Category: Independent Inspector General MWRD

Water Reclamation Board Continues to Discuss Method of Selecting an Inspector General

2/20/2019

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
MWRD Study Session on Board of Commissioner Meeting Rules and Committee Structure
February 7, 2019

What the Board Discussed:
Comm. McGowan requested a status report relative to the intergovernmental agreement (“IGA”) between the MWRD and the Cook County Inspector General (“IG”).

The General Counsel reported that the Cook County IG’s final edits of the draft IGA would be arriving soon, noting later in the discussion that there had been back and forth in the interim.
Commissioner McGowan suggested an RFP (Request for Proposal).
Commissioner Shore stated the route of an IGA had been unanimously agreed to by the Board last year while preserving the right to pursue hiring its own IG in the future.
The MWRD Legislative Liaison was asked to address the Board. He stated the current route pre-dated the new Board, and if the Board now wanted its own IG, it would take time to evaluate legislative models, but recommended against taking the issue to the state legislature. The General Counsel noted that a statutory change was needed for the MWRD to hire its own IG, and that using the RFP route would not give the IG subpoena power, but that subpoena power would probably not be needed often given other information gathering methods existed.

Requests Made by Commissioners Relative to Selecting IG:

Comm.Kari K. Steele requested the timeline for an RFP for an Inspector General position
Comm. Justina Morita requested the Board receive information from the past Study Session on Inspector General.

Study Session Discussion:

There was a PowerPoint presentation on statutory responsibilities, types of MWRD board meetings, governance, and committee roles in practice.
The PowerPoint raised a consideration point relative to transmittal letters to the board for inclusion with the agendas. Commissioner Davis requested that the letters not be issued over Committee Chairs’ names since the Executive Director was, in practice, the proponent. Others proposed this procedure be limited to letters not circulated with the draft agenda since Commissioners had time to review those before publication.
There was also discussion of larger substantive issues relative to committee roles,
The MWRD Summary of Requests: (1) the Board consider removing the Chair person from letters; and (2) no new items be added to the draft agenda unless labeled an emergency.

Items to watch for in the Future:
Further discussion of:

the IGA for an IG,
RFPs relative to the IG,
transmittal letters to the Board
Board committee roles.

Observer - Marjy Gilbert Meeting Length: 1.5 hour Board Meeting; 1 hour Study Session (

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Water Reclamation Board Approves Negotiations to Hire Cook County's Independent Inspector General Services

5/25/2018

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting - May 17, 2018

What did the Board decide?

After a year of discussions and education, the Board gave authority to its staff to enter into discussions with Cook County to explore terms related to authorizing Cook County’s Independent General to serve as MWRD’s Inspector General. Congratulations to Board Chair Spyropoulos and Board member Shore for their leadership on this issue. (Agenda Item 31 (18-0493))
The Board also approved Ordinance PWR 18-001 establishing the prevailing wage for the MWRD covered employees the same as that for Cook and Fulton County. The Illinois Department of Labor will publish the prevailing rate schedule. (Agenda Item 48)
Approved a $2 million purchase order with V3 Companies of Illinois, Ltd for engineering services for Contract #18-848-5F, Program management of Stormwater Master Planning in Separate Sewer Service Area. In recommending the purchase order, the District said “The District has completed five Stormwater Master Plan Pilot Studies. The findings of these studies indicated that to provide structural protection from a 100-year flood event would require exorbitant investments by the District and local communities if traditional gray solutions or even solutions that blend green and gray infrastructure were utilized. Coupled with the experience gained in the on-going Phase II Flood Control Project in the Village of Robbins, it is increasingly evident the District needs to broaden its traditional approach to managing stormwater by identifying collaborative opportunities….” Contract deliverables are: 1) Summary of stormwater data collected from communities and prioritization of future study areas; 2) guidance document for stormwater master planning in separate sewer areas; and 3) individual study profiles to assist in developing RFP’s for future master plans.

Just before ending the board meeting before noon, Commission McGowan asked for an Executive Session (ES) to discuss an employee discipline problem. At 1:09 p.m. the ES was still in progress with no notice as to when it would break to reconvene the Board meeting. This Observer left the meeting but checked in later that day to determine that the Board did approve its consent agenda as modified which included the above three items.

Observer - Diane Edmundson Meeting Length: 3 hours +

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McCook Reservoir Fills During Latest Rain Storm

3/6/2018

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting - March 1, 2018

What did the Board decide:

The Board issued purchase orders for Phosphorus Removal Feasibility Studies for Stickney, O’Brien, and Calumet Water Reclamation Plants in the amount of $917,668.00.
Deferred change order for increasing consulting fee to Schiff Hardin LLC for representing the District in renewable energy projects.
Authorized a pilot project to install SigaGuard cyber security to monitor gate movements and analyze data gathered(at no cost to the District).

What else did the Board discuss:

There was discussion on the ability of the McCook Reservoir to fill during the last rainstorm while the ground was snow covered and frozen thus averting any area flooding and reversals into Lake Michigan. Biggest test since the September 2008 storm.

Other Testimony:

Mr. Blakemore continued his advocating for a Inspector General for the MWRD.

Observer - Peggy Kell Meeting Length - 67 minutes

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Water Reclamation Board Delays Revising Affirmative Action Ordinance

2/12/2018

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board of Commissioners Meeting
February 1, 2018

What did the Board decide?

At the motion of Commissioner McGowan, the Board removed from the Consent Calendar proposed amendments to the Affirmative Action Ordinance and sent the Ordinance back to the Affirmative Action committee for further study.
The Board also removed from the Consent Calendar a proposed ordinance instructing the County Clerk to reduce the levy of taxes on the District’s General Obligation Bonds because the District has enough money to redeem all the bonds in full. The Board took no further action on the proposed ordinance which had been submitted by the Finance Committee.

What else did the Board discuss or refer to committee?

The Board went into Executive Session to discuss “probable” and “imminent” litigation.

Unexpected Votes, Events, Testimony or Items to Watch for in the Future

Perennial speaker George Blakemore urged the Board to create an Inspector General for the District.

Other Comments or Observations

Commissioner Timothy Bradford has died; it will require 8075 votes for a write-in candidate in the March primary to move that candidate’s name to the November ballot. Meanwhile, the Governor holds power of appointment for the seat.

Observer - Kelly Kleiman Meeting Length - 90 minutes

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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 Reclamation Board Continues to Discuss Method of Selecting an Inspector General

Water Reclamation Board Approves Negotiations to Hire Cook County's Independent Inspector General Services

McCook Reservoir Fills During Latest Rain Storm

Water Reclamation Board Delays Revising Affirmative Action Ordinance

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

Water Reclamation Board Approves $1.15Billion Budget with Little Discussion

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