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

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 +