policy from June 30 to December 31, 2022, were approved, except for Item 27, 22-0539, which was deferred and is described immediately below.

Procurement Items Discussed:

• An awarding of a contract for north side sludge pipeline replacement for $27.1 million was deferred by Comm. Davis because of his concerns as to whether the company is a “responsible bidder” because Chicago has an outstanding legal action alleging the company falsified documents.  This led to a conversation of what is asked of bidders, including whether they are asked about any outstanding legal actions against them.  The Board was told that the MWRD does not ask that normally, though in this case, because it involved grant money, the grant form included that question.  And the company did disclose the Chicago lawsuit.  The Executive Director also said that the accusation involved claiming that all employees involved lived in Cook County (which they did not) which took place in 2015.  The other issue here was the fact that the MWRD estimate was 33% lower than the bids.  Comm. Garcia and Comm. Davis both have concerns that providing the estimate to bidders may cause the bids to come in higher than they otherwise would.  The Procurement Director thinks making the estimates public is useful because of the complications resulting from so much of the work at the MWRD being underground.  Near the end of the conversation, the Procurement Director said that a state statute applies which sets out what is a “responsible bidder.”  (Item 27, 22-0539)
• Comm. Davis expressed concern that suppliers may think that the MWRD will not pursue breaches of contract with regard to a furnish and deliver contract for Calcium Nitrate.  In this case, the low bid was rejected because the supplier would not agree to hold the price beyond one year for this 2-year contract.  Executive Director Perkovich assured the Board that the MWRD will hold the supplier who won the bid responsible and the contract is clear that the price is for 2 years.    (Item 19, 22-0511)

​Stormwater Management Items

• Comm. Davis commended the Executive Director and staff for working with the Cook County Forest Preserve District in connection with a request for authority to amend a Memorandum of Understanding to extend it for one year to allow time to negotiate a new intergovernmental agreement with the Forest Preserve that would be more comprehensive and facilitate more partnerships between the entities on flood control and green infrastructure projects.  (Item 35, 22-0530)
• In connection with the intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Lyons for acquisition of flood-prone properties, with the MWRD to pay up to $3 million, it was explained that the MWRD has a sliding scale of what it is willing to contribute to local governments, based on the average income.  (Item 37, 22-0533)
• Intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Winnetka for a wetland and park storage project, with the MWRD to contribute up to $500,000.  (Item 36, 22-0532)
• Intergovernmental agreement with the City of Des Plaines for a pervious concrete alley improvement project, with the MWRD to pay up to $139,000.

Other Item Discussed:

• Comm. Davis applauded the Executive Director and Staff for pursuing a lawsuit against a company for unlawful discharges which led to a Settlement that was before the Board for approval.  There was also some discussion as to why the MWRD did not initially seek the maximum penalties.  It was explained that the company did acknowledge the discharges and did take some action during the period, just not fast enough.  (Item 31, 22-0537)

New Business:

• Friends of the Chicago River gave the MWRD a Green Ribbon Award for the Natalie Creek Flood Control Project which protects 237 structures and residents in Midlothian and Oak Forest.  This award recognizes projects that demonstrate a high level of river-sensitive design and consideration.  See https://mwrd.org/natalie-creek-flood-control for more information about the project.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
May 5, 2022

Commission McGowan opened the meeting by calling for the deletion of the proposed amendment to the Affirmative Action Ordinance without discussion until the Board holds a Study Session on the recent Disparity Report.  No date has been set.  All nine commissioners voted to delete without discussion. Agenda Item #1 022-006.)    

Only two other items were pulled for discussion.  Both because the market rate for chemicals, in this case Sodium Hypochlorite and Magnesium Chloride, is widely fluctuating and the vendors do not want to commit to more than a year’s rate.  Hence, they will have the opportunity to rebid the rate for year two of the contract.  After an explanation that during each contract year, the rate would remain the same regardless of market conditions, the items were returned to the agenda. (Agenda Items #13 22-0397 and #17 22-0425.)

All agenda items were approved with the exception of Item #1 above and two others that were deleted by the Executive Director without discussion.

There were no Stormwater Management contracts on the agenda. No Executive Session was held and no New Business was offered

​Observer:  Diane Edmundson

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

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
May 20, 2021
Present: President Steele,  Commissioners Davis,  Du Buclet, Garcia, Morita, Corral Sepulveda, Shore, and Spyropoulos. Commissioner McGowan absent 

Board Action:
Agenda Item #25-#21-0457 - contract for approval - removed from Consent Agenda for discussion

• Commissioner Shore raised concerns about the $15 million boiler contract in which the low bidder was dismissed because of a missing signature on a subcontract. She asked how this can be avoided and what measures could be taken? Director Perkovich stated the ordinance mandates that any contract missing signature(s) is automatically rejected.
• Commissioner Shore reported her staff had researched this issue and had found that since 2016, there were sixteen bids rejected because of lack of signature, resulting in a cost of more than $2 million to taxpayers. Other agencies conduct a compliance review to avoid this. MWRD has no such review. Director Perkovich said the staff could definitely research this. President Steele directed that this be done ASAP.
• Commissioner Shore called this a systemic failure and that the Board had repeatedly asked for improvement in procurement procedures. Commissioner Davis pointed out that there are electronic tools that automatically  kick contracts out that are incomplete, thus alerting the agency to that fact before they are filed.
• Commissioner Shore’s second question was whether it is possible for these large contracts to be broken up into smaller parts. This would allow smaller contractors to bid on them, thus helping to meet MWRD’s goal of rewarding contracts to a more diverse group. Director Perkovich affirmed that this could be done.
• All other commissioners made statements in concurrence with Commissioner Shore’s concerns. Agenda item #25 was voted down on a roll call vote with all 8 commissioners present voting against the item.

After a lengthy executive session, the Board  reconvened and approved all the remaining agenda items.

New business:

• June board meeting will most likely be held in person.
• Commissioner Davis reported the Chatham Pilot Study had been halted, but not because of MWRD.
• Commissioner Shore said feedback on the state water plant would be invited next week.

   
Observer: Georgia Gebhardt                             Meeting time: 189 minutes including Executive Session